Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/1223

Rh NONNUS. might by itself be regarded as a separate work. The remaining books are patched together in the same manner, without any coherence or subordina- tion of less important to more important parts. The style of the work is bombastic and inflated in tlie highest degree ; but the author shows con- siderable learning and fluency of narration. The work is mentioned by Agathias, repeatedly by Eustathiiis in his commentary on Homer, and in the Etymologicum Magnum (s. v. AiSi^vcxos). There is an epigram in which Nonnus speaks of himself as the author of a poem on the fight of the Gigantes, but it seems that this is not a distinct work, but refers to the fight of Zeus and the Gigantes related in the first books of theDionysiaca. The first edition that was published is that of G. Falckenburg, Antwerp, 1569, 4to. In 1605 an octavo edition, with a Latin translation, appeared at Hanau. A reprint of it, with a dissertation by D. Heinsius, and emendations by Jos. Scaliger, was published at Leiden in 1510, 8vo. A new edi- tion, with a critical and explanatory commentary, was edited by F. Graefe, Leipzig, 1819 — 1826, in 2 vols. 8vo. A second work of Nonnus, which has all the defects tiiat have been censured in the Dionysiaca, is a paraphrase of the gospel of St. John in Hexa- meter verse. The first edition of it was published by Aldus Manutius, Venice, 1501, 4to. ; and sub- sequently others appeared at Rome, 1508, Hage- nau, 1527, 8vo. with an epistle of Phil. Melanch- thon, Frankfort, 1541 ; Paris, 1541, 1556 ; Goslar, 1616 ; Cologne, 1566. It was also repeatedly translated into Latin, and several editions appeared with Latin versions. The most important of these is that of D. Heinsius, Lugd. Bat. 1627, 8vo. There is further a collection and exposition of various stories and fables, bearing the titles of 'Svvayuiyri Koi (^riyrjffis laTopiwUj which is ascribed to Nonnus, and was published at Eton in 1610, 4to. by R. Montacutius. But Bentley (Upon tlie Ep. of F'/uilaris, p. 17, &c.) has shown that this collection is the production of a far more ignorant person than Nonnus. (Comp. Fabricius, Bibl. Graec. vol. viii. p. 601, &c. ; OuwarofF, Nonnus von Pano-polis der Dichter^ ein Beitrag zur Gesch. der Griech. Foesiey Petersburg and Leipzig, 1817, 4to.) [L. S.] NONNUS, THEO'PHANES, (@io(pav-hs NoV voy,) sometimes called A^owms, a Greek medical writer who lived in the tenth century after Christ, as his work is dedicated to the emperor Constantinus Porphyrogenitus, a. d. 911 — 959, at whose com- mand it was composed. Though commonly called Nonnus, it is supposed by some persons that his real name was Theophanes. His work is entitled 'ETTiTOjUT) T^s ^larpiKTts ditaa-qs Tex»'')S', Com- pendium iotius Artis Aledicae^ and consists of two hundred and ninety short chapters ; it is compiled almost entirely from previous writers, especially Alexander Trallianus, A e tins, and Paulus Aegi- neta, whom, however, he does not once mention by name. Almost the only point worthy of notice is that (according to Sprengel) he is the earliest Greek medical writer, who makes distinct mention of dis- tilled rose-water, an article which his countrymen seem to have gained from the Arabians. It was first published by Jeremias Martins, Greek and Latin, Argent., 8vo. 1568 ; and afterwards, in a nmch improved form, in 1794, 1795, 8vo. two vols., Gothae et Amstel., edited by J. S. Bernard, and NORBANUS. 1209 published after his death. (See Freind's Hist, of Physic, vol. i. ; Sprengel, Hist, de la Med., vol. ii. ; Haller, Bibl. Medic. Fract. vol. i. ; Fabric. Bibl. Gr. vol, xii. p. 685, ed. vet. ; Choulant, Handb. der Buclierkunde fur die Aeltere Med.) [W. A. G.] NORAX (Nw/ja|), a son of Hermes and Ery- theia, the daughter of Geryones, is said to have led an Iberian colony to Sardinia, and to have founded the town of Nora. (Pans. x. 17. § 4.) [L. S.] NORBA'NUS, occurs as a name of several dis- tinguished Romans towards the latter end of the republic, but they appear to have had no gentile name. Many modern writers suppose that C. Norbanus, who was consul b. c. 83 [see below. No. 1 ], belonged to the Junia gens, but for this there is no authority whatsoever. In fact, Norbanus came to be looked upon as a kind of gentile name, and hence a cognomen was attached to it. Thus, in some of the Fasti, the C. Norbanus just men- tioned bears the cognomen Balhus or Bulbus ; and subsequently several of the family are called by the surname of Flaccus. It is quite uncertain to which member of the family the following coin be- longs. It bears on the obverse the head of Venus, and on the reverse ears of com, a caduceus, and fiisces with an axe. (Eckhel, vol. v. p. 262.) COIN OF C. NORBANUS. 1. C. Norbanus, was tribune of the plebs, e. c. 95, when he accused Q. Servilius Caepio of majes- tas, because he had robbed the temple of Tolosa in his consulship, B.C. 106, and had by his rasl»~ ness and imprudence occasioned the defeat and destruction of the Roman army by the Cimbri, in the following year (b. c. 105). The senate, to whom Caepio had by a lex restored the judicia in his consulship, but of which they had been again deprived two years afterwards, made the greatest efforts to obtain his acquittal ; but, notwithstand- ing these exertions, and the powerful advocacy of the great orator L. Crassus, who was then consul, he was condemned by the people, and went into exile at Smyrna. The disturbances, however, which took place at his trial, afibrded the enemies of Norbanus a fair pretext for his accusation ; and in the following year (b. c. 94), he was accordingly accused of majestas under the lex Appuleia. The accusation was conducted by P. Sulpicius Rufus ; and the defence by the celebrated orator M. Antonius, under whom Norbanus had formerly served as quaestor, and who gives in the De Ora- tore of Cicero a very interesting account of the line of argument which he adopted on the occasion, Norbanus was acquitted. (Cic. de Oral. ii. 48, 49, iii. 21, 25, 39, 40, Oral. Part. dO ; Val. Max. viii. 5. § 2 ; Meyer, Fragvi. Rom. Oratot p. 287, &c., 2d ed.) In b. c. 90 or 89, Norbanus was praetor in Sicily during the Social or Marsic war, but no at- tempt at insurrection occurred in the island. (Cic. Verr. v. 4, comp. iii. 49.) In b. c. 88 he came to the assistance of the town of Rhegium, which wa»