NICER(the Neckar), a tributary of the Rhine, having its sources not far from those of the Danube, and discharging itself into the Rhine in the neighbourhood of Manheim. Its course forms a sort of semicircle, as it first flows in a north-eastern and afterwards in a north-western direction. The Nicer is not mentioned until a late period of the Roman Empire. In A.D. 319, the emperor Valentinian had to make great efforts in turning some part of the river into a new channel for the purpose of protecting the walls of a fort erected on its banks from being undermined and washed away by its waters. (Ammian. 28.2; Vopisc. Prob. 13, where it is called Niger; Auson. Mosell. 423 ; Sidon. Apollin. Paneg. ad Avit. 324; Eumen. Paneg. Const. 13; Symmach. Laud. in Valent. 2.9, 10.) The remains of Roman antiquities on the banks of the Nicer are very numerous, and a few of its tributaries, such as the Armisia ( Erms) and Murra ( Murr), are mentioned in inscriptions found in the country.
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