Nomplos of Lesbos

Of the birth of Nomplos, there is no record; of his life, records are scant. He is believed to have been born on the islet of Aspronesia, in the first century BC. The earliest account of his life has him rescuing a herd of goats from a hillside during a wildfire. Though he attempted to take the goats down a well-established path, he found his way blocked by fire. Turning, he led the goats back up the mountain, and down a more circuitous route. Not a single goat perished in the flames.

Nomplos became leader of his local area, and shortly afterward, de facto ruler of the whole island. Legend remembers Nomplos’ rule as a time of peace and prosperity, during which the people of the island were twice besieged. On both occasions, Nomplos showed great steadiness and an immediate preparedness to act.

Nomplos would, perhaps have died in obscurity, were it not for the fact that in 79 BC, the island was acquired by Rome. The orator and writer Cicero visited the island on his tour of Greece, and met with Nomplos, recording that they sat in conversation for many days. Cicero particularly noted the character of Nomplos as one which could not be bought, could not be persuaded, and could not be riled. It has been suggested that Cicero’s imperturbable manner in the fluctuations of fortune that struck him over the course of his life were down to the constancy of temperament that he learned from Nomplos.

When Cicero became consul in 63 BC, he was often heard to insist that the senate behave in a way more like Nomplos, or, in the Latinised version of the name, Nonplusius. As Cicero fell from favour, the term became a pejorative, hurled at anyone who displayed opposite characteristics, such as confusion or indecision. It is from this that we inherit the participle adjective ‘nonplussed’.

Nomplos, meanwhile, died suddenly in 75 BC from an unknown cause. The annals of his reign record, with a simplicity and dignity that are a tribute to the spirit of the man, ‘In this year, on [October 3rd], we lost Nomplos.’