ITarbonni, Moses (also called Mestre Vidal). a Jewish writer of note, was born about 1300. His fa- ther, Joshua of Narbonne, was a resident of Perpignan, and being deeply interested in the Jewish, i. e. ^laimo- nidistic philosophy, instructed his son in that branch of science. Vidal cultivated also metaphysics, and admired likewise Averroes or Avicebron (q. v.), whose works he especially commented upon. His knowledge he enlarged by travelling from 1345 to 13G2. He was obliged to leave his place when the populace massa- cred the Jews at the time that the "black death" was ravaging all Europe, and he not only lost all his prop- erty, but also, what was more painful to him, all his books. This, however, did not prevent him from fin- ishing his great work at Soria — a commentary on Mai- monides's J/oreAViMr/n'm, C'>Z''U3 r\'.'\'2 "EOb "11X3 (lately edited liy (Jiildentlial | Vienna, Ix.rJ J), which he commenced at Toledu in l.'i'i.j, and which has been ren- dered into Latm by K. Solomon bar-Maimon, and pub-
lished by Is. Euchel (Berlin, 1791 ; Wien, 1818: Sulz- bach, 1828, etc.). Vidal also translated into Hebrew
from the Arabic of Algazali : 1 , on the Unity of God :
2, on Divine Providence :— 3, on the Utility of Logic. He died in 1362. See Flirst, Bill. Juda'ica, iii, 17; Griitz, Gesch. d. Juden, vii, 352, 353 (Leipsic, 1873); litheridge, Inlrod. to Ilebr. Literat. p. 261 ; De Rossi, Dizionurio (Germ, transl.), p. 242 sq.; Lindo, Hist, of the Jews in Spain, p. 159; Finn, Sephardijn,Y>.394 ; Jost, Geseh. d. Judenth. u. s. Sekten, iii, 84 ; ]\Iunk, Mehmr/cs, p. 592 sq. ; and I'hUosophie des Juifs (Germ, transl. by B. Beer), p. 33 sq., 113 £q. ; Zunz, Additumenta zum Leijizirjer Katalog d. Ilebr. cod. p. 325 sq. (B. P.)
Narcis'sus (Gr. 'SapKiaaoc, a well-known flower, com]). vapK})), a Koman. among whose kinsmen (>o Auth. Vers, in marg. renders roi'Q tic tov yapKiaaov, text has "household") or friends were Christians, whom I'aul salutes (liom. xvi, 11). A.D. 55. Neander {I'Jhinz. i, 384) supposes liim to be the same with Narcissus, frecd- mau and private secretary of the emperor Claudius (Pliny //. N. xxxiii, 47; Sueton. Claud. 38), who ex- ercised unbounded influence over that emperor, but was put to death on the accession of Nero, A.D. 54 (Taci- tus, Annal. xiii, 1, 57, 65; Dio Cass. Ix, 34). But this is inconsistent with the probable date of the Epistle. "Dio Cassius (Ixiv, 3) mentions another Narcissus, who probably was living in Rome at that time ; he attained to some notoriet}' as an associate of Nero, and was put to an ignominious death with Helius, Patrobius, Locusta, and others, on the accession of Galba, A.D. 68. His name, however (see Reimar's note, ad loc), was at that time too common in Rome to give any probability to the guess that he was the Narcissus mentioned by St. Paul. A late and improbable tradition (Pseudo-Hip- polytus) makes Narcissus one of the seventy disciples, and bishop of Athens" (Smith).
narcissus, St., bisliop of Jerusalem, was born about the year 98. One of tlie most worthy priests belonging to the clergy of Jerusalem, he was over eighty years old when he was elected to succeed Dolichianus, twenty- ninth bishop from the apostles. Notwithstanding his advanced age, he governed his Church with the zeal and vigor of youth. He presided in 197 at the Council of Cicsarea, in Palestine, where it was decided that the Passover should be celebrated on Simday. Three evil- disposed Christians accused him of an atrocious crime, and sustained their false slanders by oaths. Although the Church placed no faith in their affirmations. Nar- cissus ])rulitcd by this circumstance to foUow a long- cherished desire to live in the desert. He left Jeru- salem about 199, and no one could discover the place of his retreat. Divine justice, the story goes, soon overtook his persecutors: the first died with his fam- ily by the burning of his house ; leprosy attacked the second, and the third became blind. Feeling himself called of God to resume the care of his Church, Narcis- sus left his solitude in 207 ; and on arriving at Jerusa- lem he found his see occupied by another bishop, named Gordius, who had been elected during his absence. Both governed this diocese, it is said, until the death of (Jordius again left Narcissus sole jwssessor of the see. Extreme age having at last rendered him unfit for episcopal duties, he took as coadjutor Alexander, bish- op of Flaviade, who about 212, with the approval of the clergy and of the people, consented to take charge of the Church at Jerusalem. This is the first example of a bishop being transferred from one see to another, and given as coadjutor to a living bishop, although it is true Alexander was rather the successor of Narcissus, who had simjjly the honor of the episcopate. He is uni- versally spoken of as a man of austere piety, verging on asceticism. A great number of miracles are attributed to St. Narcissus. He died in the year 216, Oct. 29, which day is kept in his memorj' by the Roman Cath- olics. See Butler, Lives of the Saints, iv, 309-311; Jerome, De viris Illustribus, c. 73 ; Eusebius, Ilist,
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Eccles. vi, x; Pressense, Hist, of the Martyrs and Apol- oqists, p. 263, 2G4 ; Burton, Eccles. Hist. p. 449, 4G4, 479, 480. (J. H. \V.)