Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/1175

Rh NERO vicv of intimating that he had thus violated the sanctity of a temple. (Eckhel, vol. v. pp. 160, 161.) NERO. 1161 COIN OP NERIUS. NERO, was a cognomen of the Claudia Gens, which is said to signify, in the Sabine tongue " fortis ac strenuus." (Sueton. Tib. Nero, 1 ; and the remarks of Gellius, xiii. 22.) 1. Tib. Claudius Nero was one of the four sons of App. Claudius Caecus, censor b. c. 312. No- thing is known of him except that he was the pa- ternal ancestor of the emperor Tib. Claudius Nero Caesar. (Sueton. Ner. 3.) 2. C. Claudius Nero (Liv. xxiv. 17), in the fourth consulship of Q. Fabius Maximus, and the third of M. Marcellus, b. c. 214, commanded a body of cavalry under the consul Marcellus. He was instructed to attack the rear of Plannibal's army near Nola, but he either lost his way or had not time to come up, and he was not present in the engagement in which the consul defeated Han- nibal, for which he was severely rated by Marcellus. He is evidently the C. Claudius Nero who was praetor in the year but one after (Liv. xxv. 1, 2), and was stationed at Suessula, whence he was sum- moned by the consuls Q. Fulvius 111. and Appius Claudius (b. c. 212) to assist at the siege of Capua. (Liv. xxv. 22, xxv. 5.) Nero was sent in the same year into Spain (Liv. xxvi. 17 ; Appian, Hispan. 17) with a force to oppose Hasdrubal. He landed at Tarraco (Tarragona), but Hasdrubal eluded his attack, and P. Cornelius Scipio was sent to command in Spain. Nero commanded as legatus (Liv. xxvii. 14) under Marcellus b. c. 20.9, and the battle in which Hannibal was defeated near Canu- sium (Canosa). In b. c. 207, Nero was consul with M. Livius 11. Nero marched into the south of Italy against Hannibal, whom he defeated and pursued. In the mean time Hasdrubal, who was in the north of Italy, sent messengers to Hannibal, wlio was retreating to Metapontum, followed by Nero. The messengers were taken by the Romans, and the contents of their despatches being read, Nero determined not to confine himself to the limits of his command, but to march against Hasdrubal, ■who was intending to effect a junction with Han- nibal in Umbria. He communicated his design to the Roman senate, and instructed them how to act. Nero joined his colleague M. Livius in Picenum. A sanguinary battle was fought with Hasdrubal on the river Metaurum, in which Hasdrubal fell : in no one battle in the campaign with Hannibal was the slaughter so great. Nero returned to his camp in the south, taking with him the head of Hasdru- bal, which he ordered to be thrown before the posts of Hannibal, and he sent him two of his captives to tell him what had befallen his brother and his army. (Liv. xxvii. 41 — 51; Appian, Annibal. 52, &c.) Nero shared in the triumph of his colleague, but as the battle was fought in his colleague's province, Livius rode in a chariot drawn by four horses fol- lowed by his soldiers ; Nero rode on horseback, without a train, but the popular opinion made up for his diminished honours. This great battle, which probably saved Rome, gave a lustre to the name of Nero, and consecrated it among the recol- lections of the Romans. Quid debeas, o Roma, Neronibus, Testis Metaurum flumen et Hasdrubal Devictus. Horat. Carm. iv. 4. In B. c. 201, Nero and others were sent on a mission to Ptolemaeus, king of Egypt, to announce the defeat of Hannibal, thank the king for his fidelity to the Romans, and pray for his support if they should be compelled to go to war with Phi- lippus, king of Macedonia. The relationship of Nero to the other Claudii does not appear. He was censor B. c. 204, with M. Livius (Liv. xxix, 37). 3. C. Claudius Nero was praetor B.C. 181, and had the province of Sicily (Liv. xl. 18). He may be the son of No. 2. 4. App. Claudius Nero was praetor b.c. 195 (Liv. xxxiii. 43), with Hispania Ulterior as his province. Nothing is recorded of his opera- tions in Spain, and it is doubtful if he went there, for the fear of a Spanish war soon subsided. In B. c. 189, he was one of ten commissioners {legatt) who were sent into Asia to settle affairs. (Liv. xxxvii. ob.) 5. Tib. Claudius Nero was praetor b.c. 204 (Liv. xxix. 11), and had Sardmia for his province. He may have been the son of No. 2. In b. c. 202 he was consul with M. Servilius Geminus (Liv. XXX. 26), and he obtained as his province Africa, where he was to have the command against Han- nibal conjointly with P. Cornelius Scipio. But he was not present at the battle of Zama. A violent storm attacked his fleet soon after he set out, and he put in at Populonii. He thence passed on to II va (Elba), and to Corsica. In his passage to Sardinia his ships suffered still more, and he finally put into Carales (Cagliari) in Sardinia, where he was obliged to winter, and whence he returned to Rome in a private capacity, his year of office having expired. (Liv. xxx, 39.) 6. Tib, Claudius Nero, praetor, b. c. 178, had the Peregrina Jurisdictio, but he was sent to Pisae with a military command to take care of the pro- vince of M. Junius the consul, who was sent into Gallia to raise troops ( Liv. xli. 98), and his com- mand there was extended. (Liv, xli. 18.) In b, c. 172 he was sent on a mission into Asia. (Liv. xlii. 19.) Tib. Claudius was praetor again in B.c. 165, with Sicily for his province. (Liv. cxv. 16.) 7. Tib. Claudius Nero served under Cn. Pompeius Magnus in the war against the pirates, B.C. 67. (Floras iii. 6 ; Appian, MUhiidat. 95.) He is probably the Tib. Nero mentioned bv Sal- lust {Bell. Cat 50) and by Appian {B. aW. 5), who recommended that the members of the con- spiracy of Catiline, who had been seized, should be kept confined till Catiline was put down, and they knew the exact state of the facts. 8. Tib, Claudius Nero, the father of the em- peror Tiberius, was probably the son of No. 7. He was a descendant of Tib. Nero [see above, No. l],the son of App. Claudius Caecus. He served as quaestor under C. Julius Caesar (b. c. 48) in the Alexandrine war(jB.-4/. 25 ; Dion Cass. xlii. 40), and commanded a fleet which defeated the Egyptian fleet at the Canopic mouth of the Nile. He was rewarded for his