Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/1183

Rh NESTOR, dates, was sent in b. c. 1 02 to succeed Nerra in the government of Sicily. 7. A. LiciNius Nerva Silianus, was adopted by some Licinius Nerva, as the name Silianus shows, out of the Silia gens. He was the son of P. Silius (Veil. Pat. ii. 116), a distinguished com- mander under Augustus, and consul, B. c. 20, with M. Appuleius. Silianus was consul, A. d. 7, but he is called Licinius Silanus in the text of Dion Cas- sias (Iv, 30). P. Silius, the consul of B. c. 20, ap- pears in the Fasti Consulares as P. Silius Nerva, whence it appears that the cognomen Nerva be- longed to the Silii. [Silius.] Tlie authorities for the Licinii Nervae are col- lected by Drumann, Geschichte Boms, vol. iv. p. 196, &c. [G.L.I NERVA, SFLIUS. [Nerva, Licinius, No. 7, and Silius.] NERVA TRAJA'NUS. [Trajan us.] NERULI'NUS, the son of P. Suillius, one of the chief instruments of the tyranny of Claudius, escaped accusation when his father was tried and condemned at the beginning of Nero's reign, A. d. 59, because the emperor thought that sufficient punishment had been inflicted on the family (Tac. Arm. xiii. 43). On the coins of Smyrna, struck in the time of Vespasian, we find the name of M. Suillius Nerulinus, proconsul (Eckhel, vol. ii. p. 556), and it is not improbable that this is the same person as the Nerulinus mentioned above. He may also be the same as the M. Suillius who was consul with L. Antistius, in the reign of Claudius, A. D. 50. (Tac. A7in. xii. 50.) NESAIA (N^aala), a daughter of Nerus and Doris, and one of the Nereides. (Hom. II. xviii. 40 ; Hes. Tkeog. 249.) [L. S.] NESEAS, painter. [Zeuxi?.] NESIO'TES, a sculptor, appears to have been an assistant of the celebrated Athenian artist Critias, and not a surname of the latter, as some modern writers have conjectured. [Critias, Vol. I. p. 893.] NESO (Ntjo-w), one of the Nereides (Hes. Theog. 261); but Lycophron (1468) mentions one Neso as the mother of the Cumaean sibyl. [L. S.] NESSUS (NeVeros). 1. The god of the river Nestus (also called Nessus or Nesus) in Thrace, is described as a son of Oceanus and Thetys. (Hes. Theog. 341.) 2. A centaur, who carried Deianeira across the river Evenus, but, wishing to run away with her, he was shot by Heracles with a poisoned arrow, which afterwards became the cause of Heracles' own death. (Soph. Track. 558 ; Apollod. ii. 7. § 4 ; comp. Heracles.) [L. S.] 1 NESSUS, a painter, was the son of Habron, who was also a painter. [Habron.] NESTOR (Neo-Twp), a son of Neleus and Chloris of Pylos in Triphylia, and husband of Eurydice (or, according to others, of Anaxibia, the daughter of Cratieus), by whom he became the father of Peisidice, Polycaste, Perseus, Stratius, Aretus, Echephron, Peisistratus, Antilochus, and Thrasymedes. (Hom. Od. iii. 413, &c,, 452, 464, xi. 285, &c. ; Apollod. i. 9. § 9.) With regard to Anaxibia having been his wife, we are informed by Eustathius {ad Hom. p. 296), that after the death of Eurydice, Nestor married An- axibia, the daughter of Atreus, and sister of Agamemnon ; but this Anaxibia is elsewhere de- scribed as the wife of Strophius, and the mother of Pylades. (Paus. ii. 29. § 4.) When Heracles VOL. IL NESTOR. 169 invaded the country of Neleus, and slew his sons, Nestor alone was spared, because at the time he was not at Pylos, but among the Gerenians, where he had taken refuge. (Hom. II. xi. 692 ; Apollod. ii. 7. § 3 ; Paus. Iii. 26. § 6.) This story is con- nected with another about the friendship between Heracles and Nestor, for the latter is said to have taken no part in the carrying off from Heracles tha oxen of Geryones ; and Heracles rewarded Nestor by giving to him Messene, and became more at- tached to him even than to Hylas and Abderus. Nestor, on the other hand, is said to have intro- duced the custom of swearing by Heracles. (Philostr. Her. 2 ; comp, Ov. Met. xii. 540, &c.; Paus. iv. 3. § 1, who states that Nestor inhabited Messenia after the death of the sons of Aphareus.) When a young man, Nestor was distinguished as a warrior, and, in a war with the Arcadians, he slew Ereuthalion. (Hom. II. iv. 319, vii. 133, &c., xxiii. 630, &c.) In the war with the Eleians, he killed Itymoneus, and took from them large flocks of cattle, (xi. 670.) When, after this, the Eleians laid siege to Thryoessa, Nestor, without the war- steeds of his father, went out on foot, and gained a glorious victory, (xi. 706, &c.) He also took part in the fight of the Lapithae against the Centaurs (i. 260, &c.), and is mentioned among the Calydonian hunters and the Argonauts (Ov. Met. viii. 313 ; Val. Flacc. i. 380) ; but he owes his fame chiefly to the Homeric poems, in which his share in the Trojan war is immortalized. After having, in conjunction with Odysseus, prevailed upon Achilles and Patroclus to join the Greeks against Troy, he sailed with his Pylians in sixty ships to Asia. {II. ii. 591, &c., xi. 767.) At Troy he took part in all the most important events that occurred, both in the council and in the field of battle. Agamemnon through Nestor became reconciled with Achilles, and therefore honoured him highlj' ; and whenever he was in any diffi- culty, he applied for advice to Nestor, (ii. 21, x. 18.) In the picture which Homer draws of him, the most striking features are his wisdom, justice, bravery, knowledge of war, his eloquence, and his old age. {Od. iii. 126, &c., 244, xxiv. 52, 11. i. 273, ii. 336, 361, 370, &c., vii. 325, ix. 104, x. 18, xi. 627.) He is said to have ruled over three generations of men, so that his advice and autho- rity were deemed equal to that of the immortal gods. {Od. iii. 245, 11. i. 250 ; comp. Hj'gin. Fab. 10.) In this sense we have also to understand the tria saecula, which he is said by Latin writers to have ruled. (Gellius, xix. 7 ; Cic. De Senect. 10; H orat. Carm. ii. 9. 13; Ow. Met. xii. 158.) But, notwithstanding his advanced age, he was brave and bold in battle, and distinguished above all others for drawing up horses and men in battle array. After the fall of Troy he, together with Menelaus and Diomedes, returned home, and safely arrived in Pylos {Od. iii. 165, &c.), where Zeus granted to him the full enjoyment of old age, surrounded by intelligent and brave sons. {Od. iv. 209, &.C.) In this condition he was found by Telemachus, who visited him to inquire after his father, and was hospitably received by him. The town of Pylos in Messenia claimed to be the city of Nestor ; and, when Pausanias visited it, the people showed to him the house in which Nestor was believed to have lived. (Paus. iv. 3. § 4, 36. $ 2.) In the temple of Messene at Messene he was represented iu a painting with two of his sons, Aw