_Pyrrhus_ from the _yellow_ colour of his hair. He was carefully
educated under the eye of his mother, and gave early proofs of
his valour. After the death of Achilles, Calchas declared, in
the assembly of the Greeks, that Troy could not be taken without
the assistance of the son of the deceased hero. Immediately upon
this, Ulysses and Phœnix were commissioned to bring Pyrrhus to the
war. He returned with them with pleasure, and received the name of
Neoptolemus (_new soldier_), because he had come late to the field.
On his arrival before Troy, he paid a visit to the tomb of his father,
and wept over his ashes. He afterwards, according to some authors,
accompanied Ulysses to Lemnos, to engage Philoctetes to come to the
Trojan war. He greatly signalized himself during the remaining time
of the siege, and he was the first who entered the wooden horse. He
was inferior to none of the Grecian warriors in valour, and Ulysses
and Nestor alone could claim a superiority over him in eloquence,
wisdom, and address. His cruelty, however, was as great as that of
his father. Not satisfied with breaking down the gates of Priam’s
palace, he exercised the greatest barbarities upon the remains of
his family, and without any regard to the sanctity of the place
where Priam had taken refuge, he slaughtered him without mercy;
or, according to others, dragged him by the hair to the tomb of
his father, where he sacrificed him, and where he cut off his head,
and carried it in exultation through the streets of Troy, fixed on
the point of a spear. He also sacrificed Astyanax to his fury, and
immolated Polyxena on the tomb of Achilles, according to those who
deny that that sacrifice was voluntary. When Troy was taken, the
captives were divided among the conquerors, and Pyrrhus had for his
share Andromache the widow of Hector, and Helenus the son of Priam.
With these he departed for Greece, and he probably escaped from
destruction by giving credit to the words of Helenus, who foretold
him that, if he sailed with the rest of the Greeks, his voyage would
be attended with fatal consequences, and perhaps with death. This
obliged him to take a different course from the rest of the Greeks,
and he travelled over the greatest part of Thrace, where he had a
severe encounter with queen Harpalyce. _See:_ Harpalyce. The place of
his retirement after the Trojan war is not known. Some maintain that
he went to Thessaly, where his grandfather still reigned; but this
is confuted by others, who observe, perhaps with more reason, that
he went to Epirus, where he laid the foundation of a new kingdom,
because his grandfather Peleus had been deprived of his sceptre by
Acastus the son of Pelias. Neoptolemus lived with Andromache after
his arrival in Greece, but it is unknown whether he treated her as a
lawful wife or a concubine. He had a son by this unfortunate princess,
called Molossus, and two others, if we rely on the authority of
Pausanias. Besides Andromache, he married Hermione the daughter
of Menelaus, as also Lanassa the daughter of Cleodæus, one of the
descendants of Hercules. The cause of his death is variously related.
Menelaus, before the Trojan war, had promised his daughter Hermione
to Orestes, but the services he experienced from the valour and
the courage of Neoptolemus during the siege of Troy, induced him
to reward his merit by making him his son-in-law. The nuptials were
accordingly celebrated, but Hermione became jealous of Andromache,
and because she had no children, she resolved to destroy her Trojan
rival, who seemed to steal away the affections of their common
husband. In the absence of Neoptolemus at Delphi, Hermione attempted
to murder Andromache, but she was prevented by the interference of
Peleus, or, according to others, of the populace. When she saw her
schemes defeated, she determined to lay violent hands upon herself,
to avoid the resentment of Neoptolemus. The sudden arrival of Orestes
changed her resolution, and she consented to elope with her lover to
Sparta. Orestes at the same time, to revenge and to punish his rival,
caused him to be assassinated in the temple of Delphi, and he was
murdered at the foot of the altar by Machareus the priest, or by the
hand of Orestes himself, according to Virgil, Paterculus, and Hyginus.
Some say that he was murdered by the Delphians, who had been bribed
by the presents of Orestes. It is unknown why Neoptolemus went to
Delphi. Some support that he wished to consult the oracle to know
how he might have children by the barren Hermione; others say that
he went thither to offer the spoils which he had obtained during the
Trojan war, to appease the resentment of Apollo, whom he had provoked
by calling him the cause of the death of Achilles. The plunder of
the rich temple of Delphi, if we believe others, was the object
of the journey of Neoptolemus, and it cannot but be observed that
he suffered the same death and the same barbarities which he had
inflicted in the temple of Minerva upon the aged Priam and his
wretched family. From this circumstance, the ancients have made use
of the proverb _Neoptolemic revenge_, when a person had suffered
the same savage treatment which others had received from his hand.
The Delphians celebrated a festival with great pomp and solemnity
in memory of Neoptolemus, who had been slain in his attempt to
plunder their temple, because, as they said, Apollo, the patron
of the place, had been in some manner accessary to the death of
Achilles. _Paterculus_, bk. 1, ch. 1.――_Virgil_, _Æneid_, bks. 2
& 3.――_Pausanias_, bk. 10, ch. 24.――_Ovid_, _Metamorphoses_, bk. 13,
lis. 334, 455, &c.; _Heroides_, poem 8.――_Strabo_, bk. 9.――_Pindar_,
_Nemean_, poem 7.――_Euripides_, _Andromache_ & _Orestes_, &c.
――_Plutarch_, _Pyrrhus_.――_Justin_, bk. 17, ch. 3.――_Dictys
Cretensis_, bks. 4, 5, & 6.――_Homer_, _Odyssey_, bk. 11, li. 504;
_Iliad_, bk. 19, li. 326.――_Sophocles_, _Philoctetes_.――_Apollodorus_,
bk. 3, ch. 13.――_Hyginus_, fables 97 & 102.――_Philostratus_,
_Heroicus_, ch. 19, &c.――_Dares Phrygius._――_Quintus Smyrnæus_,
bk. 14.――――A king of the Molossi, father of Olympias the mother of
Alexander. _Justin_, bk. 17, ch. 3.――――Another, king of Epirus.――――An
uncle of the celebrated Pyrrhus who assisted the Tarentines. He
was made king of Epirus by the Epirots, who had revolted from their
lawful sovereign, and was put to death when he attempted to poison
his nephew, &c. _Plutarch_, _Pyrrhus_.――――A tragic poet of Athens,
greatly favoured by Philip king of Macedonia. When Cleopatra, the
monarch’s daughter, was married to Alexander of Epirus, he wrote some
verses which proved to be prophetic of the tragical death of Philip.
_Diodorus_, bk. 16.――――A relation of Alexander. He was the first
who climbed the walls of Gaza when that city was taken by Alexander.
After the king’s death he received Armenia as his province, and made
war against Eumenes. He was supported by Craterus, but an engagement
with Eumenes proved fatal to his cause. Craterus was killed, and
himself mortally wounded by Eumenes, B.C. 321. _Cornelius Nepos_,
_Eumenes_.――――One of the officers of Mithridates the Great, beaten
by Lucullus in a naval battle. _Plutarch_, _Lucullus_.――――A tragic
writer.
=Neoris=, a large country of Asia, near Gedrosia, almost destitute
of waters. The inhabitants were called _Neoritæ_, and it was usual
among them to suspend their dead bodies from the boughs of trees.
_Diodorus_, bk. 17.
=Nepe=, a constellation of the heavens, the same as Scorpio.――――An
inland town of Etruria, called also _Nepete_, whose inhabitants are
called _Nepesini_. _Silius Italicus_, bk. 8, li. 490.――_Livy_, bk. 5,
ch. 19; bk. 26, ch. 34.
=Nephalia=, festivals in Greece, in honour of Mnemosyne the mother
of the Muses, and Aurora, Venus, &c. No wine was used during the
ceremony, but merely a mixture of water and honey. _Pollux_, bk. 6,
ch. 3.――_Athenæus_, bk. 15.――_Suidas._
=Nĕphĕle=, the first wife of Athamas king of Thebes, and mother of
Phryxus and Helle. She was repudiated on pretence of being subject to
fits of insanity, and Athamas married Ino the daughter of Cadmus, by
whom he had several children. Ino became jealous of Nephele, because
her children would succeed to their father’s throne before hers, by
right of seniority, and she resolved to destroy them. Nephele was
apprised of her wicked intentions, and she removed her children from
the reach of Ino, by giving them a celebrated ram, sprung from the
union of Neptune and Theophane, on whose back they escaped to Colchis.
_See:_ Phryxus. Nephele was afterwards changed into a cloud, whence
her name is given by the Greeks to the clouds. Some call her _Nebula_,
which word is the Latin translation of _Nephele_. The fleece of the
ram, which saved the life of Nephele’s children, is often called the
_Nephelian fleece_. _Apollodorus_, bk. 1, ch. 9.――_Hyginus_, fable 2,
&c.――_Ovid_, _Metamorphoses_, bk. 11, li. 195.――_Flaccus_, bk. 11,
li. 56.――――A mountain of Thessaly, once the residence of the Centaurs.
=Nephĕlis=, a cape of Cilicia. _Livy_, bk. 33, ch. 20.
=Nepherītes=, a king of Egypt, who assisted the Spartans against Persia,
when Agesilaus was in Asia. He sent them a fleet of 100 ships, which
were intercepted by Conon, as they were sailing towards Rhodes, &c.
_Diodorus_, bk. 14.
=Nephus=, a son of Hercules.
=Nepia=, a daughter of Jasus, who married Olympus king of Mysia, whence
the plains of Mysia are sometimes called _Nepiæ campi_.
=Nepos, Cornelius=, a celebrated historian in the reign of Augustus.
He was born at Hostilia, and, like the rest of his learned
contemporaries, he shared the favours and enjoyed the patronage of
the emperor. He was the intimate friend of Cicero and of Atticus,
and recommended himself to the notice of the great and opulent
by delicacy of sentiment and a lively disposition. According to
some writers, he composed three books of chronicles, as also a
biographical account of all the most celebrated kings, generals,
and authors of antiquity. Of all his valuable compositions, nothing
remains but his lives of the illustrious Greek and Roman generals,
which have often been attributed to Æmylius Probus, who published
them in his own name in the age of Theodosius, to conciliate the
favour and the friendship of that emperor. The language of Cornelius
has always been admired, and as a writer of the Augustan age, he is
entitled to many commendations for the delicacy of his expressions,
the elegance of his style, and the clearness and precision of his
narrations. Some support that he translated Dares Phrygius from
the Greek original; but the inelegance of the diction, and its many
incorrect expressions, plainly prove that it is the production,
not of a writer of the Augustan age, but the spurious composition
of a more modern pen. Cornelius speaks of his account of the Greek
historians _Dion_, ch. 3. Among the many good editions of Cornelius
Nepos, two may be selected as the best, that of Verheyk, 8vo, Leiden,
1773, and that of Glasgow, 12mo, 1761.――――Julius, an emperor of the
west, &c.
=Nepotiānus Flavius Popilius=, a son of Eutropia the sister of the
emperor Constantine. He proclaimed himself emperor after the death of
his cousin Constans, and rendered himself odious by his cruelty and
oppression. He was murdered by Anicetus, after one month’s reign, and
his family were involved in his ruin.
=Nepthys=, wife of Typhon, became enamoured of Osiris her brother-in-law,
and introduced herself to his bed. She had a son called Anubis by him.
_Plutarch_, _De Iside et Osiride_.
=Neptūni fanum=, a place near Cenchreæ. _Mela_, bk. 1, ch. 19.
――――Another in the island of Calauria.――――Another near Mantinea.
=Neptūnia=, a town and colony of Magna Græcia.
=Neptūnium=, a promontory of Arabia at the entrance of the gulf.
=Neptūnius=, an epithet applied to Sextus Pompey, because he believed
himself to be god of the sea, or descended from him, on account
of his superiority in ships, &c. _Horace_ epode 9.――_Dio Cassius_,
bk. 48.
=Neptūnus=, a god, son of Saturn and Ops, and brother to Jupiter, Pluto,
and Juno. He was devoured by his father the day of his birth, and
again restored to life by means of Metis, who gave Saturn a certain
potion. Pausanias says that his mother concealed him in a sheepfold
in Arcadia, and that she imposed upon her husband, telling him that
she had brought a colt into the world, which was instantly devoured
by Saturn. Neptune shared with his brothers the empire of Saturn, and
received as his portion the kingdom of the sea. This, however, did
not seem equivalent to the empire of heaven and earth, which Jupiter
had claimed, therefore he conspired to dethrone him, with the rest
of the gods. The conspiracy was discovered, and Jupiter condemned
Neptune to build the walls of Troy. _See:_ Laomedon. A reconciliation
was soon after made, and Neptune was reinstituted to all his rights
and privileges. Neptune disputed with Minerva the right of giving a
name to the capital of Cecropia, but he was defeated, and the olive
which the goddess suddenly raised from the earth was deemed more
serviceable for the good of mankind than the horse which Neptune had
produced by striking the ground with his trident, as that animal is
the emblem of war and slaughter. This decision did not please Neptune;
he renewed the combat by disputing for Trœzene, but Jupiter settled
their disputes by permitting them to be conjointly worshipped there,
and by giving the name of Polias, or the _protectress of the city_,
to Minerva, and that of king of Trœzene to the god of the sea. He
also disputed his right for the isthmus of Corinth with Apollo;
and Briareus the Cyclops, who was mutually chosen umpire, gave the
isthmus to Neptune, and the promontory to Apollo. Neptune, as being
god of the sea, was entitled to more power than any of the other
gods, except Jupiter. Not only the ocean, rivers, and fountains were
subjected to him, but he also could cause earthquakes at his pleasure,
and raise islands from the bottom of the sea with a blow of his
trident. The worship of Neptune was established in almost every part
of the earth, and the Libyans in particular venerated him above all
other nations, and looked upon him as the first and greatest of the
gods. The Greeks and the Romans were also attached to his worship,
and they celebrated their isthmian games and Consualia with the
greatest solemnity. He was generally represented sitting in a chariot
made of a shell, and drawn by sea-horses or dolphins. Sometimes he is
drawn by winged horses, and holds his trident in his hand, and stands
up as his chariot flies over the surface of the sea. Homer represents
him as issuing from the sea, and in three steps crossing the whole
horizon. The mountains and the forests, says the poet, trembled as he
walked; the whales, and all the fishes of the sea, appear round him,
and even the sea herself seems to feel the presence of her god. The
ancients generally sacrificed a bull and a horse on his altars, and
the Roman soothsayers always offered to him the gall of the victims,
which in taste resembles the bitterness of the sea water. The amours
of Neptune are numerous. He obtained, by means of a dolphin, the
favours of Amphitrite, who had made a vow of perpetual celibacy,
and he placed among the constellations the fish which had persuaded
the goddess to become his wife. He also married Venilia and Salacia,
which are only the names of Amphitrite according to some authors,
who observed that the former word is derived from _venire_, alluding
to the continual motion of the sea. Salacia is derived from _Salum_,
which signifies the sea, and is applicable to Amphitrite. Neptune
became a horse to enjoy the company of Ceres. _See:_ Arion. To
deceive Theophane, he changed himself into a ram. _See:_ Theophane.
He assumed the form of the river Enipeus, to gain the confidence of
Tyro the daughter of Salmoneus, by whom he had Pelias and Neleus.
He was also father of Phorcus and Polyphemus by Thoossa; of Lycus,
Nycteus, and Euphemus by Celeno; of Chryses by Chrysogenia; of Ancæus
by Astypalea; of Bœotus and Helen by Antiope; of Leuconoe by Themisto;
of Agenor and Bellerophon by Eurynome the daughter of Nysus; of
Antas by Alcyone the daughter of Atlas; of Abas by Arethusa; of
Actor and Dictys by Agemede the daughter of Augias; of Megareus by
Œnope daughter of Epopeus; of Cycnus by Harpalyce; of Taras, Otus,
Ephialtes, Dorus, Alesus, &c. The word _Neptunus_ is often used
metaphorically by the poets, to signify _sea water_. In the Consualia
of the Romans, horses were led through the streets finely equipped
and crowned with garlands, as the god in whose honour the festivals
were instituted had produced the horse, an animal so beneficial
for the use of mankind. _Pausanias_, bks. 1, 2, &c.――_Homer_,
_Iliad_, bk. 7, &c.――_Varro_, _de Lingua Latina_, bk. 4.――_Cicero_,
_de Natura Deorum_, bk. 2, ch. 26; bk. 2, ch. 25.――_Hesiod_,
_Theogony_.――_Virgil_, _Æneid_, bk. 1, li. 12, &c.; bks. 2, 3, &c.
――_Apollodorus_, bks. 1, 2, &c.――_Ovid_, _Metamorphoses_, bk. 6, li.
117, &c.――_Herodotus_, bk. 2, ch. 50; bk. 4, ch. 188.――_Macrobius_,
_Saturnalia_, bk. 1, ch. 17.――_Augustine_, _City of God_, bk. 18.
――_Plutarch_, _Themistocles_.――_Hyginus_, fable 157.――_Euripides_,
_Phœnician Women_.――_Flaccus._――_Apollonius Rhodius._
=Nēreĭdes=, nymphs of the sea, daughters of Nereus and Doris. They
were 50, according to the greater number of the mythologists, whose
names are as follows: Sao, Amphitrite, Proto, Galatæa, Thoe, Eucrate,
Eudora, Galena, Glauce, Thetis, Spio, Cymothoe, Melita, Thalia, Agave,
Eulimene, Erato, Pasithea, Doto, Eunice, Nesea, Dynamene, Pherusa,
Protomelia, Actea, Panope, Doris, Cymatolege, Hippothoe, Cymo, Eione,
Hipponoe, Cymodoce, Neso, Eupompe, Pronoe, Themisto, Glauconome,
Halimede, Pontoporia, Evagora, Liagora, Polynome, Laomedia,
Lysianassa, Autonoe, Menippe, Evarne, Psamathe, Nemertes. In those
which Homer mentions, to the number of 30, we find the following
names different from those spoken of by Hesiod: Halia, Limmoria, Iera,
Amphitroe, Dexamene, Amphinome, Callianira, Apseudes, Callanassa,
Clymene, Janira, Nassa, Mera, Orythya, Amathea. Apollodorus, who
mentions 45, mentions the following names different from the others:
Glaucothoe, Protomedusa, Pione, Plesaura, Calypso, Cranto, Neomeris,
Dejanira, Polynoe, Melia, Dione, Isea, Dero, Eumolpe, Ione, Ceto.
Hyginus and others differ from the preceding authors in the following
names: Drymo, Xantho, Ligea, Phyllodoce, Cydippe, Lycorias, Cleio,
Beroe, Ephira, Opis, Asia, Deopea, Arethusa, Crenis, Eurydice, and
Leucothoe. The Nereides were implored as the rest of the deities;
they had altars chiefly on the coast of the sea, where the piety
of mankind made offerings of milk, oil, and honey, and often of
the flesh of goats. When they were on the sea-shore they generally
resided in grottos and caves which were adorned with shells, and
shaded by the branches of vines. Their duty was to attend upon the
more powerful deities of the sea, and to be subservient to the will
of Neptune. They were particularly fond of alcyons, and as they
had the power of ruffling or calming the waters, they were always
addressed by sailors, who implored their protection, that they might
grant them a favourable voyage and a prosperous return. They are
represented as young and handsome virgins, sitting on dolphins and
holding Neptune’s trident in their hand, or sometimes garlands of
flowers. _Orpheus_, _Hymn_ 23.――_Catullus_, _Marriage of Peleus and
Thetis_.――_Ovid_, _Metamorphoses_, bk. 11, li. 361, &c.――_Statius_,
bk. 2, _Sylvæ_, poem 2; bk. 3, _Sylvæ_, poem 1.――_Pausanias_, bk. 2,
ch. 1.――_Apollodorus_, bk. 1, chs. 2, & 3.――_Hesiod_, _Theogony_.
――_Homer_, _Iliad_, bk. 18, li. 39.――_Pliny_, bk. 36, ch. 5.
――_Hyginus_, &c.
=Nereius=, a name given to Achilles, as son of Thetis, who was one of
the Nereides. _Horace_, epode 17, li. 8.
=Nēreus=, a deity of the sea, son of Oceanus and Terra. He married
Doris, by whom he had 50 daughters, called the Nereides. _See:_
Nereides. Nereus was generally represented as an old man with a
long flowing beard, and hair of an azure colour. The chief place of
his residence was in the Ægean sea, where he was surrounded by his
daughters, who often danced in choruses round him. He had the gift
of prophecy, and informed those that consulted him with the different
fates that attended them. He acquainted Paris with the consequences
of his elopement with Helen; and it was by his directions that
Hercules obtained the golden apples of the Hesperides. But the
sea-god often evaded the importunities of inquirers by assuming
different shapes, and totally escaping from their grasp. The word
_Nereus_ is often taken for the sea itself. Nereus is sometimes
called the most ancient of all the gods. _Hesiod_, _Theogony_.
――_Hyginus._――_Homer_, _Iliad_, bk. 18.――_Apollodorus._――_Orpheus_,
_Argonautica_.――_Horace_, bk. 1, ode 13.――_Euripides_, _Iphigeneia_.
=Nerio=, or =Neriēne=, the wife of Mars. _Aulus Gellius_, ch. 21.
=Nerĭphus=, a desert island near the Thracian Chersonesus.
=Nerĭtos=, a mountain in the island of Ithaca, as also a small island
in the Ionian sea, according to Mela. The word Neritos is often
applied to the whole island of Ithaca, and Ulysses the king of it is
called _Neritius dux_, and his ship _Neritia navis_. The people of
Saguntum, as descended from a Neritian colony, are called _Neritia
proles_. _Silius Italicus_, bk. 2, li. 317.――_Virgil_, _Æneid_,
bk. 3, li. 271.――_Pliny_, bk. 4.――_Mela_, bk. 2, ch. 7.――_Ovid_,
_Metamorphoses_, bk. 13, li. 712; _Remedia Amoris_, li. 263.
=Nerĭtum=, a town of Calabria, now called _Nardo_.
=Nerius=, a silversmith in the age of Horace, bk. 2, satire 3, li. 69.
――――A usurer in Nero’s age, who was so eager to get money that he
married as often as he could, and as soon destroyed his wives by
poison, to possess himself of their estates. _Persius_, bk. 2, li. 14.