Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XII.djvu/235

NEPENTHE NEPTUNE 227 British declared war in 1814, and invaded the country on the "W. frontier, where their troops met with repeated losses, and their commander, Gen. Gillespie, was slain. In the following year, however, the campaign under Sir David Ochterlony was attended with very different results. The victory of Malown, the capitula- tion of the famous Nepaulese commander Ameer Singh, and finally the rapid advance of the victors toward Katmandu, obliged the Ne- paulese monarch to make peace, and a treaty was signed very favorable to the British in March, 1816. Throughout the mutiny of 1857 the Nepaulese cultivated the friendship of the British, and the prime minister Jung Baha- door defeated the last remnant of the rebels in December, 1859. The policy of the govern- ment toward foreigners, however, is exceed- ingly exclusive. Much valuable information concerning the country is contained in the work on Nepaul and Thibet by B. H. Hodg- son, formerly British minister at Katmandu (1874). See also Oliphant, "A Journey to Katmandu" (1852). NEPENTHE (Gr. v#, not, and Trfctfo?, grief), a soothing drug known to the Egyptians, from whom, according to Homer, Helen learned the art of compounding it. According to Diodorus Siculus, the Theban women also possessed the secret of its preparation. NEPENTHES, in botany. See PITCHER PLANTS. NEPHRITE. See JADE. NEPOMUCEN, John, or John of Nepomnk, a saint of the Eoman Catholic church, born at Nepo- muk or Pomuk, Bohemia, about 1330, died in Prague in 1383 or 1393. He graduated at the university of Prague, and was successively rec- tor of the church of St. Gall in Prague, canon of the metropolitan chapter, and rector of Tein. In 1378 he was chosen court preacher by the emperor Wenceslas, and appointed almoner and chaplain to the empress Johanna. He was im- prisoned for reproving the emperor's cruelty, and was offered his liberty on condition of re- vealing to Wenceslas the confession of the em- press. Eefusing to do this, he was inhumanly tortured. Being released at the solicitation of Johanna, he was urged anew to disclose the desired secret, and finally, bound hand and foot, was cast into the Moldau. The body was taken from the river and buried amid a vast concourse and universal grief. The mira- cles said to be performed at his tomb attracted pilgrims from all parts. He was regarded as a martyr by the Bohemians, and was canonized by Benedict XIII., March 19, 1729, and des- ignated as the patron saint of Bohemia. His festival is celebrated on May 16. Since his canonization several writers have contested the authenticity of the facts recited in the le- gend of John Nepomucen. Some maintain that two personages named John of Nepomuk existed nearly at the same time; and that a great similarity in the circumstances attending their death caused much confusion in the pop- ular traditions concerning them. See Berg- hauer, Protomartyr Pcenitentia (Augsburg, 1736); Marne, Vie de St. Jean Nepomucene (Paris, 1741); Pubitschka, Ehrenrettung des heiligen Johannes von Nepomuk (Prague, 1791); and Abel, Die Legende des heiligen Johannes von Nepomulc (Berlin, 1855). NEPOS, Cornelius, a Roman author, probably a native of Verona or its vicinity, died in the reign of Augustus. Nearly all his works have perished. He wrote Chronica, an epitome of universal history ; Exemplorum Libri, a col- lection of remarkable sayings and doings ; Le Historicis, and De Viris Illustribus. Two of the lives comprised in the last named work, those of Cato and Atticus, are extant. The well known Excellentium Imperatorum Vita, first printed at Venice in 1471, and long as- cribed to ^Emilius Probus, is now considered an abridgment by him of the work of Nepos. It has passed through numberless editions, and has been translated into most European languages. NEPTUNE (NEPTUNUS ; called by the Greeks Poseidon), in mythology, the principal god of the sea, and originally also of the rivers and springs. He was a son of Saturn and Ehea, and a brother of Jupiter, Pluto, Ceres, Vesta, and Juno. Like his brothers and sisters, he was swallowed by his father as soon as he was born, and thrown up again; or accord- ing to another account, his mother saved his life by hiding him among a flock of lambs, and offering to Saturn a young horse to which she feigned to have given birth. After Jupiter had t overthrown his father, the empire of the sea fell by lot to Neptune. He is represented as being of equal dignity with his brother Ju- piter, but of inferior power, though he some- times threatened him, disputed the possession of ^Egina with him, and once conspired against him. His palace was in the sea, near Eubcea, and he was the especial ruler of the Mediter- ranean. He assisted in building the walls of Troy, and being refused the reward promised by Laomedon, ever after bore an implacable hatred to the Trojans, and in the war against Troy sided with the Greeks, often fighting on their side, causing the earth to tremble, and encouraging them with the signs of his favor. He had power over the clouds and storms, over ships and mariners, and over all other sea divinities. He was the creator of the horse, and the teacher of horsemanship. There were many legends about him : with Jupiter he fought against Saturn and the Titans ; he crushed the centaurs under a mountain in Leucosia ; and he sought the hand of Thetis, but refused it through fear when Themis foretold that the son of Thetis would be greater than his father. The wife of Neptune was Amphitrite, by whom he had three children, Triton, Rhode, and Ben- thesicyme, besides a large number of other children by divine and mortal women. He was worshipped in Argolis, in the Corinthian isthmus, and in Ionia, and had a temple in Rome, in the Campus Martius. The sacrifices