Charles Merivale was born March 8th, 1808, and educated at Harrow, Haileybury, and Cambridge. In 1833 he was elected fellow of St. Johns. In addition to gaining distinction as a student he was prominent in athletic sports, rowing in the first inter-university boat-race in 1829. He was ordained in 1833, appointed chaplain to the speaker of the House of Commons in 1863, and in 1869 became dean of Ely. He died December 27th, 1893. Merivale’s History of the Romans under the Empire did much to foster the study of Roman history during the empire. Beginning with Sulla’s death, it follows the intellectual and social life of the period, up to the death of Marcus Aurelius, with a certain degree of completeness, although the author does not touch any of the deeper problems in connection with the history of the imperial period.
Meyer, Edward, Geschichte des Alterthums, Stuttgart, 1884-1893, 2 vols.; Untersuchungen über die Schlacht im Teutoburger Walde, Berlin, 1895; Über den Ursprung des Tribunats, in Hermes, vol. 30, 1895. A biographical notice of this author appears in vol. I, p. 302. The second volume of Meyer’s history, which is the last that has appeared, brings us down to the Persian wars. In keeping with its general character it gives a survey of the whole Occident, including the beginnings of Italian history and the establishment of Etruscan power in Italy. But while dealing with Italy as a whole, new light is thrown upon the history of Rome in particular, as upon Etruscan dominion in Latium, the character of patrician rule, the system of land ownership, etc. The oldest Italic and Etruscan civilisation is also well portrayed. Meyer, K., Sprache und Sprachdenkmäler der Langobarden, Paderborn, 1877.—Michaud, J. F., L’histoire des croisades, Paris, 1841, 6 vols.; English translation by W. Robson, London, 1852, 3 vols.—Michelet, J., Histoire romaine, Paris, 1831, 2 vols.; English translation by W. Hazlitt, History of the Roman Republic, London, 1847.—Middleton, J. H., Ancient Rome in 1888, London, 1888; Article on Rome in the Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition; The Remains of Ancient Rome, London, 1892, 2 vols.—Milman, H. H., History of Christianity from the Birth of Christ to the Abolition of Paganism, London, 1867.—Mispoulet, Y. B., Les institutions politiques des romains, Paris, 1882-1883, 2 vols.—Mommsen, Theodor, Corpus inscriptionum neapolitanarum, Leipsic, 1851; Römische Geschichte, Berlin, 1853-1856, 3 vols.; 8th edition, 1888, 5 vols.; Die Rechtsfrage zwischen Cæsar und dem Senat, Breslau, 1857; Die römische Chronologie bis auf Cæsar, Berlin, 1858-1859; Geschichte des römischen Münzwesens, Breslau, 1860; Verzeichniss der römischen Provinzen um 297, Berlin, 1862; Römische Forschungen, Berlin, 1865-1879, 2 vols.; translated into English by W. P. Dickson, History of Rome to Time of Augustus, London, 1868-1875, 4 vols.; Römisches Staatsrecht, Leipsic, 1871-1888, 3 vols. (in collaboration with K. J. Marquardt); the second edition of the Handbuch der römischen Altertümer, Leipsic, 1881-1886, 7 vols.; translated into English by W. P. Dickson, The Roman Provinces, London, 1887, 2 vols.; History of the Roman Republic (abridged by C. Bryans and F. J. P. Hendrick), London, 1888; Abriss des römischen Staatsrechts, Leipsic, 1893.
Theodor Mommsen, German historian and epigraphist, was of Danish origin, and was born at Garding in Schleswig, November 30th, 1817. Educated at Altona and Kiel, he spent the years from 1844 to 1847 in archæological exploration in Rome. Appointed in 1848 a professor at Leipsic, he lost his position by participating in the stirring politics of that year. In 1852 he became professor at Zurich and in 1858 at the university of Berlin. In 1874 he was made perpetual secretary of the Academy of Sciences at Berlin. From 1873 to 1882 he was a member of the Chamber of Deputies of Prussia. He declined an election to the Reichstag in 1881, protesting against the policy of Prince Bismarck, and particularly against the progress of socialism in the state. This criticism having roused the ire of the prince, Mommsen was, in 1882, prosecuted for defamation. The case gained great celebrity. Acquitted upon the first trial, the judgment was reversed upon appeal, and upon a second trial, in which he defended himself, he was again victorious.
Professor Mommsen’s work marks an important epoch in the field of Roman history. His history of Rome appeared first in 1854, in a series of volumes intended for a more general public, so that only results of his investigation were given. There is a marked departure in Mommsen’s style from the reserve of the classical historians. He by no means regards the events he describes in the light of an outsider, but takes sides for or against different parties and leading characters. He has a special antipathy, for example, against the Etruscans, also against Cicero. It is this personal element, perhaps, which seems to make the whole work live. Persons and things are introduced with the utmost vividness. The different characters, men like Gracchus, Sulla, and Cæsar seem to be actually living, breathing persons, and no mere words on a page. But not alone was the style new—wholly new material was brought forward, making a new chapter of Italic history, based on a study of the country itself, on the monuments of old time, especially on finds in tombs in Italy. Above everything else the different aspects of the national development—the economic, artistic, and literary—are brought together with a master hand. The book at once aroused new interest in classical study throughout the country. Also to special departments Mommsen has contributed invaluable productions—epigraphy, numismatics, above all the constitutional law of the Romans, all have received the stamp of his genius.
Montalembert, C. F. de T., Les moines d’Occident, Paris, 1860-1867, 7 vols.; English translation, The Monks of the West from S. Benedict to S. Bernard, Edinburgh and London, 1860-1870, 7 vols.—Monticolo, G., I Manuscritti e le fonti della Cronica del Diacono Giovanni, Rome, 1889; Cronache Veneziani Antichissime, Rome, 1890; Le Spedizioni di Luitprando nell’ Escarto e la Lettera di Gregorio III al Doge Orso, in Archivio della Società Romana di Storia Patria, 1892.—Monumenta Germaniæ Historica, Hanover, 1826; in progress.