Menas
（
Μηνᾶς). A familiar form of Menodōrus (
Μηνόδωρος). A freedman of Pompey the Great and one of the principal
commanders of the fleet of Sextus Pompey against Antony and Octavianus (B.C. 40). In B.C. 39
he tried in vain to dissuade his master from concluding a peace with Octavianus and Antony;
and, at an entertainment given to them by Sextus on board his ship at Misenum, Menas suggested
to him to cut the cables of the vessel, and, running it out to sea, despatch both his rivals.
The treacherous proposal, however, was rejected by Pompey. On the breaking out of the war
again in B.C. 38, Menas deserted Pompey and went over to Octavianus. In B.C. 36 he
returned to his old master's service; but in the course of the same year he again played the
deserter, and joined Octavianus. In B.C. 35 he accompanied Octavianus in the Pannonian
campaign, and was slain at the siege of Siscia. According to the old scholiasts, this Menas is
the person so vehemently attacked by Horace in the Fourth Epode.
