Me'ne, a word Anglicized in the Auth. Vers, of the Chaldee sentence Mexe, Mene,Tekei.,Upharsin (S372 "pp-iSI b^T\ N3T3, mene', mene', tekel', u-pharsin', numbered, numbered, veighed, and diriding, as each term is immediately interpreted, the last being given in its sing, and pass, form ^"^1^, jxres', dicided; Sept. [i.e. Theodotion] in both passages iiavri,3ieKsX, (paptq ; Vulg. mane, thecel, phures), an inscription supernaturally writ- ten " upon the plaster of the wall" in Belshazzar's pal- ace at Babylon (Dan. v, 5-25) ; which " the astrologers, the Chaldreans, and the soothsayers" could neither read nor interpret, but which Daniel first read and then in- terpreted. Yet the words, as they are found in Daniel, are pure Chaldee, and, if they appeared in the Chaldee character, could have been read, at least, by any person present on the occasion who understood the alphabet of his own language. To account for their inabilitv to de- cipher this inscription, it has been supposed that it con- sisted of those Chaldee words written in another char- acter. Dr. Hales thinks that it may have boon written in the primitive Hchrrw cliaractci-. Imin ^vliicli the Sa- maritan was formed, and that, in order ti) sIkiw (ni this occasion that the writer of the inscription was the offended (iod of Israel, whose authority was at that moment peculiarly despised ( ver. 2, 3, 4), he adopted his own sacred character, in which he had originally writ- ten the decalogue, in which Moses could transcribe it into the law, and whose autograph copy was found in Josiah's days, and was most proljably brought to Baby- lon in the care of Daniel, who could therefore under- stand the character without inspiration, but which would be unknown to "the wise men of Babylon" {Neiv Anal- ysis of Chronology [Lond. 1811], i, 505). This theory has the recommendation that it involves as little as possible of miraculous agency. Joseph us makes Daniel discoiu-se to Belshazzar as if the inscription had been in Greek. "He (Daniel) explained the writing thus: MANH. 'This,' said he, '«« the Greek language, may mean a number; thus God hath numbered so long "a time for thy life and for thy government, and that there remains a short time for thee.' BEKE.V. This signi- fies weight; hence he says, 'God having weighed in a
) MENEDEMUS
balance the time of thy kingdom, finds it already going down.' $APE2. This also, according to the Greek language, denotes a fragment ; hence 'he will break in pieces thy kingdom, and divide it among the Medes and Persians' " {Ant. x, 11, 3). It has been supposed by some that " the wise men" were not so much at fault to read the inscription as to explain its meaning, which, it is said, thej^ might sufficiently understand to see its boding import to the monarch, and be unwilling to con- sider further— like the disciples in regard to the predic- tions of our Lord's death (Luke ix, 45), where it is said, " This saying was hid from them, they perceived it not ; and they feared to ask him of that saying." Certainly it is said throughout our narrative that "the wise men could not read the writing, nor make known the inter- pretation of it," phrases which would seem to mean one and the same thing ; since, if they mean different things, the order of ideas would be that they coidd not inter- pret nor even read it, and Wintle accordingly translates, " could not read so as to interpret it" {Improved Version of Daniel, Lond. 1807). At all events, the meaning of the inscription by itself would be extremely enigmatical and obscure. To determine the application, and to give the full sense, of an isolated device which amounted to no more than " he or it is numbered, he or it is nutn- bered, he or it is weighed, they are divided" (and there is even a riddle or paranomasia on the last word D"iS ; comp. Susannah, ver. 54, 55, and 58, 59, Greek, and Jer. i, 11, 12, Hebrew; which may either mean "they di- vide," or " the Persians," with little difference of pro- mmciation in the sing. [0*13 and G^S] and none in the plur. ["t"'p"iQ]), must surely have required a super- natural endowment on the part of Daniel — a conclusion which is confirmed by the exact coincidence of the event with the prediction, which he propounded with so much fortitude (ver. 30, 31).— Kitto.
Menedemus, a (iicck philosopher and teacher. flourished in the :!<l rentiiry l;.('.
Z{/(.— lie was bdiii in l.iclria of a noble family, the Theopropidte. Being poor, he labored as a tent-maker and builder for a livelihood. According to Diogenes Laertius, he was sent on some military service to Slegara, where he profited by the occasion to hear Plato. He then relinquished the army, and devoted himself to phi- losophj% But it is not probable that he w'as old enough to have heard Plato before the death of the latter. If the length of his life as Diogenes gives it is correct, it would not have been possible ; for at the period of Pla- to's death he would have been only four years of age. According to the story in Athenosus (iv, p. 168), he and his friend Asclepiades labored for a maintenance as mil- lers, passing the night in toil in order to gain time for philosophy during the day. They subsequently became pnpils of Stilpo at Megara, whence they proceeded to Klis. to profit by the instructions of some disciples of l'li:edo. Menedemus, on his return to Eretria, estab- lished a school of philosophy, which was called the Ere- trian. He did not devote himself cntiiily to philosophy, but was an active participant in tb.e polities ol his native city, becoming the most influential man in the state, although in his earlier days he was regarded with dis- like. He was sent on various missions to Ptolemaus (probably Ptolemteus Ceraunus), to Lysimachus, and to Demetrius, and obtained for his native city a repeal of a ' portion of the tax paid to Demetrius. During some portion of his life he visited Cyprus, and greatly enraged the tyrant Nicocreon by his freely-expressed opinions. The story of his being in Egypt', and sharing in the making of the Septuagint version, which is found in Aristeas, is doubtless unworthy of credence. He en- joyed the favor of Antigonus Gonatus, and persuaded the Eretrians to present to him a (Hiblic congratulation after his victory over the Gaids. Tliis induced the sus- liicion of an intention on his part of betraying Eretria into the power of Antigonus. According to one ac- cotuit, these surmises led him to depart secretly from