Mohnike, Gottlieb Christian Friedrtcii, a German divine of note, was bom at Grimmen,in Pome- rania, in 1 7.sl ; studied theology at Greifswalde and Jena ; in 181 1 became rector of the city school at Greifswalde ; m 1813 entered the pastorate, and gained a name uni- versallj' honored and revered. lie was made councillor of the Consistory after having removed to Stralsund about 1830, and died July 0, 1841. Besides several sec- ular publications, we have from his pen Uliich Ilutten's Jugendkbvn (Greifsw. 1816) : — Ilymnologische Forschun- (jen (ibid. 1831-32, 2 vols.).
Moine, Etienxe le, a very learned French Prot- estant minister, was born at Caen, in October, 1624, and became well skilled in the Oriental and classical lan- guages, besides attaining great distinction as a theolo- gian even while yet a student at the Protestant serai- narj' in Sedan and the University of Leyden. After liis graduation he was appointed pastor at Rouen, and rapidly rose in favor with his brethren. For political reasons he was imprisoned for a short time, and upon his release negotiated for an appointment at his Dutch alma mater, where he was finally appointed a profess- or, and successfully taught for some time. He was honored with the rectorate, and in various other ways, and his learning was acknowledged even in England. Oxford University conferred the doctorate of divinity on him in 1677. He died at Leyden Ajiril 4, 1689. Sev- eral dissertations of his are i)rinte<l together, and enti- tled Varia Sacra (Leyden, 16«5, 1694, 2 vols. 4to). He also wrote other works, l)ut none of them are now of any value. See Hoefer, Xouv. Jiiog. Gen. s. v.
Moira (MoTpa, a share), the classical personifica- tion of that mysterious yet irresistible power whose in- visible sceptre controls and directs human events, and assigns to each individual his fate or share. Homer, with a single exception (//. xxiv, 29), speaks of but one Moira, a jiersonitication of fate, whom he represents as spiiming the thread of each man's life, and though coun- selling with the other gods, yet as having supreme au- thority in directing and controlling the fate of each indi- vidual, and yieldiiit,'oh(isancc only to Zeus. Hesiod, liv- ing a little later, di>iiiigui.slips three Moine, and names them as Clotho, or the siiiuning fate ; Lachesis, or the
one who assigns man his fate ; and A tropos, or the fate that cannot be avoided. These he calls the daughters of Zeus and Thermis, a genealogy from which late; writers differ. Other mythographers picture Clotho as holding the distaff, and ever furnishing the present ; Lachesis, twirling the spindle, lays out the future ; and Atropos severs the past by cutting the thread with her fatal scissors. The representations of the character and nature of the Moira?, as varied as they are numer- ous, may, for our purpose, be classed in two divisions : 1st, those in which the Moirx are but allegorical rep- resentations of the duration of human life ; 2d, those in which the Moira? are considered strictly as divini- ties of fate. As used in the first sense, it is supposed the Greeks originally conceived of but one Moira, but on further consideration of her nature and attributes adopted the idea of two, representing life's two bounda- ries of birth and death. Ultimately the number be- came three, and personified past, present, and future. Considering the Moir.T2 as strictly divinities of fate, they are viewed as independent, meting out individual desti- nies in accordance with eternal laws which know no variations or exceptions. The gods as well as mortals are subject to their authority, and even Zeus is some- times represented as powerless to annul their decrees. Oftener, however, Zeus is pictured as in the background, weighing out power to them, and interfering with their decrees when disposed to save his favorites or destroy those with whom he is angry. This twofold view of the Moira;, considering them sometimes as possessed of supreme power, and issuing irrevocable decrees, and at other times as interfered with and overrided by Zeus, is easily accounted for in the vain attempts of uninspired man to harmonize the seemingly inconsistent meting out of fate. By this means the ancients were enal>led to interi)ret, satisfactorily to themselves, the varying freaks of fickle fortune, and account for apjiarcnt favor- itism and injustice. It proved a magic key to open the mysteries of the dealings of Providence, and shifted the burden of human complaints from the shoulders of their beloved Zeus to those of the hated Moinv, while all the praise for sudden prosperity or escape from dan- ger and death was given to Zeus for his kindly inter- ference with the will of the fates. Without the aid of this double view of the relationship existing between Zeus and the Moirre, the Greeks coidd see in the strange events of national and personal histon,' naught but the workings of an imperfect divinity ; but with this ex- planatory means they were enabled to clothe Zeus with a robe interwoven with threads both of justice and mercy. For the sake of conceiving a blameless di- vinity, they were willing even to admit the occasional absence of supreme authority. Like the Erinyes, with whom they are often confounded, the MoiriE differ sin- gularly from all the other gods in that they have no sympathy whatever for man, their iron sceptres nev- er being Avielded by the hands of mercy. Yet they were worshipped in many parts of Greece, and had sanctuaries at Corinth, Sparta, Olympia, and Thebes. The ancient artists and poets give us many fanciful pict- ures of the Moira?. The earliest of the former rep- resent them as goddesses holding staffs or scejitres in their hands as emblematic of their dominion. In later works of art they form a triplet of grave though beau- tiful maidens: Clotho holding a spindle or a roll (the book of fate) ; Lachesis pointing with her staff to the globe ; while Atropos holds a pair of scales, a sun-dial, or some cutting instrument. By the poets they are sometimes i)icturcd as aged and decrepit women, typ- ical of the slow and often sorrowful march of fated events, and the various e])ithets applied to them are not so much the outburstings of human hate as poetical pencillings of the severity, inflexibility, and sternness of fate. See Vollmer, .vfilhoL WOrtabuch, s. v.: Smith, IHct. Greek and Roman JUng. tuid Mi/thol. s. v. ; Dwight, Classical ^fgthol. s. v. ; tirote, JJist. of Greece, iv, 197 sq. (H.W.T.)