MAIMONIDES

maimonides, the common name of rabbi moses ben maimon (1135-1204), also known from the initials of these last words as rambam, jewish philosopher. his life falls into three epochs, which may be typified by the towns in which they were passed, viz. cordova, fez and cairo. he was born in cordova on the 20th of march 1135, the eve of passover; he had a brother, david, and one sister. his early years were spent in his native town, which had then just passed the zenith of its glory. the arab rulers had fostered the development of science, art, medicine, philosophy, literature and learning. all these influences played their part in the education of maimonides, whose father, besides training him in all branches of hebrew and jewish scholarship, implanted in the youth a sound knowledge of these secular studies as well. in 1148 cordova was taken from the last fatimite caliph by the victorious almohades, who had spread over spain from n. africa. these militant revivalists strove to re-establish islam in what they considered its primitive simplicity. they laid great stress on the unity of god, and tolerated neither schism within the faith nor dissent without. the position of the orthodox spanish jews became intolerable, and maimon, after ten years of hardships, wanderings and escapes, decided to take his family out of the country. he settled in fez. the years which maimonides spent there (1160-1165) were memorable for his friendship with abdul arab ibn muisha--a moslem poet and theologian--and for the commencement of his literary activity. his energies were diverted towards stimulating the religious feelings of his brethren and combating assimilation. in consequence he became alarmed for his own safety, and in 1165 left for egypt, where he settled after a passing visit to the holy land. cordova taught him the humanities; fez humanity. cairo, besides giving him prominence at court and in the jewish community, was the centre of the almost world-wide influence which he exercised over jewry by his monumental writings and dominant personality. by 1177 maimonides was the recognized chief of the cairene congregation and consulted on important matters by communities far and wide. here he was joined by his most famous disciple, joseph aknin. but his early life in egypt was fraught with deep sorrow. his father died soon after their arrival, and maimonides himself suffered severely from prostration and sickness. his brother david, jointly with whom he carried on a trade in gems, was shipwrecked in the indian ocean. with him perished the entire fortune of the family. forced to earn a livelihood, maimonides turned to medicine. the fame of his skill eventually brought him the appointment of body physician to saladin, to whom, it is said, he was so attached that when richard i. wrote from ascalon, offering him a similar post at the english court, maimonides refused. he married the sister of ibn al mali, one of the royal secretaries. in 1186, his son abraham was born. his remaining years were spent in ceaseless activity and in controversy, which he sought to avoid. he died amidst universal sorrow and veneration. the works of maimonides fall into three periods: (a) to the spanish period belong his commentary on the whole talmud (not fully carried out), a treatise on the calendar (_maamar ha-ibbur_), a treatise on logic (_milloth higgayon_), and his commentary on the _mishnah_ (this was called _siraj_ or _maor_, i.e. "light": begun 1158, completed 1168 in egypt). (b) while he was in fez, he wrote an essay on the sanctification of the name of god (_maamar kiddush hashem_, _iggereth hashemad_). (c) the works written in egypt were: letter to the yemenites (_iggereth teman_ or _pethah tiqvah_); _responsa_ on questions of law; biblical and rabbinical code (_misnheh torah_ or _yad hahazaka_, completed 1180); _sepher hamitzvoth_, an abbreviated handbook of the preceding; and his great philosophical work _moreh nebuhim_ or "the guide of the perplexed" (1190). to these must be added certain portions of the _mishnah_ commentary, such as the "eight chapters," the discussion on reward and punishment and immortality, the jewish creed, which have acquired fame as independent works. the influence of moses ben maimon is incalculable. "from moses unto moses there arose not one like moses," is the verdict of posterity. maimonides was the great exponent of reason in faith and toleration in theology. one of the main services to european thought of the "guide" was its independent criticism of some of aristotle's principles. his codification of the talmud was equally appreciated in the study of the scholar and in practical life. christian europe owed much to maimonides. not only did his "guide" influence scholasticism in general, but it was from his code that the church derived its medieval knowledge of the synagogue. a complete bibliography will be found in _maimonides_, by david yellin and israel abrahams (london, 1903); the final chapter of that work gives a summary of the influence of maimonides on christian philosophers such as aquinas, and jewish such as spinoza. the "guide" has been translated into english by m. friedlander (1881-1885; new ed., 1905). see also _jewish encyclopedia_, articles _s.v._, and the volumes edited by guttmann, _moses ben maimon_ (leipzig, 1908, &c.). (h. le.) main (lat. _moenus_), a river of germany, and the most important right-bank tributary of the rhine. it has two sources, the weisse main (white main), which rises in the fichtelgebirge on the east side of the ochsenkopf, and the rote main (red main), which, rising on the eastern slope of the frankish jura, flows past bayreuth. they unite 3 m. below kulmbach, 920 ft. above the sea. hence the river, already of considerable size, pursues a north-westerly direction, skirting the spurs of the frankish jura in a pleasant valley. at lichtenfels the river takes a south-westerly course, which it retains until entering the fertile basin of bamberg. here it receives from the south-east the waters of its chief tributary, the regnitz, and enters upon its middle course. its direction is now again north-west, and meandering through pleasant vales and pastures it passes hassfurt and reaches schweinfurt. its course is now almost due south to ochsenfurt, when it again proceeds north-west. continuing in this direction amid vine-clad hills, it washes the walls of the university city of wurzburg, and thence, dividing the forest-clad ranges of the spessart and the odenwald, reaches gemunden. here it is joined from the right by the frankish saale and, turning abruptly south, receives at wertheim the beautiful tauber. feudal castles and medieval towns now crown its banks, notably, freudenberg and miltenberg. from the latter it proceeds due north to aschaffenburg, whence passing frankfort it pours its yellow waters into the green waters of the rhine just above mainz. the main has a total length of 310 m. and drains a basin of approximately 11,000 sq. m. it is navigable from the confluence of the regnitz, 240 m. from its mouth, for barges and other small craft, and through the ludwig canal is connected with the danube. see ulrici, _das maingebiet in seiner naturlichen beschaffenheit_ (kassel, 1885); e. faber, _zur hydrographie des maingebiets_ (munich, 1895), and lill, _mainthal, main und mainschiffahrt_ (berlin, 1904). main (from the aryan root which appears in "may" and "might," and lat. _magnus_, great), a word meaning properly power or strength, especially physical. this use chiefly survives in the expression "with might and main." the word is more common as a substantival elliptical use of the adjective, which usually has the sense of principal or chief in size, strength, importance, &c. thus "the main," the high open sea, is for "main sea," cf. "mainland," the principal part of a territory excluding islands and sometimes far-projecting peninsulas. the expression "the spanish main" properly meant that part of the main land of the n.e. coast of south america stretching from the orinoco to the isthmus of panama, and the former spanish possessions in central america bordering on the caribbean sea, but it is often loosely used, especially in connexion with the buccaneers, of the caribbean sea itself. the term "main" is also thus used of a principal pipe or cable for conducting gas, water, electricity, &c. the elliptical use does not appear, however, in such expressions as main road, line, stream. another use of the word "main" has a somewhat obscure history. it appears as a term in the game of hazard, and also in cock-fighting. in the last it is used for a match, and for the cocks engaged in a match. in hazard it is the number called by the "caster" before the dice are thrown; this may be any number from five to nine inclusive. the usual derivation is from the french _main_, a hand, but according to the _new english dictionary_ there is no evidence for this, and the more probable explanation is that it is an adaptation of "main" meaning principal or chief. from this use of the word in hazard the expression "main chance" is derived. "main," a shortened form of domain or demesne, only now survives in scotland, usually in the plural "mains" for a home farm. maina (or mani) and mainotes, a district and people of the peloponnesus, the modern morea. maina is the country occupied by the mountain range of taygetus from sparta to cape matapan, the ancient taenarum. it is now divided between the modern districts oetylos and gythion. before the organization of the present kingdom of greece, maina was subdivided into [greek: exo mane], outer maina, from the frontier of kalamata, on the gulf of messenia, to vitylo (oetylos) and inland to the summit of taygetus; [greek: kato mane], lower maina, from vitylo to cape matapan; and [greek: mesa mane], or inner maina, on the east, and on the gulf of laconia as far as the plain of elos. it contained over a hundred villages. the country is mountainous and inaccessible, a formation to which it owes its historical importance. the mainotes claim to descend from the spartans, and probably represent the eleuthero, or free, laconians who were delivered by rome from the power of sparta, as is suggested by the traces of ancient greek in their dialect and by their physical type. their country being a natural fortress, they were able to defend themselves against the byzantine emperors, the barbarians who broke into the empire, the latin princes of achaea of the house of villehardouin, and the turks. as their country is also poor and maritime, they were early tempted to take to piratical adventure. gibbon says that "in the time of constantine porphyrogenitus they had acquired the name of mainotes, under which they dishonour the claim of liberty by the inhuman pillage of all that is shipwrecked on their rocky shore." their neighbours gave their country the name of "kakaboulia"--the land of wicked counsels. the passes of their mountains were elaborately fortified and their villages were full of fortified towers (_pyrgoi_) from which they formed their own favourite epithet, maina polypyrgos--many-towered maina. on the western side it also contains the remains of feudal keeps, erected by william ii. de villehardouin (1245-1278) and other latin princes of achaea. the mainotes did not become christians till the 9th century. from the 15th till the 17th century they recognized a family which claimed to belong to the comneni of trebizond as head chiefs. but the real power was in the hands of the chiefs of the different families and villages, who formed a turbulent and martial aristocracy. enduring and ferocious feuds were common among them. in the course of the 18th century the family of mavromicheli (black michael), which belonged to lower maina, established a general headship over the mainotes after much strife and many murders. when russia endeavoured to promote a rising against the turks in the morea in 1770 the mainotes acted with her, and the strength of their country enabled them to escape the vengeance of the turks when the christians were cynically deserted by the russians. in 1777 their practical independence was recognized by the sultan's officers. during the greek war of independence the mainotes were chiefly led by petros (petro bey) mavromicheli, known to his countrymen as the king of maina, who undoubtedly cherished the hope of establishing a principality for himself. the freedom of greece, for which he had fought in his own way, proved the ruin of his ambition. he found the new order less compatible with his schemes than the turkish dominion. petro bey was imprisoned by the greek president capodistrias (see capo d'istria, count.), who was in revenge murdered by the mavromichelis. the family were finally content to become courtiers and officials in the reign of king otto i. in the 19th century maina was but little affected by civilization, except in so far as the efficiency of modern navies debarred the mainotes from their old resource of piracy. see w. martin leake, _travels in the morea_ (1830); m. e. yemeniz, "la maina," in _revue des deux mondes_ (march 1, 1865); and philipson, "zur ethnographie des peloponnes," in _petermanns mittheilungen_, vol. 36 (gotha). maine, anne louise benedicte de bourbon, duchesse du (1676-1753), daughter of henri jules de bourbon, prince de conde and anne of bavaria, was born on the 8th of november 1676. on the 19th of march 1692 she married louis auguste de bourbon, duc du maine, son of louis xiv. and mme de montespan. the duchesse du maine held a little court at sceaux, where she gave brilliant entertainments and immersed herself in political intrigues. displeased with the action of the regent orleans in degrading the illegitimate children of louis xiv. from their precedence above the peers of france, she induced her husband to join in the cellamare conspiracy for the transference of the regency to the king of spain. the plot, however, was discovered, and she was imprisoned in 1719. the following year she returned to sceaux, where she resumed her salon and gathered round her a brilliant company of wits and poets. she died in paris on the 23rd of january 1753. see general de piepape, _la duchesse du maine_ (1910).