No More Learning

iii. 15; comp. Cic. ad All. xvi. 5), but we cannot critical scholar must feel the weight of this obser-
tell whether they were ever formally collected into vation.
a volume. The Epistolae Ciceronis ad Cornelium 2. The person addressed in the preface or intro
Nepotem are adverted to under CICERO, p. 743. duction must be Pomponius Atticus, the friend of
6. Perhaps poems also, at least he is named in Cicero. This is fully proved by a passage in the
the same category with Virgil, Ennius, and Accius life of Cato (sub fin. ) where we read, “ Hujus de
by the younger Pliny (Ep. v. 3).
vita et moribus plura in eo libro persecuti sumus
7. De Historicis. In the life of Dion (c. 3), which quem separatim de eo fecimus rogatu Pomponii
now bears the name of Cornelius Nepos, there is Attici," words which are unquestionably perfectly
the following sentence,“ Sed de hoc in eo meo decisive in so far as the memoir in which they
libro plura sunt exposita qui De Historicis con- occur is concerned, but this, as we have seen, was
scriptus est. "
not included in the original edition, is wanting in
In the year 1471 a quarto volume issued from some MSS. , and, along with the Atticus, is separated,
the press of Jenson at Venice, entitled Acmilii as it were, from the rest in all.
Probi de Vita ercellentium, contnining biographies of 3. The lofty tone in which the grandeur and
twenty distinguished commanders, nineteen Greeks power of the Roman people are celebrated, the
and one Persian, in the following order, which, it boldness of the comments on free institutions and
has been subsequently ascertained, obtains in all tyrants, would have been totally out of place at an
MSS. :-1. Miltiades. 2. Themistocles. 3. Aris- epoch of degradation and slavery. Allusions, also,
tides. 4. Pausanias. 5. Cimon. 6. Lysander. it is affirmed, may be detected to the civil war
7. Alcibiades. 8. Thrasybulus. 9. Conon between Caesar and Pompey. Upon a careful
10. Dion. 11. Iphicrates. 12. Chabrias. 13. Ti- examination of all the quotations adduced it will
motheus. 14. Datames. 15. Epaminondas. 16. Pe- be seen that no weight ought to be attached to
lopidas. 17. Agesilaus. 18. Eumenes. 19. Pho this portion of the proof.
cion. 20. Timoleon. Next came three chapters 4. Lambinus was informed, upon what he con-
headed De Regibus, presenting very brief no sidered good authority, that one MS. ended in this
tices of certain famous kings Persia and Mace manner, - Completum est opus Aemilii Probi, Cor-
donia, of the elder Sicilian Dionysins, and of some nelii Nepotis. " But even if we admit the accu-
of the more remarkable among the successors of racy of a statement vouched for so imperfectly, it
Alexander. The volume concluded with a bio- leads to no result, for the first clause might be in-
graphy of Hamilcar, and a biography of Hannibal. tended to assign the 20 biographies, the De Reyi-
A preface, or introduction to the lives, commenced bus, the Hamilcar and the Hannibal, to Probus ;
with the words, “ Non dubito fore plerosque, the concluding phrase to mark Nepos as the author
Attice, qui hoc genus scripturae, leve, et non satis of the Cato and the Atticus.
dignum summorum virorum judicent," and prefixed The question thus started has given rise to in-
to the whole was a dedication, in verse, to the em- terminable discussions ; but the leading hypotheses
peror Theodosius, in wbich we find the couplet may be reduced to three.
Si rogat Auctorem, paulatim detege nostrum
I. Many of the contemporaries of Lambinus,
Tunc Domino nomen, me sciat esse Probum.
unable or unwilling to abandon the belief in which
they had been reared, and clinging to the verses
A second edition, in quarto, of the same book, addressed to Theodosius, doggedly maintained that
without date, was printed at Venice by Bernardinus the old opinion was after all true, and that all the
Venetus. In this a biography of Cato is added. lives, except perhaps those of Cato and Atticus,
The title in one . part of the volume is remili which stood upon somewhat different ground, were
Probi Historici excellentium Imperatorum Vitae, in the property of Probus, and of no one else. This
another Aemilü Probi de Virorum Ilustrium Vita. position is now very generally abandoned.
A third edition, in quarto, without date and with- II. Lambinus, as we have seen, pronounced the
out name of place or printer, but known to belong lives to belong entirely to Cornelius Nepos. Those
to Milan, and to be not later than 1496, was pub- who support this hypothesis, which has been more
lished as Aemilius Probus de Viris Illustribus; and widely received than any other, hold, that what
bere we have not only the biography of Cato, but we now possess may be regarded, either as a por-
a life of Atticus also. Numerous impressions tion of the voluminous collection, De Viris Ilustri-
appeared during the next half century, varying bus, or as an independent work, which, having
from the above and from each other in no iinport- fallen into oblivion, was brought to light by
ant particular, except that in the Strasburg one of Aemilius Probus, who fraudulently endeavoured to
1506, the life of Atticus is ascribed to Cornelius palm it off as his own ; or, perhaps, meant to do
Nepos, a point in which it is supported by many nothing more than claim the credit of having dis-
MSS. But in 1569 a great sensation was pro- covered and described it ; or, that the verses in
duced among the learned by the edition of the question, which are absent from several MSS. , re-
celebrated Dionysius Lambinus (4to. Paris, 1569), fer to some totally different production, and have
who not only revised the text with much care, but by mere accident found their way into their pre-
strenuously maintained that the whole work was sent position.
the production of that Cornelius Nepos who flou- III. Barthius, steering a middle course, threw
rished towards the close of the Roinan republic, out that the biographies, as they now exist, are in
and not of an unknown Aemilius Probus, living at reality epitomes of lives actually written by Nepos,
the end of the fourth century. The arguments and that we ought to look upon Probus as the ab-
upon which he chiefly insisted were, --
breviator ; others, adopting the general idea, think
1. The extrenie purity of the Latinity, and the it more likely that the abridgments were executed
chaste simplicity of the style, which exhibit a at an earlier period.
striking contrast to the semi-barbarian jargon and Without attempting to enter at large into the
meretricious finery of the later empire. Every I merits of these conflicting systems, and of the
2
4 x 3


## p. 1158 (#1174) ##########################################

158
NEPOS.
NEPOS.
many minor controversies to which they have given | true rending of the Codex is Nepotianus or Nepos,
rise, all of which will be ſound stated in the works and even the determination of the reading would
noted down at the end of this article, we may re- not settle the point, as Theophanes (Chronographia,
mark that the third hypothesis, under one form or ad A. M. 5965) gives to the emperor himself the
other, will, if properly applied, tend to remove name of Nepotianus, and adds that he was a native
many of the difficulties, and explain many of the of Dalmatia. It is not improbable that the family
anom alies by which the subject is embarrassed of Marcellinus preserved, after his death in A. D.
more effectually than either of the two others. It 468, a portion of the power which he had possessed
will enable us to account for the purity of the in Illyricum, and that this was the motive which
language, and for the graceful unaffected ease of induced the Eastern emperor Leo (Leo I. ) to give
the clauses, when taken singly, and at the same to Nepos his niece (or, more accurately, the niece of
time to understand the harsh and abrupt transi- his wife the empress Verina) in marriage, and to
tions which so frequently occur in passing from one declare him, by his officer Domitianus, at Ravenna,
sentence or from one paragraph to another. But Augustus (Jornandes incorrectly says Caesar) of
while we may safely admit that we hold in our the Western empire. (Jornand. de Regnor. Success. )
hands the abridgment of some writer of the The actual emperor, at the time when Nepos was
Augustan age, we must bear in mind that the evi- thus exalted, was Glycerius (GLYCERIUS), who
dence adduced to prove that writer to be Comelius was regarded at Constantinople as an usurper.
Nepos is miserably defective, an exception being Nepos marched against his competitor, took him
always made in respect of the life of Atticus, which prisoner at Portus at the mouth of the Tiber, and
is expressly assigned to him in at least two of the obliged him to become a priest. These events
best MSS.
took place, according to the more numerous and
These biographies have, almost ever since their better authorities, in A. D. 474, but Theophanes, by
first appearance, been a favourite school-book, and contracting the reign of Glycerius to five months
hence editions have been multiplied without end. (GLYCERIUS), brings his deposition within the
We have already described the earliest. After year 473. The elevation of Nepos is placed by
the labours of Lambinus, we may particularly the Chronicon of an anonymous author, published
notice those of Schottus, fol. Francf. 1609, of Geb- by Caspinianus (No. viii. in the Vetustior. Latinor.
hardus, 12mo. Amst. 1644, of Boeclerus, 8vo. Chronica of Roncallius), on the 24th of June, which
Argentor. 1648, of Bosius, 8vo. Jen. 1675, of Van date, if correct, must refer to his victory over Gly-
Staveren, 8vo. Lug. Bat 1734, 1755, 1773, the cerius, for his proclamation as emperor at Ravenna
last being the best, of Heusinger, 8vo. Krug. 1747, must have been antecedent to the death of Leo
of Fischer, 8vo. Lips. 1759, of Harles, Hal. 1773, (which occurred in January 474), at least antece-
Lips. 1806, of Paufler, with useful notes written in dent to the intelligence of Leo's death reaching
German, 8vo. Lips. 1804, of Tzschucke, 8vo. Ravenna. If we suppose the proclamation of Nepos
Gotting. 1804, with an excellent commentary in a as emperor to have occurred in August 473, a sup-
separate volume, of Titze, 8vo. Prag. 1813, of position to which we see no objection, the date
Bremi, 8vo. Zurich, 1820, of Bardili, 2 vols. given by Theophanes, who, as a Byzantine, would
8vo. Stuttgard, 1820, of Daehne, 12mo. Lips. compute the reign of Nepos from his accession de
1827, of Roth, who has brought back Aemilius jure, may be reconciled with that of the Latin
Probus on his title page, Basil, 8vo. 1841, and chroniclers, who date from the time of his becoming
of Benecke, 8vo. Berol. 1843, which is purely cri- emperor de facto, and on this supposition the in-
tical. The editions of Van Staveren, 1773, of terval from August 473 to June 474 must have
Tr. schucke, 1804, of Bremi, 1820, contain every been occupied in preparing his armament or exe-
thing that the student requires, and perhaps no cuting his march against Glycerius.
single edition will be found more serviceable than From hints in the letters of Sidonius Apollinaris
that of Lemaire, 8vo. Paris, 1820. The disserta- (Ep. v. 16, viii. 7, ed. Sirmoud) it may be ga-
tion prefixed to the editions of Lambinus, Titze, thered that Nepos had, before his accession, acquired
Bardili, Daehne, Roth, and Benecke, will yield some reputation both for warlike ability and for
full information on the controversy. The trans- general goodness of character, and that during his
lations into different languages are countless; the brief reign his conduct was answerable to his pre-
first into English is, “ The Lives of illustrious vious character. But the condition of the empire
Men, written in Latin by Cornelius Nepos, done was past remedy. The Visigoths, settled in Aqui-
into English by several (twelve) gentlemen of the tania, were eagerly striving, under their king Euric,
University of Oxford, Lond. 1684,” and frequently to expel the Romans from the territories of the
reprinted. Sir Matthew Hale had previously Arverni, the modern Auvergne, the last part of the
translated “The Life of Atticus, with moral and province which remained to its ancient masters,
political Observations," 8vo. Lond. 1677. [W. R. ] and which was bravely defended by its inhabitants
NEPOS, HERENNIUS, an illustrious man, under the conduct of Ecdicius (Jornandes calls him
slain by the emperor Severus. (Spartian. Sever. Decius), brother-in-law of Sidonius Apollinaris.
13. )
The Goths besieged the town of Arverni or Cler-
NEPOS, JU’LIUS, the last emperor but one mont, in the summer of 474, but Epiphanius, bishop
of the Western Empire, A. D. 474–475. He was of Ticinum (Pavia), being sent by Nepos, con-
the son of Nepotianus, by a sister of that Marcel cluded a peace (Ennod. Vita Epiphan. ), which,
linus who established a temporary independent however, Euric soon broke, and Nepos was obliged,
principality in Illyricum, about the middle of the in a second treaty, in which the quaestor Lici-
fifth century. [MARCELLINUS. ] A law of the nianus was his negotiator, to cede the disputed
Codex of Justinian mentions a Nepotianus as gene- territory to its assailants. (Sirmond, Not. ad Sidon,
ral of the army in Dalmatia in a. D. 471, but it is Ep. iii. 1. ) Tillemont makes the embassy of Li-
doubtful whether this was the emperor's father or cinianus unavailing, and considers that of Epipha-
the emperor himself, as it is not clear whether the nius to have been consequent on its failure ; but


## p. 1159 (#1175) ##########################################

NEPOTIANUS.
1159
NERATIUS.
een TV
PI
2
Quod
we think Sirmond's view of the matter more con- | xv. ). Distinguished, if we can believe this com-
sistent with the account of Ennodius.
plimentary address, as a grammarian, a rhetorician,
These transactions with the Visigoths constitute a poet, and a philosopher, he died at the age of
almost the whole that is known of the reign of ninety, leaving behind him two children. (W. R. )
Nepos. He had recalled Ecdicius from Gaul, and NÉPOTIANUS, FLAVIUS POPILIUS,
had appointed Orestes to be magister militum of son of Eutropia, the half-sister of Constantine the
that diocese in his place.
Orestes, assuming the Great (EUTROPIA ; THEODORA), headed a rash
command of the troops assembled at Rome, and enterprise whose object was to withstand the usur-
marching as if towards Gaul, came to Ravenna, pation of Magnentius. Having collected a band of
where Nepos appears to have been, raised there gladiators, runaway slaves, and similar desperadoes,
the standard of revolt, and proclaimed his son be assumed the purple on the 3d of June 350,
Augustulus emperor. (AUGUSTULUS, ROMULUS. ) marched upon Rome, defeated and slew Anicius
Nepos fled into Dalmatia. His expulsion is fixed (or Anicetus), the new praetorian prefect, and
by the anonymous Chronicon already cited for the made himself master of the city, which was deluged
date of his accession, on the 28th of August 475, with blood by the excesses of contending factions.
80 that his actual reign was about fourteen months. But after having enjoyed a confused shadow of
After his expulsion from Italy, he appears to royalty for twenty-eight days only, the adventurer
have retained the Dalmatian territory, which he, or was overpowered and put to death, along with his
some of his family, had inherited from Marcellinus, mother, by Marcellinus, who had been despatched
and was still recognised at Constantinople and in the by Magnentius to quell the insurrection, and many
East as emperor of the West. Meanwhile, Orestes of the most noble and wealthy among the senators,
was defeated and killed, and Augustulus deposed, by whom his pretensions had been admitted,
by Odoacer the Herulian (AUGUSTULUS ; ORES shared a like fate. This Nepotianus is supposed
TES ; ODOACER), who bought the patronage of the to be the person who appears in the Fasti as
Eastern emperor Zeno ; but Zeno persisted in re the colleague of Facundus for the year 336, and it
;
cognising the title of Nepos. (Malchus, apud Col has been conjectured that his father was the Ne-
lectan. de Legation. ) In A. D. 480 Nepos was killed potianus who held the office of consul in 301.
near Salona, where he appears to have resided, by (MAGNENTIUS ; MARCELLINUS. ) (Julian. Orat.
Viator and Ovida or Odiva, two of his own officers i. ii. ; Aur. Vict. de Cues. 42, Epit. 42; Eutrop.
(Marcellin. Chronicon), probably at the instigation x. 6; Zosim. ii. 43; Chron. Alexandr. ; Chron.
of his deposed predecessor Glycerius (GLYCERIUS], Idat. )
[W. R. )
who held the bishopric of Salona (Malchus, apud
Phot. Bibl. Cod. 78. ) Odiva or Ovida was van-
quished and killed the next year, 481, by Odoacer
who had invaded Dalmatia. (Cassiodor. Chron. )
Tillemont thinks that the title of Nepos, till his
death, was recognised by some of the cities of
Gaul. The accounts of the life and reign of Nepos
are brief and fragmentary. To the authorities cited
in the course of the article may be added Marius
Aventic. Chronicon ; Chronici Prosperiani Aucta-
rium, No. iv. apud Roncallium ; Catalogus Impe-
COIN OF NEPOTIANUS.
ratorum, No. xi. apud eundem ; Jornandes, de
Rebus Geticis ; the Excerpta subjóined by Valesius
NEPOTIANUS, JANUA'RIUS. [MAXIMUS,
to Amm. Marc. ; Evagrius, H. E. ii. 16 ; Tillemont, Valerius, p. 1002. )
Hist. des Empereurs, vol. vi. pp. 424–434, 440-
NEPTU'NUS, the chief marine divinity of the
443 ; Gibbon, Decline and Fall
, ch. Xxxvi ; Eckhel, Romans. His name is probably connected with
vol viii. p. 202.
[J. C. M. ]
the verb valw or nato, and a contraction of navitu-
As the early Romans were not a maritime
people, and had not much to do with the sea, the
marine divinities are not often mentioned, and we
scarcely know with any certainty what day in the
year was set apart as the festival of Neptunus,
though it seems to have been the 23rd of July (X.
Kal. Sext. ). His temple stood in the Campus
Martius, not far from the septa ; but respecting
the ceremonies of his festival we know nothing, ex-
cept that the people formed tents (umbrae) of the
branches of trees, in which they probably rejoiced
NEPOS, LICI'NIUS, is frequently mentioned in feasting and drinking (Varro, de Ling. Lat. vi.
by the younger Pliny as an upright man and a 19; Horat. Carm. jii. 28 ; Paul. Diac. p. 377, ed.
severe praetor. (Plin. Ep. iv. 29, v. 4, 21, vi. 5. ) Müller ; Tertull. de Spect. 6 ; P. Vict. Reg. Urb.
NEPOS, MA'RIUS, expelled from the senate IX. ; Dict. of Ant. s. v. Neptunalia). When a
by Tiberius, A. D. 17, on account of his extra- Roman commander sailed out with a fleet, he first
vagance. (Tac. Ann. ii. 48. )
offered up a sacrifice to Neptunus, which was
NEPOS, METELLUS. (METELLUS. ) thrown into the sea (Cic. de Nat. Deor. üi. 20;
NEPOS, P. VALE'RIUS, was one of the ac- Liv. xxix. 27). In the Roman poets Neptunus is
cusers of Milo, whom Cicero defended. (Ascon. completely identified with the Greek Poseidon, and
in Mil. p. 35. )
accordingly all the attributes of the latter are trans-
NEPOTIA’NUS, one of the Bordeaux pro- ferred by them to the former. [POSEIDON. ) (L. S. !
fessors commemorated by Ausonius (Prof. Burdig.
NERA'TIUS MARCELLUS. (MARCELLUS.

ARIU
PAeras
P0000000
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UNING
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COIN OF JULIUS NEPOS.
the Agri
4 E 4
Chastained
Supe


## p. 1160 (#1176) ##########################################

1160
NEREIS.
NERIUS.
.
1
NERA'TIUS PRISCUS, a Roman jurist, who | theatre of Syracuse, from which it appears that she
lived under Trajan and Hadrian. It is said that bore the title of queen. (Raoul-Rochette, Má
Trajan sometimes bad the design of making Nera- moires de Numismatique el d'Antiquité, p. 73, 4to.
tius his successor in place of Hadrian. (Spart. Paris, 1840. ) Justin erroneously supposes her 10
Hadr. 4. ) He enjoyed a high reputation under be a sister of the Deïdameia (or Laodameia, as he
Hadrian, and was one of his consiliarii. (Spart. calls her) who was assassinated by Milon. That
Hadr, 18. ) Neratius was consul, but the year is she was a daughter of the elder Pyrrhus, see Drog-
uncertain. The works of Neratius were fifteen sen, vol. ii. p. 275, note.
[E. H. B. )
books of Regulae, three books of Responsa, and seven NEREIUS, a patronymic from Nereus, applied
books of Membranae, from which there are sixty- to his descendants, such as Phocus. (Ov. Met. vii.
four excerpts in the Digest. A fourth book of 685, xiii. 162; Virg. Aen. ix. 102). (L. S. )
Epistolae, and a treatise entitled Libri er Plautio, NEREUS (Nnpeus), a son of Pontus and Gaea,
are cited in the Digest (8. tit. 3. s. 5. § 1; 33. and husband of Doris, by whom he became the
tit. 7. 8. 12. § 35). He also wrote a book, De father of the 50 Nereides. He is described as the
Nuptiis (Gell
. iv. 4), if Neratius is the right read- wise and unerring old man of the sea, at the
ing there. It is a mistake to collect from a passage bottom of which he dwelt (Hom. I. xviii. 141,
in the Digest (39. tit. 6. 8. 43), that he wrote Od. xxiv. 58 ; Hes. Theog. 233, &c. ; Apollod. i.