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

NONNUS. NORBANUIS. 1209
might by itself be regarded as a separate work. published after his death. (See Freind's Hist. of
The remaining books are patched together in the Physic, vol. i.; Sprengel, Hist. de la Mid.S vol. ii.;
same manner, without any coherence or subordina- Haller, Bibl. Medic. Pract. vol. i.; Fabric. Bibl.
tion of less important to more important parts. Gr. vol. xii. p. 685, ed. vet.; Choulant, Handb.
The style of the work is bombastic and inflated in der Blcherkunde fur die Aeltere Med.) [W. A. G. ]
the highest degree; but the author shows con- NORAX (Npcpa4), a son of Hermes and Erysiderable learning and fluency of narration. The theia, the daughter of Geryones, is said to have led
work is mentioned by Agathias, repeatedly by an Iberian colony to Sardinia, and to have founded
Eustathius in his commentary on Homer, and the town of Nora. (Paus. x. 17. ~ 4.) [L. S.]
in the Etymologicum Magnum (s. v. Atdvvaos). NORBA'NUS, occurs as a name of several disThere is an epigram in which Nonnus speaks of tinguished Romans towards the latter end of the
himself as the author of a poem on the fight of the republic, but they appear to have had no gentile
Gigantes, but it seems that this is' not a distinct name. Many modern writers suppose that C.
work, but refers to the fight of Zeus and the Norbanus, who was consul B. c. 83 [see below, No.
Gigantes related in the first books of the Dionysiaca. 1], belonged to the Junia gens, but for this there
The first edition that was published is that of is no authority whatsoever. In fact, Norbanus
G. Falckenburg, Antwerp, 1569, 4to. In 1605 an came to be looked upon as a kind of gentile name,
octavo edition, with a Latin translation, appeared and hence a cognomen was attached to it. Thus,
at Hanau. A reprint of it, with a dissertation by in some of the Fasti, the C. Norbanus just menD. Heinsius, and emendations by Jos. Scaliger, tioned bears the cognomen Balbus or Bulbus; and
was published at Leiden in 1510, 8vo. A new edi- subsequently several of the family are called by
tion, with a critical and explanatory commentary, the surname of Flaccus. It is quite uncertain to
was edited by F. Graefe, Leipzig, 1819-1826, in which member of the family the following coin be2 vols. 8vo. longs. It bears on the obverse the head of Venus,
A second work of Nonnus, which has all the and on the reverse ears of corn, a caduceus, and
defects that have been censured in the Dionysiaca, fasces with an axe. (Eckhel, vol. v. p. 262.)
is a paraphrase of the gospel of St. John in Hexameter verse. The first edition of it was published
by Aldus Manutius, Venice, 1501, 4to.; and subsequently others appeared at Rome, 1508, Hage- I
nau, 1527, 8vo. with an epistle of Phil. Melanchthon, Frankfort, 1541; Paris, 1541, 1556; Goslar,
1616; Cologne, 1566. It was also repeatedly i9
translated into Latin, and several editions appeared
with Latin versions. The most important of these
is that of D. Heinsius, Lugd. Bat. 1627, 8vo. COIN OF C NORBANUS
There is further a collection and exposition of
various stories and fables, bearing the titles of 1. C. NORBANUS, was tribune of the plebs, B. c.:vvaywy)? Kac e 151yyrlr r7'oplWv, which is ascribed 95, when he accused Q. Servilius Caepio of majesto Nonnus, and was published at Eton in 1610, tas, because he had robbed the temple of Tolosa in
4to. by R. Montacutius. But Bentley (Upon the his consulship, B. C. 106, and had by his rashEp. of P}halaris, p. 17, &c.) has shown that this ness and imprudence occasioned the defeat and
collection is the production of a far more ignorant destruction of the Roman army by the Cimbri, in
person than Nonnus. (Comp. Fabricius, Bibl. the following year (B.C. 105). The senate, to
Graec. vol. viii. p. 601, &c.; Ouwaroff, Nonnus whom Caepio had by a lex restored the judicia in
von Panopolis der Dichter, ein Beitrag Zur Gesch. his consulship, but of which they had been again
der Griech. Poesie, Petersburg and Leipzig, 1817, deprived two years afterwards, made the greatest
4to.) [L. S.] efforts-to obtain his acquittal'; but, notwithstandNONNUS, THEO'PHANES, (~eocpav)s No'v- ing these exertions, and the powerful advocacy of
vos,) sometimes called Nonus, a Greek medical writer the great orator L. Crassus, who was then consul,
who lived in the tenth century after Christ, as his he was condemned by the people, and went into
work is dedicated to the emperor Constantinus exile at Smyrna. The disturbances, however,
Porphyrogenitus, A. D. 911-959, at whose com- which took place at his trial, afforded the enemies
mand it was composed. Though commonly called of Norbanus a fair pretext for his accusation; and
Nonnus, it is supposed by some persons that his in the following year (B. C. 94), he was accordingly
real name was Theophanes. His work is entitled accused of majestas under the lex Appuleia. The'ETrrlroi) sres'IaTpLrIjs drdmoqs T'X7v7s, Com- accusation was. conducted by P. Sulpicius Rufus;
pendiuem totius Artis Medicae, and consists of two and the defence by the celebrated orator M.
hundred and ninety short chapters; it is compiled Antonius, under whom Norbanus had formerly
almost entirely from previous writers, especially served as quaestqr, and who gives in the De OraAlexander Trallianus, Adtius, and Paulus Aegi- tore of Cicero a very interesting account of the line
neta, whom, however, he does not once mention of argument which he adopted on the occasion.
by name. Almost the only point worthy of notice is Norbanus was acquitted. (Cic. de Orat. ii. 48,
that (according to Sprengel) he is the earliest Greek 49, iii. 21, 25, 39, 40, Orat. Part. 30; Val. Max.
medical writer, who makes distinct mention of dis- viii. 5. ~ 2; Meyer, Frapgz. Rom. Orator p. 287,
tilled rose-water, an article which his countrymen &c., 2d ed.)
seem to have gained from the Arabians. It was In B. C. 90 or 89, Norbanus was praetor in
first published by Jeremias Martius, Greek and Sicily during the Social or Marsic war, but no at-Latin, Argent., 8vo. 1568; and afterwards, in a tempt at insurrection occurred in the island. (Cic.
much improved form, in 1794, 1795, 8vo. two vols., Verr. v. 4, comp. iii. 49.) In B. C. 88 he came to
Gothae et Amstel., edited by J. S. Bernard, and the assistance of the town of Rhegium, which was