The editor has
promised
an
explanatory and copious commentary; but this has not
yet appeared.
explanatory and copious commentary; but this has not
yet appeared.
Charles - 1867 - Classical Dictionary
, I.
, 6, Z.
--Pausan.
, "l, 2--
Stcph. By:. , s. v. ) Herodotus informs us that the Ni-
synans were subject at one time to Artemisia, queen of
Caria (7, 99). The modern name is Ntsart. From
this island is procured a large number of good mill-
stones. (Cramer's Anc. Greece, vol. 3, p. 418. )--II
The chief town in the island of Carpathus. (Strabo,
489. )
Nitetis, a daughter of Apries, king of Egypt, mar-
ried by his successor Amasis to Cambyses. Herodo-
tus states (3, 1), that Cambyses was instigated to ask
in marriage the daughter of Amasis, by a certain phy-
sician, whom Amasis had compelled to go to Persia
when Cyrus, the father of Cambyses, was suffering
? ? from weak eyes, and requested the Egyptian king to
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? NOM
NON
receiving its own from the adjacent Natron likes'.
Many Christians were accustomed to flee hither for
refuge during the early persecutions of the church.
(Sozom. , 6, 31. --Socrai. , Ecclcs. , 4, 23 --Plin. , 5, 9.
--Id, 81, 10. )
Niv. iBii, I. one of the Fortunate Insula;, off the
western coast of Mauritania Tingitana. It is now the
island of Tcnerifc. The name Nivaria has reference
to the snows which cover the summits of the island
for a great part of the year. It was also called Con-
vallis. (I'lm. , 4, 32. )--II. A city of Hispania Tar-
raconensis, in the territory of the Vaccffii, and to the
north of Cauca. (Jim. Ant. , 435. )
Noctiluca, a surname of Diana, as indicating the
goddess that shines during the night season. The ep-
ithet would also appear to have reference to her tem-
ple's being adorned with lights during the same period.
This temple was on the Palatine Hill. Compare the
remark of Varro: "Luna, quod sola lucet noclu:
itaquc ca dicta Noctiluca in Palatio, nam ibi noctu
iucel tempium" (L. L. , 4, 10).
Nola, ono of the most ancient and important cities
of Campania, situate to the northeast of Neapolis. The
earliest record wo have of it is from Hecataeus, who is
cited by Stephanus of Byzantium (s. v. Nii/ln). That
ancient historian, in one of his works, described it as
a city of the Ausones. According to some accounts,
Nola was said to have been founded by the Etrurians.
(Veil. Paterc, 1, 6--Polyb. , 2, 17. ) Others, again,
represented it as a colony of the Chalcidians. (Jus-
tin, 20, 1,13. ) If this latter account be correct, the
Chalcidians of Cumie and Neapolis are doubtless
meant. All these conflicting statements, however,
may be reconciled by admitting that it successively
fell into the hands of these different people. Nola af-
terward appears to have been occupied by the Sam-
nites, together with other Campanian towns, until they
were expelled by the Romans. (Lit). , 9, 28. --Strab. ,
249. ) Though situated in an open plain, it was capa-
ble of being easily defended, from the strength of its
walls and towers; and we know it resisted all the ef-
forts of Hannibal after the battle of Cannffi, under the
able direction of Marcellus. (Lie. , 23, 14, seqq. --
Cic, Brut. , 3. ) In the Social war, this city fell into
the hands of the confederates, and remained in their
possession nearly to the conclusion of the war. It
was then retaken by Sylla, and, having been set on fire
by the Samnitc garrison, was burned to the ground
(Ln. , Epit. , 89. --Appian, Bell. Civ. , 1, 42. --Veil.
Paterc, 2, 18. ) It must have risen, however, from
its ruins, since subsequent writers reckon it among
the cities of Campania, and Frontinus reports that it
was colonized by Vespasian. (Phn. , 3, 5. --Front. ,
dc Col) Here Augustus breathed his last, as Taci-
tus and Suetonius remark, in the same house and
chamber in which his father -Octavius had ended his
days. (Tacit. , Ann. , 1, o, ct 9. --Suet. , Aug. , 99. )
The modem name of the place is the same as the an-
cient, Aola. (Cramer's Anc. Italy, vol. 2, p. 210. )
Aulus Gcllius relates a foolish story, that Virgil had
introduced the name of Nola into his Georgics (2,
225), but that, when he was refused permission by the
inhabitants to lead off a stream of water into his
grounds adjacent to the place (aquam uti duceret in
propinquum rus), he obliterated the namo of the city
from his poem, and substituted the word uru. (Aul.
Gcll. , 7, 20. --Compare Sen). , ad Mn. , 7, 740-- Phi-
? ? larg. , ad Georg. , I. c. ) Ambrose Leo, a native of
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? NON
NONNUS.
ans, who had written on the difference between words,
extracts published by Gothofredus (Godcfroi), among
others, we find fragments of the writings of Marcelius
(p 1335). Some modem critics have formed rather
an unfavourable opinion of Nonius Marrcllus. G. J.
Vossius says that he is deficient in learning and judg-
ment; and Justus Lipsius treats him as a man of very
weak mind. (Voss, de Philolol. , 5, 13. --Lips. , An-
Uq Led. , 2, 4. ) On the other hand, Isaac Vossius
laments the hard fate of this grammarian, whom, ac-
cording to him, modem scholars have been accustomed
to insult because unable to understand his -writings
(ad Catull. , p. 212). It is certain, that no ancient
grammarian is so rich in his citations from previous
writers, which he often gives without passing any
opinion upon them. It is sufficient, however, for
modern scholars to obtain these citations; nor need
they, in fact, regret that the compiler has not append-
ed to them his individual sentiments. (Scholl, Hist.
Lit. Rom. , vol. 3, p. 310, scqq. )
Nonnus, I. a native of Panopolis in Egypt, and
distinguished for his poetical abilities. ' The precise
period when he flourished is involved in great un-
certainty, nor is anything known with accuracy re-
specting the circumstances of his life. Conjecture
has been called in to supply the place of positive infor-
mation Nonnus was, as appears from his produc-
tions, a man of great erudition, and we cannot doubt
that ho was cither educated at Alcxandrea, or had
lived in that city, where all the Greek erudition cen-
tred during the first ages of the Christian era. --Was
he bom a Christian, or did he embrace Christianity
after he had reached a certain age? We have here a
question about which the ancients have left us in com-
plete uncertainty. The author of the Dwnysiaca must
have been a pagan; for it is difficult to believe that
any Christian, even supposing that he had made the
Greek mythology a subject of deep study, would have
felt inclined to turn his attention to a theme, in treat-
ing of which he must inevitably shock the feelings and
incur the censure of his fellow-Christians. And yet
Nonnus composed also a Christian poem. --It is prob-
able, then, that he was at first a pagan, and embraced
She new religion at a subsequent period of his life.
I hit here a new difficulty presents itself How comes
it that no Christian writer of the time makes mention
>f the conversion of a man who must have acquired a
high reputation for learning? To explain this Bilence,
it has been supposed that Nonnus was one of those
pagan philosophers and sophists, who were a party in
the tumult at Alexandrea, which had been excited by
the intolerance of the bishop Thcophilus. To escape
the vengeance of their opponents, some of these phi-
1 )sophers expatriated themselves, others submitted to
baptism. If Nonnus was in the number of the latter,
it may easily bo conceived that the ecclesiastical wri-
ters of the day could derive no advantage to their
cause from his conversion. ( Wctchert, de Nonno Pa-
nopolitano, Vtteb. , 1810. ) This hypothesis fixes the
period when Nonnus flourished at the end of the fourth,
and the commencement of the fifth century. He was
then contemporary with Synesius. Now, among the
letters of this philosopher, there is one (Ep. 43, ad
Anastas. ) in which he recommends a certain Sosena,
Kfjn of Nonnus, a young man who, he says, has re-
ceived a very careful education. He speaks, on this
same occasion, of the misfortune into which Sosena's
? ? father had fallen, of losing all his property, and this
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? NONNUS.
a vowel placed before a mute foilcr. vo. 1 by a liq'jiJ,
in which they directly departed from Homeric usage.
Nonnus, on his part, replaced a portion of the spondees
liy dactyls, introduced the trochaic cirsura in the third
fjot, banished the trochees from the fourth, made long
the vowels followed by a mute with a liquid, excluded
the hiatus excepting in phrases borrowed from Homer,
and which had received the sanction of ages, and in-
terdicted himself the license of making the caesura
fall upon a short syllable. If by these changes the
hexameter lost somewhat of its statcliness and grav-
ity, it gained, at the samo time, in point of fulness
and elegance. In fine, versification, which had be-
come too easy, now resumed the rank of an art.
(Hermann, Orpluca, p. 60. --Id. , Elcm. Doetr. Metr. ,
p. 333, cd. Lips. , 1816. ) A good edition of Nonnus
'a still a desideratum. The first edition of the Atovv-
ataiid was given by Falckenbcrg, from a manuscript
which Is now at Vienna, from the Plantin press, Ant-
werp, 1569, in 'lin. It contained merely the Greek
text. This edition was reprinted by Wechel, with a
poor translation by Lubin, at Hanover, in 1605, in 8vo.
Cuneus published in 1610, at Loyden, Animadversio-
net in Nonnum, with a dissertation on the poet by
Daniel Heinsius, and conjectures by Scaliger, which
Wechel afterward joined to his edition of 1605, pre-
fixing, at the same time, a new title-page. Few of the
beamed, after this, occupied themselves with Nonnus.
In 1783, Villoison published in his Epistola Vinari-
cntcs (Turin, 4to), some good corrections made by an
anonymous scholar on the margin of a copy of the edi-
tion of 1605. In 1809, Moser gave an edition of six
books of the AtovvaioKu (namely from the 8th to the
13th inclusive) at Heidelberg. The part hero edited
contains the exploits of Bacchus previously to his In-
dian expedition. It is accompanied with notes, and
with arguments for the entire poem. The latest and
best edition, however, of the Atovvotaxii is that of
Grajfe, Lips. , 1819-1826, 2 vols. 8vo. Tho notes to
this are merely critical.
The editor has promised an
explanatory and copious commentary; but this has not
yet appeared. (Scholl, Hist. Lit. Gr. , vol. 6, p. 79,
KJJ )--The other work of Nonnus, the paraphrase of
St. John's Gospel, was published for the first time by
Aldus Manutius at Venice, about 1501. (Compare, in
relation to this rare edition, Annal. des Aides, vol. 1,
p. 433. ) The best edition, however, is that of Passow,
Lips. , 1834. The Paraphrase was translated into Lat-
in by several scholars, and has been very frequently re-
printed. (Consult Fabrtcius, Bibl. Gr. , vol. 7, p. 687,
*cqq) Daniel Heinsius has criticised this production
too severely in his Aristarchus Sacer (Lugd. Bat. ,
1627, 8vo). The style is clear and easy, though not
very remarkable for poetry: the reproach, however,
which some make against it, that the work contains
expressions which cause his orthodoxy to bo suspect-
ed, is not well grounded. The work is, in fact, of
some value, as it contains a few important readings,
which have been of considerable use to the editors of
the Greek Testament. It omits the woman taken in
adultery which we have at the beginning of the eighth
chapter of St. John's Gospel, and which is considered
by Griesbach and many other critics to be an interpola-
tion. In chapter 19, verse 14, Nonnus appears to nave
read "about the third hour" instead of "the sixth. "
(Consult Griesbach, ad loe. )-- There is also extant
"A Collection of Histories or Fables," which is ci-
ted by Gregory Nazianzen in his work against Julian,
? ? and which is ascribed by some critics to the author
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? NOT
NUC
on the south by Illyricum and Gallia Cisalpina. It
was separated from Vindclicia by the CEnus or Inn,
and from Gallia Cisalpina by the Alpes Camicm or
Julioj; but it is difficult to determine the limits be-
tween Noricum and Pannonia, as they differed at va-
rious times. During the later periods of the Roman
empire, Mount Cetius and part of the river Murius
(Mur) appear to have formed the boundaries, and
Noricum would thus correspond to the modern Styria,
Carinlhia, and Salzburg, and to part of Austria and
Bavaria. A geographer who wrote in the reign of
Constantius, the son of Constantino the Great, in-
cludes Germania, Rhrelin, and the Ager Noricus in
one province. (Bode, Mylhographi Valicani, vol. 2. )
Noricum is not mentioned by name in the division of
the Roman empire made by Augustus, but it may be
included among the Eparchies of the Csesar. (Stra-
ta, 840. )--Noricum was divided into two nearly equal
parts by a branch of the Alps, called the Alpes Nori-
c<<e. These mountains appear to have been inhabited
from the earliest times by various tribes of Celtic ori-
gin, of whom the most celebrated were the Norici
(whence the country obtained its name), a remnant of
the Taurisci. Noricum was conquered by Augustus;
but it is uncertain whether he reduced it into the form
of a province. It appears, however, to have been a
province in the time of Claudius, who founded the
colony Sabaria, which was afterward included in Pan-
nonia. (Plin. , 3, 27. ) It was under the government
of a procurator. (Tacit. , Hist. , 1, 11. ) From the
"Notitia Imperii" we learn, that Noricum was sub-
sequently divided into two provinces, Noricum Ri-
pense and Noricum Mcditerraneum, which were sep-
arated from each other by the Alpes Noricte. In the
former of these, which lay along the Danube, a strong
military force was always stationed, under the com-
mand of a Dux. --In addition to the Norici, Noricum
was inhabited in the west by the Sevaces, Alauni, and
Ambisontii, and the cast by the Ambidravi or Ambi-
drani: but of these tribes we know scarcely anything
except the names. Of the towns of Noricum the best
known was Noreia, the capital of the Taurisci or No-
rici, which wag besieged in the time of Caesar by the
powerful nation of the Boii. (Cas. , B. G. , 1, 5. ) It
was subsequently destroyed by the Romans. (Plin. ,
3, 23. ) The only other towns worthy of mention
were, Juvanum (Salzburg), in the western part of the
province; Boiodurum (Innstadt), at the junction of
the Inn and Danube; and Ovilia, or Ovilaba, or Ovila-
va (Wels), southeast of Boiodorum, a Roman colo-
ny founded by Marcus Aurelius. --The iron of Nor-
icum was in much request among the Romans (Plin. ,
24, 41), and, according to Polybius, gold was once
found in this province in great abundance. (Polyb. , ap
Strab. , 208. --Eneycl. Us. Knmd. , vol. 16, p. 274. )
Nortia, a name given to the goddess of Fortune
among the Vulsinii. (Liny, 7, 3. ) Tcrtullian calls
her Nersia. (Apolog. , c. 24. )
Nothus, the surname of Darius Ochus among the
Greeks. (Vtd. Ochus. )
Notil'm, the harbour of Colophon, in Asia Minor.
After the destruction of Colophon by Lysimachus, and
the death of that prince, Notium became a flourishing
city, and would seem from some authorities to have
assumed the name of Colophon instead of its own.
New Colophon certainly occupied a different site from
the ancient city. (Plin. , 5, 29. --Lit. , 37, 30. )
? ? Notus, the south wind (from the Greek Noror), and
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? NUM
NUM
besieged by Hannibal after his unsuccessful attack on
Nola, and. on its being deserted by the inhabitants,
he caused it to be sacked and burned. (Liv. 23, 15. )
We Ieam from Tacitus (Ann. , 13, 31), that, under the
reign of Nero, Nuceria was restored and colonized.
(Cramer's Anc. Italy, vol. 2, p. 212. )
Nuithones, a people of Germany, whose territory
appears to have corresponded to the southeastern part
of Mecklenburg. (Tacit, Germ. , 40. )
Numa Pompilius, the second king of Rome, was,
according to tradition, a native of the Sabine town of
Cures. On the death of Romulus, the senate at first
chose no king, and took upon itself the government
of the state; but, as the people were more oppress-
ively treated than before, they insisted that a king
should be appointed. A contest, however, arose, re-
specting the choice of a monarch, between the Ro-
mans and Sabines, and it was at length agreed that
the former should select a king out of the latter.
Their choice fell upon Numa Pompilius, who was re-
vered by all for his wisdom, which, according to a
popular tradition, he had derived from Pythagoras.
Numa would not, however, accept the sovereignty till
he was assured by the auspices that the gods approved
of his election. Instructed by the Camena or Nymph
Egeria, he founded the whole system of the Roman
religion; he increased the number of Augurs, regu-
lated the duties of the Pontificcs, and appointed the
Flamines, the Vestal Virgins, and the Salii. He for-
bade all costly sacrifices, and allowed no blood to be
shed upon the altars, nor any images of the gods to
be made. In order to afford a proof that all his insti-
tutions were sanctioned by divine authority, he is said
to have given a plain entertainment, in earthenware
dishes, to the noblest among his subjects, during
which, upon the appearance of Egeria, all the dishes
were changed into golden vessels, and the food into
viands fit for the gods. Numa also divided among
his subjects the lands which Romulus hat! conquered
in war; and he secured their inviolability by ordering
landmarks to be set on every portion, which were con-
secrated to Terminus, the god of boundaries. He di-
vided the artisans, according to their trades, into nine
cvnp inics or corporations. During his reign, which
is said to have lasted thirty-nine years, no war was
carried on; the gates of Janus were shut, and a tem-
ple was built to Faith. He died of gradual decay, in
a good old age, and was buried under the hill Janieu-
lum; and near him, in a separate tomb, were buried
the books of his laws and ordinances. --Such was the
traditional account of the reign of Numa Pompilius,
who belongs to a period in which it is impossible to
separate truth from fiction. According to Niebuhr,
and the writers who adopt his views of Roman his-
tory, the reign of Numa is considered, in its political
aspect, only as a representation of the union betwoen
the Sabines and the original inhabitants of Rome, or,
in other words, between the tribes of the Titicnses
and the Rainnes. (Liv. , I, 18, seqq. --Dion. Hal. , 2,
53, seqq. -- Cic. ,dc Rcpub. , 2, 12, seqq. --Plut. , Vit.
jVunt. -- Histories of Rome, by Niebuhr, Arnold, and
Milden. --Encyel. Os. Know'. . , vol. 16, p. 363. )
NojfA. vrfA, a celebrated town of the Celtibcri in
Spain, o. i the river. Durius (now the Douro), at no
great distance from its source. (Strabo, 162. --Ap-
pian, Rim. Hist. , 6, 91. ) It appears to have been
the capital of the Arevaei (Appian, 6. c. 46, 66, 76. --
? ? Plot, 2, 6), but Pliny states that it was a town of the
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? NUM
NYC
an assembly of the army was accordingly held, for the
purpose of avenging the death of Numerianus, and
electing a new emperor. Their choice fell upon Dio-
clesian, who. immediately after his election, put Arrius
to death with his own hands, without giving him an op-
{>ortunity of justifying himself, which might, perhaps,
lave proved dangerous to the new emperor. The vir-
tues of Numerianus arc mentioned by most of his biog-
raphers. His manners were mild and affable ; and he
was celebrated among his contemporaries for eloquence
and poetic talent. He successfully contended with
Nemesianus for the prize of poetry , and the senate
voted to him a statue, with the inscription, "To Nu-
merianus Cffisar, the most powerful orator of his times. "
(Voptsc, Vit. Numcrian. -- Aurel. Victor, de Cat. , c.
88. --Eulrop. , 9, 12. --Zonaras, lib. 12. )
Numicia Via, a Homan road, traversing the north-
ern part of Samnium. It communicated with the Va-
lerian, Latin* and Appian Ways, and after crossing
through part of Apulia, fell into the Via Aquilia in
I-ucania. (Cramer's Anc. Italy, vol. 2, p. 260. )
NuMicius, a small river of Latium near Lavinium,
in winch, according to some authorities, /Eneas was
drowned. (Ovid, Fait. , 3, 647. -- Virg. , Mn. ,1, 150,
seqq. --Ovid, Met. , 14, 358, seqq. ) It is now the Rio
Torto. (Nthby, Viaggio Antiquario, vol. 2, p. 266.
Stcph. By:. , s. v. ) Herodotus informs us that the Ni-
synans were subject at one time to Artemisia, queen of
Caria (7, 99). The modern name is Ntsart. From
this island is procured a large number of good mill-
stones. (Cramer's Anc. Greece, vol. 3, p. 418. )--II
The chief town in the island of Carpathus. (Strabo,
489. )
Nitetis, a daughter of Apries, king of Egypt, mar-
ried by his successor Amasis to Cambyses. Herodo-
tus states (3, 1), that Cambyses was instigated to ask
in marriage the daughter of Amasis, by a certain phy-
sician, whom Amasis had compelled to go to Persia
when Cyrus, the father of Cambyses, was suffering
? ? from weak eyes, and requested the Egyptian king to
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? NOM
NON
receiving its own from the adjacent Natron likes'.
Many Christians were accustomed to flee hither for
refuge during the early persecutions of the church.
(Sozom. , 6, 31. --Socrai. , Ecclcs. , 4, 23 --Plin. , 5, 9.
--Id, 81, 10. )
Niv. iBii, I. one of the Fortunate Insula;, off the
western coast of Mauritania Tingitana. It is now the
island of Tcnerifc. The name Nivaria has reference
to the snows which cover the summits of the island
for a great part of the year. It was also called Con-
vallis. (I'lm. , 4, 32. )--II. A city of Hispania Tar-
raconensis, in the territory of the Vaccffii, and to the
north of Cauca. (Jim. Ant. , 435. )
Noctiluca, a surname of Diana, as indicating the
goddess that shines during the night season. The ep-
ithet would also appear to have reference to her tem-
ple's being adorned with lights during the same period.
This temple was on the Palatine Hill. Compare the
remark of Varro: "Luna, quod sola lucet noclu:
itaquc ca dicta Noctiluca in Palatio, nam ibi noctu
iucel tempium" (L. L. , 4, 10).
Nola, ono of the most ancient and important cities
of Campania, situate to the northeast of Neapolis. The
earliest record wo have of it is from Hecataeus, who is
cited by Stephanus of Byzantium (s. v. Nii/ln). That
ancient historian, in one of his works, described it as
a city of the Ausones. According to some accounts,
Nola was said to have been founded by the Etrurians.
(Veil. Paterc, 1, 6--Polyb. , 2, 17. ) Others, again,
represented it as a colony of the Chalcidians. (Jus-
tin, 20, 1,13. ) If this latter account be correct, the
Chalcidians of Cumie and Neapolis are doubtless
meant. All these conflicting statements, however,
may be reconciled by admitting that it successively
fell into the hands of these different people. Nola af-
terward appears to have been occupied by the Sam-
nites, together with other Campanian towns, until they
were expelled by the Romans. (Lit). , 9, 28. --Strab. ,
249. ) Though situated in an open plain, it was capa-
ble of being easily defended, from the strength of its
walls and towers; and we know it resisted all the ef-
forts of Hannibal after the battle of Cannffi, under the
able direction of Marcellus. (Lie. , 23, 14, seqq. --
Cic, Brut. , 3. ) In the Social war, this city fell into
the hands of the confederates, and remained in their
possession nearly to the conclusion of the war. It
was then retaken by Sylla, and, having been set on fire
by the Samnitc garrison, was burned to the ground
(Ln. , Epit. , 89. --Appian, Bell. Civ. , 1, 42. --Veil.
Paterc, 2, 18. ) It must have risen, however, from
its ruins, since subsequent writers reckon it among
the cities of Campania, and Frontinus reports that it
was colonized by Vespasian. (Phn. , 3, 5. --Front. ,
dc Col) Here Augustus breathed his last, as Taci-
tus and Suetonius remark, in the same house and
chamber in which his father -Octavius had ended his
days. (Tacit. , Ann. , 1, o, ct 9. --Suet. , Aug. , 99. )
The modem name of the place is the same as the an-
cient, Aola. (Cramer's Anc. Italy, vol. 2, p. 210. )
Aulus Gcllius relates a foolish story, that Virgil had
introduced the name of Nola into his Georgics (2,
225), but that, when he was refused permission by the
inhabitants to lead off a stream of water into his
grounds adjacent to the place (aquam uti duceret in
propinquum rus), he obliterated the namo of the city
from his poem, and substituted the word uru. (Aul.
Gcll. , 7, 20. --Compare Sen). , ad Mn. , 7, 740-- Phi-
? ? larg. , ad Georg. , I. c. ) Ambrose Leo, a native of
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? NON
NONNUS.
ans, who had written on the difference between words,
extracts published by Gothofredus (Godcfroi), among
others, we find fragments of the writings of Marcelius
(p 1335). Some modem critics have formed rather
an unfavourable opinion of Nonius Marrcllus. G. J.
Vossius says that he is deficient in learning and judg-
ment; and Justus Lipsius treats him as a man of very
weak mind. (Voss, de Philolol. , 5, 13. --Lips. , An-
Uq Led. , 2, 4. ) On the other hand, Isaac Vossius
laments the hard fate of this grammarian, whom, ac-
cording to him, modem scholars have been accustomed
to insult because unable to understand his -writings
(ad Catull. , p. 212). It is certain, that no ancient
grammarian is so rich in his citations from previous
writers, which he often gives without passing any
opinion upon them. It is sufficient, however, for
modern scholars to obtain these citations; nor need
they, in fact, regret that the compiler has not append-
ed to them his individual sentiments. (Scholl, Hist.
Lit. Rom. , vol. 3, p. 310, scqq. )
Nonnus, I. a native of Panopolis in Egypt, and
distinguished for his poetical abilities. ' The precise
period when he flourished is involved in great un-
certainty, nor is anything known with accuracy re-
specting the circumstances of his life. Conjecture
has been called in to supply the place of positive infor-
mation Nonnus was, as appears from his produc-
tions, a man of great erudition, and we cannot doubt
that ho was cither educated at Alcxandrea, or had
lived in that city, where all the Greek erudition cen-
tred during the first ages of the Christian era. --Was
he bom a Christian, or did he embrace Christianity
after he had reached a certain age? We have here a
question about which the ancients have left us in com-
plete uncertainty. The author of the Dwnysiaca must
have been a pagan; for it is difficult to believe that
any Christian, even supposing that he had made the
Greek mythology a subject of deep study, would have
felt inclined to turn his attention to a theme, in treat-
ing of which he must inevitably shock the feelings and
incur the censure of his fellow-Christians. And yet
Nonnus composed also a Christian poem. --It is prob-
able, then, that he was at first a pagan, and embraced
She new religion at a subsequent period of his life.
I hit here a new difficulty presents itself How comes
it that no Christian writer of the time makes mention
>f the conversion of a man who must have acquired a
high reputation for learning? To explain this Bilence,
it has been supposed that Nonnus was one of those
pagan philosophers and sophists, who were a party in
the tumult at Alexandrea, which had been excited by
the intolerance of the bishop Thcophilus. To escape
the vengeance of their opponents, some of these phi-
1 )sophers expatriated themselves, others submitted to
baptism. If Nonnus was in the number of the latter,
it may easily bo conceived that the ecclesiastical wri-
ters of the day could derive no advantage to their
cause from his conversion. ( Wctchert, de Nonno Pa-
nopolitano, Vtteb. , 1810. ) This hypothesis fixes the
period when Nonnus flourished at the end of the fourth,
and the commencement of the fifth century. He was
then contemporary with Synesius. Now, among the
letters of this philosopher, there is one (Ep. 43, ad
Anastas. ) in which he recommends a certain Sosena,
Kfjn of Nonnus, a young man who, he says, has re-
ceived a very careful education. He speaks, on this
same occasion, of the misfortune into which Sosena's
? ? father had fallen, of losing all his property, and this
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? NONNUS.
a vowel placed before a mute foilcr. vo. 1 by a liq'jiJ,
in which they directly departed from Homeric usage.
Nonnus, on his part, replaced a portion of the spondees
liy dactyls, introduced the trochaic cirsura in the third
fjot, banished the trochees from the fourth, made long
the vowels followed by a mute with a liquid, excluded
the hiatus excepting in phrases borrowed from Homer,
and which had received the sanction of ages, and in-
terdicted himself the license of making the caesura
fall upon a short syllable. If by these changes the
hexameter lost somewhat of its statcliness and grav-
ity, it gained, at the samo time, in point of fulness
and elegance. In fine, versification, which had be-
come too easy, now resumed the rank of an art.
(Hermann, Orpluca, p. 60. --Id. , Elcm. Doetr. Metr. ,
p. 333, cd. Lips. , 1816. ) A good edition of Nonnus
'a still a desideratum. The first edition of the Atovv-
ataiid was given by Falckenbcrg, from a manuscript
which Is now at Vienna, from the Plantin press, Ant-
werp, 1569, in 'lin. It contained merely the Greek
text. This edition was reprinted by Wechel, with a
poor translation by Lubin, at Hanover, in 1605, in 8vo.
Cuneus published in 1610, at Loyden, Animadversio-
net in Nonnum, with a dissertation on the poet by
Daniel Heinsius, and conjectures by Scaliger, which
Wechel afterward joined to his edition of 1605, pre-
fixing, at the same time, a new title-page. Few of the
beamed, after this, occupied themselves with Nonnus.
In 1783, Villoison published in his Epistola Vinari-
cntcs (Turin, 4to), some good corrections made by an
anonymous scholar on the margin of a copy of the edi-
tion of 1605. In 1809, Moser gave an edition of six
books of the AtovvaioKu (namely from the 8th to the
13th inclusive) at Heidelberg. The part hero edited
contains the exploits of Bacchus previously to his In-
dian expedition. It is accompanied with notes, and
with arguments for the entire poem. The latest and
best edition, however, of the Atovvotaxii is that of
Grajfe, Lips. , 1819-1826, 2 vols. 8vo. Tho notes to
this are merely critical.
The editor has promised an
explanatory and copious commentary; but this has not
yet appeared. (Scholl, Hist. Lit. Gr. , vol. 6, p. 79,
KJJ )--The other work of Nonnus, the paraphrase of
St. John's Gospel, was published for the first time by
Aldus Manutius at Venice, about 1501. (Compare, in
relation to this rare edition, Annal. des Aides, vol. 1,
p. 433. ) The best edition, however, is that of Passow,
Lips. , 1834. The Paraphrase was translated into Lat-
in by several scholars, and has been very frequently re-
printed. (Consult Fabrtcius, Bibl. Gr. , vol. 7, p. 687,
*cqq) Daniel Heinsius has criticised this production
too severely in his Aristarchus Sacer (Lugd. Bat. ,
1627, 8vo). The style is clear and easy, though not
very remarkable for poetry: the reproach, however,
which some make against it, that the work contains
expressions which cause his orthodoxy to bo suspect-
ed, is not well grounded. The work is, in fact, of
some value, as it contains a few important readings,
which have been of considerable use to the editors of
the Greek Testament. It omits the woman taken in
adultery which we have at the beginning of the eighth
chapter of St. John's Gospel, and which is considered
by Griesbach and many other critics to be an interpola-
tion. In chapter 19, verse 14, Nonnus appears to nave
read "about the third hour" instead of "the sixth. "
(Consult Griesbach, ad loe. )-- There is also extant
"A Collection of Histories or Fables," which is ci-
ted by Gregory Nazianzen in his work against Julian,
? ? and which is ascribed by some critics to the author
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? NOT
NUC
on the south by Illyricum and Gallia Cisalpina. It
was separated from Vindclicia by the CEnus or Inn,
and from Gallia Cisalpina by the Alpes Camicm or
Julioj; but it is difficult to determine the limits be-
tween Noricum and Pannonia, as they differed at va-
rious times. During the later periods of the Roman
empire, Mount Cetius and part of the river Murius
(Mur) appear to have formed the boundaries, and
Noricum would thus correspond to the modern Styria,
Carinlhia, and Salzburg, and to part of Austria and
Bavaria. A geographer who wrote in the reign of
Constantius, the son of Constantino the Great, in-
cludes Germania, Rhrelin, and the Ager Noricus in
one province. (Bode, Mylhographi Valicani, vol. 2. )
Noricum is not mentioned by name in the division of
the Roman empire made by Augustus, but it may be
included among the Eparchies of the Csesar. (Stra-
ta, 840. )--Noricum was divided into two nearly equal
parts by a branch of the Alps, called the Alpes Nori-
c<<e. These mountains appear to have been inhabited
from the earliest times by various tribes of Celtic ori-
gin, of whom the most celebrated were the Norici
(whence the country obtained its name), a remnant of
the Taurisci. Noricum was conquered by Augustus;
but it is uncertain whether he reduced it into the form
of a province. It appears, however, to have been a
province in the time of Claudius, who founded the
colony Sabaria, which was afterward included in Pan-
nonia. (Plin. , 3, 27. ) It was under the government
of a procurator. (Tacit. , Hist. , 1, 11. ) From the
"Notitia Imperii" we learn, that Noricum was sub-
sequently divided into two provinces, Noricum Ri-
pense and Noricum Mcditerraneum, which were sep-
arated from each other by the Alpes Noricte. In the
former of these, which lay along the Danube, a strong
military force was always stationed, under the com-
mand of a Dux. --In addition to the Norici, Noricum
was inhabited in the west by the Sevaces, Alauni, and
Ambisontii, and the cast by the Ambidravi or Ambi-
drani: but of these tribes we know scarcely anything
except the names. Of the towns of Noricum the best
known was Noreia, the capital of the Taurisci or No-
rici, which wag besieged in the time of Caesar by the
powerful nation of the Boii. (Cas. , B. G. , 1, 5. ) It
was subsequently destroyed by the Romans. (Plin. ,
3, 23. ) The only other towns worthy of mention
were, Juvanum (Salzburg), in the western part of the
province; Boiodurum (Innstadt), at the junction of
the Inn and Danube; and Ovilia, or Ovilaba, or Ovila-
va (Wels), southeast of Boiodorum, a Roman colo-
ny founded by Marcus Aurelius. --The iron of Nor-
icum was in much request among the Romans (Plin. ,
24, 41), and, according to Polybius, gold was once
found in this province in great abundance. (Polyb. , ap
Strab. , 208. --Eneycl. Us. Knmd. , vol. 16, p. 274. )
Nortia, a name given to the goddess of Fortune
among the Vulsinii. (Liny, 7, 3. ) Tcrtullian calls
her Nersia. (Apolog. , c. 24. )
Nothus, the surname of Darius Ochus among the
Greeks. (Vtd. Ochus. )
Notil'm, the harbour of Colophon, in Asia Minor.
After the destruction of Colophon by Lysimachus, and
the death of that prince, Notium became a flourishing
city, and would seem from some authorities to have
assumed the name of Colophon instead of its own.
New Colophon certainly occupied a different site from
the ancient city. (Plin. , 5, 29. --Lit. , 37, 30. )
? ? Notus, the south wind (from the Greek Noror), and
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? NUM
NUM
besieged by Hannibal after his unsuccessful attack on
Nola, and. on its being deserted by the inhabitants,
he caused it to be sacked and burned. (Liv. 23, 15. )
We Ieam from Tacitus (Ann. , 13, 31), that, under the
reign of Nero, Nuceria was restored and colonized.
(Cramer's Anc. Italy, vol. 2, p. 212. )
Nuithones, a people of Germany, whose territory
appears to have corresponded to the southeastern part
of Mecklenburg. (Tacit, Germ. , 40. )
Numa Pompilius, the second king of Rome, was,
according to tradition, a native of the Sabine town of
Cures. On the death of Romulus, the senate at first
chose no king, and took upon itself the government
of the state; but, as the people were more oppress-
ively treated than before, they insisted that a king
should be appointed. A contest, however, arose, re-
specting the choice of a monarch, between the Ro-
mans and Sabines, and it was at length agreed that
the former should select a king out of the latter.
Their choice fell upon Numa Pompilius, who was re-
vered by all for his wisdom, which, according to a
popular tradition, he had derived from Pythagoras.
Numa would not, however, accept the sovereignty till
he was assured by the auspices that the gods approved
of his election. Instructed by the Camena or Nymph
Egeria, he founded the whole system of the Roman
religion; he increased the number of Augurs, regu-
lated the duties of the Pontificcs, and appointed the
Flamines, the Vestal Virgins, and the Salii. He for-
bade all costly sacrifices, and allowed no blood to be
shed upon the altars, nor any images of the gods to
be made. In order to afford a proof that all his insti-
tutions were sanctioned by divine authority, he is said
to have given a plain entertainment, in earthenware
dishes, to the noblest among his subjects, during
which, upon the appearance of Egeria, all the dishes
were changed into golden vessels, and the food into
viands fit for the gods. Numa also divided among
his subjects the lands which Romulus hat! conquered
in war; and he secured their inviolability by ordering
landmarks to be set on every portion, which were con-
secrated to Terminus, the god of boundaries. He di-
vided the artisans, according to their trades, into nine
cvnp inics or corporations. During his reign, which
is said to have lasted thirty-nine years, no war was
carried on; the gates of Janus were shut, and a tem-
ple was built to Faith. He died of gradual decay, in
a good old age, and was buried under the hill Janieu-
lum; and near him, in a separate tomb, were buried
the books of his laws and ordinances. --Such was the
traditional account of the reign of Numa Pompilius,
who belongs to a period in which it is impossible to
separate truth from fiction. According to Niebuhr,
and the writers who adopt his views of Roman his-
tory, the reign of Numa is considered, in its political
aspect, only as a representation of the union betwoen
the Sabines and the original inhabitants of Rome, or,
in other words, between the tribes of the Titicnses
and the Rainnes. (Liv. , I, 18, seqq. --Dion. Hal. , 2,
53, seqq. -- Cic. ,dc Rcpub. , 2, 12, seqq. --Plut. , Vit.
jVunt. -- Histories of Rome, by Niebuhr, Arnold, and
Milden. --Encyel. Os. Know'. . , vol. 16, p. 363. )
NojfA. vrfA, a celebrated town of the Celtibcri in
Spain, o. i the river. Durius (now the Douro), at no
great distance from its source. (Strabo, 162. --Ap-
pian, Rim. Hist. , 6, 91. ) It appears to have been
the capital of the Arevaei (Appian, 6. c. 46, 66, 76. --
? ? Plot, 2, 6), but Pliny states that it was a town of the
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? NUM
NYC
an assembly of the army was accordingly held, for the
purpose of avenging the death of Numerianus, and
electing a new emperor. Their choice fell upon Dio-
clesian, who. immediately after his election, put Arrius
to death with his own hands, without giving him an op-
{>ortunity of justifying himself, which might, perhaps,
lave proved dangerous to the new emperor. The vir-
tues of Numerianus arc mentioned by most of his biog-
raphers. His manners were mild and affable ; and he
was celebrated among his contemporaries for eloquence
and poetic talent. He successfully contended with
Nemesianus for the prize of poetry , and the senate
voted to him a statue, with the inscription, "To Nu-
merianus Cffisar, the most powerful orator of his times. "
(Voptsc, Vit. Numcrian. -- Aurel. Victor, de Cat. , c.
88. --Eulrop. , 9, 12. --Zonaras, lib. 12. )
Numicia Via, a Homan road, traversing the north-
ern part of Samnium. It communicated with the Va-
lerian, Latin* and Appian Ways, and after crossing
through part of Apulia, fell into the Via Aquilia in
I-ucania. (Cramer's Anc. Italy, vol. 2, p. 260. )
NuMicius, a small river of Latium near Lavinium,
in winch, according to some authorities, /Eneas was
drowned. (Ovid, Fait. , 3, 647. -- Virg. , Mn. ,1, 150,
seqq. --Ovid, Met. , 14, 358, seqq. ) It is now the Rio
Torto. (Nthby, Viaggio Antiquario, vol. 2, p. 266.
