FOOTNOTE:
[3] Biremes are sometimes called by the Greeks δίκροτα. The name biremis is also applied to a little boat managed by only two oars.
NAUMĂCHIA, the name given to the representation of a sea-fight among the Romans, and also to the place where such engagements were exhibited. These fights sometimes took place in the circus or amphitheatre, sufficient water being introduced to float ships, but more generally in buildings especially devoted to this purpose. The combatants in these sea-fights, called Naumachiarii, were usually captives, or criminals condemned to death, who fought as in gladiatorial combats, until one party was killed, unless preserved by the clemency of the emperor. The ships engaged in the sea fights were divided into two parties, called respectively by the names of different maritime nations, as Tyrians and Egyptians, Rhodians and Sicilians, Persians and Athenians, Corcyraeans and Corinthians, Athenians and Syracusans, &c. These sea-fights were exhibited with the same magnificence and lavish expenditure of human life as characterised the gladiatorial combats and other public games of the Romans. In Nero’s naumachia there were sea-monsters swimming about in the artificial lake. In the sea-fight exhibited by Titus there were 3000 men engaged, and in that exhibited by Domitian the ships were almost equal in number to two real fleets.
NAUTŎDĬCAE (ναυτόδικαι), magistrates at Athens, who had jurisdiction in matters belonging to navigation and commerce, and in matters concerning such persons as had entered their names as members of a phratria without both their parents being citizens of Athens, or in other words, in the δίκαι ἐμπόρων and δίκαι ξενίας. The time when nautodicae were first instituted is not mentioned, but it must have been previous to Pericles, and perhaps as early as the time of Cleisthenes. The nautodicae were appointed every year by lot in the month of Gamelion, and probably attended to the δίκαι ἐμπόρων only during the winter, when navigation ceased, whereas the δίκαι ξενίας might be brought before them all the year round.
NĔFASTI DIES. [[Dies].]
NĔGŌTĬĀTŌRES, signified specially during the later times of the republic Roman citizens settled in the provinces, who lent money upon interest or bought up corn on speculation, which they sent to Rome as well as to other places. Their chief business however was lending money upon interest, and hence we find the words negotia, negotiatio, and negotiari used in this sense. The negotiatores are distinguished from the publicani, and from the mercatores. The negotiatores in the provinces corresponded to the argentarii and feneratores at Rome.
NĔMEA (νέμεα, νεμεῖα, or νεμαῖα), the Nemean games, one of the four great national festivals of the Greeks. It was held at Nemea, a place near Cleonae in Argolis, and is said to have been originally instituted by the Seven against Thebes in commemoration of the death of Opheltes, afterwards called Archemorus. The games were revived by Hercules, after he had slain the Nemean lion; and were from this time celebrated in honour of Zeus. They were at first of a warlike character, and only warriors and their sons were allowed to take part in them; subsequently, however, they were thrown open to all the Greeks. The various games were horse-racing, running in armour in the stadium, wrestling, chariot-racing and the discus, boxing, throwing the spear and shooting with the bow, to which we may add musical contests. The prize given to the victors was at first a chaplet of olive-branches, but afterwards a chaplet of green parsley. The presidency of these games, and the management of them, belonged at different times to Cleonae, Corinth, and Argos. They were celebrated twice in every Olympiad, viz. at the commencement of every second Olympic year, in the winter, and soon after the commencement of every fourth Olympic year, in the summer.
NĒNIA. [[Funus], [p. 188], a.]
NĔŌCŎRI (νεωκόροι), signified originally temple-sweepers, but was applied even in early times to priestly officers of high rank, who had the supreme superintendence of temples and their treasures. Under the Roman emperors the word was especially applied to those cities in Asia, which erected temples to the Roman emperors, since the whole city in every such case was regarded as the guardian of the worship of the emperor. Accordingly we frequently find on the coins of Ephesus, Smyrna, and other cities, the epithet Νεωκόρος, which also occurs on the inscriptions of these cities.
NEPTŪNĀLĬA, a festival of Neptune, celebrated at Rome, of which very little is known. The day on which it was held was probably the 23rd of July. In the ancient calendaria this day is marked as Nept. ludi et feriae, or Nept. ludi, from which we see that the festival was celebrated with games.
NEXUM, was either the transfer of the ownership of a thing, or the transfer of a thing to a creditor as a security; accordingly in one sense Nexum included Mancipium [[Mancipium]]; in another sense, Mancipium and Nexum are opposed in the same way in which Sale and Mortgage or Pledge are opposed. The formal part of both transactions consisted in a transfer per aes et libram. The person who became nexus by the effect of a nexum or nexus (for this form of the word also is used) was said nexum inire. The phrases nexi datio, nexi liberatio, respectively express the contracting and the release from the obligation. The Roman law as to the payment of borrowed money was very strict. By a law of the Twelve Tables, if the debtor admitted the debt, or had been condemned in the amount of the debt by a judex, he had thirty days allowed him for payment. At the expiration of this time, he was liable to be assigned over to the creditor (addictus) by the sentence of the praetor. The creditor was required to keep him for sixty days in chains, during which time he publicly exposed the debtor on three nundinae, and proclaimed the amount of his debt. If no person released the prisoner by paying the debt, the creditor might sell him as a slave or put him to death. If there were several creditors, the letter of the law allowed them to cut the debtor in pieces, and to take their share of his body in proportion to their debt. There is no instance of a creditor ever having adopted this extreme mode of satisfying his debt. But the creditor might treat the debtor, who was addictus, as a slave, and compel him to work out his debt; and the treatment was often very severe. The Lex Poetilia (B.C. 326) alleviated the condition of the nexi. So far as we can understand its provisions, it set all the nexi free, or made them soluti, and it enacted that for the future there should be no nexum, and that no debtor should for the future be put in chains.
NŌBILES, NŌBĬLĬTAS. In the early periods of the Roman state the Patricians were the Nobles as opposed to the Plebs. In B.C. 366, the plebeians obtained the right of being eligible to the consulship, and finally they obtained access to all the curule magistracies. Thus the two classes were put on the same footing as to political capacity; but now a new order of nobility arose. The descendants of plebeians who had filled curule magistracies, formed a class called Nobiles or men “known,” who were so called by way of distinction from “Ignobiles” or people who were not known. The Nobiles had no legal privileges as such; but they were bound together by a common distinction derived from a legal title and by a common interest; and their common interest was to endeavour to confine the election to all the high magistracies to the members of their body, to the Nobilitas. Thus the descendants of those Plebeians who had won their way to distinction combined to exclude other Plebeians from the distinction which their own ancestors had transmitted to them. The external distinction of the Nobiles was the Jus Imaginum, a right or privilege which was apparently established on usage only, and not on any positive enactments. These Imagines were figures with painted masks of wax, made to resemble the person whom they represented; and they were placed in the Atrium of the house, apparently in small wooden receptacles or cases somewhat in the form of temples. The Imagines were accompanied with the tituli or names of distinction which the deceased had acquired; and the tituli were connected in some way by lines or branches so as to exhibit the pedigree (stemma) of the family. These Imagines were generally enclosed in their cases, but they were opened on festival days and other great ceremonials, and crowned with bay (laureatae): they also formed part of a solemn funeral procession. It seems probable that the Roman Nobilitas, in the strict sense of that term, and the Jus Imaginum, originated with the admission of the Plebeians to the consulship B.C. 366. A plebeian who first attained a Curule office was the founder of his family’s Nobilitas (princeps nobilitatis; auctor generis). Such a person could have no imagines of his ancestors; and he could have none of his own, for such imagines of a man were not made till after he was dead. Such a person then was not nobilis in the full sense of the term, nor yet was he ignobilis. He was called by the Romans a “novus homo” or a new man; and his status or condition was called Novitas. The term novus homo was never applied to a Patrician. The two most distinguished “novi homines” were C. Marius and M. Tullius Cicero, both natives of an Italian municipium. The Patricians would of course be jealous of the new nobility; but this new nobility once formed would easily unite with the old aristocracy of Rome to keep the political power in their hands, and to prevent more novi homines from polluting this exclusive class. As early as the second Punic war this new class, compounded of Patricians or original aristocrats, and Nobiles or newly-engrafted aristocrats, was able to exclude novi homines from the consulship. They maintained this power to the end of the republican period, and the consulship continued almost in the exclusive possession of the Nobilitas. The Optimates were the Nobilitas and the chief part of the Equites, a rich middle class, and also all others whose support the Nobilitas and Equites could command, in fact all who were opposed to change that might affect the power of the Nobilitas and the interests of those whom the Nobilitas allied with themselves. Optimates in this sense are opposed to Plebs, to the mass of the people; and Optimates is a wider term than Nobilitas, inasmuch as it would comprehend the Nobilitas and all who adhered to them.
NŌMEN (ὄνομα), a name. The Greeks bore only one name, and it was one of the especial rights of a father to choose the names for his children, and to alter them if he pleased. It was customary to give to the eldest son the name of the grandfather on his father’s side; and children usually received their names on the tenth day after their birth.—Originally every Roman citizen belonged to a gens, and derived his name (nomen or nomen gentilicium) from his gens, which nomen gentilicium generally terminated in ius. Besides this, every Roman had a name, called praenomen, which preceded the nomen gentilicium, and which was peculiar to him as an individual, e.g. Caius, Lucius, Marcus, Cneius, Sextus, &c. This praenomen was at a later time given to boys on the ninth day after their birth, and to girls on the eighth day. This day was called dies lustricus, dies nominum, or nominalia. The praenomen given to a boy was in most cases that of the father, but sometimes that of the grandfather or great-grandfather. These two names, a praenomen and a nomen gentilicium, or simply nomen, were indispensable to a Roman, and they were at the same time sufficient to designate him; hence the numerous instances of Romans being designated only by these two names, even in cases where a third or fourth name was possessed by the person. Every Roman citizen, besides belonging to a gens, was also frequently a member of a familia, contained in a gens, and accordingly might have a third name or cognomen. Such cognomina were derived by the Romans from a variety of mental or bodily peculiarities, or from some remarkable event in the life of the person who was the founder of the familia. Such cognomina are, Asper, Imperiosus, Magnus, Maximus, Publicola, Brutus, Capito, Cato, Naso, Labeo, Caecus, Cicero, Scipio, Sulla, Torquatus, &c. These names were in most cases hereditary, and descended to the latest members of a familia; in some cases they ceased with the death of the person to whom they were given for special reasons. Many Romans had a second cognomen (cognomen secundum or agnomen), which was given to them as an honorary distinction, and in commemoration of some memorable deed or event of their life, e.g. Africanus, Asiaticus, Hispallus, Cretensis, Macedonicus, Allobrogicus, &c. Such agnomina were sometimes given by one general to another, sometimes by the army and confirmed by the chief-general, sometimes by the people in the comitia, and sometimes they were assumed by the person himself, as in the case of L. Cornelius Scipio Asiaticus. The regular order in which these names followed one another was:—1. praenomen; 2. nomen gentilicium; 3. cognomen primum; 4. cognomen secundum or agnomen. Sometimes the name of the tribe to which a person belonged, was added to his name, in the ablative case, as Q. Verres Romilia, C. Claudius Palatina. If a person by adoption passed from one gens into another, he assumed the praenomen, nomen, and cognomen of his adoptive father, and added to these the name of his former gens, with the termination anus. Thus C. Octavius, after being adopted by his uncle C. Julius Caesar, was called C. Julius Caesar Octavianus, and the son of L. Aemilius Paullus, when adopted by P. Cornelius Scipio, was called P. Cornelius Scipio Aemilianus. [[Adoptio].] Slaves had only one name, and usually retained that which they had borne before they came into slavery. If a slave was restored to freedom, he received the praenomen and nomen gentilicium of his former master, and to these was added the name which he had had as a slave. Instances of such freedmen are, T. Ampius Menander, a freedman of T. Ampius Balbus, L. Cornelius Chrysogonus, a freedman of L. Cornelius Sulla, and M. Tullius Tiro, freedman of M. Tullius Cicero.
NŎMŎPHỸLĂCES (νομοφύλακες), certain magistrates or official persons of high authority, who exercised a control over other magistrates, and indeed over the whole body of the people, it being their duty to see that the laws were duly administered and obeyed. Mention is made of such officers at Sparta and elsewhere, but no such body existed at Athens, for they must have had a power too great for the existence of a democracy. The Senate of 500, or the Areopagitic council, performed in some measure the office of law-guardians; but the only persons designated by this name appear to have been inferior functionaries (a sort of police), whose business it was to prevent irregularities and disturbances in the public assemblies.
NŎMOS (νόμος). This word comprehends the notion not only of established or statute law, but likewise of all customs and opinions to which long prescription or natural feeling gives the force of law. Before any written codes appeared, law was promulgated by the poets or wise men, who sang the great deeds of their ancestors, and delivered their moral and political lessons in verse. As civilisation advanced, laws were reduced to writing, in the shape either of regular codes or distinct ordinances, and afterwards publicly exhibited, engraved on tablets, or hewn on columns. The first written laws we hear of are those of Zaleucus. The first at Athens were those of Draco, called θεσμοὶ, and by that name distinguished from the νόμοι of Solon. The laws of Lycurgus were not written. He enjoined that they should never be inscribed on any other tablet than the hearts of his countrymen. Those of Solon were inscribed on wooden tablets, arranged in pyramidal blocks, turning on an axis, called ἄξονες and κύρβεις. They were first hung in the Acropolis, but afterwards brought down to the Prytaneum.
NŎMŎTHĔTAE (νομόθεται), movers or proposers of laws, the name of a legislative committee at Athens, which, by an institution of Solon, was appointed to amend and revise the laws. At the first κυρία ἐκκλησία in every year, any person was at liberty to point out defects in the existing code or propose alterations. If his motion was deemed worthy of attention, the third assembly might refer the matter to the Nomothetae. They were selected by lot from the Heliastic body; it being the intention of Solon to limit the power of the popular assembly by means of a superior board emanating from itself, composed of citizens of mature age, bound by a stricter oath, and accustomed to weigh legal principles by the exercise of their judicial functions. The number of the committee so appointed varied according to the exigency of the occasion. The people appointed five advocates (σύνδικοι) to attend before the board and maintain the policy of the existing institution. If the proposed measure met the approval of the committee, it passed into law forthwith. Besides this, the Thesmothetae were officially authorised to review the whole code, and to refer to the Nomothetae all statutes which they considered unworthy of being retained. Hence appears the difference between Psephisma (ψήφισμα) and Nomos (νόμος). The mere resolution of the people in assembly was a psephisma, and only remained in force a year, like a decree of the senate. Nothing was a law that did not pass the ordeal of the Nomothetae.
NŌNAE. [[Calendarium].]
NŎTA, which signified a mark or sign of any kind, was also employed for an abbreviation. Hence notae signified the marks or signs used in taking down the words of a speaker, and was equivalent to our short-hand writing, or stenography; and notarii signified short-hand writers. It must be borne in mind, however, that notae also signified writing in cipher; and many passages in the ancient reciters which are supposed to refer to short-hand, refer in reality to writing in cipher. Among the Greeks it is said to have been invented by Xenophon, and their short-hand writers were called ταχυγράφοι, ὀξυγράφοι and σημειογράφοι. The first introduction of the art among the Romans is ascribed to Cicero. He is said to have caused the debate in the senate on the punishment of the Catilinarian conspirators to be taken down in short-hand. Eusebius ascribes it to Tiro, the freedman of Cicero, and hence the system of abbreviated writing, in which some manuscripts are written, has received the name of Notae Tironianae; but there is no evidence to show whether this species of short-hand was really the invention of Tiro. The system of short-hand employed in the time of the Roman empire must have been of a much simpler and more expeditious kind than the Notae Tironianae, which were merely abbreviations of the words. Many of the wealthy Romans kept slaves, who were trained in the art. It was also learnt even by the Roman nobles, and the emperor Titus was a great proficient in it. At a later time, it seems to have been generally taught in the schools. There were, moreover, short-hand writers (notarii) by profession, who were chiefly employed in taking down (notare, excipere) the proceedings in the courts of justice. At a later period, they were called exceptores. These short-hand writers were also employed on some occasions to take down a person’s will.
NOTĀRĬI, short-hand writers, spoken of under [Nota]. They were likewise called Actuarii. They were also employed by the emperors, and in course of time the title of Notarii was exclusively applied to the private secretaries of the emperors, who, of course, were no longer slaves, but persons of high rank. The short-hand writers were now called exceptores, as is remarked under [Nota].
NŎTA CENSŌRĬA. [[Censor].]
NŎVENDĬĀLE (sc. sacrum).—(1) A festival lasting nine days, which was celebrated as often as stones rained from heaven. It was originally instituted by Tullus Hostilius, when there was a shower of stones upon the Mons Albanus, and was frequently celebrated in later times.—(2) This name was also given to the sacrifice performed nine days after a funeral. [[Funus].]
NŎVI HŎMĬNES. [[Nobiles].]
NŪDUS (γυμνός). These words, besides denoting absolute nakedness, were applied to any one who, being without an [Amictus], wore only his tunic or indutus. In this state of nudity the ancients performed the operations of ploughing, sowing, and reaping. This term applied to the warrior expressed the absence of some part of his armour. Hence the light-armed were called γυμνῆτες. [[Arma].]
NUMMŬLĀRĬI or NŪMŬLĀRII. [[Mensarii].]
NUMMUS or NŪMUS. [[Sestertius].]
NUNDĬNAE is derived by all the ancient writers from novem and dies, so that it literally signifies the ninth day. Every eighth day, according to our mode of speaking, was a nundinae, and there were thus always seven ordinary days between two nundinae. The Romans in their peculiar mode of reckoning added these two nundinae to the seven ordinary days, and consequently said that the nundinae recurred every ninth day, and called them nundinae, as it were novemdinae. The number of nundinae in the ancient year of ten months was 38. They were originally market-days for the country folk, on which they came to Rome to sell the produce of their labour, and on which the king settled the legal disputes among them. When, therefore, we read that the nundinae were feriae, or dies nefasti, and that no comitia were allowed to be held, we have to understand this of the populus or patricians, and not of the plebes; and while for the populus the nundinae were feriae, they were real days of business (dies fasti or comitiales) for the plebeians, who on these occasions pleaded their causes with members of their own order, and held their public meetings (the ancient comitia of the plebeians). Afterwards the nundinae became fasti for both orders, and this innovation facilitated the attendance of the plebeians at the comitia centuriata. The subjects to be laid before the comitia, whether they were proposals for new laws, or the appointment of officers, were announced to the people three nundinae beforehand (trinundino die proponere). Instead of nundinae the form nundinum is sometimes used, but only when it is preceded by a numeral, as in trinundinum, or trinum nundinum.
NUPTĬAE. [[Matrimonium].]