) If this latter account be correct, the
Chalcidians of Cumie and Neapolis are doubtless
meant.
Chalcidians of Cumie and Neapolis are doubtless
meant.
Charles - 1867 - Classical Dictionary
On
the eastern bank of the Tigris, opposite the town of
Mosul, and partly on the site of the modern village of
Nunia or Ncbtri Yumts, arc some considerable ruins,
which have been described at different periods by
Benjamin of Tudcla, Thcvenot, Tavernier, &c. , as
those of ancient Nineveh. But it is thought by others,
from the dimensions of the ruins, that these travellers
must have been mistaken; and that the remains de-
? scribcd by them were those of some city of much
smaller extent and more recent date than the Scripture
Nineveh. Mr. Kinneir, who visited this spot in the
year 1808, says, that " On the opposite bank of the
Tigris {that is, over against Mosul), and about three
quarters of a mile from that stream, the village of Nu-
nia and sepulchre of the prophet Jonas seem to point
? ? out the position of Nineveh. "--" A city being after-
Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 09:13 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x001045523 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? NIOBE.
N1S
numerous offspring was so great, that she is said to
have insulted Latona, the mother of Apollo and Diana,
by refusing to offer at the altars raised in her honour,
declaring that she herself had a better claim to worship
and sacrifices than one who was the mother of only
two children. Latona, indignant at this insolence and
presumption, called upon her children for revenge.
Apollo and Diana heard her prayer, and obeyed the
entreaty of their outraged parent. All the sons of
Niobe fell by the arrows of Apollo, while the daugh-
ters, in like manner, met their death from the hands
of Diana. Clitoris alone escaped the common fate.
She was the wife of Ncleus, king of Pylos. This ter-
rible judgment of the gods so affected the now heart-
stricken and humiliated Niobe, that she was changed
by her excessive grief into a stone on Mount Sipyius,
in Lydia. Amphion also, in attempting, in retalki-
tion, to destroy the temple of Apollo, perished by the
shafts of that deity. (Ovid, Met. , 6, 146, seqq--Hy-
gm. , fab. , 9. --Apollod. , 3, 5, 6-- Soph. , Anttg. , 823,
scqq. ) Pausanias says, that the rock on Sipyius,
which went by the name of Niobe, and which he had
visited, " was merely a rock and precipice when one
came close up to it, and bore no resemblance at all to
a woman; but at a distance you might imagine it to
be a woman weeping with downcast countenance. "
(Pausan. , 1, 21. 3. )--The myth of Niobe has been
explained by Volcker and others in a physical sense.
According to these writers, the name Nwbc (Ntobn, i.
e. , NcoOn) denotes Youth or Newness. She is the
diughter of the Flourishing-one (Tantalus), and the
mother of the Green-one (Chloris). In her, then, we
may view the young, verdant, fruitful earth, the bride
of the sun (Amphion), beneath the influence of whose
fecundating beams she pours forth vegetation with
lavish profusion. The revolution of the year, howev-
er, denoted by Apollo and Diana (other forms of the
sun and moon), withers up and destroys her progeny;
she weeps and stiffens to stone (the torrents and frosts
of winter); but Chloris, the Green-one, remains, and
spring clothes the earth anew with its smiling verdure.
(Volcker, Myth, der Jap. , p. 359. -- KeighlUy's My-
thAogy, p. 333. )--The legend of Niobe and her chil-
dren has afforded a subject for art, which has been fine-
ly treated by one of the greatest ancient masters of
sculpture. It consists of a series, rather than a group,
of figures of both sexes, in all the disorder and agony
of expected or present suffering; while one, the moth-
er, the hapless Niobe, in the most affecting attitude of
supplication, and with an expression of deep grief, her
eyes turned upward, implores the justly-offended gods
to moderate their anger and spare her offspring, one
of whom, the youngest girl, she strains fondly to her
bosom. It is difficult, however, by description, to do
justice to the various excellence exhibited in this ad-
mirable work. The arrangement of the composition
is supposed to have been adapted to a tympanum or
pediment. The figure of Niobe, of colossal dimen-
sions compared with the other figures, forms, with her
youngest daughter pressed to her, the centre. The
execution of this interesting monument of Greek art
is attributed by some to Scopas, while others think it
the production of Praxiteles. Pliny says it was a
question which of the two was the author of it. The
group was in the temple of Apollo Sosianus at Rome.
(Ptin. , 36, 10. --SUlig, DkI. Art. , s. >>. ) This beau-
tiful piece of sculpture is now in the gallery of the
? ? Grand-duke of Tuscany at Florence, though some re-
Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 09:13 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x001045523 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? NIT
NIT
fit. Gordian. tert. , c. 26. --Trebellti. Vit. Odcnat. , c.
15. ) After the death of Julian, Nisibis was ceded to
Sapor, king of Persia, by Jovian, and remained hence-
forth for the Persians, what it had thus far been to the
Romans, a strong frontier town. The latter could
never regain possession of it. --The modem Kisibin
or Nissaoin, which occupies the site of the ancient
city, is represented as being little better than a mere
village. {Manncrl, Geogr. , vol. 5, pt. 2, p. 297, seqq. )
Nisus, I. a son of Hyrtaeus, bom on Mount Ida,
near Troy. He came to Italy with . Eneas, and was
united by ties of the closest attachment to Euryalus,
? on of Opheltes. During the prosecution of the war
with Turnus, Nisus, to whom the defence of one of
the entrances of the camp was entrusted, determined
to sally forth in search of tidings of . Eneas. Eury-
alus accompanied him in this perilous undertaking.
Fortune at first seconded their efforts, but they were
at length surprised by a Latin detachment. Euryalus
was cut down by Volscens; the latter was as imme-
diately despatched by the avenging hand of Nisus;
who, however, overpowered by numbers, soon shared
the fate of his friend. (Virg. , Mn. , 9, 176, seqq. --
Compare Mn. , 5, 334, seqq. )--II. A king of Megara.
In the war waged by Minos, king of Crete, against
the Athenians, on account of the death of Androgeus
(vid. Androgeus), Megara was besieged, and it was
taken through the treachery of Scylla, the daughter of
Nisus. This prince had a golden or purple lock of
hair growing on his head; and as long as it remained
uncut, so long was his life to last. Scylla, having
seen Minos, fell in love with him, and resolved to give
him the victory. She cut off her father's precious
lock as he slept, and he immediately died; the town
was then taken by the Cretans. But Minos, instead
of rewarding the maiden, disgusted with her unnatural
treachery, tied her by the feet to the stern of his ves-
sel, and thus dragged her along until she was drowned.
(Apollod. , 3, 15, 1-- Schol. ad Eurip. , Hippol. , 1195. )
Another legend adds, that Nisus was changed into the
bird called the Sea-eagle (ukiueroc), and Scylla into
that named Ciris (aeipic), and that the father continu-
ally pursues the daughter to punish her for her crime.
(Ovid, Mctam. , 8, 145. --Virg. , Ctr. --Id. , Gcorg. , 1,
403. ) According to . Eschylus (Cho'eph. , 609, seqq. ),
Minos bribed Scylla with a golden collar. (Keight-
la/s Mythology, p. 385. )
Nisyros, I. an island in the . Egean, one of the
Sporadcs, about sixty stadia north of Tclos. Strabo
describes it as a lofty and rocky isle, with a town of
the same name. Mythologists pretended that this isl-
and had been separated from Cos by Neptune, in or-
der that he might hurl it against the giant Polvboetes.
(Strabo, US. --Apollod. , 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
Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 09:13 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x001045523 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 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
Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 09:13 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x001045523 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 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
Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 09:13 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x001045523 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 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
Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 09:13 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x001045523 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 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 eastern bank of the Tigris, opposite the town of
Mosul, and partly on the site of the modern village of
Nunia or Ncbtri Yumts, arc some considerable ruins,
which have been described at different periods by
Benjamin of Tudcla, Thcvenot, Tavernier, &c. , as
those of ancient Nineveh. But it is thought by others,
from the dimensions of the ruins, that these travellers
must have been mistaken; and that the remains de-
? scribcd by them were those of some city of much
smaller extent and more recent date than the Scripture
Nineveh. Mr. Kinneir, who visited this spot in the
year 1808, says, that " On the opposite bank of the
Tigris {that is, over against Mosul), and about three
quarters of a mile from that stream, the village of Nu-
nia and sepulchre of the prophet Jonas seem to point
? ? out the position of Nineveh. "--" A city being after-
Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 09:13 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x001045523 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? NIOBE.
N1S
numerous offspring was so great, that she is said to
have insulted Latona, the mother of Apollo and Diana,
by refusing to offer at the altars raised in her honour,
declaring that she herself had a better claim to worship
and sacrifices than one who was the mother of only
two children. Latona, indignant at this insolence and
presumption, called upon her children for revenge.
Apollo and Diana heard her prayer, and obeyed the
entreaty of their outraged parent. All the sons of
Niobe fell by the arrows of Apollo, while the daugh-
ters, in like manner, met their death from the hands
of Diana. Clitoris alone escaped the common fate.
She was the wife of Ncleus, king of Pylos. This ter-
rible judgment of the gods so affected the now heart-
stricken and humiliated Niobe, that she was changed
by her excessive grief into a stone on Mount Sipyius,
in Lydia. Amphion also, in attempting, in retalki-
tion, to destroy the temple of Apollo, perished by the
shafts of that deity. (Ovid, Met. , 6, 146, seqq--Hy-
gm. , fab. , 9. --Apollod. , 3, 5, 6-- Soph. , Anttg. , 823,
scqq. ) Pausanias says, that the rock on Sipyius,
which went by the name of Niobe, and which he had
visited, " was merely a rock and precipice when one
came close up to it, and bore no resemblance at all to
a woman; but at a distance you might imagine it to
be a woman weeping with downcast countenance. "
(Pausan. , 1, 21. 3. )--The myth of Niobe has been
explained by Volcker and others in a physical sense.
According to these writers, the name Nwbc (Ntobn, i.
e. , NcoOn) denotes Youth or Newness. She is the
diughter of the Flourishing-one (Tantalus), and the
mother of the Green-one (Chloris). In her, then, we
may view the young, verdant, fruitful earth, the bride
of the sun (Amphion), beneath the influence of whose
fecundating beams she pours forth vegetation with
lavish profusion. The revolution of the year, howev-
er, denoted by Apollo and Diana (other forms of the
sun and moon), withers up and destroys her progeny;
she weeps and stiffens to stone (the torrents and frosts
of winter); but Chloris, the Green-one, remains, and
spring clothes the earth anew with its smiling verdure.
(Volcker, Myth, der Jap. , p. 359. -- KeighlUy's My-
thAogy, p. 333. )--The legend of Niobe and her chil-
dren has afforded a subject for art, which has been fine-
ly treated by one of the greatest ancient masters of
sculpture. It consists of a series, rather than a group,
of figures of both sexes, in all the disorder and agony
of expected or present suffering; while one, the moth-
er, the hapless Niobe, in the most affecting attitude of
supplication, and with an expression of deep grief, her
eyes turned upward, implores the justly-offended gods
to moderate their anger and spare her offspring, one
of whom, the youngest girl, she strains fondly to her
bosom. It is difficult, however, by description, to do
justice to the various excellence exhibited in this ad-
mirable work. The arrangement of the composition
is supposed to have been adapted to a tympanum or
pediment. The figure of Niobe, of colossal dimen-
sions compared with the other figures, forms, with her
youngest daughter pressed to her, the centre. The
execution of this interesting monument of Greek art
is attributed by some to Scopas, while others think it
the production of Praxiteles. Pliny says it was a
question which of the two was the author of it. The
group was in the temple of Apollo Sosianus at Rome.
(Ptin. , 36, 10. --SUlig, DkI. Art. , s. >>. ) This beau-
tiful piece of sculpture is now in the gallery of the
? ? Grand-duke of Tuscany at Florence, though some re-
Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 09:13 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x001045523 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? NIT
NIT
fit. Gordian. tert. , c. 26. --Trebellti. Vit. Odcnat. , c.
15. ) After the death of Julian, Nisibis was ceded to
Sapor, king of Persia, by Jovian, and remained hence-
forth for the Persians, what it had thus far been to the
Romans, a strong frontier town. The latter could
never regain possession of it. --The modem Kisibin
or Nissaoin, which occupies the site of the ancient
city, is represented as being little better than a mere
village. {Manncrl, Geogr. , vol. 5, pt. 2, p. 297, seqq. )
Nisus, I. a son of Hyrtaeus, bom on Mount Ida,
near Troy. He came to Italy with . Eneas, and was
united by ties of the closest attachment to Euryalus,
? on of Opheltes. During the prosecution of the war
with Turnus, Nisus, to whom the defence of one of
the entrances of the camp was entrusted, determined
to sally forth in search of tidings of . Eneas. Eury-
alus accompanied him in this perilous undertaking.
Fortune at first seconded their efforts, but they were
at length surprised by a Latin detachment. Euryalus
was cut down by Volscens; the latter was as imme-
diately despatched by the avenging hand of Nisus;
who, however, overpowered by numbers, soon shared
the fate of his friend. (Virg. , Mn. , 9, 176, seqq. --
Compare Mn. , 5, 334, seqq. )--II. A king of Megara.
In the war waged by Minos, king of Crete, against
the Athenians, on account of the death of Androgeus
(vid. Androgeus), Megara was besieged, and it was
taken through the treachery of Scylla, the daughter of
Nisus. This prince had a golden or purple lock of
hair growing on his head; and as long as it remained
uncut, so long was his life to last. Scylla, having
seen Minos, fell in love with him, and resolved to give
him the victory. She cut off her father's precious
lock as he slept, and he immediately died; the town
was then taken by the Cretans. But Minos, instead
of rewarding the maiden, disgusted with her unnatural
treachery, tied her by the feet to the stern of his ves-
sel, and thus dragged her along until she was drowned.
(Apollod. , 3, 15, 1-- Schol. ad Eurip. , Hippol. , 1195. )
Another legend adds, that Nisus was changed into the
bird called the Sea-eagle (ukiueroc), and Scylla into
that named Ciris (aeipic), and that the father continu-
ally pursues the daughter to punish her for her crime.
(Ovid, Mctam. , 8, 145. --Virg. , Ctr. --Id. , Gcorg. , 1,
403. ) According to . Eschylus (Cho'eph. , 609, seqq. ),
Minos bribed Scylla with a golden collar. (Keight-
la/s Mythology, p. 385. )
Nisyros, I. an island in the . Egean, one of the
Sporadcs, about sixty stadia north of Tclos. Strabo
describes it as a lofty and rocky isle, with a town of
the same name. Mythologists pretended that this isl-
and had been separated from Cos by Neptune, in or-
der that he might hurl it against the giant Polvboetes.
(Strabo, US. --Apollod. , 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
Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 09:13 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x001045523 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 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
Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 09:13 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x001045523 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 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
Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 09:13 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x001045523 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 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
Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 09:13 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x001045523 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 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.