Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 14.djvu/414

* NEBO. 364 NERVA. were not niudi better. The Knipcror was lam- pooned in verse; the Senate and priesthood, alike venal, were also satirized by audacious malcon- tents; Burrus died, and even Seneca removed from Court. In July, 04, occurred a great con- llagration in Rome, by which two-thirds of the city was reduced to ashes. Xero himself is usually believed to have been the incendiary. It is said that he admired the spectacle from a dis- tance, recitinj; verses about the burning of Troy, but many scholars are doubtful whether he really had any hand in it. At all events, he laid the blame on the Christians, and persecuted them with great fury. lie rebuilt the city with great magnificence, ami reared for liimself a splendid palace extending from the Palatine Hill over the intervening valley to Ihe slopes of the Esquiline, called, from the inuncnse profusion of its golden ornaments, the IJoiiiiis Antra, or Golden House; and in order to ])rovido for this expenditure, and for the gratification of the Roman populace by spectacles and distriliitions of corn. Italy and the ))rovinccs were unsparinglv plundered. A conspiracy against him failed in the year Co. and Seneca and the poet Lucan fell victims to his vengeance. In a fit of passion he killed his wife Poppa?a. He then proposed marriage to Antonia, the daughter of Claudius, but was re- fu.sed, wliereupoM lie caused licr to be put to death, and married Statilia Jlessalina, after killing her husband. His vanity led him to .seek <listinction as a poet, a philosopher, an actor, a musician, and a charioteer, and he received applause, not only in Italy, but also in (iroeee, which, upon invitation of the Greek cities, he visited in (!". In 08 the Gallic and Spanish legions, and after Ihem the Pnetorian Guards, rose against him. proclaimed (Jalba Emperor, and Xero fled from Koine to the house of a freedman, Phaon. about fcmr miles distant. The Senate, which had hitlicrto been most subservient, de- clared him an enemy of his country, and the tyrant ended his life by suicide, June 9, 08. NERTCHINSK, nyer'chlnsk. A district town in the ieriitory of TransBaikalia, Siberia, situated on the Xerteha and the Trans-Siberian Railway, 184 miles east of Tehita, the capi- tal of the Territory (Map: Asia, L 3). It is poorly bviilt. It has a museum and a library. The inhabitants are engaged chiefly in the culti- vation of tobacco and vegetables, and in the fur trade, of which Xertchiiisk is still an important centre. The town was foiuided in 10.')(J ovei- a mile from its present site. It soon rose to great importance as the centre of the trade with China. With the rise of Kiaklita (q.v.) Xcrtchinsk lost in commercial importance, but it .soon became the centre of an extensive mining region and re- ceived many immigrants, a considerable propor- tion being convicts. Ry the Treaty of Nertchinsk, concluded in 108!), the two rivers of Argun and (iorbitsa and the Stanovoi mountain chain were fixed upon as the boundary lines between Siberia and Manchuria. The mining industry in the vicinity of Xcrtchinsk is now of secondary im- portance. Population, in 1807, 6713. including nliont IJOn cjlcs. NER'THUS. In Northern mytholog>-. a god- dess worshiped by the tribes of Northern Ger- many, among whom she journeyed at intervals, bringing peace ami fertility. Her shrine was nn island, sometimes identified with Riigen. She is also called Hertha, from a former reading of the passage in Tacitus in w'hich she is mentioned. NERtTDA, nye'ri.i-da, ,fAX (1834-Dl). A Bo- hemian poet and novelist, born at Prague. He was educated at the university in his native city, and began to write under the pseudonym of Janko Hovora. His poetical works belong to the Romantic School, new in Uoliemia in his time, and he was influenced by the conleiii])orarv movement in the same direction in Germany. His volumes of verse include: Hrbitoviii kviti ("Flowers from the Cemetery," 1858) ; Knihy veHu ("Books of Verse," 1868); and Pisnd kosmick^ ("Cosmic Songs," 1878). He also wrote several plays of lesser importance. NCruda was connected with various newspapers as editor and contributor; he founded the review Krrlii in ISOli, and much of his best work appeared in the yiirodni Li.sty, for which he was feuilletonist from 1805 to 18!11. His prose masterpiece, the studies of life in Prague called Jlalostninske povidkij, was pub- lished in 1878. Others of his sketches and novels are: Arnhcxki/ (1804) : Ritzni lidc (1871) ; Ohra:>j z ciziny (1872) ; and Feuillcton;/ (1870et seq.), all remarkable for humor, observation, and a style full of charm. His complete works were edited by Herrmann in 18!ll-i)i) (Prague). NERTJDA ( X"^orm. n--Xeruda ), Wilma Maria Franci.soa (1839 — ). A European violinist, born at Briinn, in Moravia, where her father was or- ganist of the cathedral. She became a pupil of .Jansa. and made her first appearance at Vienna, in 1840. In 1849 she went to London to ])lay at the Philharmonic in one of Beriot's concerts. She then returned to the Continent and passed several years traveling as a soloist, chiefly in Russia. In 1804 she visited Paris and played with great success at the Pasdeloup concerts, the Conservatory, and elsewhere. In the same year she was married to Lndwig X'ormann. a Swedish musician. She returned to London in 1809, again taking part in the Philharmonic; in the winter following she played the first violin at the Mon- day Popular Concerts; and in 1888 married Sir Charles Ilalle, with whom she toured Australia in 1890-91. She visited the United States in February, 1899. NER'VA, FoBiM OF, or I^oiaii Thax.sito- lUiM. The fourth of the Imperial fora at Rome, formed from the highway which separated the Forum of Peace from the Fortim of Augustus. It was also called Forum Palladium, from the Temple of Jlinerva (Pallas), of which two Corinthian columns remain, the temple having been de.st roved in 1000 to build the Chapel of Saint Paul in the Church of Santa Maria ilag- giore. NERVA, Marcus CoccEirs. A Roman Em- penu- (A. 11. 90-08). He was born a. I). 32. of a family belonging to Narnia. in tiiibria. and twice held the honor of consulship before his election by the Senate to the dignity of Emperor. aft<'r the murder of Pomitian. He displayed great wis- dom and moderation, rectified the administration of justice, and diminished the taxes; but. finding himself, on account of his ailvanced age, not vig- orous enough to repress (he Pnetorian Guards, he adopted Jl. ITpius Trajanus, then at the head of the .rmy of Germany, who succeeded him on his death, .lanuarv 25, 98. .After his decease, he obtained an apotheosis.