Nerol, ToBij.iA, ha-Kohen, was born at ]SIetz in 1652. After the death of his father, who had held the office of rabbi, in 1659, Nerol went to Worms, thence to Padua, where he studied medicine. lie then moved to Constantinople, where he was introduced as physician to the sultan Achmct III. At tlie beginning of the 18th century Nerol went to Venice, thence to Palestine, and died at Jerusalem in 1729. He is the author of an encyclopaedical work entitled H^a'IJ •^"rr".'? 0, divided into three parts : the first part, which is called "|^J? B'i 5, treats of metaphysics, physical sciences, astronomy, and natural philosophy ; the second part, which is called d'nn C3"', treats of geograph\', physiology, pathology, therapeutics, anatomy, and surgery; the third part, which is called n*'i""tl cVl", treats of the different diseases. This valuable work was first published at Venice in 1707, and often since. .See Fiirst, Bibl. Jud. iii, 2829; Carmoly, Ilistoire des Medecinx Jui/s, i, 247- 251; L. B. d. Orients (1850), c. 579; ].eipziijer Acta Eruditorum (1721), p. 533; Unschuldifje Niichrichten zum Jahre (1722), p. 531. (B. P.)
Neroni, Bartoi.omeo, called ]\f(iestro I^icrio, a dis- tinguished Italian painter, who devoted himself espe- cially to sacred art, flourished about 1573. He studied under Giovanni Antonio Razzi, whom he assisted in his works, and whose daughter he married. Lan/.i says that Neroni, after the death of tlie four great pillars of the Sienese school, sustained its reputation and prob- ably educated one of its restorers. His ])ictures unite the style of Razxi with a certain resemblance to the manner of Vasari in the distril)ution of his tints. He had excellent abilities in perspective, especially in representing scenery; Andreani has engraved a spec- imen. He was also greatly skilled in architecture, and had a pension from the magistrates of Lucca for his assistance in the public works. In Siena, at the Osservanti, is a Crurijixion by him. willi a great iiimi- ithrir>'lc'nni,nM;,ce!himA^usti. (From '^cr of figures: and in the church of the D.rclitte a. the British Museum.) Descent from the Cross entirely in the style of Razzu
daughter of the emperor Claudius, and his sister by adoption, but she refused, and was in consequence put to death. He however married Statilia JMessalina, hav- ing first caused her husband Vcstinus to be killed. Nero also executed or banished many persons highly dis- tinguished for integrity and virtue. His vanity led him to seek distinction as a poet, a philosopher, an actor, a musician, and a charioteer, and he received .sycophantic api)lauses, not only in Italj-, but in Greece, to which, upon invitation of the Greek cities, he made a visit in 67. But in 68 the Gallic and Spanish legions, and after them the Pnctorian Guards, rose against him to make Galba emperor, and Nero was obliged to flee from the city and conceal himself in the house of a freedman, I'haon, about four miles distant. The senate, which had hitherto been most subservient, declared him an enemy of his country, and the tyrant ended his life by suicide, June 1 1, 68, just as the Roman soldiers were approaching his hiding-place (Dion.Cas.lxi-lxiii; Tacit. Ann, xiii-xv; Sueton. Nero). Nero was a lover of arts and letters. The Apollo Belvedere is supposed by Thiersch (Epochen der bildemlen Kunst unter den Grie- chen, p. 312) and some other writers to have been made for this emperor. He also possessed much taste as a poet and histrionic performer. But he was, notwith- standing these accomplishments, a licentious voluptuary, and scrupled not to commit any crime that would tend to gratify his lust or strengthen his power. Vet, as Renan has well observed, "one cannot absolutely say that the wretch was without a heart, nor deficient in a certain sentiment of the good and the beautiful. So far from being incapable of friendship, he often showed himself a good comrade; and it was precisely this that rendered him cruel. He was determined to be loved and admired fur his own sake ; and was irritated against those who did not manifest towards him these feelings" (p. 126-132). The words of Suetonius, "IClatus infla- tus([ue tantis velut successibus, negavit ([uenquam Prin- cipum scissc quid sibi liceret" (A>/-o, § 37), we think, sum up in most admirable conciseness tlie character and work of this strange ruler. It was during Nero's reign that the war commenced between the Jews and Ro- mans which terminated subsequently in the destruction
NERONIAN PERSECUTIONS 955 NERONIAN PERSECUTIONS
See Spooner, Biographical Jlistoi-y of the Fine Arts, ii, G14.
Neronian Persecutions were really the first severe trials which the Christians of Rome had to en- dure. They occurred in A.D. 64, and were instigated by Nero (q. v.) himself. Although we possess no posi- tive information as to the manner in which the first Christian community was established at Kome, it ap- pears certain that it was not originally instituted by the apostles. It is more probable that the ♦'requent inter- course of the Koman Jews with Palestine and Jerusalem led at an early time to the introduction of the new doc- trines, the believers still remaining connected with the synagogues. They became gradually more numerous; and the frequent controversies which here, as in other cities, arose among the Jews, partlj' on their own tenets, partly concerning the person and the coming of Christ, led at last to open disturbances, and gave occasion to the emperor Claudius to publish in 41 a strict edict banish- ing all the Jews, including those who acknowledged Christ. The edict, however, did not receive a very se- vere execution, only the leaders, such as Aqiiila, whom we find mentioned in the N. T., being banished. As to the others, there was probably some alleviation made in the decree ; but while allowed to remain at Rome, they were not permitted to assemble in the synagogues until a new edict, promulgated about the end of the same year, again restored them this privilege also, and guaranteed the Jews religious liberty' throughout the empire. This temporarj' closing of the synagogues, however, led the Christians to organize places of worship for themselves, and to form an independent community. Their number now increased so rapidly that St. Paul, who had been informed of their position by Aquila at Corinth, ex- pressed in his Epistle to the Romans the desire to visit them, which he fulfilled three years later, when he was led as a prisoner from Cresarea to Rome, remaining there a while, and laboring for the new religion with such success that Tacitus speaks of the Christians of Rome as "an immense multitude." The rapid increase of the Christians made them of course unpopular at Rome. Suetonius, in his Nero (chap, xvi), speaks of them as a " (hinr/eroiis sect," They were mistrusted because they abstained from participation in the sacrifices and other ■ heathen ceremonies, and were hated because they were believed secretly at work against the peace of Roman citizens. They were accused of misanthropy, and were suspected of all manner of crimes. But no open intent to persecute them manifested itself until Nero ordered ceremonies after the great fire, and the Christians failed to participate. They were now accused as the authors of the conflagration ; first, probably, by friends of the court, in order to turn public animosity from Nero, who was by many believed to have favored the burning of Rome. See Neiso. The emperor himself took up the public rumor, and acted upon it as a verity. " He in- flicted," says Tacitus, " the most exquisite tortures on those men, who, under the vulgar appellation of Chris- tians, were already branded with deserved infamy," and a vast multitude, or as Tacitus has it, " ingens multi- tudo," were put to death in the most shocking manner. Indeed, it appears from the detailed accounts of Tacitus that Nero's proceedings were quite different from mere capital executions according to the Roman law; for the Christian martyrs were not simph' put to death, but their execution was made to gratify the bloodthirs- tiness of the tj^rant, and to serve as an amusement to the people. Says Renan :