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

NAEVIUSP NANNII. 1137
this was by no means a settled points and that tween thirty and forty comedies, many of which,
Varro, diligentissimus investigator antiquitatis, ex- from their names, seem to have been taken from
tended his life rather longer, it may be safer to the Greek, but were probably adapted to Roman
place his death, with Hieronymus (in Euseb. manners with considerable freedom, in the fashion
Chrome. 01, cxliv. 3), in B. c. 202, which was pro- of Plautus rather than of Terence. Of most of
bably the date of Varro. The epitaph which he these comedies, as well as of the plays before
composed upon himself, preserved by Gellius in enumerated, several short fragments are extant.
the passage alluded to at the beginning of this Besides these regular dramas, Naevius seems to
notice, runs as follows:- have written entertainments called Ludi or Satirae
Mortalts intmortales flere si foret fas, (Cic. Cato, 6); and it was probably in these that
Flerent Divae Camenae Naevium poetam. he attacked the aristocracy.
Itaque postquam est Orcino traditus thesauro The remains of Naevius are too insignificant to
Obliti sunt Romani loquier Latina, lingua. afford any criterion of his poetical merits, concerning which we must therefore be content to accept
Naevius seems to have transmitted an hereditary the testimony of antiquity. That he was so largely
enmity against the nobility, if, indeed, the tribune copied by subsequent poets, is a proof of his genius
Naevius, who accused Scipio of peculation in B. c. and originality. Plautus alludes to him more than
185, was of his family. (Liv. xxxviii. 56; Gel]. once; and Terence, in the prologue to his Andria,
iv. 18.) [See above, NAEVIUS, No. 4.] ranking him with Ennius and Plautus, prefers
Naevius was both an epic and a dramatic poet. even his more careless scenes to the obscure diliThe work which entitled him to the former appel- gence of his own contemporaries. Cicero (Brut. 18)
lation was his poem before alluded to on the first sets his Punic War as much above the Odyssey of
Punic war, of which a few fragments are still Livius Andronicus as Myro surpassed Daedalus in
extant. It was written in the old Saturnian the art of sculpture. His antiquated style did not
metre; for Ennius, who introduced the hexameter suit the fastidious refinement of the Augustan age.
among the Romans, was not brought to Rome till Yet he was still a favourite with the admirers of
after the banishment of Naevius. The poem the genuine old school of Roman poetry; and the
appears to have opened with the story of Aeneas's lines of Horace (Ep. ii. 1. 53) show that his works,
flight from Troy, his visit to Carthage and amour if not so much read as formerly, were still fresh in
with Dido, together with other legends connected the memories of men.
with the early history both of Carthage and of The fragments of Naevius have been published,
Rome. Originally the poem was not divided into together with those of other Latin poets, by the
books, and we learn from Suetonius (De Ill. Stephani, 8vo. Paris, 1564; but in this collection
Granzm. 2), that Lampadio distributed it into many are wrongly attributed to Naevius. There
seven. It was extensively copied both by Ennius is another collection by Almeloveen, 12mo. Amand Virgil. The latter author took many passages ster. 1686. The fragments of the Bellum Punicum,
from it; particularly the description of the storm in together with those of Ennius, were published by
the first Aeneid, the speech with which Aneas con- P. Merula, 4to. Leyden, 1595; and by Spangensoles his companions, and the address of Venus to berg, 8vo. Leipzig, 1825. They have also been
Jupiter. (Cic. Brut. 19; Macrob. Sat. vi. 2; Serv. collected by Hermann in his Elementa Doctrinae
ad Aen. i. 198.) Metricae (iii. 9), and by Diintzer and Lersch, in a
A translation of the Cypria Ilias has been as- treatise entitled De versa qzuelm vocant Sataurnio,
cribed to Naevius; but the heroic metre in which 8vo. Bonn, 1839. The dramatic fragments by
it is executed is a sufficient proof that it was the Delrio, Syntaygna Tragoediae Latinae, 4to. Paris,
production of some later writer, probably Laevius, 1619; Maittaire, London, 1713; Bothe, Poetarum
whose fragments seem to have been frequently con- Latii scenicorum fr'aymezta, Leipzig, 1834. The
founded with those of Naevius. (Pontan. ad most convenient collection of the entire fragments
Macrob. Sat. i. 18.) is that of Klussmann, 8vo. Jena, 1843, accomHis dramatic writings comprised both tragedies panied with a life of Naevius, and an essay on his
and comedies; and, among the latter, that more poetry. See also Weichert, Poetarum Latinorum
peculiarly Roman species of composition, the Co- Reliquiae; and Neukirch, De fabula togata Romoedia Togata. Welcker, however, doubts about mnanorum, Leipsig, 1833. [T. D.]
his claims to be considered as a tragic poet, and NAE'VIUS SERTO'RIUS MACRO.
altogether denies that he wrote Togatae. (Die [MACRO.]
Griech. Tragodien, pp. 1345, 1372.) Among his NAIADES. [NvYMPHAr.]
tragedies have been reckoned Andromnache sire NAMU'SA, AUFI'DIUS, one of the numerous
Hector Proficiscens, Dana,', Itesione, Iphigenia, pupils of Serv. Sulpicius. There were ten of the
LJycargus (by some thought to have been a comedy); pupils of Sulpicius who wrote books, and from the
the Eqauus Trojanus (also ascribed to Livius), and works of eight of them Namusa compiled a work
the Dolus, a title variously spelt (see Miiller, ad which was distributed into one hundred and eighty
Varr. L. L. p. 163). Klussmann (p. 100) holds parts or divisions (libri). The work of Namusa is
the Equus Tsojanus and Dolus to be one and the cited by Ulpian (Dig. 13. tit. 6. s. 5. ~ 7), Javosame play. Several other tragedies seem to have lenus (Dig. 35. tit. 1. s. 40. ~ 3), and Paulus (Dig.
been wrongly ascribed to Naevius, whose dramatic 39. tit. 3. s. 2. ~ 6); and we are thus made acfragments have been frequently confounded with quainted with some of the legal opinions of Servins.
those of Livius, Ennius, and other writers. As to the expression "his auditoribus," used by
Of his Togatae the titles of two only can be Pomponius (Dig. 1. tit. 2 s. 2. ~ 44) see Grotius,
cited; the Romulus, a Praetextata, and the Clas- Vitae Jurisconsult. and Zimmern, Gesclsicte des
tidiumn, probably a Tabernaria. (Donat. ad Ter. IRom. Privatrechis, vol. i. p. 293. [G. L.]
Adelphi. iv. 1, 21; Varr. L. L. p. 163, Miill.) NANNII or NANNEII, persons of property
In addition to these, we find the titles of be- prescribed by Sulla. (Cic. de Pet. Cons. c. 2.)
VOL. IL 4 D