NICIAS, an Athenian statesman, was son of Niceratus, a person of great wealth, but who seems to have taken no part in the political transactions of his country. Nicias was possessed of considerable abilities, both political and military; but he was by no means fitted to occupy the commanding position which Pericles had long filled. Yet on the death of that great man, 428 b. c., in the third year of the Peloponnesian war, Nicias was put forward by the aristocracy and the more moderate of the democratical party, as the fittest person to lead the councils of the commonwealth. He was also rather a favourite with the people, as he was liberal of his wealth for their gratification, and ever ready to assist the distressed. He was cautious, too, in all his proceedings, and avoided any thing which might excite the envy of the Athenians. He had taken no prominent part in public affairs till the death of Pericles, when the necessity of some counterpoise to the mad projects of the demagogue Cleon placed him at the head of a strong party. It shows the complete absence [7:16:205]of any commanding genius, that Nicias should have been thought of, as his diffidence in a public assembly, and his want of firmness, stood much in the way of his usefulness. The first matter in which the two parties took opposite views was the punishment that ought to be inflicted on the inhabitants of Mitylene for their rebellion. Cleon proposed and carried a decree for putting every man to death, and for reducing the women and children to slavery. This monstrous proposition was opposed by all the influence of Nicias, but passed in spite of its evident injustice. Nicias led several expeditions, and was always successful, because, as Plutarch states, he selected those commands where success was nearly certain, although the glory might indeed be small. He took the islet called Minoa, at the mouth of the harbour of Nisaea, the seaport of Megara; and he plundered the coast of Boeotia. He commanded the fleet, 425 b. c., at the time that the island Sphacteria was blockaded by the Athenians, and willingly gave up the command to Cleon, who exclaimed that if he were in that station he would engage to subdue the island within twenty days, and bring the garrison prisoners to Athens. To the great surprise of all parties, Cleon succeeded in the enterprise (Thucydides, iv. 28). The following year we find Nicias commanding an expedition which was directed against the island of Cythera, an important appendage of the Lacedaemonian territory, and which Nicias took without much difficulty. After the death of Cleon at Amphipolis, 422 b. c. , there was a strong inclination on both sides to bring the war to a close; and as Nicias was the most active in promoting the measure, it was usually called the Niceian peace. The fundamental principle of the treaty was, that each party should restore what had been taken in war, except that Nisaea was reserved to Athens, in consideration of the refusal of the Thebans to surrender Plataea. It was concluded for fifty years, 421 b. c. (Thucydides, v. 18). At this time Alcibiades began to occupy himself with public affairs, and wishing to ingratiate himself with the popular party, he took the opposite side to Nicias in almost every question. It was so in respect to the peace; and as there were some articles liable to be disputed, Alcibiades soon managed to embroil matters, and war again broke forth in all its original fury, 418 b. c. An expedition to Sicily was next proposed by Alcibiades, and although it was strongly opposed by Nicias, the decree was passed, and Nicias was appointed, along with Lamachus and Alcibiades, 415 b. c. , to command the troops. Matters were conducted with various success; but the Athenians were at length completely defeated, and Nicias fell into the hands of the Syracusans. The mob demanded his life, and although Gylippus the Syracusan general exerted himself to save Nicias, it was without success. When Nicias and his colleague Demosthenes heard the sentence which had been passed against them, they anticipated their fate by putting themselves to death, in the year 413 b. c. (Thucydides, vii.; Plutarch, Life of Nicias ; Diodorus Siculus.)

Nicias, a celebrated painter of Athens, who flourished about 322 years before the Christian era. He was universally extolled for the great variety and noble choice of his subjects, the force and relief of his figures, his skill in the distribution of lights and shades, and his dexterity in representing all kinds of four-footed animals, a branch of the art in which he excelled all the masters of his time. His most celebrated piece was that of Tartarus, or Hell, as it is described by Homer. For this picture Ptolemy the son of Lagus offered him sixty talents, or L.l 1,250, which he refused, and generously presented it to his own country. He was also much esteemed by all his contemporaries for his excellent talent in sculpture.