Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 17.djvu/175

Rh V N A G 163 no trace of the exuberant comic power and geniality of his great contemporary. His critical spirit and vehement temper declare his affinity rather to Lucilius than to Plautus. He was not only the oldest native dramatist, but the first author of an epic poem, which, by combining the representation of actual contemporary history with a mythical background, may be said to have created the Koman type of epic poetry. The poem as he gave it to the world was one continuous work, and was divided into seven books by a grammarian of a later age. The earlier part of it treated of the mythical adventures of JEneas in Sicily, Carthage, and Italy, and borrowed from the interview of Zeus and Thetis in the first book of the Iliad the idea of the interview of Jupiter and Venus, which Yirgil has made one of the cardinal passages in the jSSneid. The later part of the poem treated of the events of the First Punic War in the style of a metrical chronicle. The few remaining fragments produce the impression of vivid and rapid narrative, to which the flow of the native Saturnian verse, in con tradistinction to the weighty and complex structure of the hexa meter, was naturally adapted. Mommsen has noticed that in these fragments the story is told in the present tense. The dis paraging criticism of Ennius &quot; Scripsere alii rem Versibu quos olim Fauni vatesque canebant, &c.&quot; applies to the rudeness of the verse, not to the spirit or substance of the work. Cicero speaks of it as giving pleasure, like a statue of Myron, and the grudging admission of Horace &quot; Nasvius in manibus non est et mentibus hajret Psene recens&quot; attests the fresh pleasure with which it still could be read in the Augustan age. The impression we get of the man is that, whether or not he actually enjoyed the full rights of Roman citizenship, he was a vigorous representative of the bold combative spirit of the ancient Roman commons, of the political not, like Plautus, of the bour geois type of the Roman plebeian. Energy of character and vitality of temperament are shown by the prolonged continuation of his career as a writer, notwithstanding the discouragement of his imprisonment, and, what was a greater trial than temporary imprisonment, his exile. The chief service which he rendered to Roman letters was that he was one of those who made the Latin language into a great organ of literature, and that with the new formative energy which he applied to it he transmitted the force of the best popular speech of his time. The phrases still quoted from him have nothing of an antiquated sound, while they have a genuinely idiomatic ring. As a dramatist he worked more in the spirit of Plautus than of Ennius, Pacuvius, Accius, or Terence ; but the great Umbrian humorist is separated from his older con temporary, not only by his breadth of comic power, but by his general attitude of moral and political indifference. The power of Nsevius was the more genuine Italian gift the power of satiric criticism the &quot; Italurn acetum &quot; which was employed in making men ridiculous, not, like that of Plautns, in extracting amusement from the humours, follies, and eccentricities of life. His more truly creative faculty seems to have shown itself, not only in rapid and animated narrative, but in pregnant invention which still lives in literature, owing to the recognition of its value by the receptive and reproductive genius of Virgil. Although our means of forming a fair estimate of Nsevius are more scanty than in the case of the other makers of Roman literature whose work is only known to us in fragments, yet all that we do know of him leads to the con clusion that he was far from being the least among them, and that with the loss of his writings there was lost a vein of national feeling and genius which reappears rarely in the writings of the later republican and the imperial times the vein which probably was predominant in Cato, which may still be traced in the fragments of Lucilius and in the personal and political lampoons of Catullus, and may be detected under the rhetorical invective of Juvenal. Collections of the Fragments have been made and commer &quot;ed on by Kluss- mann (1843) and Vahlen (1852). A short study of the life and writings of Naevius (De Cn. Nsevii vita et scriptis) has been written by M. Berchem. (W. Y. S.) N^EVUS, a term in surgery signifying that form of tumour which is almost entirely composed of enlarged blood-vessels. There are three principal varieties : (1) the capillary nsevus, consisting of enlarged capillaries, fre quently of a purplish colour, hence the term &quot; port-wine stain &quot; ; (2} the venous naevus, in which the veins are en larged, of a bluish colour ; (3) the arterial naevus, in which there is distinct pulsation, it being composed of enlarged and tortuous arteries. The neevus can be lessened in size by pressure. It is generally met with in the skin or immediately under the skin ; sometimes it lies in the mouth in connexion with the mucous membrane. It is often congenital, hence the term &quot; mother s mark,&quot; or it may appear in early childhood. It often grows rapidly, sometimes slowly, and sometimes growth is checked, and it may gradually diminish in size, losing its vascularity and becoming fibrous and non-vascular. This natural cure is followed by less deformity than a cure by artificial means. It is a good rule not to interfere unless the tumour is growing rapidly and at a rate out of proportion to the growth of the child. Various methods are used by surgeons when an operation is called for: (1) the tumour may be excised ; (2) a ligature tightly tied may be applied to the base of the tumour; (3) inflammation may be set up in the growth by the injection of irritating agents, in this way its vascularity may be checked and the forma tion of fibrous tissue encouraged ; (4) the blood in the enlarged vessels may be coagulated by the injection of coagulating agents or by electrolysis. In large nsevi the last method is very suitable, and the resulting cure most closely resembles the natural cure already described. NAGA HILLS, a district in the south-eastern corner of the chief-commissionership of Assam, India, lies between 25 13 and 26 32 N. lat., and between 93 and 94 13 E. long., being a mountainous borderland between Now- gong district and Manipur state, with an area of about 6400 square miles. It forms a wild expanse of forest, mountain, and stream. The valleys and hills are covered with dense jungle, dotted with small lakes and marshes. Coal is known to exist in many localities, as well as lime stone, chalk, and slate. The chief rivers are the Dayang, Dhaneswari, and Jamuna, only navigable for small boats during the rainy season. In 1870 the deputy-commissioner roughly estimated the strength of the different tribes as follows : Assamese, 705 ; Aitaniyas, 355; Cacharis, 3505; Mikirs, 8820; Kukis, 2524; Nagas, 66,535; total, 82,444. The estimated population in 1881-82 was 93,000. Agriculture is conducted in a rude, nomadic fashion, the only im plements of tillage being the ddo or hill knife, and a koddli or hoe. Rice and millet are the main crops. In some places great skill is displayed in irrigation. The tea plant is indigenous, and a large number of natives are now employed in the tea-gardens. The manufactures embrace the production of the few rude articles re quired for domestic use or as clothing, and the forging of ddos, koddlis, and spear-heads. Trade is generally conducted by means of barter, and has considerably increased of late years. The local products available for export comprise rice, cotton, cloth woven from nettle fibre, ivory, beeswax, and various dyes obtained from the jungle. Salt and iron are imported ; but the one great desire of every Naga is to have a gun. The revenue is nominal. British administration was first introduced into the district in 1867 ; but it has not yet been surveyed, and it constitutes perhaps the least orderly portion of the Indian empire. It is inhabited by several wild aboriginal tribes, collectively known as the Nagas. Those within British territory are comparatively peaceful, but beyond the reach of British influence are several savage and predatory tribes, who are in the habit of raiding on the plains, and killing or carrying off inoffensive British subjects. Repeated expeditions have been despatched to chastise them in their native hills. In 1873 a survey party under Lieutenant Holcombe were treacherously massacred. In January 1875 a force escorting a survey party under Captain Butler was attacked by Nagas, but unsuccessfully ; later in the same year, however, he was cut off and killed. In 1 879-80 the Nagas murdered the deputy-commissioner, Mr Damant, and, after receiving a sharp punishment, made a foray on the Caclnlr side, murdering a tea-planter and committing other ravages. For some time the district has been in a more settled condition. The construction of a road to Kohima, the principal town, and the settlement of a British governor there have pro duced a salutary effect. The eastern Nagas are becoming rapidly civilized. NAGASAKI, or sometimes NANGASAKI, the leading seaport on the western coasts of Japan, is situated in 32 44 K lat. and 129 52 E. long., in the island of Kiu-shiu, and gives its name to a ken (province of Hizen or Hi-shiu). The harbour is formed by a beautiful inlet of the sea, stretching northward for a distance of about 4 miles, with an average width of about a mile, enclosed on both sides by a delightful framework of hills (1500 feet), and adorned by a number of the most picturesque-looking islands. The city lies near the upper end of the inlet on