Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/1173

NEPOTIANUS. we tliink Sirraond's view of the matter more con- sistent with tlie account of Ennodius. These transactions with the Visigoths constitute almost the whole that is known of the reign of Nepos. He had recalled Ecdicius from Gaul, and had appointed Orestes to be magister militum of that diocese in his place. Orestes, assuming the command of the troops assembled at Rome, and, marching as if towards Gaul, came to Ravenna, where Nepos appears to have been, raised there the standard of revolt, and proclaimed his son Augustulus emperor. [AuGUSTULtJs, Romulus.] Nepos fled into Dalmatia. His expulsion is fixed by the anonymous Chronicon already cited for the date of his accession, on the 28th of August 473, 80 that his actual reign was about fourteen months. After his expulsion from Italy, he appears to have retained the Dalmatian territory, which he, or some of his family, had inherited from Marcellinus, and was still recognised at Constantinople and in the East as emperor of the West. Meanwhile, Orestes was defeated and killed, and Augustulus deposed, by Odoacer the Herulian [Augustulus; Ores- tes ; Odoacer], who sought the patronage of the Eastern emperor Zeno ; but Zeno persisted in re- cognising the title of Nepos. (Malchus, apud Col- lectan. de Legation.') In A. D. 480 Nepos was killed near Salona, where he appears to have resided, by Viator and Ovida or Odiva, two of his own officers (Marcellin. Chronicon), probabl}' at the instigation of his deposed predecessor Glycerins [Glycerius], who held the bishopric of Salona. (Malchus, apud Phot. Bibl Cod. 78.) Odiva or Ovida was van- quished and killed the next year, 481, by Odoacer who had invaded Dalmatia. (Cassiodor. Chron.) Tillemont thinks that the title of Nepos, till his death, was recognised by some of the cities of Gaul. The accounts of the life and reign of Nepos are brief and fragmentary. To the authorities cited in the course of the article may be added Marius Aveic. Chronicon ; Chronici Prosperiani Aucta- riion. No. iv. apud Roncallium ; Catalogus Impe- ratorum. No. xi. apud eundem ; Jornandes, de Rebus Gelicis ; the Excerpta subjoined by Valesius to Amm.Marc. ; Evagrius, H.E. ii. 16 ; Tillemont, Hist, des Empereurs., vol. vi. pp. 424 — 434, 440 — 443 ; Gibbon, Decline and Fall, ch. xxxvi ; Eckhel, vol. viii. p. 202. [J. C. M.J COIN OF JULIUS NEPOS. NEPOS, LICFNIUS, is frequently mentioned by the younger Pliny as an upright man and a severe praetor. (Plin, Ep. iv. 29, v. 4, 21, vi. 5.) NRPOS, MA'RIUS, expelled from the senate by Tiberius, a. d. 17, on account of his extra- vagance. (Tac. Ann. ii. 48.) NEPOS, METELLUS. [Metellus.] NEPOS, P. VALE'RIUS, was one of the ac- cusers of Milo, whom Cicero defended. (Ascon. in Mil. p. 35.) NEPOTIA'NUS, one of the Bordeaux pro- fessors commemorated by Ausonius {Prof. Burdig. NERATIUS. 1159 XV.). Distinguished, if we can believe this com- plimentary address, as a grammarian, a rhetorician, a poet, and a philosopher, he died at the age of ninetv, leaving behind him two children. [W.R ] NEPOTIA'NUS, FLA'VIUS POPI'LIUS, son of Eutropia, the half-sister of Constantino the Great [Eutropia; Theodora], headed a rash enterprise whose object was to withstand the usur- pation of Magnentius. Having collected a band of gladiators, runaway slaves, and similar desperadoes, he assumed the purple on the 3d of June 350, marched upon Rome, defeated and slew Anicius (or Anicetus), the new praetorian prefect, and made himself master of the city, which was deluged with blood by the excesses of contending factions. But after having enjoyed a confused shadow of royalty for twenty-eight days only, the adventurer was overpowered and put to death, along with his mother, by Marcellinus, who had been despatched by Magnentius to quell the insurrection, and many of the most noble and wealthy among the senators, by whom his pretensions had been admitted, shared a like fate. This Nepotianus is supposed to be the person who appears in the Fasti as the colleague of Facundus for the year 336, and it has been conjectured that his father was the Ne- potianus who held the office of consul in 301. [Magnentius ; Marcellinus.] (Julian. Oral. i. ii. ; Aur. Vict, de Cues. 42, Epit. 42 ; Eutrop. x. 6 ; Zosim. ii. 43 ; Chron. Alexandr. ; Chron. Idat.) [W. R.] COIN OF NEPOTIANUS. NEPOTIA'NUS, JANUA'RIUS. [Maximus, Valerius, p. 1002.] NEPTU'NUS, the chief marine divinity of the Romans. His name is probably connected with the verb vaiw or nato., and a contraction of navilu- nus. As the early Romans were not a maritime people, and had not much to do with the sea, the marine divinities are not often mentioned, and we scarcely know with any certainty Avhat day in the year was set apart as the festival of Neptunus, though it seems to have been the 23rd of July {X. Kal. Sext.). His temple stood in the Campus Martins, not far from the septa ; but respecting the ceremonies of his festival we know nothing, ex- cept that the people formed tents {umbrae) of the branches of trees, in which they probably rejoiced in feasting and drinking (Varro, de Ling. Lot. vi. 19 ; Herat. Carm. iii. 28 ; Paul. Diac. p. 377, ed. Muller ; TertuU. de Sped. 6 ; P. Vict. Reg. Urb. IX. ; Diet, of Ant. s. v. Neptunalia). When a Roman commander sailed out with a fleet, he first offered up a sacrifice to Neptunus, which was thrown into the sea (Cic. de Nat. Deor. iii. 20 ; Liv. xxix. 27). In the Roman poets Neptunus is, completely identified with the Greek Poseidon, and accordingly all the attributes of the latter are trans- ferred by them to the former. [Poseidon.] [L. S.] NERA'TIUS MARCELLUS. [Marcelius.1 4e 4