_Livy_, bk. 30, ch. 29.
=Narisci=, a nation of Germany, in the Upper Palatinate. _Tacitus_,
_Germania_, ch. 42.
=Narnia=, or =Narna=, anciently _Nequinum_, now _Narni_, a town of
Umbria, washed by the river Nar, from which it received its name. In
its neighbourhood are still visible the remains of an aqueduct and of
a bridge, erected by Augustus. _Livy_, bk. 10, ch. 9.
=Naro=, now _Narenta_, a river of Dalmatia, falling into the Adriatic,
and having the town of _Narona_, now called _Narenza_, on its banks,
a little above the mouth.
=Narses=, a king of Persia, A.D. 294, defeated by Maximianus Galerius,
after a reign of seven years.――――A eunuch in the court of Justinian,
who was deemed worthy to succeed Belisarius, &c.――――A Persian general,
&c.
=Narthēcis=, a small island near Samos.
=Narycia=, =Narycium=, or =Naryx=, a town of Magna Græcia, built by
a colony of Locrians after the fall of Troy. The place in Greece
from which they came bore the same name, and was the country of
Ajax Oileus. The word _Narycian_ is more universally understood as
applying to the Italian colony, near which pines and other trees grew
in abundance. _Virgil_, _Georgics_, bk. 2, li. 438; _Æneid_, bk. 3,
li. 399.――_Ovid_, _Metamorphoses_, bk. 15, li. 705.
=Nasămōnes=, a savage people of Libya near the Syrtes, who generally
lived upon plunder. _Curtius_, bk. 4, ch. 7.――_Lucan_, bk. 9, li. 439.
――_Herodotus_, bk. 2, ch. 165.――_Silius Italicus_, bk. 2, li. 116;
bk. 11, li. 180.
=Nascio=, or =Natio=, a goddess at Rome who presided over the birth of
children. She had a temple at Ardea. _Cicero_, _de Natura Deorum_,
bk. 3, ch. 18.
=Nasīca=, the surname of one of the Scipios. Nasica was the first who
invented the measuring of time by water, B.C. 159, about 134 years
after the introduction of sun-dials at Rome. _See:_ Scipio.――――An
avaricious fellow who married his daughter to Coranus, a man as
mean as himself, that he might not only not repay the money he
had borrowed, but moreover become his creditor’s heir. Coranus,
understanding his meaning, purposely alienated his property from
him and his daughter, and exposed him to ridicule. _Horace_, bk. 2,
satire 5, li. 64, &c.
=Nasidiēnus=, a Roman knight, whose luxury, arrogance, and ostentation,
exhibited at an entertainment which he gave to Mecænas, were
ridiculed by Horace, bk. 2, satire 8.
=Lucius Nasidius=, a man sent by Pompey to assist the people of
Massilia. After the battle of Pharsalia, he followed the interests
of Pompey’s children, and afterwards revolted to Antony. _Appian._
=Naso=, one of the murderers of Julius Cæsar.――――One of Ovid’s names.
_See:_ Ovidius.
=Nassus=, or =Nasus=, a town of Acarnania, near the mouth of the
Achelous. _Livy_, bk. 26, ch. 24. Also a part of the town of Syracuse.
=Nasua=, a general of the Suevi, when Cæsar was in Gaul.
=Natālis Antonius=, a Roman knight who conspired against Nero with
Piso. He was pardoned for discovering the conspiracy, &c. _Tacitus_,
_Annals_, bk. 15, ch. 50.
=Natiso=, now _Natisone_, a river rising in the Alps, and falling into
the Adriatic east of Aquileia. _Pliny_, bk. 3, ch. 18.
=Natta=, a man whose manner of living was so mean, that his name became
almost proverbial at Rome. _Horace_, bk. 1, ode 6, li. 224.
=Nava=, now _Nape_, a river of Germany, falling into the Rhine at
Bingen, below Mentz. _Tacitus_, _Histories_, bk. 4, ch. 70.
=Naubŏlus=, a charioteer of Laius king of Thebes.――――A Phocean, father
of Iphitus. The sons of Iphitus were called _Naubolides_, from their
grandfather.――――A son of Lernus, one of the Argonauts.
=Naucles=, a general of the mercenary troops of Lacedæmon against
Thebes, &c.
=Naucrătes=, a Greek poet, who was employed by Artemisia to write a
panegyric upon Mausolus.――――Another poet. _Athenæus_, bk. 9.――――An
orator who endeavoured to alienate the cities of Lycia from the
interest of Brutus.
=Naucrătis=, a city of Egypt on the left side of the Canopic mouth
of the Nile. It was celebrated for its commerce, and no ship was
permitted to land at any other place, but was obliged to sail
directly to the city, there to deposit its cargo. It gave birth to
Athenæus. The inhabitants were called _Naucratitæ_, or _Naucratiotæ_.
_Herodotus_, bk. 2, chs. 97 & 179.――_Pliny_, bk. 5, ch. 9.
=Navius Actius=, a famous augur. _See:_ Nævius.
=Naulŏchus=, a maritime town of Sicily near Pelorum.――――A town of
Thrace on the Euxine sea. _Pliny_, bk. 4, ch. 11.――――A promontory of
the island of Imbros.――――A town of the Locri. _Pliny_, bk. 4, ch. 3.
=Naupactus=, or =Naupactum=, a city of Ætolia, at the mouth of the
Evenus, now called _Lepanto_. The word is derived from ναυς and
πηγνυμι because it was there that the Heraclidæ _built_ the first
_ship_, which carried them to Peloponnesus. It first belonged to the
Locri Ozolæ, and afterwards fell into the hands of the Athenians,
who gave it to the Messenians, who had been driven from Peloponnesus
by the Lacedæmonians. It became the property of the Lacedæmonians,
after the battle of Ægospotamos, and it was restored to the Locri.
Philip of Macedonia afterwards took it, and gave it to the Ætolians,
from which circumstance it has generally been called one of the chief
cities of their country. _Strabo_, bk. 4.――_Pausanias_, bk. 4, ch. 25.
――_Mela_, bk. 2, ch. 3.――_Ovid_, _Fasti_, bk. 2, li. 43.
=Nauplia=, a maritime city of Peloponnesus, the naval station of the
Argives. The famous fountain Canathos was in its neighbourhood.
_Pausanias_, bk. 2, ch. 38.――_Strabo_, bk. 8.
=Naupliădes=, a patronymic of Palamedes son of Nauplius. _Ovid_,
_Metamorphoses_, bk. 13, li. 39.
=Nauplius=, a son of Neptune and Amymone, king of Eubœa. He was father
to the celebrated Palamedes, who was so unjustly sacrificed to the
artifice and resentment of Ulysses by the Greeks during the Trojan
war. The death of Palamedes highly irritated Nauplius, and to avenge
the injustice of the Grecian princes, he attempted to debauch their
wives and ruin their character. When the Greeks returned from the
Trojan war, Nauplius saw them with pleasure distressed in a storm on
the coasts of Eubœa, and to make their disaster still more universal,
he lighted fires on such places as were surrounded with the most
dangerous rocks, that the fleet might be shipwrecked upon the coast.
This succeeded, but Nauplius was so disappointed when he saw Ulysses
and Diomedes escape from the general calamity, that he threw himself
into the sea. According to some mythologists, there were two persons
of this name.――――A native of Argos, who went to Colchis with Jason.
He was son of Neptune and Amymone. The other was king of Eubœa,
and lived during the Trojan war. He was, according to some, son
of Clytonas, one of the descendants of Nauplius the Argonaut. The
Argonaut was remarkable for his knowledge of sea affairs, and of
astronomy. He built the town of Nauplia, and sold Auge daughter of
Aleus to king Teuthras, to withdraw her from her father’s resentment.
_Orpheus_, _Argonautica_.――_Apollodorus_, bk. 2, ch. 7.――_Apollonius_,
bk. 1, &c.――_Flaccus_, bks. 1 & 5.――_Strabo_, bk. 8.――_Pausanias_,
bk. 4, ch. 35.――_Hyginus_, fable 116.
=Nauportus=, a town of Pannonia on a river of the same name, now called
_Ober_, or _Upper Laybach_. _Velleius Paterculus_, bk. 2, ch. 110.
――_Pliny_, bk. 3, ch. 18.――_Tacitus_, _Annals_, bk. 1, ch. 20.
=Naura=, a country of Scythia in Asia. _Curtius_, bk. 3.――――Of India
within the Ganges. _Arrian._
=Nausĭcaa=, a daughter of Alcinous king of the Phæaceans. She met
Ulysses shipwrecked on her father’s coasts, and it was to her
humanity that he owed the kind reception which he experienced from
the king. She married, according to Aristotle and Dictys, Telemachus
the son of Ulysses, by whom she had a son called Perseptolis or
Ptoliporthus. _Homer_, _Odyssey_, bk. 6.――_Pausanias_, bk. 5, ch. 19.
――_Hyginus_, fable 126.
=Nausĭcles=, an Athenian, sent to assist the Phocians with 5000 foot, &c.
=Nausīmĕnes=, an Athenian, whose wife lost her voice from the alarm she
received in seeing her son guilty of incest.
=Nausithoe=, one of the Nereides.
=Nausithous=, a king of the Phæaceans, father to Alcinous. He was son
of Neptune and Peribœa. Hesiod makes him son of Ulysses and Calypso.
_Hesiod_, _Theogony_, bk. 1, li. 16.――――The pilot of the vessel which
carried Theseus into Crete.
=Naustathmus=, a port of Phocæa in Ionia. _Livy_, bk. 37, ch. 31.
――――Also a part of Cyrenaica, now _Bondaria_. _Strabo_, bk. 17.
=Nautes=, a Trojan soothsayer, who comforted Æneas when his fleet had
been burnt in Sicily. _Virgil_, _Æneid_, bk. 5, li. 704. He was the
progenitor of the Nautii at Rome, a family to whom the Palladium of
Troy was, in consequence of the service of their ancestors, entrusted.
_Virgil_, _Æneid_, bk. 5, li. 794.
=Naxos=, now _Naxia_, a celebrated island in the Ægean sea, the
largest and most fertile of all the Cyclades, about 105 miles in
circumference, and 30 broad. It was formerly called _Strongyle_,
_Dia_, _Dionysias_, and _Callipolis_, and received the name of Naxos
from Naxus, who was at the head of a Carian colony, which settled
in the island. Naxos abounds with all sorts of fruits, and its
wines are still in the same repute as formerly. The Naxians were
anciently governed by kings, but they afterwards exchanged this form
of government for a republic, and enjoyed their liberty till the age
of Pisistratus, who appointed a tyrant over them. They were reduced
by the Persians; but in the expedition of Darius and Xerxes against
Greece, they revolted and fought on the side of the Greeks. During
the Peloponnesian war, they supported the interest of Athens. Bacchus
was the chief deity of the island. The capital was also called
Naxos; and near it, on the 20th Sept., B.C. 377, the Lacedæmonians
were defeated by Chabrias. _Thucydides_, bk. 1, &c.――_Herodotus._
――_Diodorus_, bk. 5, &c.――_Ovid_, _Metamorphoses_, bk. 3, li. 636.
――_Virgil_, _Æneid_, bk. 3, li. 125.――_Pausanias_, bk. 6, ch. 16.
――_Pindar._――――An ancient town on the eastern side of Sicily, founded
759 years before the christian era. There was also another town at
the distance of five miles from Naxos, which bore the same name, and
was often called, by contradistinction, _Taurominium_. _Pliny_, bk. 3.
――_Diodorus_, bk. 13.――――A town of Crete, noted for hones. _Pliny_,
bk. 36, ch. 7.――――A Carian who gave his name to the greatest of the
Cyclades.
=Nazianzus=, a town of Cappadocia where St. Gregory was born, and hence
he is called _Nazianzenus_.
=Nea=, or =Nova insula=, a small island between Lemnos and the
Hellespont, which rose out of the sea during an earthquake. _Pliny_,
bk. 2, ch. 87.
=Neæra=, a nymph, mother of Phaetusa and Lampetia by the Sun. _Homer_,
_Odyssey_, bk. 12.――――A woman mentioned by Virgil’s _Eclogues_,
poem 3.――――A mistress of the poet Tibullus.――――A favourite of Horace.
――――A daughter of Pereus, who married Aleus, by whom she had Cepheus,
Lycurgus, and Auge, who was ravished by Hercules. _Apollodorus_,
bk. 3, ch. 9.――_Pausanias_, bk. 8, ch. 4.――――The wife of Autolycus.
_Pausanias._――――A daughter of Niobe and Amphion.――――The wife of
Strymon. _Apollodorus._
=Neæthus=, now _Neto_, a river of Magna Græcia near Crotona. _Ovid_,
_Metamorphoses_, bk. 15, li. 51.
=Nealces=, a friend of Turnus in his war against Æneas. _Virgil_,
_Æneid_, bk. 10, li. 753.
=Nealices=, a painter, amongst whose capital pieces are mentioned a
painting of Venus, a sea-fight between the Persians and Egyptians,
and an ass drinking on the shore, with a crocodile preparing to
attack it.
=Neandros= (or ia), a town of Troas. _Pliny_, bk. 5, ch. 30.
=Neanthes=, an orator and historian of Cyzicum, who flourished 257
years B.C.
=Neapŏlis=, a city of Campania, anciently called Parthenope, and now
known by the name of Naples, rising like an amphitheatre at the back
of a beautiful bay 30 miles in circumference. As the capital of that
part of Italy, it is now inhabited by upwards of 350,000 souls, who
exhibit the opposite marks of extravagant magnificence, and extreme
poverty. Augustus called it Neapolis. _Suetonius_, _Augustus_, ch. 98.
――――A town in Africa.――――A city of Thrace.――――A town of Egypt,――――of
Palestine,――――of Ionia.――――Also a part of Syracuse. _Livy_, bk. 25,
ch. 24.――_Cicero_, _Against Verres_, bk. 5.
=Nearchus=, an officer of Alexander in his Indian expedition. He
was ordered to sail upon the Indian ocean with Onesicritus, and to
examine it. He wrote an account of this voyage and of the king’s life;
but his veracity has been called in question by Arrian. After the
king’s death he was appointed over Lycia and Pamphylia. _Curtius_, bk.
9, ch. 10.――_Polyænus_, bk. 9.――_Justin_, bk. 13, ch. 4.――_Strabo_,
bk. 2, &c.――――A beautiful youth, &c. _Horace_, bk. 3, ode 20.――――An
old man mentioned by Cicero, _de Senectute_.
=Nebo=, a high mountain near Palestine, beyond Jordan, from the top of
which Moses was permitted to view the promised land.
=Nebrissa=, a town of Spain, now _Lebrixa_.
=Nebrōdes=, a mountain of Sicily, where the Himera rises. _Silius
Italicus_, bk. 14, li. 237.
=Nebrophŏnos=, a son of Jason and Hypsipyle. _Apollodorus._――――One of
Actæon’s dogs. _Ovid_, _Metamorphoses_, bk. 3.
=Nebŭla=, a name given to Nephele the wife of Athamas. _Lactantius
[Placidus]_ on _Achilleid_ of _Statius_, bk. 1, ch. 65.
=Necessĭtas=, a divinity who presided over the destinies of mankind,
and who was regarded as the mother of the Parcæ. _Pausanias_, bk. 2,
ch. 4.
=Nechos=, a king of Egypt, who attempted to make a communication
between the Mediterranean and Red seas, B.C. 610. No less than
12,000 men perished in the attempt. It was discovered in his reign
that Africa was circumnavigable. _Herodotus_, bk. 2, ch. 158; bk. 4,
ch. 42.
=Necropŏlis=, one of the suburbs of Alexandria.
=Nectanēbus= and =Nectanābis=, a king of Egypt, who defended his
country against the Persians, and was succeeded by Tachos, B.C. 363.
His grandson, of the same name, made an alliance with Agesilaus king
of Sparta, and with his assistance he quelled a rebellion of his
subjects. Some time after he was joined by the Sidonians, Phœnicians,
and inhabitants of Cyprus, who had revolted from the king of Persia.
This powerful confederacy was soon attacked by Darius the king of
Persia, who marched at the head of his troops. Nectanebus, to defend
his frontiers against so dangerous an enemy, levied 20,000 mercenary
soldiers in Greece, the same number in Libya, and 60,000 were
furnished in Egypt. This numerous body was not equal to the Persian
forces; and Nectanebus, defeated in a battle, gave up all hopes of
resistance, and fled into Æthiopia, B.C. 350, where he found a safe
asylum. His kingdom of Egypt became from that time tributary to the
king of Persia. _Plutarch_, _Agesilaus_.――_Diodorus_, bk. 16, &c.
――_Polyænus._――_Cornelius Nepos_, _Agesilaus_.
=Necysia=, a solemnity observed by the Greeks in memory of the dead.
=Neis=, the wife of Endymion. _Apollodorus._
=Neleus=, a son of Neptune and Tyro. He was brother to Pelias,
with whom he was exposed by his mother, who wished to conceal her
infirmities from her father. They were preserved and brought to Tyro,
who had then married Cretheus king of Iolchos. After the death of
Cretheus, Pelias and Neleus seized the kingdom of Iolchos, which
belonged to Æson, the lawful son of Tyro by the deceased monarch.
After they had reigned for some time conjointly, Pelias expelled
Neleus from Iolchos. Neleus came to Aphareus king of Messenia, who
treated him with kindness, and permitted him to build a city, which
he called Pylos. Neleus married Chloris the daughter of Amphion,
by whom he had a daughter and 12 sons, who were all, except Nestor,
killed by Hercules, together with their father. Neleus promised
his daughter in marriage only to him who brought him the bulls of
Iphiclus. Bias was the successful lover. _See:_ Melampus. _Ovid_,
_Metamorphoses_, bk. 6, li. 418.――_Pausanias_, bk. 4, ch. 36.
――_Apollodorus_, bk. 1, ch. 9; bk. 2, ch. 6.――――A river of Eubœa.
=Nelo=, one of the Danaides. _Apollodorus_, bk. 2.
=Nemæa=, a town of Argolis between Cleonæ and Phlius, with a wood,
where Hercules, in the 16th year of his age, killed the celebrated
Nemæan lion. This animal, born of the hundred-headed Typhon, infested
the neighbourhood of Nemæa, and kept the inhabitants under continual
alarms. It was the first labour of Hercules to destroy it; and the
hero, when he found that his arrows and his club were useless against
an animal whose skin was hard and impenetrable, seized him in his
arms and squeezed him to death. The conqueror clothed himself in the
skin, and games were instituted to commemorate so great an event. The
Nemæan games were originally instituted by the Argives in honour of
Archemorus, who died by the bite of a serpent [_See:_ Archemorus],
and Hercules some time after renewed them. They were one of the four
great and solemn games which were observed in Greece. The Argives,
Corinthians, and the inhabitants of Cleonæ generally presided by
turns at the celebration, in which were exhibited foot and horse
races, chariot races, boxing, wrestling, and contests of every kind,
both gymnical and equestrian. The conqueror was rewarded with a crown
of olives, afterwards of green parsley, in memory of the adventure of
Archemorus, whom his nurse laid down on a sprig of that plant. They
were celebrated every third, or, according to others, every fifth
year, or more properly on the first and third year of every Olympiad,
on the 12th day of the Corinthian month _Panemos_, which corresponds
to our August. They served as an era to the Argives, and to the
inhabitants of the neighbouring country. It was always usual for
an orator to pronounce a funeral oration in memory of the death
of Archemorus, and those who distributed the prizes were always
dressed in mourning. _Livy_, bk. 27, chs. 30 & 31; bk. 34, ch. 41.
――_Ovid_, _Metamorphoses_, bk. 9, li. 97, _Epistles_, ltr. 9, li. 61.
――_Pausanias_, _Corinthia_.――_Clement of Alexandria._――_Athenæus.
_――_Polyænus._――_Strabo_, bk. 8.――_Hyginus_, fables 30 & 273.
――_Apollodorus_, bk. 3, ch. 6.――――A river of Peloponnesus falling
into the bay of Corinth. _Livy_, bk. 33, ch. 15.
=Nemausus=, a town of Gaul, in Languedoc, near the mouth of the Rhone,
now _Nismes_.
=Nemesia=, festivals in honour of Nemesis. _See:_ Nemesis.
=Marcus Aurelius Olympius Nemesiānus=, a Latin poet, born at Carthage,
of no very brilliant talents, in the third century, whose poems on
hunting and bird-catching were published by Burman, inter scriptores
rei venaticæ, 4to, Leiden, 1728.
=Nĕmĕsis=, one of the infernal deities, daughter of Nox. She was the
goddess of vengeance, always prepared to punish impiety, and at the
same time liberally to reward the good and virtuous. She is made one
of the Parcæ by some mythologists, and is represented with a helm
and a wheel. The people of Smyrna were the first who made her statues
with wings, to show with what celerity she is prepared to punish the
crimes of the wicked, both by sea and land, as the helm and the wheel
in her hands intimate. Her power did not only exist in this life, but
she was also employed after death to find out the most effectual and
rigorous means of correction. Nemesis was particularly worshipped at
Rhamnus in Attica, where she had a celebrated statue 10 cubits long,
made of Parian marble by Phidias, or, according to others, by one
of his pupils. The Romans were also particularly attentive to the
adoration of a deity whom they solemnly invoked, and to whom they
offered sacrifices before they declared war against their enemies,
to show the world that their wars were undertaken upon the most just
grounds. Her statue at Rome was in the Capitol. Some suppose that
Nemesis was the person whom Jupiter deceived in the form of a swan,
and that Leda was entrusted with the care of the children which
sprang from the two eggs. Others observe that Leda obtained the name
of Nemesis after death. According to Pausanias, there were more than
one Nemesis. The goddess Nemesis was surnamed _Rhamnusia_ because
worshipped at Rhamnus, and _Adrastia_ from the temple which Adrastus
king of Argos erected to her, when he went against Thebes, to revenge
the indignities which his son-in-law Polynices had suffered in being
unjustly driven from his kingdom by Eteocles. The Greeks celebrated
a festival called _Nemesia_, in memory of deceased persons, as the
goddess Nemesis was supposed to defend the relics and the memory of
the dead from all insult. _Hyginus_, _Poetica Astronomica_, bk. 2,
ch. 8.――_Pausanias_, bk. 1, ch. 33.――_Apollodorus_, bk. 3, ch. 10.
――――_Hesiod_, _Theogony_, li. 224.――_Pliny_, bk. 11, ch. 28; bk. 26,
ch. 5.――――A mistress of Tibullus, bk. 2, poem 3, li. 55.
=Nemesius=, a Greek writer, whose elegant and useful treatise, _de
Naturâ Hominis_, was edited in 12mo, Ant. apud Plant. 1565, and in
8vo, Oxford, 1671.
=Nemetacum=, a town of Gaul, now _Arras_.
=Nemetes=, a nation of Germany, now forming the inhabitants of Spire,
which was afterwards called _Noviomagus_. _Tacitus_, _Germania_,
ch. 28.
=Nemoralia=, festivals observed in the woods of Aricia, in honour
of Diana, who presided over the country and the forests, on which
account that part of Italy was sometimes denominated _Nemorensis
ager_. _Ovid_, _de Ars Amatoria_, bk. 1, li. 259.
=Nemossus= (or um), the capital of the Arverni in Gaul, now _Clermont_.
_Lucan_, bk. 1, li. 419.――_Strabo_, bk. 4.
=Neobūle=, a daughter of Lycambes, betrothed to the poet Archilochus.
_See:_ Lycambes. _Horace_, epode 6, li. 13; bk. 1, ltr. 3, li. 79.
――_Ovid_, _Ibis_, li. 54.――――A beautiful woman, to whom Horace
addressed bk. 3, ode 12.
=Neocæsaria=, a town of Pontus.
=Neochabis=, a king of Egypt.
=Neŏcles=, an Athenian philosopher, father, or according to Cicero,
brother to the philosopher Epicurus. _Cicero_, bk. 1, _de Natura
Deorum_, ch. 21.――_Diogenes Laërtius._――――The father of Themistocles.
_Ælian_, _Varia Historia_, bk. 2, &c.――_Cornelius Nepos_,
_Themistocles_.
=Neogĕnes=, a man who made himself absolute, &c. _Diodorus_, bk. 15.
=Neomoris=, one of the Nereides. _Apollodorus_, bk. 1.
=Neon=, a town of Phocis.――――There was also another of the same name in
the same country, on the top of Parnassus. It was afterwards called
_Tithorea_. _Plutarch_, _Sulla_.――_Pausanias_, _Phocis_.――_Herodotus_,
bk. 8, ch. 32.――――One of the commanders of the 10,000 Greeks who
assisted Cyrus against Artaxerxes.
=Neontīchos=, a town of Æolia near the Hermus. _Herodotus._――_Pliny._