MAECENAS, a wealthy Roman statesman, celebrated for his patronage of letters; was the friend and adviser of Augustus Caesar, and the patron of Virgil and Horace; claimed descent from the ancient Etruscan kings; left the most of his property to Augustus; d. 8 B.C.

MAELSTROeM.  See MALSTROeM.

MAENADES, the priestesses of Bacchus, who at the celebration of his festivals gave way to expressions of frenzied enthusiasm, as if they were under the spell of some demonic power.

MAEONIDES, a name given to Homer, either as the son of Maeon, or as born, according to one tradition, in Maeonia.

MAESTRICHT (33), capital of Dutch Limburg, on the Maes, 57 m.  E. of Brussels; has manufactures of glass, earthenware, and carpets; near it are the vast subterranean quarries of the Pietersberg, opened by the Romans.

MAETERLINCK, MAURICE, Belgian dramatist, born at Ghent; earned his fame by “La Princesse Maleine,” produced in Paris 1890, and followed by “L’Intruse,” “Les Aveugles,” and several other plays; his essays show religious sympathies; b. 1864.

MAFEKING, a station in NE. of British Bechuanaland, on the Transvaal frontier, on the railway from Cape Town.

MAFFIA, a Sicilian secret society which aims at boycotting the law-courts, superseding the law, and ruling the island; its chief weapon is the boycott; violence is only resorted to for vengeance; funds are raised by blackmail; popular support enables it to control elections, avoid legal proceedings, and influence industrial questions.  The Italian government try in vain to put it down.

MAGDALA, an Abyssinian hill fortress on a lofty plateau 300 m.  S. of Massowah; captured by Lord Napier, who had been sent in 1868 to rescue certain British subjects held prisoners there, and which he succeeded in doing.

MAGDALENE, MARY, a Galilaean, belonging to Magdala, on the Sea of Galilee, who followed Christ, stood by the cross, prepared spices for His sepulchre, to whom He first appeared after His resurrection, and who is supposed by some recent critics to be the sole voucher for His rising again.

MAGDEBURG (202), on the Elbe, 75 m.  SW. of Berlin, is the capital of Prussian Saxony, one of the most important fortresses, the chief sugar market of Germany, and the seat of large iron manufactures; it has also distilleries and cotton mills, and is a busy railway centre; it is a place of ancient date and historical interest.

MAGELLAN, FERDINAND, Portuguese navigator; served his country first in the East Indies and Morocco, but dissatisfied with King Manuel’s treatment of him, offered himself to Spain; under Charles V.’s patronage he and Ruy Falero set out to reach the Moluccas by the west in 1519; he reached the Philippines, and died in battle in Matan; on this voyage he discovered the MAGELLAN STRAIT, 375 m. long and 15 m. wide, between the South American mainland and Tierra del Fuego; he gave name to the Pacific from the calm he exceptionally, it appears, experienced on entering it (1470-1521).