A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

NERVA. NERVA.; 1167
Suet.. Tib. 24; Cal. 7; Dion Cass. lviii. 8.) Re- soon die a natural death (Dion Cass. lxvii. 15).
specting Drusus, the brother of Nero, see Dausus, On the assassination of Domitian, in September,
No. 1 6, and respecting Julia, the wife of Nero, see A. D. 96, Nerva was declared emperor at Rome by
JULIA, No. 9. the people and the soldiers, and his administration
NERVA, ACU'TIUS, one of the consules at once restored tranquillity to the state. He
suffecti in the reign of Trajan, A. D. 100. (Fasti; stopped proceedings against those who, under the
Plin. Ep. ii. 12.) system of his predecessor, had been accused of
NERVA, COCCEIUS. 1. M. CoccEIus NER- treason (majestas), and allowed many exiled perVA, was consul with L. Gellius Poplicola, B. c. 36. sons to return to Rome. The class of informers
(Dion Cass. xlviii. 54.) He is probably the Coc- were suppressed by penalties (Plin. Panegyr. c.
ceius who brought about the reconciliation between 35); some were put to death, among whom was
M. Antonius and Caesar Octavianus, B. c. 40, the philosopher Sura; and, conformably to the
though this Cocceius is called Lucius by Appian old law, Nerva declared that slaves and freedmen
(B. C. v. 60, &c.); and also the Cocceius mentioned should never be examined as witnesses against
by Horace (Sat. i. 5. 28, &c.). He is sometimes their masters or patrons when accused of a crime
considered to be the grandfather of the emperor (Dion Cass. lxvii. 1). These measures were
Nerva, and consequently the same person who died necessary to restore order and confidence after the
in the time of Tiberius, A. D. 33, which is not pos- suspicious and cruel administration of Domitian.
sible. But there was weakness in the character of Nerva,
2. M. CoccEIus NERVA, who died A. D. 33, as appears from the following anecdote. He was
was probably the son of the consul of B. c. 36: he entertaining Junius Mauricus and Fabius Veiento
was the grandfather of the emperor Nerva. This at table. Veiento had played the part of an
Nerva was consul with C. Vibius Rufinus, A. D. accuser (delator) under Domitian. The conver22: Tacitus (Ann. iv. 58) says that he had been sation turned on Catullus Messallinus, who was
consul. He was one of the intimate friends of then dead, but had been an infamous informer
Tiberius Caesar, who gave him the superintend- under Domitian. ", What would this Catullus be
ence of the aqueducts of Rome (Frontinus, De doing," said Nerva, "if he were alive now;" to
Aquaeduct. ii.). Nerva accompanied Tiberius in which Mauricus bluntly replied, " he would be
his retirement from Rome A. D. 26. In the year supping with us" (Aur. Vict. Epit. 12).
A. D. 33, he resolutely starved himself to death, The public events of his short reign were few
notwithstanding the intreaties of Tiberius, whose and unimportant; and it is chiefly his measures of
constant companion he was. Tacitus (Ann. vi. 26) internal administration of which there are any
and Dion Cassius (lviii. 21) give different reasons records. Nerva attempted to relieve the poverty
for this resolution of Nerva, but we may infer from of many of the citizens by buying land and disboth of them that Nerva was tired of his master. tributing it among them, one of the remedies for
Tacitus says, that he was profoundly skilled in the distress which the Romans had long tried, and
law. He is often mentioned in the Digest (43. with little advantage. The practice of occasionally
tit. 8. s. 2; 16. tit. 3. s. 32), and he wrote se- distributing money among the poor citizens, and
veral legal works, but the title of no one of them allowances of grain, still continued under Nerva,
is mentioned. one of the parts of Roman administration which
3. M. CoccEIvs NERVA, was the son of the continually kept alive the misery for which it supjurist. He must have been a precocious youth, if plied temporary relief. He also diminished the
we rightly understand Ulpian (Dig. 3. tit. i. s. 1), expences of the state by stopping many of the
when he says that he gave responsa (publice de jure public shows and festivals. Many enactments,'responsitasse) at the age of seventeen or a little more. by which we must understand Senatus consulta,
He is probably the Cocceius Nerva mentioned by were passed in his time, among which the prohibiTacitus (Ann. xv. 72) as Praetor Designatus. He tion against making eunuchs is worthy of notice
wrote a work De Usucapionibus (Dig. 41. tit. 2. but Domitian had already made the same regulas. 47) as Papinian states; and he is often cited in tion in the beginning of his reign (Dion Cass.
the Digest under the name of Nerva Filius. Gaius lxvii. 2), whence we must conclude that the law
(Instit. ii. 195, iii. 133) cites Nerva, without saying had either been repealed or required some stricter
whether he means the father or the son. [G. L ] penalties to enforce it.
NERVA, M. COCCEIUS, Roman emperor, In the second year of his reign, Nerva was
A. D. 96-98, was born at Narnia, in Umbria (Aur. consul, for the third time, with L. Verginius Rufus,
Vict. Epit. 12), as some interpret the words of also for the third time consul. Rufus had been proVictor, or rather his family was from Narnia.'His claimed emperor by the soldiers in the time of Nero,
father was probably the jurist, No. 3. The time of A. D. 68, but had refused the dangerous honour.
his birth was A. D. 32, inasmuch as he died in The emperor made no difficulty about associating
January, A. D. 98, at the age of nearly sixty-six Rufus with himself in the consulship, but Rufus
(Dion Cass. lxviii. 4). He was consul with Ves- was a very old man, and soon died. Calpurnius
pasian, A. D. 71, and with Domitian, A. D. 90. Crassus, a descendant of the Crassi of the republic,
Tillemont supposes him to be the Nerva mentioned with others, conspired against the emperor, but the
by Tacitus (Ann. xv. 72), but this Nerva is, per- plot was discovered, and Nerva rebuked the conhaps, the father of the emperor. spirators by putting into their hands at a show of
Nerva was probably at Rome when Domitian gladiators, the swords with which the men were
was assassinated, and privy to the conspiracy, going to fight, and asking the conspirators, in the
though Aurelius Victor (de Caes. 12) seems to usual way, if they were sharp enough. This anecintend to say that he was in Gaul, which is very dote, if true, shows that the exhibitions of gladiaimprobable. His life was saved from the cruelty tors were in use under Nerva. The text of Dion
of Domitian by the emperor's superstition, who does not state what was the punishment of Crassus,
believed an astrologer's prediction that Nerva would but Victor (Epit. 12) says that Crassus was rele