Nabuchodono'sor (Naj8owxo^oj/6(Top),the Grae- cised form in the Apocrvpha (1 Esdr. i, 40. 41, 45, 46; Tob. xiv, 15; Jud. i, 1, 5^7, 11, 12; ii, 1,4, 19; iii, 2, 8; iv, 1 ; vi, 2. 4 ; xi, 7, 23 ; xii, 13 ; xiii, 18) of the name of the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar (q. v.).
Nacchianti (Latin Naclantus'), Gl\como, an Ital- ian prelate noted as a theologian, was born at Flor- ence near the opening of the 16th century. He joined the Dominicans, and taught theology for some time at Rome. In 1544 he was created bishop of Chiozzia, in the territory of Venice. In this capacity he attended the Council of Trent, and there distinguished himself by his scholarship and his liberality. He went so far as to con- demn the position of those Romanists who desired equal recognition for the Church writings as for inspired. He declared that "the placing of Scripture and tradition on the same level was impious" (comp. Sarpi, i, 293; Mendham, Memoirs of the Council of Trent [Lond. 1834], p. 59, 60). He died at Florence, April 24, 1569. We quote of his works, Scripturce saci-m medulla (Yen- ice, 1561, 4to) : — Enarrationes in Epislolam Pauli ad Ephesios, in maximum pontificatum, etc. (Venice, 1570, 2 vols. 8vo) : — Digressiones et Tractationes (Venice, 1657,
2 vols. fob). See Hoefer, Nouv. Biog. Generale, xxxvii, 108; Wessenberg, Kirchen-Versammlunfien, iii, 211; Ranke, Hist, of the Papacy, i, 151 ; Hardwick, Uist. of the Reforrnation, p. 282.
Naccus is the name of the richly embroidered red horse-blankets which ornament the horses of the papal incumbent, especially at the coronation ceremonies of the pope.
Nacliash. See Serpent.
Nachmanides (or Nachmani = Ben - Xach- man), Moses (also called by the Jews Ramhan, "| - -"I, from the initial letters ''Ona p Irr^ 'i, 7?. Moses ben-Xachman; th^ Pious Teacher ['{^'CX'2'r\ mn], the Great Master [bnail -TH], and by Christian writers Moses Gerundensis), a Jewish writer of considerable note in the literary history of the Iberian peninsula, was born at Gerona, in Catalonia, about 1194. So extraor- dinary was his proficiency in the Biblical and Tal- mudical writings, that he wTote an elaborate Treatise on the Rights of Primogeniture and Vou-s (msbn D"i1i:i niniZl) when he was scarcely fifteen years of age (1210), for which he obtained the title of "the Father of Knowledge," and composed his commentaries (C^'riin) on the greater part of the Talmud (1217-
NACHMAXIDES
820
NACHMANIDES
1223) before he was tliirty. His Talraiidical learning ■was no doubt mainly ac(iiiireil after study of the writ- ings of Moses Maimonides. which Nachmanides got hold of while yet a youth, and under the erudite instruction of the noted rabbi Jehudah the Pious, of Paris, whose pupil he was. About the year 12G2, while practicing as a physician in his native place, he delivered, by re- quest, a discourse in Saragossa before James I, king of Aragon, and the magnates of the Church and State, in defence of Judaism. This remarkable address (lTJ^^), which has for its text Psa. xix, 9, "The law of the Lord is perfect," etc., and is an important contribution to Hiblical exegesis, the Christology of the O. T., and the understanding of Judaism, was first published in 1582, with the title n^S-^nn iTiHi r,-\'\r, wherewith it commences; then at Prague, 1595; and with correc- tions and notes by the learned and industrious Adolph Jellinek (Leipsic, 1853). In the year 12G3 king James I of Aragon issued a decree that, in order to put a stop to the daily disputes which took place between the Jews and the Dominican friars who had studied Arabic and Hebrew, a public disputation should be held at Barce- lona. The Jews on their part nominated as their advo- cate Moses Nachmanides, while the Christians were represented by Fra Pablo Christiani, a converted Jew. This disputation, which took place before the king
each separate letter is imbued with a spiritual and rec- ondite potency, and forms a link in the grand chain of revelation, and that those who are initiated in the se- crets of the Cabala can, by the combuiation of these letters, penetrate, more than ordinary readers, into the mysteries of Holy Writ. When it is remarked that no less than fifteen Jewish literati, of different periods, have written super-commentaries on this remarkable production, the importance of this commentary, and the influence it exercised on Hiblical exegesis and the Jew- ish literature, will easily be comprehended" ((iinsburg, in Kitto). This commentary, which is alternately de- nominated n-.irn bv "i"X2, or n~E, m"!n irnn,
m'.n iiro and '^Z'Zn Cl~2, was first published before 1480; then in Lisbon, 1489; Naples, 1490; Pcsa- ro, 1514 ; Salonoikai, 1521 ; with the comments of Rashi, Aben-Ezra, etc. (Constantinople, 1522); with the He- brew text of the Pentateuch, and the Five Jlegilloth, the Chaldee Paraphrase, the Comment of Itashi, and the super-commentary of Aboab on Nachmanides (Ven- ice, 1548); and, besides many other editions, lately in the excellent Pentateuch and Five Megilloth, contain- ing the Hebrew text, the Chaldee Paraphrases, the Commentaries of Rashi, Aben-Ezra, Eashbam, Seforno, etc. (Vienna, 1859, 5 vols.). Nachmanides also wrote a commentary on Job (HI'^X 7" w"l~£), which was first
and the coiirt, lasted four days (July 20-24). As published in Bomberg's Rabbinical Bible (Venice, 1517),
usual in similar cases, each party claimed the victory- Nachmanides circulated this disputation among his brethren, as Pablo Christiani and his friends gave an incorrect report of it ; and the pojie, Clement IV, was so incensed at it that he wrote to James I of Aragon, urging on his majesty to banish Nachmanides from his dominions. Thereupon the septuagenarian had to leave (12GG) his native place, his two sons, his college with numerous disciples, and his friends. He went to the Holy Land, which he reached Aug. 12, 12G7. The disputation referred to was first published, with omis- sions and interpolations, and an exceedingly bad Latin translation, by Wagenseil, in his Tela ir/nea Safance (Altorf, 1681). It was then published in the collection of polemical writings entitled (1310 r^nSTS, where it is the first of the series, and is called "p ^"irt m;"! 131S "^XIS Cr, The Discussion of Ramban with Fra Paolo (Constantinople, 1710) ; and recenth' again bj- the