--
Histories
of Rome, by Niebuhr, Arnold, and
Milden.
Milden.
Charles - 1867 - Classical Dictionary
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. )
Numida, Plotius, a friend of Horace, who had re-
turned, after a long absence, from Spain, where he
had been serving under Augustus in the Gantabrian
war. The poet addresses one of his odes to him, and
bids his friends celebrate in due form so joyous an
event. (Horat. , Od. , 1, 36. )
Nomidia, a country of Africa, bounded on the cast
by Africa Propria, on the north by the Mediterranean,
on the south by Gaetulia, and on the west by Maurita-
nia. The Homan province of Numidia was, however,
of much smaller extent, being bounded on the west by
the Ampsagas, and on the east by the Tusca (or Zain),
and thus corresponded to the eastern part of Algiers.
The Numidians were originally a nomadic people;
and hence some think they were called by the Greeks
Nomadcs (Nouuiec), and their country Nomadia (No-
fiaiia), whence came by corruption Numida and Nu-
midia. (Compare Polyb. , 37,3. -- Sail. , Bell. Jug. ,
18. --Plin. , 5, 2. ) Others, however, arc in favour of
a Phoenician etymology. (Vid. Nomadcs. )-- When
the Greek and Roman writers speak of the Numidians,
the term is usually limited to the two great tribes of
the MassHjsyli and Massyli. the former of which ex-
tended along the northern part of Africa, from the Mu-
lucha on the west to the Ampsagas on the east; and
the latter from the Ampsagas to the territories of Car-
thage. When the Romans first became acquainted
with the Numidians, which was during the second
Punic war, Svphax was king of the Massssyli, and
Gala of the Massyli. Masinissa, son of Gala, suc-
ceeded to the throne after various turns of fortune,
and, siding with the Romans during the latter part of
the second Punic war, yielded them very important
assistance, which they requited by bestowing upon him
all the dominions of his rival Syphax, and a considera-
ble part of the Carthaginian territory, so that his king-
dom extended from the Mulucha on the west to Cy-
rcnaica on the cast, and completely surrounded the
small district which was left to the Carthaginians on
the coast. (Appian, 8, 106. ) Masinissa laid the
foundation of a great and powerful state in Numidia.
? ? He introduced the arts of agriculture and civilized life,
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? NYM
Nycteus, father of Antiope. (Vid. Antiopc I. )
Nymph. *, certain female deities among the ancients.
The imagination of the Greeks peopled all the regions
of earth and water with beautiful female forms called
Nymphs, divided into various orders, according to the
place of their abode. Thus, 1. the Mountain-Nymphs,
or Oreadcs ('Opeiaiec), haunted the mountains; 2.
the Dale-Nymphs, or Napaa (Na-a<<u), the valleys;
3. the Mead-Nymphs, or Leimoniadcs (Aeiftuviudcc),
the meadows; 4. the Water-Nymphs, or Naiades
(Satude c), the rivers, brooks, and springs; 5. the
Lake-Nymphs, or Limniades (Ai/wiudec), the lakes
and pools. There were also, C. the Tree-Nymphs, or
Hamadryades ('A/iaSpvudec), who were bom and died
with the trees; 7. the Wood-Nymphs, or Dryades
(Apvdiec), who presided over the forests generally;
and, 8. the Fruit-tree-Nymphs, or Flock-Nymphs (Mc-
liades, yinXiadec), who watched over gardens or flocks
of sheep. --The Nymphs occur in various relations to
gods and men. The charge of rearing various deities
and heroes was committed to them; they were, for
instance, the nurses of Bacchus, Pan, and even Jupi-
ter himself, and they also brought up Aristteus and
. Eneas. They were, moreover, the attendants of the
goddesses; they waited on Juno and Venus, and in
huntress attire they pursued the deer over the mount-
ains in company with Diana. The Sea-Nymphs also
formed a numerous class, under the appellation of
Oceanides and Nereides. --The word Nymph (vvutpn)
seems to have originally signified "bride," and was
probably derived from a verb vvCu, "to cover" or
'"veil," and which was akin to the Latin nubo and
? nubts. It was gradually applied to married or mar-
riageable young women, for the idea of youth was al-
ways included. It is in this last sense that the god-
desses of whom we have been treating were called
Nymphs. (Keightlcy's Mythology, p. 237, teqq. )
Nymphveum, I. a place in the territory of Apollo-
ma, in Illyricum, remarkable for a mine of asphaltus,
of which several ancient writers have given a descrip-
tion. Near this spot was some rising ground, whence
fire was constantly seen to issue, without, however,
injuring either the grass or trees that grew there.
(Aristot. , Mirand. Auscult. --JZUan, Var. Hist. , 13,
16. --Plin. , 24, 7. ) Strabo supposes it to have arisen
from a mine of bitumen liquefied, there being a hill
in the vicinity whence this substance was dug out, the
earth which was removed being in process of time
converted into pitch, as it had been stated by Posido-
nius. (Strabo, 316. ) Pliny says this spot was con-
sidered as oracular, which is confirmed by Dio Cas-
sius, who describes at length the mode of consulting
the oracle (41, 45). The phenomenon noticed by the
writers here mentioned has been verified by modem
travellers as existing near the village of Selenitza, on
the left bank of the Aoiis, and near the junction of
that river with the Sutchilza. (Jones's Journal, cited
by Hughes, vol. 2, p. 262. ) From Livy (42, 36 cl
49) it appears that there was a Roman encampment
here for some time during the Macedonian war.
(Cramer's Anc. Greece, vol. 1, p. 61. ) Plutarch (Vtl.
Syll. ) tells an amusing story of a satyr having been
caught asleep in this vicinity and brought to SyHa, the
Roman commander, who was then on the spot! --II. A
promontory of Athos, on the Singitic Gulf, now Cape
S. Georgia. (Ptol, p. 82. )--III. A city in the Tau-
ric Chersonese, on the route from Theodosia to Pan-
ticapseum, and having a good port on the Euxine. In
? ? Pliny's time it no longer existed (4, 12). The ru-
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? OASIS.
OASIS.
Mired about the great sandy deserts of Africa. In
Arabic they arc called Wahys. The Arabic and the
Greek names seem to contain the same root with the
Coptic Ouuhc, and possibly the word may be originally
a nativo African term. --The Oases appear to be de-
pressions in the table-land of Libya. On going from
the Nile westward, the traveller gradually ascends till
he arrives at the summit of an elevated plain, which
continues nearly level, or with slight undulations, for
a considerable distance, and rises higher on advancing
towards the south. The Oases are valleys sunk in this
plain; and, when you descend to one of them, you
find the level space or plain of the Oasis similar to a
portion of the valley of Egypt, surrounded by steep
hills of limestone at some distance from the cultivated
land. The low plain of the Oasis is sandstone or clay,
and from this last the water rises to the surface and fer-
tilizes the country; and, as the table-land is higher in
the latitude of Thebes than in that of Lower Egypt,
we may readily imagine that the water of the Oases is
conveyed from some elevated point to the south, and,
being retained by the bed of clay, rises to the surface
wherever the limestone superstratum is removed.
(Wilkinson, " On the Nile, and the present and for-
mer levels of Egypt. "--Journal of the London Geo-
graphical Society, 1839. ) The principal Oases are
four in number: 1. The Great Oasis ('Oaac Meyalij,
Plot. ), which Strabo calls "the First Oasis" (h
irpurn 'Oaoic, 791). 2. The Little Oasis {'Oaotc M(-
Kpa, Ptolemy), called by Strabo the Second Oasis
('Oaaic ievrcpa). 3. The Oasis of Amman. 4.
The Western Oasis, which does not appear to have
been mentioned by any ancient geographer except
Olympiodorus, and was never seen by any Euro-
peans until Sir Archibald Edmonstone visited it about
20 years ago. --These four constitute, as has been
said, the principal Oases. The writers of the mid-
dle ages enlarge the number materially, from Arabic!
sources, and modern writers increase it still more,
making upward of thirty Oases. (Bischoff and Mil-
ler, Wiirterb. der Geogr. , p. 795. )--The Great Oasis
is the most southern of the whole, and is placed by
Strabo and Ptolemy to the west of Abydos. It is the
only one, with the exception of that of Amnion, with
which Herodotus seems to have been acquainted (3,
26). He translates the term Oasis into Greek by
Majcupuv vt/aoc, " Island of the blessed," and without
doubt this, or any other of these fertile spots, must
have appeared to the traveller of former days well
worthy of such an appellation, after he had suffered,
during many painful weeks, the privations and fatigue
of the desert. To the Greeks and Romans, however,
of a later age, they generally presented themselves in
a less favourable aspect, and were not unfrcquently
assigned as places of banishment, where the state-
malefactor and the ministers of the Christian church,
who were sometimes comprehended in the same class,
were, in the second and third centuries, condemned to
waste their days in the remote solitude of the desert.
--The Great Oasis consists of a number of insulated
spots, which extend in a line parallel to the course of
the Nile, separated from one another by considerable
intervals of sandy waste, and stretching not less than
a hundred miles in latitude. Its Arabic name is El-
Wah, a general term in that language for Oasis. M.
Poncet, who examined it in 1698, says that it contains
many gardens watered with rivulets, and that its palm-
? ? groves exhibit a perpetual verdure. It is the first stage
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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. )
Numida, Plotius, a friend of Horace, who had re-
turned, after a long absence, from Spain, where he
had been serving under Augustus in the Gantabrian
war. The poet addresses one of his odes to him, and
bids his friends celebrate in due form so joyous an
event. (Horat. , Od. , 1, 36. )
Nomidia, a country of Africa, bounded on the cast
by Africa Propria, on the north by the Mediterranean,
on the south by Gaetulia, and on the west by Maurita-
nia. The Homan province of Numidia was, however,
of much smaller extent, being bounded on the west by
the Ampsagas, and on the east by the Tusca (or Zain),
and thus corresponded to the eastern part of Algiers.
The Numidians were originally a nomadic people;
and hence some think they were called by the Greeks
Nomadcs (Nouuiec), and their country Nomadia (No-
fiaiia), whence came by corruption Numida and Nu-
midia. (Compare Polyb. , 37,3. -- Sail. , Bell. Jug. ,
18. --Plin. , 5, 2. ) Others, however, arc in favour of
a Phoenician etymology. (Vid. Nomadcs. )-- When
the Greek and Roman writers speak of the Numidians,
the term is usually limited to the two great tribes of
the MassHjsyli and Massyli. the former of which ex-
tended along the northern part of Africa, from the Mu-
lucha on the west to the Ampsagas on the east; and
the latter from the Ampsagas to the territories of Car-
thage. When the Romans first became acquainted
with the Numidians, which was during the second
Punic war, Svphax was king of the Massssyli, and
Gala of the Massyli. Masinissa, son of Gala, suc-
ceeded to the throne after various turns of fortune,
and, siding with the Romans during the latter part of
the second Punic war, yielded them very important
assistance, which they requited by bestowing upon him
all the dominions of his rival Syphax, and a considera-
ble part of the Carthaginian territory, so that his king-
dom extended from the Mulucha on the west to Cy-
rcnaica on the cast, and completely surrounded the
small district which was left to the Carthaginians on
the coast. (Appian, 8, 106. ) Masinissa laid the
foundation of a great and powerful state in Numidia.
? ? He introduced the arts of agriculture and civilized life,
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? NYM
Nycteus, father of Antiope. (Vid. Antiopc I. )
Nymph. *, certain female deities among the ancients.
The imagination of the Greeks peopled all the regions
of earth and water with beautiful female forms called
Nymphs, divided into various orders, according to the
place of their abode. Thus, 1. the Mountain-Nymphs,
or Oreadcs ('Opeiaiec), haunted the mountains; 2.
the Dale-Nymphs, or Napaa (Na-a<<u), the valleys;
3. the Mead-Nymphs, or Leimoniadcs (Aeiftuviudcc),
the meadows; 4. the Water-Nymphs, or Naiades
(Satude c), the rivers, brooks, and springs; 5. the
Lake-Nymphs, or Limniades (Ai/wiudec), the lakes
and pools. There were also, C. the Tree-Nymphs, or
Hamadryades ('A/iaSpvudec), who were bom and died
with the trees; 7. the Wood-Nymphs, or Dryades
(Apvdiec), who presided over the forests generally;
and, 8. the Fruit-tree-Nymphs, or Flock-Nymphs (Mc-
liades, yinXiadec), who watched over gardens or flocks
of sheep. --The Nymphs occur in various relations to
gods and men. The charge of rearing various deities
and heroes was committed to them; they were, for
instance, the nurses of Bacchus, Pan, and even Jupi-
ter himself, and they also brought up Aristteus and
. Eneas. They were, moreover, the attendants of the
goddesses; they waited on Juno and Venus, and in
huntress attire they pursued the deer over the mount-
ains in company with Diana. The Sea-Nymphs also
formed a numerous class, under the appellation of
Oceanides and Nereides. --The word Nymph (vvutpn)
seems to have originally signified "bride," and was
probably derived from a verb vvCu, "to cover" or
'"veil," and which was akin to the Latin nubo and
? nubts. It was gradually applied to married or mar-
riageable young women, for the idea of youth was al-
ways included. It is in this last sense that the god-
desses of whom we have been treating were called
Nymphs. (Keightlcy's Mythology, p. 237, teqq. )
Nymphveum, I. a place in the territory of Apollo-
ma, in Illyricum, remarkable for a mine of asphaltus,
of which several ancient writers have given a descrip-
tion. Near this spot was some rising ground, whence
fire was constantly seen to issue, without, however,
injuring either the grass or trees that grew there.
(Aristot. , Mirand. Auscult. --JZUan, Var. Hist. , 13,
16. --Plin. , 24, 7. ) Strabo supposes it to have arisen
from a mine of bitumen liquefied, there being a hill
in the vicinity whence this substance was dug out, the
earth which was removed being in process of time
converted into pitch, as it had been stated by Posido-
nius. (Strabo, 316. ) Pliny says this spot was con-
sidered as oracular, which is confirmed by Dio Cas-
sius, who describes at length the mode of consulting
the oracle (41, 45). The phenomenon noticed by the
writers here mentioned has been verified by modem
travellers as existing near the village of Selenitza, on
the left bank of the Aoiis, and near the junction of
that river with the Sutchilza. (Jones's Journal, cited
by Hughes, vol. 2, p. 262. ) From Livy (42, 36 cl
49) it appears that there was a Roman encampment
here for some time during the Macedonian war.
(Cramer's Anc. Greece, vol. 1, p. 61. ) Plutarch (Vtl.
Syll. ) tells an amusing story of a satyr having been
caught asleep in this vicinity and brought to SyHa, the
Roman commander, who was then on the spot! --II. A
promontory of Athos, on the Singitic Gulf, now Cape
S. Georgia. (Ptol, p. 82. )--III. A city in the Tau-
ric Chersonese, on the route from Theodosia to Pan-
ticapseum, and having a good port on the Euxine. In
? ? Pliny's time it no longer existed (4, 12). The ru-
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? OASIS.
OASIS.
Mired about the great sandy deserts of Africa. In
Arabic they arc called Wahys. The Arabic and the
Greek names seem to contain the same root with the
Coptic Ouuhc, and possibly the word may be originally
a nativo African term. --The Oases appear to be de-
pressions in the table-land of Libya. On going from
the Nile westward, the traveller gradually ascends till
he arrives at the summit of an elevated plain, which
continues nearly level, or with slight undulations, for
a considerable distance, and rises higher on advancing
towards the south. The Oases are valleys sunk in this
plain; and, when you descend to one of them, you
find the level space or plain of the Oasis similar to a
portion of the valley of Egypt, surrounded by steep
hills of limestone at some distance from the cultivated
land. The low plain of the Oasis is sandstone or clay,
and from this last the water rises to the surface and fer-
tilizes the country; and, as the table-land is higher in
the latitude of Thebes than in that of Lower Egypt,
we may readily imagine that the water of the Oases is
conveyed from some elevated point to the south, and,
being retained by the bed of clay, rises to the surface
wherever the limestone superstratum is removed.
(Wilkinson, " On the Nile, and the present and for-
mer levels of Egypt. "--Journal of the London Geo-
graphical Society, 1839. ) The principal Oases are
four in number: 1. The Great Oasis ('Oaac Meyalij,
Plot. ), which Strabo calls "the First Oasis" (h
irpurn 'Oaoic, 791). 2. The Little Oasis {'Oaotc M(-
Kpa, Ptolemy), called by Strabo the Second Oasis
('Oaaic ievrcpa). 3. The Oasis of Amman. 4.
The Western Oasis, which does not appear to have
been mentioned by any ancient geographer except
Olympiodorus, and was never seen by any Euro-
peans until Sir Archibald Edmonstone visited it about
20 years ago. --These four constitute, as has been
said, the principal Oases. The writers of the mid-
dle ages enlarge the number materially, from Arabic!
sources, and modern writers increase it still more,
making upward of thirty Oases. (Bischoff and Mil-
ler, Wiirterb. der Geogr. , p. 795. )--The Great Oasis
is the most southern of the whole, and is placed by
Strabo and Ptolemy to the west of Abydos. It is the
only one, with the exception of that of Amnion, with
which Herodotus seems to have been acquainted (3,
26). He translates the term Oasis into Greek by
Majcupuv vt/aoc, " Island of the blessed," and without
doubt this, or any other of these fertile spots, must
have appeared to the traveller of former days well
worthy of such an appellation, after he had suffered,
during many painful weeks, the privations and fatigue
of the desert. To the Greeks and Romans, however,
of a later age, they generally presented themselves in
a less favourable aspect, and were not unfrcquently
assigned as places of banishment, where the state-
malefactor and the ministers of the Christian church,
who were sometimes comprehended in the same class,
were, in the second and third centuries, condemned to
waste their days in the remote solitude of the desert.
--The Great Oasis consists of a number of insulated
spots, which extend in a line parallel to the course of
the Nile, separated from one another by considerable
intervals of sandy waste, and stretching not less than
a hundred miles in latitude. Its Arabic name is El-
Wah, a general term in that language for Oasis. M.
Poncet, who examined it in 1698, says that it contains
many gardens watered with rivulets, and that its palm-
? ? groves exhibit a perpetual verdure. It is the first stage
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