Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/1207

Rh NICOLAUS. p. 77.) This is no doubt the Nicolaus, wliose work (Covliii. X-:. 4, vol. i. p. 228, ed. 1500). '6. JNicolaus Myrepsus (NwrdA-aos d Mup€|/dy, or the ointment-maker), the author of a Greek phar- maceutical work, which is still extant. He is probably the same physician who is mentioned by Georgius Acropolita as being eminent in his pro- fession, but very ignorant of natural philosophy. {Hist. Byzant. c. 39, p. 34, ed. Paris. 151.) He was at the court of Joannes III. Vatatzes at Nicaea, when the eclipse of the sun took place (Oct. 6. 1241), that shortly preceded the death of the empress Irene. Here he was held in great esteem by the emperor, and attained the dignity of Actuarius <^A..ihid.; %eQ Diet, of Ant. p. Oil, b.). All this agrees very well with the scattered notices of his date and his personal history that we find in his own work. He mentions Mesne the younger (xxxii. 117, p. 706), who died a. d.' 1015; " Michael Angelus regalis " (i. 295, p. 420), who is probably the first emperor of the family of the Palaeologi, and began to reign a, d. 1260 ; " Papa Nicolaus" (ii. 9, p. 469), who seems to be Pope Nicholas III., who began to reign A. d. 1277; and "■ Dominus Joannes" (x. 103, p. 575), and " Magister Johannes " (xxxii. 99, p. 703 ), who is probably Joannes Actuarius, who lived in the thirteenth century. He mentions his having visited or lived at Nicaea (xxiv. 12, p. 657), and also Alexandria (i. 241, xvii. 17, pp 412, 612), whence he is sometimes called Nicolaus Aleoc- andrinus. His work has hitherto only been published in Latin with the title " Antidotarium," or " De Compositione Medicamentonmi ;" and has often been confounded with the similar work of Nicolaus Praepositus, from which however it may easily be distinguished. This consists of forty eight sections, containing more than 2500 medical formulae, arranged according to their form and object, while the other contains only about 150 formulae arranged alphabetically. The work of Nicolaus Praepositus has a short preface by the author, this has none : in this work there are sometimes men- tioned several modes of preparing the same medi- cine, in the other never more than one : both works begin with the formula called "Aurea Alexandrina," but the composition of the different prescriptions does not always agree. The work of Nicolaus Myrepsus is evidently written later than the other, which it frequently copies, and does not appear to have been so popular in the middle ages. It is chiefly compiled from former writers, and contains several foolish and superstitious remedies. It was first published in an incomplete form in 1541. 4to. Ingolst. by J. Agricola Ammonias, and afterwards by Leonh. Fuchs, Basil. 1549, fol. translated from a much more complete MS. This translation is inperted in the second volume of H. Stephens's " Medicae Artis Principes," Paris, fol. 1567; and has been several times re- printed. (See Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol. xiii. p. 4. &c. ed. vet. ; Choulant, Handb. der Budierkunde fur die Aeltere Median.) 4. Nicolaus, commonly called Praepositus., to distinguish him from Nicolaus Myrepsus, was at the head (^f the celebrated medical school at Salerno, in the former half of the twelfth century, as appears from the fact of his work being com- mcnied on by Matthaeus Platearius. He is siiid NICOMACHIDES. 1193 to liaA'e belonged to a noble family, to have ac- quired considerable wealth, and to have been the principal physician of his age. He is sometimes said to be the author of two pharmaceutical works, a large one called "■ Antidotarium Magnum," or "Nicolaus Major" (or Magnus), for the use of druggists, and a sm-aller one, chiefly used by physi- cians, and called "Antidotarium Parvum," or "Ni- colaus Minor" (or Pari-us). This, however, ap- pears to be a mistake that has arisen from confounding his work with that of Nicolaus My- repsus, though (as we have seen) they are totally different books, though treating of the same subject. The "Antidotarium" is written in Latin, and was, during the middle ages, one of the most popular works on the subject. It was first published in 1471, 4to. Venet., and was fre- quently reprinted in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Matthaeus Platearius wrote a com- mentary on the work, which is often printed with if. A very full account of the work, and the biblio- graphical questions relating to it, is to be found in the second edition of Choulant's Handh. der Buclwrkunde fur die Aeltere Medicin. [VV. A. G,] NICOLA'US, an Athenian sculptor, whose name is inscribed, together with that of Criton, on a colossal Caryatid, found in 1766 in the vineyard of the house Strozzi, near Rome, on the Appian road. Winckelmann ascribes the work to the time of Cicero, Muller to that of the Antonines. (Winckelmann, Gesch. d. Kunst, bk. xi. c. 1. ^ 14 ; Muller, Arch'dol. d. Kimst, ^ 204, n. 5.) [P. S.] NICO'LOCHUS (NiKo'Aoxos). 1. A Lacedae- monian, whom Antalcidas left at Ephesus as vice- admiral (eTTio-ToAeus), in B. c. 388, while he went himself to negotiate with the Persian court [An- talcidas]. Nicolochus, sailing from Ephesus to the aid of Abj'dus against the Athenians, stopped at Tenedos, where he ravaged the land and exacted a supply of money from the inhabitants. The Athenian generals, Iphicrates and Diotimus, were preparing to succour Tenedos, but, when they heard of the arrival of Nicolochus at Abydus, they sailed from the Chersonesus and blockaded him there. Antalcidas, however, on his return in b. c. 387, put an end to the blockade, and wrested from the enemy the command of the sea. In b. c. 375 Nicolochus was appointed admiral, and sent out to act against Timotheus in the 1 onian sea. With a force inferior in number to that of the Athenians, he gave them battle near Alyzia, on the Acarnanian coast, and was defeated ; but, soon after, he was reinforced with six Ambracian ships, and again challenged Timotheus. His challenge was not then accepted ; but it was not long before Timo- theus, having refitted his galleys and increased his fleet, by an addition from Corcyra, to seventy ships, decisively commanded the sea. (Xen. Hell. v. 1. §§ 6, 7,' 25, &c., 4. §§ 65, m ; Schn. ad he; Polj-aen. iii. 10; comp. Rehdantz, Vii, Iph. Chahr. Timoth. iii. § 7.") 2. Of Rhodes, a sceptic philosopher, and a dis- ciple of Timon. (Diog. Laert. ix. 115.) [E. E.] NICOMA'CHIDES (Nj/coAtax^^s), an Athe- nian, whom Xenophon introduces in the Memo- rabilia (iii. 4), as not a little dissatisfied at the election of one Antisthenes to be general in pre- ference to himself, and also as somewhat puzzled by the attempt of Socrates to show that a good house-keeper possesses the main qualifications for a military commander. [E. E.j
 * De Philosophia Aristotelis " is aiioted by Rhazes