NEPOS 413 NERVA NEPOS, CORNELIUS, a Roman his- torical writer; born probably in Verona, Italy; lived in the 1st century B. c. He was the contemporary and friend of Cicero, Atticus, and Catullus. The an- cients ascribed to him the following works: "Chronology"; "Books of Examples"; "Lives of Cato and Cicero"; and "Illustrious Men." The last is sup- posed to have consisted of 16 books, but only 25 brief biographies of warriors and statesmen, mostly in Greek, have survived. NEPTUNE, in Roman mythology, the fabled god of the sea; the son of Saturn and Rhea, and the brother of Jupiter and Pluto. He is generally identified with the Greek Poseidon, and is vari- ously represented; sometimes with a trident in his right hand, a dolphin in his left, and with one of his feet rest- ing on part of a ship; at others in a chariot drawn by sea-horses, with a triton on each side. He was said to preside over horses and the manger. In astronomy, a planet, the most re- mote of any yet discovered. The diam- eter of Neptune is nearly 35,000 miles. Its density is only a fifth that of the earth, its mean distance from the sun 2,792,000,000 miles, and its year 165 times as long as one of ours. Mr. Lassell discovered that it has one satellite. NEREIDS', in classical mjrthology, sea nymphs, daughters of Nereus and Doris, and constant attendants on Poseidon or Neptune. They are represented as rid- ing on sea-horses, sometimes with the human form entire, and sometimes with the tail of a fish. NEREIS, sea-centipede; the tj^jical genus of the family Nereides. The species are numerous and widely distributed. NEREOCYSTIS, a genus of Fucaceae family Lamdnardise. The stem, which is filiform, is many fathoms long. NERNST, WALTER, German scien- tist; born in 1864 at Briesen, Prussia, he was a student at Ziirich, Berlin, Graz, and Wiirzburg; in 1887 was ap- pointed assistant to Ostwald, and in 1889 became professor of physics at Leipsic University. In 1891 he became pro- fessor of Gottingen, and in 1905 at Berlin. In 1907 he published in German and English a series of lectures deliv- ered by him at Yale on applications of thermodynamics to chemistry. The Nernst incandescent electric lamps which he invented was one of the first of its class. He has published several works on physics in German. NERO, LUCIUS DOMITIUS, called after his adoption Claudius Drusus, Roman emperor; born in Antium, Italy, Dec. 15, 37 A. D. He was the son of Cneius Domitius Ahenobarbus, and of Agrippina, daughter of Germanicus. He had the philosopher Seneca for his teacher; was adopted by Claudius, A. D. 50, and four years after succeeded him on the throne. At the commencement of his reign his conduct excited great hopes in the Romans; he appeared just, lib- eral, affable, and polished; but this was a mask which soon fell off. He caused his mother to be assassinated, and vin- dicated the unnatural act to the Senate on the ground that Agrippina had plotted against him. He divorced his wife, and led a most shameless and abandoned life. In 64, Rome was burnt, and popular suspicion pointed to Nero as the author of the conflagration. He charged the Christians with it, and commenced a dreadful persecution of them. His cruelties, extravagance, and debauchery at length aroused the pub- lic resentment. Piso formed a conspir- acy against the tyrant, but it was dis- covered and defeated. That of Galba, however, proved more successful, and Nero being abandoned by his flatterers, put an end to his existence near Rome, June 9, 68 A. D. NERTCHINSK, a town of Siberia, in the Trans-Baikal Territory, on the Nertcha, a tributary of the Shika (a head-stream of the Amur), 875 miles E. of Irkutsk. The district of which it is the center yields silver, lead, zinc, tin, and gold; and the town is a trading center for Russians, Mongols, Turco- mans, and Tunguses, exchanging tea, gunpowder, and furs. Pop. about 12,- 000. Another Nertchinsk, Nertchin- skiy-Zavod, is 180 miles S. E., on a trib- utai-y of the Argun, and is also a great mining center. The silver mines and gold mines are largely worked by con- vict labor. NERVA, MARCUS COCCEIUS, a Roman emperor; born in 32 A. D. He twice held the honor of consulship be- fore his election to the dignity of em- peror, and was elected by the Senate after the murder of Domitian, Sept. 18, A. D., 96. He displayed great wisdom and moderation, and rectified the ad- ministration of justice, and diminished the taxes; but finding himself, on ac- count of his advanced age, not vigor- ous enough to repress the insolence of the Praetorian Guards, he adopted M. Ulpius Trajanus, then at the head of the army of Germany, who succeeded him on his death, Jan. 27, 98. Vol. VI — Cyc — AA
