712 
N E O 
tion through the ftreets of Troy, fixed on the point of a 
fpear. He alfo facrificed Aftyanax to his fury, and im¬ 
molated Polyxena on the tomb of Achilles, according to 
thofe who deny that that facrifice was voluntary. When 
Troy was taken, the captives were divided among the 
conquerors ; and Pyrrhus had for his fltare Andromache 
the widow of Heftor, and Helenus the fon of Priam. 
With thefe he departed for Greece ; and he probably 
efcaped deftru£lion by giving credit to the words of He- 
lenus, who foretold him that, if he failed with the reft of 
the Greeks, his voyage would be attended with fatal con- 
fequences, and perhaps with death. This induced him 
to take a different courfe from the reft of the Greeks ; 
and he travelled over the greateft part of Thrace, where 
lie had a fevere encounter with Harpalyce, the daughter 
of Harpalycus king of Thrace, who with manly courage 
defended her father’s kingdom, and defeated the attempt 
of Neoptolemus. 
The place where Neoptolemus at length fixed his abode 
is not certainly known. Some maintain that he went to 
Theflaly, where his grandfather ftill reigned; but this is 
confuted by others, who obferve, perhaps with more rea- 
fon, that he went to Epirus, where he laid the founda¬ 
tions of a new kingdom, becaufe his grandfather Peleus 
had been deprived of his fceptre by Acaftus the fon of 
Pelias. Neoptolemus lived with Andromache after his 
arrival in Greece; but it is unknown whether he treated 
her as a lawful wife, or a concubine. He had a fon by 
this unfortunate princefs, called Moloffus,and two others, 
if we rely on the authority of Paufanias. Befides An¬ 
dromache, he married Hermione, the daughter of Mene- 
laus. The caufe of his death is varioufly related. Me- 
nelaus, before the Trojan war, had promifed his daugh¬ 
ter Hermione to Oreftes ; but the fervices he experienced 
from the valour and the courage of Neoptolemus during 
the fiege of Troy, induced him to reward his merit by 
making him his fon-in-law. The nuptials were accord¬ 
ingly celebrated ; but Hermione became jealous of An¬ 
dromache ; and, becaufe (lie had no children, (lie refolved 
to deftroy her Trojan rival, who feemed to fteal away the 
affections of their common hufband. In the abl’ence of 
Neoptolemus at Delphi, Hermione attempted to murder 
Andromache ; but (lie was prevented by the interference 
of Peleus, or, according to others, of the populace. 
When (lie faw her fchemes defeated, (lie determined to lay 
violent hands upon herfelf, to avoid the reTentment of 
Neoptolemus. The fudden arrival of Oreftes changed 
her rel’olution, and fheconfented to elope with that prince 
to Sparta. Oreftes, at the fame time, to revenge and to 
punifh his rival, caufed him to be affallinated in the Tem¬ 
ple of Delphi; and he was murdered at the foot of the 
altar by Machareus the prieft, or by the hand of Oreftes 
himfelf, according to Virgil, Paterculus, and Hyginus. 
Some fay that he was murdered by the Delphians, who 
had been bribed by the prefents of Oreftes. It is un¬ 
known why Neoptolemus went to Delphi. Some fuppofe 
that he wifhed to confult the oracle to know how he 
might have children by the barren Hermione; others 
fay, that he went thither to offer the fpoils which he had 
obtained during the Trojan war, to appeafe the re fen t- 
ment of Apollo, whom he had provoked, by calling him 
the caufe of the death of Achilles. The plunder of the 
rich temple of Delphi, if we believe others, was the ob¬ 
ject of the journey of Neoptolemus; and it cannot but be 
obferved, that he fullered the fame death, and the fame 
barbarities, which he had inflicted in the Temple of Mi¬ 
nerva upon the aged Priam and his wretched family. 
From this circumftance, the ancients have made ufe of 
the proverb of Ncoptu/cmic revenge when a perfon had buf¬ 
fered the fame favage treatment which others had re¬ 
ceived from his hand. The Delphians celebrated a fefti- 
val with great pomp and folemnity in memory of that 
event. JLcmpriere's Clafjical Did. 
NE'ORIS, in ancient geography, a large country of 
Afia, near Gedrofia, almoft deftitute of water. The in- 
N E O 
habitants were called Neorilcc; and it was ufual among 
them to fufpend their dead bodies on the boughs of trees. 
Diod. 17. 
NE'OT’s (St.), a town in the county of Cornwall, Eng¬ 
land, is fituated four miles from Lelkeard, and 226 weft 
from London. Its name was derived from Neotus (bro¬ 
ther to king Alfred), who obtained the appellation of 
faint, and was buried in this church: a monaftery was 
founded in honour of him, and fubfifted till after the 
conqueft, when, being difpofleffed of its lands, it fell to 
decay, and only its name has defcended to the prefent 
age. All remains of the ancient church have likewife 
been long fince deftroyed : the prefent parifti-church, 
which conlifts of a nave and two aides, with a tower at 
the weft end, is apparently not older than the reign of 
Henry VI. the windows, feventeen in number, contain 
reprefentations, in painted glafs, of fcripture-hiliory, and 
of the events recorded in the legends of St. Neot and 
other faints ; but molt of the window's are much damaged, 
and the broken panes repaired with plain glafs, fo that in 
fome inftances the defigns can hardly be traced. The 
population of this parifh, according to the return in the 
year 1811, was 1041 perfons, inhabiting 173 houfes. 
Near the town are two monumental (tones, one with an 
infcription, which in the Continuation of Camden is fup- 
pofed to be the bafe of a crofs. In the neighbourhood 
likew’ife (lands a large group of rocks, 32-feet high, with 
a (lone under them, fuppofed to be fhaped like a cheefe, 
whence the pile is called the Wring Cheefe. On a plain 
adjoining, are three circles of large (tones, of different 
diameters, but in the fame line, which Dr. Borlafe fup- 
pofes to be druidical, and made ufe of as temples, tri¬ 
bunals, or amphitheatres. 
NE'OT’s (St.), a town in the county of Huntingdon, on 
the Oufe, with a weekly market on Thurfday. This town 
was originally called Ainnlphjbury, from Ainulph, a holy 
man ; but changed its name to St. Neot’s, on the removal 
of that faint from St. Neot’s in Cornwall: in honour of 
whom Alfric turned the palace of earl Elfrid into a mo¬ 
naftery for black monks. The monks of this monaftery 
were difperfed by the Danes; but, being reftored again 
by earl Leofric, it continued a priory fubordinate to Ely 
till after the conqueft, when the religious were expelled 
a fecond time by Gilbert de Clare. Lady Roifa, wife to 
Richard, the earl’s fon, replenished it, however, about the 
year 1113, and granted it, along with the manor, to the 
abbey of Bee in Normandy. On the diffolution of prio¬ 
ries, in the time of Henry VIII. its revenues were efti- 
mated at 256I. is. 3^d. The ruins of this edifice, now 
remaining, are very inconfiderable. 
St. Neot’s confifts of a large market-place, and feveral 
refpeCtable ftreets interfeCting each other. The church is 
a very beautiful building, in the pointed ftyle of Henry 
VHth’s reign. At the weft end rifes an elegant tow'er, 
150 feet high. The windows are large, and bear the 
remains of paintings on the glafs. In a chapel, called 
Jefus chapel, lately laid open to the church, there was 
formerly a monument, fuppofed to have once contained 
the relics of St. Neot, and removed hither from the priory. 
This town contains, according to the population returns 
of 1S11, 410 houfes, and 1988 inhabitants. The market- 
day is Thurfday. 
On the oppofite fide of the river, and connected with 
the town by a large handfome (lone bridge, is the village 
of Eynefbury, which was the feene of an aCtion between 
the royalifts, under lord Holland, and the parliamentary 
forces, in 1648. The church here has a feparate tower 
on its fouth-eaft (ide ; and in the north wall of .the chancel 
is a (lone coffin, in which Saar de Quincy is (aid to have 
been buried. The pariffi-regifter records a curious licence 
to eat flefti on days not permitted by the ftatute. Beauties 
of England and Wales, vol. vii. 
NEOTER'IC, f. \neotericas, Lat. from the Gr. vso?, new, 
or nuTteo;, more recent.] One of modern times.—The 
ftudents* in divinity fliould apply themfelves in the rirft 
plaee 
