MENIFEE
92
MENKEN
Ixv, 11, says of Meni, 'It is a star, and some interpret it of the stars which are numbered, and tliey are the seven stars of motion,' i. e. the planets. Huxtorf (Lea-. J/ebr.) applies it to the 'number' of the stars which were wor- shipped as gods ; Schindler (Lex. I\-ntiiyl.) to the ' num- ber and multitude' of the idols, while according to oth- ers it refers to ' Mercury, the god of numbers;' all which are mere conjectures, quot kominvs, tot sententice, and take their origin from the ]>lay upon the word Meni, which is found in the verse next following that in which it occurs ('therefore will I number [^T\'''^'0''\,u-mdnithi'\ you to the sword'), and which is supposed to point to its derivation from the verb 1^3^, indndh, to number. But the origin of the name of Noah, as given in Gen. v, 29, shows that such plays upon words are not to be de- pended upon as the bases of etymology.. On the sup- position, however, that in this case the etymologj- of Meni is really indicated, its meaning is still uncertain. Those who understand by it the moon, derive an argu- ment for their theory from the fact that anciently years were numbered by the courses of the moon" (Smith).
The fact of Meni being a Babylonian goil renders it probable that some planet was worshipped under this name: but there is much diversity of opinion as to the particidar planet to which the designation of destiny would be most applicable (see Lakemacher, Obseri: phi- lol. iv, 18 sq. ; David ^Mill's diss, on the subject in his Dissert, selectee, p. 81-13-2). Miinter considers it to be Venus (see Gesenius, Comment, ad loc), as the lesser star of good fortune (the Nunmn of the Persians [2 Mace, i, 13] or .1 wetis [Strabo, xv, 733] of the Armenians [xi, 532; xii, 559]); Ewald takes it to be Saturn, the chief dispenser of evil influences; and Movers {Phdnic.\,6h0) has returned to the old opinion that Meni is the moon, which was also supposed to be an arbitress of fortune : the best arguments for which last view are collected by Vitringa (ad loc). It also deserves notice that there are some, among whom is Hitzig, who consider Gad and Meni to be names for one and the same god, and who chietiy differ as to whether the sun or the moon is the god intended. It would seem on the whole that, in the passage under consideration, the pro])het reproaches the idolatrous Jews with setting up a table to Fortune, and with making libations to Fate; and Jerome (ad loc.) observes that it was the custom as late as his time, in all cities, especially in Egypt, to set tables before the gods, and furnish them with various luxurious articles of food, and with goblets containing a mixture of new wine, on the last day of the month and of the year, and that the people drew omens from them in respect to the fruitfulness of the year ; but in honor of what god these things were done he does not state. Numerous exam- ples of this practice occur on the monuments cf Egypt (■Wilkinson. Anc. E;;. i, 2(55). See Gad.
Menifee, Qrixx J[., a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, son of Hon. William Menifee, was a native of Texas. He first studied law, and took his place at the bar with a good pros|)cct of success in that (irofession. At the call of duty, however, he relin- quished the practice of jurisprudence, and entered the Metliodist itinerancy in 1857. Duringthe war he served, for nearly two years, as a private soldier in the army of Virginia, losing a leg at the battle of Sharpsburg. Af- ter the restoration of peace he entered upon minis- terial work in Texas, and there labored faithfully till his death in 18()7. '"t^uinn ]\fenifee was a young man of noble and generous impulses, a liigh-toned gentle- man, and a pure-minded Christian. . . . Notwithstand- ing the loss of one of his limbs, his friends predicted for him a useful and successful career in the ministry. But liis sun of life went down ere it had reached its merid- ian."—Thrall, Hist. oJ'Meth. in Texas, p. 104.
Menippus, one of the most noted Cynic philoso- phers, was born at Gadara, in Ca'le-Syria, in the first century B.C. He was originally a slave, but afterwards became one of the pupils of Diogenes. He satirized the
philosophers of his time in such severe terms that the most bitter satires were afterwards denominated Menip- pean. Lucian pronounces him " the greatest snarler and sna])per among the old dogs" (the Cynics), and in his " Dialogues of the Dead" makes Diogenes describe him as an old bald-headed man, in a tattered cloak, inces- santly ridiculing the pedantry of his brother philoso- phers. He was the author of thirteen treatises, which contained, we are told, nothing serious, but were filled with cutting sarcasms. These works are all lost, but we have fragments of Yarro's Sutune ^fen^ppe(p, writ- ten in imitation of Menippus. According to Diogenes (vi, 101), these works were entitled as follows : 'SiKvia, AiaBI'jKai, 'ETTiaToXai, etc. He amassed great wealth as a usurer, but, having been cheated out of all of it, was so mortified that he strangled himself. — Smith, Diet, oj" Class. Biog. s. v.