a cognomen of the gens Claudia, one of the most illustrious patrician families of ancient Rome. The word, according to Suetonius, is of Sabine origin, and signifies "fertile" and "strenuous." Thus, Nerio, Neria, or Nerien, personified "Bravery," was the name of the companion and wife of Mars; and in the Umbrian language, the often-recurring Nerf or Nerus is explained princeps. The most distinguished persons who bore this name were—

1. C. Claudius Nero, who signalized himself in the second Punic war by his successes against Hannibal, and, above all, by his splendid victory at the Metaurus (B.C. 207) over Hasdrubal, which completely broke the Carthaginian power in Italy.

2. Claudius Drusus Nero, the stepson of Augustus, and younger brother of the Emperor Tiberius. In the year B.C. 15, Drusus Nero, then only in his twenty-third year, subdued the Rhæti and Vindelici, and during his consulship, six years later, commanded the Roman armies in Germany, where he died. His wife was Antonia, the daughter of Mark Antony the triumvir, and by her he had three children, Caesar Germanicus, the Emperor Claudius, and Livilla. (Hor., lib. iv., carm. 4.)

3. Claudius Caesar Nero, the sixth of the Roman emperors. His original name was Lucius Domitius. His father NERTSHINSK was Domitius Ahenobarbus, and his mother Agrippina, the daughter of Germanicus. He was born at Antium in Latium A.D. 37, succeeded Claudius as emperor A.D. 54, and died A.D. 68, in the thirty-second year of his age and fourteenth of his reign. (See Roman History.)