NICETAS
52
NICETAS
the Renaissance. It required long research as well as
great industry. After eleven years he published the
first volume of his monumental work under the title
of "AK'moires pour servir ;\ I'liistoirc des hommes
illustrc.< de la republi(iue dcs lettres awe. le cata-
logue raisonne de Icurs ouvrages" (Paris, 1727).
Thirty-eiglili volunu-s followed from 1728 to 1738.
The last volume from his pen w;v« published two years
after the author's dcatli (Paris, 1740). Father Oudin,
J.-B. Michauld, and Abbi'; Goujet later contributed
three volumes 1o the collection. A German transla-
tion of it was published in 1747-1777. It has been
often repeated that this work lacks method, and that
the length of many articles is out of proportion to the
value of the men to whom they are devoted. This
criticism, however true it may be, does not impair the
genuine qualities and importance of the whole work.
Even now, these "M^moires" contain a great amount
of information that could hardly be obtained else-
where. Moreover, they refer to sources which, but
for our author, would be easily overlooked or ignored.
Besides this original composition, he translated various
books from English, among which should be men-
tioned: "Lc voyage de Jean Ovington a Surate et en
divers autres licux de I'Asie et de I'Afrique, avec I'his-
toire de la revolution arrivee dans le royaume de Gol-
'conde" (Paris, 172.5); "La Conversion de I'Angle-
terre au Christianisme compar^e avec sa pretendue
reformation" (Paris, 1729).
D'Artignt, Mimoires d'histoire el de litUrature, I (Paris. 1749); Gon.iET, Eloae de J. P. Nicermi in vol. XL of Memoires (Paris, 1840) ; Chacffepi^, Diet, historique el critique (Amsterdam, 1850-56).
Louis N. Delamarre.
Nicetas (Niceta), Bishop of Remesiana (Roma- tiana) in what is now Servia, b. about 3.35; d. about 414. Recent investigations have resulted in a more definite knowledge of the person of this ecclesiastical writer. Gennadius of Marseilles, in his catalogue of writers ("De viris illustribus", xxii) mentions a "Niceas Romatians civitatis episcopus" to whom he ascribes two works: one, in six books, for cate- chumens, and a httle book on a virgin who had fallen. Outside of this reference no wTiter and bishop of the name of Niceas is known. This Niceas, therefore, is, without doubt, the same as Nicetas, " Bishop of the Dacians", the contemporary and friend of St. Pau- linus of Nola. The identity is shown by a comparison of Gennadius (loc. cit.) with Paulinus in his "Car- mina" (xvii, xxvii), and, further, by the agreement in time. In Dacia, where, according to Paulinus, his friend Nicetas was bishop, there was a city called Romatiana (now Bela Palanka) on the great Roman military road from Belgrade to Constantinople, and this was the see of Nicetas. He is mentioned a num- ber of times in the letters and poems of St. Paulinus of Nola, especially in Carmen .xxvii (ed. Hartel in "Corp. Script, eccl. lat.", XXX, 262 sqq.), and in Carmen xvii "Ad Nicetam redeuntem in Daciam " (op. cit., 81 sqq.), written on the occasion of Nicetas's pilgrimage to Nola, in 398, to visit the grave of St. Felix. In this latter poem Paulinus describes how his friend, journeying home, is greeted everywhere with joy, because in his apostolic labours in the cold regions of the North, he has melted the icy hearts of men by the warmth of the Divine doctrine. He has laid the yoke of Christ upon races who ne\er bowed the neck in battle. Like the Goths and Dacians, the Scythians are tamed; he teaches them to glorify Christ and to lead a pure, peaceable life. Pauhnus wishes his de- parting friend a safe journey by land and by water. St. .lerome, too, speaks of the apostolic labours of Nicetas and says of him that he spread Christian civilization among the barbarians by his sweet songs of the Cross (Ep. Ix, P. L., XXII, .592).
This is all that is known concerning the life of Nicetas. Particulars concerning his literary activity are also given by Gennadius and Pauhnus. The
tradition concerning his writings afterwards became
confused: his works were erroneously ascribed to
Bishoj) Nicetas of Aquileia (second half of the fifth
centurj) and to Nicetius of Trier. It was not until
the researches of Dom Morin, Burn, and others that
a larger knowledge was attained concerning the works
of Nicetas. Gennadius (loc. cit.) mentions six books
written by liini in simple and clear style (xiiiiplici et
nilido sermone), containing instructions for candidates
for baptism {com jtelcides) . The first book dealt with
the conduct of the candidates; the second treated
of erniiicdus ideas of heathens; the third, of belief in
one Divine Majesty; the fourtli, of su|)erstitious cus-
toms at the birth of a child (.calculating nativities); the
fifth, of confession of faith; the sixth, of the sacrifice of
the paschal lamb. The work has not been preserved
in its entirety, yet the greater part is still extant.
Four fragments are known of the first book, one frag-
ment of the second, the third probably consists of the
two treatises, usually separated, but which undoubt-
edly belong together, namely, "De ratione fidei"
and "De Spiritus sancti potentia" (P. L., LII, 847,
853). Nothing is known of the fourth book. The
fifth, however, is most probably identical with the
"E.xplanatio symboli habita ad competentes" (P. L.,
LII, 865-74); in the manuscripts it is sometimes
ascribed to Origen, sometimes to Nicetas of Aquileia,
but there are very strong reasons for assigning it to
the Bishop of Remesiana. Nothing is known of the
sixth book. Gennadius mentions another treatise
addressed to a fallen virgin, "Ad lapsam virginem
libellus", remarking that it would stimulate to refor-
mation any who had fallen. This treatise used to be
wrongly identified with the " De lapsu virginis conse-
crata;" (P. L., XVI, 367-84), traditionally assigned
to St. Ambrose. Dom Morin has edited a treatise,
unknown until he published it, "Epistola ad virginem
lapsam" [Revue Benedictine, XIV (1897), 193-202],
which with far more reason may be regarded as the
work of Nicetas.
Paulinus of Nola praises his friend as a hymn-writer ; from this it is evident that Gennadius has not given a complete list of the writings of Nicetas. It is, there- fore, not impossible that further works, incorrectly ascribed by tradition to others, are really his. Morin has given excellent reasons to prove that the two treatises, "De vigiliis servorum Dei" and "De psalmodi* bono", which were held to be writings of Nicetius of Trier (P. L., LXVIII, 36.5-76), are in reality the work of Nicetas ["Revue Biblique Inter- nat.", VI (1897), 282-88; "Revue Benedictine", XIV (1897), 385-97, where Morin gives for the first time the complete text of "De p.salmodia; bono"]. Particularly interesting is the fresh proof produced — again by Morin — to show that Nicetas, and not St. Ambrose, is the author of the "Te Deum" [Revue Benedictine, XI (1894), 49-77, .377-345]. Paulinus, like Jerome, speaks of him particularly as a hymn- writer. (See Te Deum.) According to the testi- mony of Cassiodorus (De instit. divinarum litterarum, xvi) the "Liber de Fide" of Nicetas was, in his time, included in the treatise "De Fide" written by St. Ambrose, which shows that at an early date some were found to credit the great Bishop of Milan with works due to the Dacian bishop. The first complete edition of the works of Nicetas is that of Burn (see bibliography below).
Burn. Nicrtn nf Remesiana, His Life and Works (Cambridge, 1905); Weym \ :. /'/. F^'ifn^ prittceps des Niceta von Remesiana in Archivfilrhil' '■! -/rapAic, XIV (1905), 478-507; HOm-
PEL, Nicein / /.■•mesiana (Erlangen, 1895); Czapla,
Cennarlim iil / ,. ..,.w . ,;..r (Munster. 1898), 56-61; Tchneh, Niceta and Anil>ni.\in.-<h'! m ,/ournal of Theological Studies, VII (1906), 203-19, 355-72; Patin, Niceta Bischof von Remesiana a(.! Schriflsteller und The.olog. (Munich, 1909) ; Bardenhewer, Patrol- ogi/, tr. Rhahan (St. Louis, 1907) ; Kihn, Patrologie, II {Pader- born, 190S), VM-Xn.
J. P. KiRSCH.
■ Nicetas Akominatos. See Akominatos.
