Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 14.djvu/625

* NIC^A. 531 NICARAGUA. sweet voice, and fiisuinaling speech; Paphnutius, a martyr of llie L ppcr Tliebaid, whose riyht eye had been dug out with a sword, and the empty socket seared with a liut iron; Paul of Neo- C'a'sarea, also a martyr, scarred by the brand of hot iron which had crippled both his hands; Jacob of Xisibis, wlio had spent years as a hermit in forests and caves, subsisting on plants and roots ; .Spiridion of Cyrus, continuing, even after his ordination, a literal shepherd; Hosius of Cordova, the ablest and best of the Western dele- gates; two Roman presbyters, influential as representing Pope Sylvester, who was kept at home by the infirmities of age; a Persian bishop from the eastern frontier, and a Gothic bishop from the north. Constantine's object in convening the council, as announced in his opening address, was to heal the divisions in the Church. At the opening of the discussions on the nature of Christ there seemed little prospect that the Emperor's prayer for harmony among the delegates would be answered. Accusations and recriminations were bandied to and fro without regard to his presence. The first sessions were devoted cliiefly to a discussion of the Arian views, accompanied with an examination of Arius him- self. He maintained that the Son of God was a creature, though indeed the most exalted of all ; that He had been made out of nothing; that there was a time when He did not exist; and that, in His own free will. He w'as ca-pable of right and wrong. The first attemi)t to reach a decision was made by producing an ancient creed of Palestine, the basis of that which was ultimately adopted, but opposed at first by the orthodo.x — the more violently because the Arians were willing to adopt it. A letter having been read from Euse- bius of Xicomedia, in which he declared that to assert the Son to be uncreated would be to say that He was of one substance (oiwoiaiot) with the Father, the expression was laid hold of as fur- nishing the very test for which they were seeking. For the confession of faith adopted at the end of the deliberations, see Xkene Creed. Another controversy determined had reference to the time for observing Easter. The question was. Ought the Christian passover_ to be cele- brated on the same day as the Jewish — the 14th day of the month Xisan — or on the following Sunday? On the one side were the apostolic traditions, and on the other the Catholic spirit seeking separation from Jewish ideas. At the date of the council the Judaic time was observed by the principal Eastern churches, and the Chris- tian time by the Western churches, with a part of the Eastern. The decision was in favor of the Christian time. Some smaller matters also were decided by the council, and 20 canons passed on various subjects pertaining to morality and re- ligion. For a minute and picturesque description of this council, consult: Stanley, Hislory of ilie Eastern Chiirrh (London. 1861); also Boyle, A Historical ^'i<'w of the Council, of yice, iiHh a Translation of Documents, in Cruse's translation of Eusebius (New York, 1S56). (2) The second council of Niesea was convened in 786 by the Empress Irene and her son Con- stantine, dissolved because of the tumults raised by the image-breaking party, and reassembled the following year. Three htmdred and seventy- five bishops attended from Greece, Thrace, the isles of the Archipelago, Sicily, and Italy. The council was occasioned by the Emperor's ill- judged severity in forbidding tlie use of images for any purpose, and causing them everywhere to be removed and destroyed; and by the violent opposition to his course. For the history of this controversy, see lM.(iE- WORSHIP. NICAIJ'DER (Lat., from Gk. yUavSpos. M- kandrosj. A Greek physician and poet, born at Colophon, in Asia, about B.C. 150. Of his numerous works only two poems are extant: the B-npiaKi (nearly one thousand hexameter lines), on reme- dies against the wounds infiicted by venomous ani- mals; and 'AXfJt0d/);naKa (more than six hundred hexameter lines), on poisons and tlieir antidotes. Among his lost works was the 'ET(poiovij.(ua, which is said to have been one of Ovid's sources for his Metamorphoses. He is frequently quoted by Pliny, Galen, and other ancient writers as an avithority on all matters relating to to.xicology. Consult the edition by Schneider, revised by Keil (Leipzig, 1850). NICANDEB, nekiin'der, Karl ArouST (1790-1839). A Swedish poet, born at Streng- nils. He studied at the University of Upsala. A prize from the Swedish Academy for his poem Tassos dod (1826) gave him an opportunity to go to Italy (1827). After his return he lived in want almost to the day of his death. His earlie.st important poem was Runesnirdet (1821); this was followed by a collection of poems and tales, Hesjierider, and the poem Minnen frdn Sodern (18.31), containing his recollections of Italy, a land which appealed strongly to his imagination. His best iK)em, Lejonet i okiien ( 1838 ), is a eulogy of Napoleon. A collection of his poems appeared at Stockholm in 1839-41 (4 vols.; 5th ed. 1883). NICARAGUA, ne'kA-rii'gwa (from Xic/iiirao, Xicariio, a Nahua tribe inhabiting the country in the si-xteenth century)- The largest of the Central American republics excepting Guate- mala. It is bounded on the north by Honduras and on the south by Costa Rica. Its frontage on the Caribbean Sea is about 300 miles ; that on the Pacific, 200 miles. It extends between lati- tudes 10° 41' and 15" N. and longitudes 83° 15' and 87' 40' W. (Map: Central America, E 4). Civilization is centred in the western third of the country. The settlements extend scarcely 100 miles inland from the Pacific. The wide Caribbean slope has no towns of importance ex- cepting Bluefields and Greytown ( San .Juan del Norte). The low and hot Caribbean plain is under the infiuence of the moist trade winds which nurture the most luxuriant tropical vegetation. Almost impassable virgin forests, in- habited by scattered bands of Indians, spread from the western mountains to the Caribbean; but though this larger part of the country is rich in valuable timber and its higher lands contain the centres of gold-mining, it is the home of few white men. The higher and drier regions of the western mountain ranges with the plain between them are, on the other hand, adapted for plant- ing and other industries, and have attained con- siderable development. The estimated area is about 40.000 square miles, about the same as that of Louisiana. Topography. The Caribbean coast is low and poorly supplied with harbors. It has three ports, none of them adapted for large ships. Grey- town, in the delta of the San .luan River, former- ly had a splendid harbor with 30 feet of water at low tide, but during a flood in 1855 the river