A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

380 HELVIUS. -HEMINA.
a fratribus venditur,'" "Lazarus a morte revocatus," 189. (Liv. xxxviii. 20, 21, 22; Polyb. xxii. 17.
" Christus in monte docet," and the like. ~ 3, &c.) [W. B. D.]
2. De Christi Jesu Beneficiis, a song of praise and HE'LVIUS PE'RTINAX. [PERTINAX.]
thanksgiving, comprised in 150 hexameters, not HELVI'DIA GENS. The name Helvidius does
altogether destitute of elegance, and certainly very not occur in Roman history until the latter half of
superior in every respect to the weak and pointless the first century B. c. (Cic. pro Cluent. 70.) Under
tristichs. Nero and the Flavian Caesars it was renowned for
It would appear from an allusion, somewhat am- earnest, but fruitless, patriotism. The connection
biguous, however, contained in the last-named piece of P. Helvidius Rufus with Larinum (Cic. 1. c.), a
(1. 45, &c.), that Helpidius had written a poem to Frentanian municipium (Plin. H. N. iii. 12), makes
comfort himself while in sorrow, but, if such a pro- it probable that the family was originally Sabellian.
duction was ever published, it is now lost. The Helvidii had the surnames Priscus and Rufus.
Both of the above works are given in the Poet- The only Helvidius who had no cognomen, or
arum veterum Eccles. Opera Christiana of G. Fa- whose cognomen has, perhaps, dropped out of the
bricius, fol. Basil. 1564; in the Bibl. Magn. Patr. MSS., is the following:fol. Paris, 1644, vol. viii., and in the Bibl. Patr. HELVI'DIUS, son of the younger Helvidius
Mca. fol. Lugdun. 1677, vol. ix. p. 462. (Cassi- Priscus [PRIscvs HELVIDIUS, 2] by his first wife.
odor. Var. iv. 24; Ennod. Ep. ix. 21, xi. 19, and He had the title of consularis, but his name does
notes of Sirmond.) [W. R.] not appear on the Fasti. Warned by the fate of
HE'LVIA. 1. Daughter of L. Helvius, a Roman his father and his father's friends, under Nero and
eques, who, on her return from Rome to Apulia, his successors, Helvidius concealed equal talents
a. c. 114, was struck from her horse by lightning, and similar principles in retirement. But he had
and killed, on the Stellatine plain. The circum- written an interlude (exodium), entitled "Paris
stances of her death were sufficiently remarkable and Oenone," and the informers of Domitian's
to attract the notice of the Haruspices, who pre- reign detected in the nymph and the faithless
dieted from them impending disgrace to the vestal Trojan the emperor's divorce from one of his many
priesthood and to the equestrian order. (Plut. wives. Helvidius was accused, condemned, and
Quaest. Rom. 83; Oros. v. 15; Obseq. de Prod. even dragged to prison, by the obsequious senate
97.) For the speedy accomplishment of the pre- (Tac. Agric. 45), whither the order for his exdiction see Dion Cass. Fr. 91, 92; Liv. Epit. lxiii. ecution soon followed. After Domitian's decease,
2. Wife of M. Annaeus Seneca, of Corduba, the the younger Pliny, an intimate friend of Helvidius,
rhetorician, and mother of his three sons, M. An- avenged his death and the cause of public justice
naeus Novatus, L. Annaeus Seneca, the philosopher, at once, by impeaching Publicius Certus, a senator
and L. Annaeus Mela. (Sen. Consol. ad Helv. 2.) of praetorian rank, who had been the foremost in
Helvia was probably a native of Spain, and followed seconding the delators. The account of the imher husband to Rome, about A. D. 3-5, while her peachment, which was afterwards published, and
second son was an infant. (Ibid. 17.) The life of was written, in imitation of Demosthenes against
Helvia is contained in Seneca's address of condo- Meidias, is given by Pliny in a letter to Quadratus.
lence to his mother (Consolatio ad Helviam) on his (Ep. ix. 13.) A death, so timely as to be deemed
exile to Corsica, in the reign of Claudius, A. D. voluntary, released Certus from condemnation.
47-9. Through the rhetorical amplifications of this Helvidius married Anteia, daughter of P. Anteius,
address we discover that Helvia had borne her full put to death by Nero in A. D. 57. [P. ANTEIUS,
share of the sorrows of life. Her mother died in p. 183, a.] By her he had a son, who survived
giving birth to her. She was brought up by a step- him, and two daughters, who died very young in
mother. She had lost her husband and a most in- childbed. (Plin. Ep. iv. 21, ix. 13; Suet. Domn.
dulgent uncle within a month of each other; and 10; Tac. Agric. 45.) [W. B. D.]
her grief for the untimely decease of one of her HELVI'DIUS PRISCUS. [PRIscus.]
grandsons was embittered by the exile of her son. HELVI'DIUS RUFUS. [RuFus.]
Helvia had at least one sister (Cons. ad Helv. 17), HEMERE'SIA ('H/IEpol0fa), i. e. the soothing
but her name is unknown. [W. B. D.] goddess, a surname of Artemis, under which she
HE'LVIA GENS, plebeian, occurs only once was worshipped at the well Lusi (Aovooil), in Arin the Fasti-the ovation of M. Helvius Blasio, cadia. (Paus. viii. 18. ~ 3; Callim. Hymn. in Dian.
B. c. 195 [BLAsIo ]-fand was first rescued from 236.) [L. 8.]
obscurity by the election of P. Helvius Pertinax to HEMINA, L. CA'SSIUS, an historian of
the empire, A. D. 193. The Helvia gens contained Rome, who wrote at the beginning of the second
in the time of the republic the surnames BLAsrIo, century of the city. According to Censorinus (De
CINNA, MANCIA. A few are mentioned without a Die Nat. 17), Hemina was alive in B. c. 146, a
cognomen. [W. B. D.], year memorable for the destruction of Carthage and
HE'LVIUS. 1. CN., tribune of the soldiers, Corinth, and for the fourth celebration of the sewas slain, B. C. 204, in battle with the Gauls and cular or centenary games of Rome. His praenomen,
Carthaginians, in the territory of Milan. (Liv; Lucius, rests on the'sole authority of Priscian (ix.
xxx. 18.) p. 868, ed. Putsch.; comp. Intpp. ad Virg. Aen. ii.
2. C., was aedile of the plebs with M. Porcius 717, ed. Mai). If Nepos (ap. Suet. de Clar. Rhet.
Cato the elder, in B. c. 199, and, in the next year, 3) be correct in stating L. Otacilius Pilitus to have
one of his colleagues in the praetorship. As prae- been the first person not of noble birth who wrote
tor, Helvius had no province regularly assigned to the history of Rome, lemina, who lived much
him; but he accompanied the consul, Sext. Aelius earlier than Pilitus, must have belonged to a wellPaetus, into Cisalpine Gaul, and received from him born family. Hemina was the author of a work,
the command of one of the consular armies. (Liv. styled indifferently by those who mention it, anxxxii. 7, 9, 26.) He afterwards served in Galatia nals or history, which comprised the records of
as legatus to Cn. Manlius Vulso, consul in B. c. Rome from the earliest to his own times. We