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

1152 NEMESIS. NEMESIiS. v
in a volume containing also the poem of Gratius branch of an ash tree, and in her right a wheel,
Faliscus upon hunting, and a bucolic ascribed to with a sword or a scourge. (Hirt, Mythol. Bilderbo
Nemesianus. It will be found along with the p. 97, &c.) [L. S,]
lines De Azucpio, in the Poetae Latini Minores NEMEISIUS (NEuMJLoe). 1. The author of a
of Burmann, 4to. Lug. Bat. 173], vol. i. pp. 317, Greek treatise, hIIEpl 4(0veews'AvOps7rov, De Natura,
451, and of Wernsdorf, 8vo. Altenb. 1780, vol. i. Hominis, of whose date and personal history little
pp. 3, 123. The best edition is that of Stern, is known. He is called bishop of Emesa, in Syria,
entitled "Gratii Falisci et Olympii Nemesiani in the MSS. of his work, and also by Anastasius
carmina venatica cum duobus fragmentis De Au- Nicenus (Quaest. in S. Script. ap. Biblioth. Patrum,
cupio," 8vo. Hal. Sax. 1832. There is a trans- vol. vi. p. 157, ed. Paris, 1575), and was evidently
lation into French by M. S. Delatour, 18mo. a Christian and a man of piety. The time in which
Paris, 1799. [W. R.] he lived cannot be determined with much exactNE'MESIS (Ndseo'Ls), is most commonly de- ness, as the only ancient writers by whom he if
scribed as a daughter of Night, though some call quoted or mentioned are probably Anastasius and
her a daughter of Erebus (Hygin. Fab. praef.) or Moses Bar-Cepha (De Parad. i. 20, p. 55, ed.
of Oceanus (Tzetz. ad Lye. 88; Paus. i. 33. ~ 3, Antw. 1569), which latter author calls him " Nuvii. 5. ~ 1). Nemesis is a personification of the rnysins Philosophus Christianus." He himself menmoral reverence for law, of the natural fear of com- tions Apollinaris (p. 77, ed. Oxon.) and Eunomius
mitting a culpable action, and hence of conscience, (p. 73), and therefore may be supposed to have
and for this reason she is mentioned along with lived at the end of the fourth or beginning of the
Aiscs, i. e. Shame (Hes. Tlteog. 223, Op. et D. fifth century after Christ. He has sometimes been
183). In later writers, as Herodotus and Pindar, confounded with other persons of the same name;
Nemesis is a kind of fatal divinity, for she directs but, as these erroneous conjectures have already
human affairs in such a manner as to restore the been corrected by other writers, they need not be
right proportions or equilibrium wherever it has noticed here particularly. His work has sometimes
been disturbed; she measures out happiness and been attributed to St. Gregory of Nyssa, an error
unhappiness, and he who is blessed with too many which has probably arisen from confounding this
or too frequent gifts of fortune, is visited by her treatise with that entitled Hep! Keraericuis'Avwith losses and sufferings, in order that he may be- Opw'trou, De Honzinis OpiJicio, written by St. Grecome humble, and feel that there are bounds beyond gory to complete the Henaimeron of his brother
which human happiness cannot proceed with safety. St. Basil. The treatise by Nemesius is an interestThis notion arose from a belief that the gods were ing philosophical little work, which has generally
envious of excessive human happiness (Herod. i. been highly praised by all who have mentioned it.
34, iii. 40; Pind. 01. viii. in fin., Pyth. x. 67). The author has indeed been accused of holding
Nemesis was thus a check upon extravagant favours some of Origen's erroneous opinions, but has been
conferred upon man by Tyche or Fortune, and from defended by his editor, bishop Fell, who, however,
this idea lastly arose that of her being an avenging confesses that, with respect to the pre-existence of
and punishing power of fate, who, like Dike and souls, Nemesius differed from the commonly received
the Erinyes, sooner or later overtakes the reckless opinion of the Church. (Annot. p. 20.) Probably
sinner (Apollon. Rhod. iv. 1043; Sophocl. Pihiloct. the principal source of the celebrity obtained by
518; Eurip. Orest. 1362; Catull. 50, in fin.; Nemesius is his having been brought forward as a
Orph. IIymn. 60). The inhabitants of Smyrna person who was aware of the functions of the bile,
worshipped two Nemeses, both of whom were and also of the circulation of the blood; and the
daughters of Night (Paus. vii. 5. ~ 1). She is passages which have been supposed to contain
frequently mentioned under the surnames Adrasteia these doctrines are certainly sufficiently striking to
[ADRASTEIA, No. 2] and Rhamnusia or Rham- deserve to be given here at full length. The former
nusis, the latter of which she derived from the is as follows (c. 24, p. 242, ed. Matth.):-" The
town of Rhamnus in Attica, where she had a motion of the pulse (called also the vital power)
celebrated sanctuary (Panus. i. 33. ~ 2). Besides takes its rise from the heart, and chiefly from the
the places already mentioned she was worshipped left ventricle......... The artery is, with great
at Patrae (Paus. vii. 20, in fin.) and at Cyzicus vehemence, dilated and contracted, by a sort of
(Strab. p. 588). She was usually represented in constant harmony and order, the motion comworks of art as a virgin divinity, and in the more mencing at the heart. While it is dilated, it
ancient works she seems to have resembled Aphro- draws with force the thinner part of the blood
dite, whereas in the later ones she was more grave from the neighbouring veins, the exhalation or
and serious, and had numerous attributes. But vapour of which blood becomes the aliment for the
there is an allegorical tradition that Zeus begot vital spirit. But while it is contracted, it exhales
by Nemesis at Rhamnus an egg, which Leda found, whatever fumes it has through the whole body
and from which Helena and the Dioscuri sprang, and by secret passages, as the heart throws out
whence Helena herself is called Rhamnusis (Callim. whatever is fuliginous through the mouth and nose
Hymn. itn Dian. 232; Pans. i. 33. ~ 7). On the by expiration." The other passage is almost
pedestal of the Rhamnusian Nemesis, Leda was equally curious (c. 28. p. 260):-" The yellow
represented leading Helena to Nemesis (Paus. 1. c.) bile," he says, "is constituted both for itself and
Respecting the resemblance between her statue and also for other purposes; for it contributes to digesthat of Aphrodite, see Plin. H. N. xxxvi. 4; comp. tion and promotes the expulsion of the excrements;
Paus. i. 33. ~ 2; Strab. pp. 396, 399. The Rhau- and therefore it is in a manner one of the nutritive
nusian statue bore in its left hand a branch of an organs, besides imparting a sort of heat to the body,
apple tree, in its right hand a patera, and on its like the vital power. For these reasons, therefore,
head a crown, adorned with stags and an image of it seems to be made for itself; but, inasmuch as it
victory. Sometimes she appears in a pensive stand- purges the blood, it seems to be made in a manner
irng attitude, holding in her left hand a bridle or a for this also." It is hardly necessary to say, that