Nepos

“ Nepos had in mind when he took the tablets from the slaves, and threw them down with affected carelessness on the table before him.
"We cannot vote," he said loudly, "whilst Taurus Antinor is not here."
His words were even more potent than he had hoped; all that he had wanted was further delay, and most of his guests nodded approval with drunken solemnity and then called for more wine. But Hortensius Martius who, though he had drunk as heavily as the others, had not joined in the ribald songs or the senseless orgy of shouts and of laughter, now jumped up with a violent oath. ”

“ Important authorities are not used: so Herodotus, for Miltiades, Themistocles, and Pausanias. No use is made of the Hellenica of Xenophon.
For views on Nepos, cf. Gell. xv. 28, 1, ‘Cornelius Nepos rerum memoriae non indiligens.’
Pliny, N.H. v. 4, ‘Portentosa Graeciae mendacia ... quaeque alia Cornelius Nepos avidissime credidit.’
Nepos is not mentioned by Quintilian in his list of Roman historians.
In the MSS. only the Atticus and the Cato are ascribed to Nepos, the rest being entitled Liber Aemilii Probi de excellentibus ducibus exterarum gentium. ”

“ Chapter XXIV.—Nepos and his Schism. [1]
1. Besides all these the two books on the Promises [2] were prepared by him. The occasion of these was Nepos, a bishop in Egypt, who taught that the promises to the holy men in the Divine Scriptures should be understood in a more Jewish manner, and that there would be a certain millennium of bodily luxury upon this earth.
2. As he thought that he could establish his private opinion by the Revelation of John, he wrote a book on this subject, entitled Refutation of Allegorists. [3]
3. Dionysius opposes this in his books on the Promises. ”

“ Great mysteries and disclosures of future events were supposed to be found here; and many engaged with more zeal in the study of the book and theory of Nepos than in that of the Bible and its doctrines.” So zealous did his disciples become for this tenet that they brought the charge of heresy against all who refused to accept it. Whole churches separated themselves from their communion with the mother-church at Alexandria. After the death of Nepos, a country priest, Coracion, took the leadership of this party. ”

“ I entreat you not to urge a decision on me until I have thought and prayed."
"Time is precious, Augusta," urged Caius Nepos feebly, "and the people will not wait."
"The people have fled from before the storm," she rejoined, "and their will, remember, my lords, may not be in accordance with yours."
"They call for the praefect of Rome and the praefect [Pg 293] is dead. We must be ready to acclaim a Cæsar who will be equally to their choice." ”

“ The dethroned emperor Nepos sent ambassadors (in 477 or 478) to Zeno, emperor of the East, begging his aid in the reconquest of Italy. These ambassadors met a deputation from the Roman senate, sent nominally by the command of Augustulus, really no doubt by that of Odoacer, the purport of whose commission was that they did not need a separate emperor. One was sufficient to defend the borders of either realm. ”

“ Pollio, of course, belongs to the Augustan Age, but is mentioned here because of his connexion with the Corpus Caesarianum.
CORNELIUS NEPOS. (1) LIFE.
The praenomen of Cornelius Nepos is unknown. In Pliny, N.H. iii. 127, he is called ‘Padi adcola,’ and in Pliny, Ep. iv. 28, 1 (to Vibius Severus) , he is mentioned as a townsman of T. Catius, ‘Imagines municipum tuorum, Cornelii Nepotis et T. Cati.’ Now T. Catius was an Insubrian (Cic. ad Fam. xv. 16, 1) , and as the only Insubrian town on the Padus was Ticinum, Nepos was probably born there. ”

“ It is no good your putting your confidence in me and so continuing your slumber; if you stay away, you will have to smart for it. For look you, Licinius Nepos, who is making a sharp and resolute praetor, has levied a fine even on a senator. The latter pleaded his cause in the Senate, but he did so in the form of suing for forgiveness. ”

“ The lives of Cornelius Nepos, the friend of Atticus and Cicero, are composed in the style of the purest age: his simplicity is elegant, his brevity copious; he exhibits a series of men and manners; and with such illustrations, as every pedant is not indeed qualified to give, this classic biographer may initiate a young student in the history of Greece and Rome. The use of fables or apologues has been approved in every age from ancient India to modern Europe. They convey in familiar images the truths of morality and prudence ”

“ Rome!" asserted the praefect solemnly. "Yesterday the dagger of Escanes was ready to do the supreme act of retributory justice, and to rid the world of a maniacal tyrant and Rome of a cruel oppressor; to-day the act was virtually done by the madman himself when he fled in abject terror from before the face of his people."
And—as if in direct confirmation of Caius Nepos' solemn words, there came from far away, rising momentarily above the roar of the tempest, that ever-persistent monotonous cry:
"Death to the Cæsar! Death!" even whilst Jove's thunder overhead gave forth its majestic echo. ”

“ The Cæsar was crazy with rage, and he who had thus angered him reclined on a couch, out of the reach of the shrieking demon, and his thin lips were curled in a smile of satisfaction. It was Caius Nepos who was here that he might betray those of his accomplices who had swerved from their allegiance to himself, and behind him—well hidden by the draperies of the couch—cowered Hun Rhavas, [Pg 148] the dusky slave of the treasury, he who yesterday had appeared before the tribunal of the praefect of Rome for conspiracy to defraud the State in connection with the sale of the slave-girl Nola. ”

“ But Grecian peltasts existed before the time of Iphikrates (Xen. Hellen. i, 2, 1 and elsewhere) ; he did not first introduce them; he found them already there, and improved their armature. Both Diodorus and Nepos affirm that he lengthened the spears of the peltasts to a measure half as long again as those of the hoplites (or twice as long, if we believe Nepos) , and the swords in proportion—“ηὔξησε μὲν τὰ δόρατα ἡμιολίῳ μεγέθει—hastæ modum duplicavit.” Now this I apprehend to be not exact; nor is it true (as Nepos asserts) that the Grecian hoplites carried “short spears”—“brevibus hastis.” ”

“ Nepos is not altogether happy in the subjects of his biographies, and he writes rather as a panegyrist than as a biographer, although he can rebuke his own countrymen on occasion. The Lives contain many errors (especially in chronology) , but supply information not found elsewhere. The language is as a rule simple and correct. The Lives were formerly attributed to Aemilius Probus of the 4th century A.D.; but the view maintained by Lambinus (in his famous edition, 1569) —that they are all the work of Nepos—is now generally accepted. ”

“ Shouts of derision broke in upon the tale, followed by expressions of rage.
"What is the good of retailing further follies," said Caius Nepos at last; "we all know that a madman, a vain, besotted fool wields now the sceptre of Julius Cæsar and of great Augustus. The numbers of his misdeeds are like the grains of sand on the seashore, his orgies have shamed our generation, his debauches are a disgrace upon the fame of Rome. Patricians awake! The day hath come, the hour is close at hand. To-morrow, mayhap, at the public games ... a tumult amongst the people ... ”

“ In after times we have indeed numerous so- called letters, but they are no longer the same class of composition as these, nor have any recent letters the vigour, grace, and freedom of those of Cicero and Caesar.
A friend of many great men, and especially of Atticus, CORNELIUS NEPOS (74?-24 B.C.) owes his fame to the kindness of fortune more than to his own achievements. ”

“ C. Nepos, in the life of Hamilcar, takes notice of an officer of the same nature amongst the Carthaginians, to whose inspection the greatest men in that republick seem to have been subject. But it does not appear from history, whether his power extended so far as to expel a senator. Should a bad prince, or a wicked minister, ever be invested with the power of weeding the house, and modelling the parliament at pleasure, there would be an end of our constitution and liberty. ”

“ But if the examples of private men are not sufficient to justify me, I can cite Julius Casar, Augustus, Nerva, and Tiberius Casar. I forbear to add Nero to the catalogue, though I am aware that what is practised by the worst of men does not therefore degenerate into wrong: on the contrary, it still maintains its credit, if frequently countenanced by the best. In that number, Virgil, Cornelius Nepos, and prior to these, Ennius and Attius, justly deserve the most distinguished place. These last indeed were not senators, but goodness knows no distinction of rank or title. ”

“ Q. Metellus Celer had been prætor in B.C. 63 and was now (B.C. 62) , as proconsul in Gallia Cisalpina, engaged against the remains of the Catilinarian conspiracy. Meanwhile his brother (or cousin) Q. Cæcilius Metellus Nepos, a tribune, after trying in vain to bring Cicero to trial for the execution of the conspirators, at last proposed to summon Pompey to Rome to prevent danger to the lives of citizens. This attempt led to riots and contests with Cato, and Nepos finally fled from Rome to Pompey. ”

“ After that, becoming a professor of rhetoric, he gave instructions to Cneius Pompey the Great, and composed an account of his actions, as well as of those of his father, being the first freedman, according to the opinion of Cornelius Nepos [912] , who ventured to write history, which before his time had not been done by any one who was not of the highest ranks in society.
IV. About this time, EPIDIUS [913] having fallen into disgrace for bringing a false accusation, opened a school of instruction, in which he taught, among others, Mark Antony and Augustus. ”

“ Besides tradition and his own recollection, Nepos mentions the following sources: Thucydides (Them. 1, 4, etc.) ; Xenophon (Ag. 1, 1) ; Plato’s Symposium (Alc. 2, 2) ; Theopompus (Alc. 11, 1) ; Dinon (Con. 5, 4) ; Timaeus (Alc. 11, 1) ; Silenus, Sosilus, Polybius, Sulpicius Blitho, Atticus (Hann. 13, 1 and 3) ; the writings of Hannibal (Hann. 13, 2) ; Speeches and Origines of Cato (Cat. 3, 2) ; Cicero’s works, especially Epp. ad Att. (Att. 16, 3) . The book contains lives of twenty Greek generals from the Persian wars to the time of Alexander’s successors ”

“ The revolu- tion of ages may bring round the same calamities ; but ages may revolve without producing a Tacitus to describe them. left one daughter, the offspring of his marriage with Placidia; and the family of the great Theodosius, transplanted from Spain to Constantinople, was propagated in the female line as far as the eighth generation. [95]
Julius Nepos and Glycerius, emperors of the West. A.D. 472-475 Whilst the vacant throne of Italy was abandoned to lawless Barbarians, [96] the election of a new colleague was seriously agitated in the council of Leo. ”

“ From these feelings it resulted, that they took his commission from him in his absence, and put another commander in his place. When he heard of this proceeding, he would not return home, but betook himself to Pactye, [14] and there established three fortresses, Borni, Bisanthe, and Neontichos, and having collected a body of troops, was the first man of any Grecian state [15] that penetrated into Thrace, thinking it more glorious to enrich himself with spoils from barbarians than from Greeks. ”

“ For this reason, the people grew stronger and immediately condemned the leaders of the opposing faction to death and drove them out of the fatherland - Phocion and Demetrius of Phaleron among them - and they sent messengers to Polyperchon about this matter, requesting that he confirm this by decree. ”

“ John Nepomuk was a pious soul, as a priest should be, modest and seemly in his ways. He just comes in, as it were, in the background, of the squabbles that Wenceslaus and his Archbishop, John of Jenstein, constantly indulged in. Wenceslaus was all for reforming the Church before reforming himself. As to John Nepomuk, I am rather puzzled about him. The people of Bohemia, on the whole, seem to reverence him as a saint, one of the patrons of their country.
Some saints are a long time in coming to their own. The powers that decide such matters are very deliberate ”

“ A proof of this is the King’s well-known conflict with John of Pomuk or Nepomuk. The size of this book—perhaps fortunately for the writer—precludes entering into controversial matters. I will therefore only remark that recent historians have thrown some doubts on the tale of John of Nepomuk. Palacky declared that St. John Nepomucene belongs solely to legend, in no wise to Bohemian history. Recently even some Roman Catholic writers have agreed with him. ”

“ I think he went off to Algiers with his rogue of a grandson; for Nepomucene, who had a fancy for that young thief, being no better himself, couldn’t find him at the Conciergerie. I dare say Nepomucene knows where he is, though, for he, too, has run away. That’s what it is to bring up foundlings! that’s how they reward you for all your trouble, leaving you in the lurch! I haven’t yet been able to get a man in his place, and as the quarter is looking up the house is full, and I am worked to death. ”

“ This was it. 'I, Philip, claim to be the Deliverer of this great nation, and I pledge myself to carry out the seven great deeds that shall prove my claim to the Deliverership and the throne. I pledge my honour to be the champion of this city, and the enemy of its Destroyer.'
When Philip had said this, Mr. Noah drew forth a bright silver-hilted sword and held it over him.
'You must be knighted,' he said; 'those among my audience who have read any history will be aware that no mere commoner can expect to conquer a dragon. We must give our would-be Deliverer every chance. ”