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

NESTOR. NESTOR. 169
dates, was sent in B. c. 102 to succeed Nerva in invaded the country of Nelenus, and slew his sons,
the government of Sicily. Nestor alone was spared, because at the time he
7. A. LIcINIUS NERVA SILIANUS, was adopted was not at Pylos, but among the Gerenians, where
by some Licinius Nerva, as the name Silianus he had taken refuge. (Hom. II. xi. 692; Apollod.
shows, out of the Silia gens. He was the son of ii. 7. ~ 3; Paus. iii. 26. ~ 6.) This story is conP. Silius (Vell. Pat. ii. 116), a distinguished com- nected with another about the friendship between
mander under Augustus, and consul, B. C. 20, with Heracles and Nestor, for the latter is said to have
M. Appuleius. Silianus was consul, A. D. 7, but he taken no part in the carrying off from Heracles the
is called Licinius Silanus in the text of Dion Cas- oxen of Geryones; and Heracles rewarded Nestor
sins (lv. 30). P. Silius, the consul of B. c. 20, ap- by giving to him Messene, and became more atpears in the Fasti Consulares as P. Silius Nerva, tached to him even than to Hylas and Abderus.
whence it appears that the cognomen Nerva be- Nestor, on the other hand, is said to have introlonged to the Silii. [SlLIUS.] duced the custom of swearing by Heracles.
The authorities for the Licinii Nervae are col- (Philostr. Her. 2; comp. Ov. Met. xii. 540, &c.;
lected by Drumann, Geschichte Roms, vol. iv. p. Pans. iv. 3. ~ 1, who states that Nestor inhabited
196, &c. [G. L. 1 Messenia after the death of the sons of Aphareus.)
NERVA, SI'LIUS. [NERVA, LICINIUS, No. When a young man, Nestor was distinguished as.
7, and SILIUS.] a warrior, and, in a war with the Arcadians, he
NERVA TRAJA'NUS. [TRAJANUS.] slew Ereuthalion. (Hom. II. iv. 319, vii. 133, &c.,
NERULI'NUS, the son of P. Suillius, one of xxiii. 630, &c.) In the war with the Eleians, he
the chief instruments of the tyranny of Claudius, killed Itymoneus, and took from them large flocks
escaped accusation when his father was tried and of cattle. (xi. 670.) When, after this, the Eleians
condemned at the beginning of Nero's reign, A. D. laid siege to Thryoissa, Nestor, without the war59, because the emperor thought that sufficient steeds of his father, went out on foot, and gained a
punishment had been inflicted on the family (Tac. glorious victory. (xi. 706, &c.) He also took
Ann. xiii. 43). On the coins of Smyrna, struck part in the fight of the Lapithae against the
in the time of Vespasian, we find the name of M. Centaurs (i. 260, &c.), and is mentioned among the
Suillius Nerulinus, proconsul (Eckhel, vol. ii. p. Calydonian hunters and the Argonauts (Ov. AMet.
556), and it is not improbable that this is the same viii. 313; Val. Flacc. i. 380); but he owes his
person as the Nerulinus mentioned above. He fame chiefly to the Homeric poems, in which his
may also be the same as the M. Suillius who was share in the Trojan war is immortalized. After
consul with L. Antistius, in the reign of Claudius, having, in conjunction with Odysseus, prevailed
A. D. 50. (Tac. Ann. xii. 50.) upon Achilles and Patroclus to joisi the Greeks
NESAIA (Nwlrafa), a daughter of Nerus and against Troy, he sailed with his Pylians in sixty
Doris, and one of the Nereides. (Hom. II. xviii. ships to Asia. (II i. 591, &c., xi. 767.) At
40; Hes. Theog. 249.) [L. S.] Troy he took part in all the most important events
NESEAS, painter. [ZExss.] that occurred, both in the council and in the field
NESIO'TES, a sculptor, appears to have been an of battle. Agamemnon through Nestor became
assistant of the celebrated Athenian artist Critias, reconciled with Achilles, and therefore honoured
and not a surname of the latter, as some modern him highly; and whenever he was in any diffiwriters have conjectured. [CRITIAS, Vol. I. p. 893.] culty, he applied for advice to Nestor. (ii. 21, x.
NESO (Nons-), one of the Nereides (Hes. 18.) In the picture which Homer draws of him,
Theog. 261); but Lycophron (1468) mentions one the most striking features are his wisdom, justice,
Neso as the mother of the Cumaean sibyl. [L. S.] bravery, knowledge of war, his eloquence, and his
NESSUS (NeraIos). 1. The god of the river old age. (Od. iii. 126, &c., 244, xxiv. 52, 11. i.
Nestus (also called Nessus or Nesus) in Thrace, is 273, ii. 336, 361, 370, &c., vii. 325, ix. 104, x.
described as a son of Oceanus and Thetys. (Hes. 18, xi. 627.) He is said to have ruled over three
Theog. 341.) generations of men, so that his advice and autho.
2. A centaur, who carried Deianeira across the rity were deemed equal to that of the immortal
river Evenus, but, wishing to run away with her, gods. (Od. iii. 245, 11. i. 250; comp. Hygin. Fab.
he was shot by Heracles with a poisoned arrow, 10.) In this sense we have also to understand the
which afterwards became the cause of Heracles' tria saecula, which he is said by Latin writers
own death. (Soph. Trach. 558; Apollod. ii. 7. to have ruled. (Gellius, xix. 7; Cic. De Senect.
~ 4; comp. HERACLES.) [L. S.] 10; Horat. Carm. ii. 9. 13; Ov. Met. xii. 158.)
NESSUS, a painter, was the son of Habron, But, notwithstanding his advanced age, he was
who was also a painter. [HABRON.] brave and bold in battle, and distinguished above
NESTOR (NE'v'wp), a son of Neleus and all others for drawing up horses and men in battle
Chloris of Pylos in Triphy]ia, and husband of array. After the fall of Troy he, together with
Eurydice (or, according to others, of Anaxibia, the Menelaus and Diomedes, returned home, and
daughter of Cratieus), by whom he became the safely arrived in Pylos (Od. iii. 165, &c.), where
father of Peisidice, Polycaste, Perseus, Stratius, Zeus granted to him the full enjoyment of old age,
Aretus, Echephron, Peisistratus, Antilochus, and surrounded by intelligent and brave sons. (Od.
Thrasymedes. (Hom. Od. iii. 413, &c., 452, iv. 209, &c.) In this condition he was found by
464,;. &285, &c.; Apollod. i. 9. ~ 9.) With Telemachus, who visited him to inquire after his
regard to Anaxibia having been his wife, we are father, and was hospitably received by him. The
-informed by Eustathius (ad Horn. p. 296), that town of Pylos in Messenia claimed to be the city
after the death of Eurydice, Nestor married An- of Nestor; and, when Pausanias visited it, the
axibia, the daughter of Atreus, and sister of people showed to him the house in which Nestor
Agamemnon; but this Anaxibia is elsewhere de- was believed to have lived. (Paus. iv. 3. ~ 4, 36.
scribed as the wife of Strophius, and the mother of ~ 2.) In the temple of Messene at Messene he
Pylades. (Paus. ii. 29. ~ 4.) When Heracles was represented in a painting with two of his sons,
VOL. 1. 4 P