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

HERMAS. HERMAS,. 409
Once when he was bathing in the well, she em- who is mentioned in St. Paul's epistle to the
braced him, and prayed to the gods that they might Romans (xvi. 14). This opinion arose from the
permit her to remain united with him for ever. fact thatat the beginning of the second century of
The gods granted the request, and the bodies of the our era a Greek work entitled Ilermae Pastor
youth and the nymph became united in such a (~roetjuv) was circulated from Rome, and acquired
manner that the two together could not be called a great reputation in the Christian church. We
either a man or a woman, but were both. Herma- possess the work only in a Latin translation, which
phroditus, on becoming aware of the change, prayed seems to have been made at a very early period,
that in future every one who bathed in the well though there still exist some fragments of the
should be metamorphosed into an hermaphrodite. Greek original, which have been collected by
(Ov. 1. c.; Died. iv. 6; Lucian, Dial. Deor. 15. Fabricius (Cod. Apocryph. N. T. iii. p. 738) and
2; Vitruv. ii. 8; Fest. s. v. Salinacis.) In this, as Grabe (Spicileg. Patr. i. p. 303). The object of
in other mythological stories, we must not suppose the author of this treatise is to instruct his readthat the idea is based on a fact, but the idea gave ers in the duties of the Christian life, the necesrise to the tale, and thus received, as it were, a sity-of repentance, man's relation to the church,
concrete body. The idea itself was probably de- fasts, prayer, constancy in martyrdom, and the
rived from the worship of nature in the East, like; but the manner in which he inculcates his
where we find not only monstrous compounds of doctrines is of a singular kind, for he represents
animals, but also that peculiar kind of dualism them as divine revelations, which were made to
which manifests itself in the combination of the him either in visions or by his own guardian angel,
male and female. Others, however, conceive that whom he calls pastor angelicus, add from whom his
the hermaphrodites were subjects of artistic repre- work derives its name. The whole work is divided
sentation rather than of religious worship. The an- into three books: the first is entitled Visiones, and
cient artists frequently represented hermaphrodites, contains four visions, which he pretends to have
either in groups or separately, and either in a been ordered to commit to writing. The subjects
reclining or a standing attitude. The first cele- are mostly of an ethical nature, or the church.
brated statue of an hermaphrodite was that by Po- The second contains 12 Mandata, which were
lycles. (Plin. H. N. xxiv. 19, 20; comp. Hein- given to Hermas by his guardian angel as answers
rich, Commentatio qua Hermaphroditorumn Arlis to questions which he had put to him. The third
antiquae Operibus insgynium Orisines et Causae ex- book, entitled Similitudines, contains ten similes,
plicantur, Hamburg, 1805; Welcker, in Creuzer which were likewise revealed to Hermas by his
and Daub's Studien, iv. p. 169, &c.) [L. S.] angel; and the similes themselves are taken from a
HERMA'PIAS ('Epuamrlas or'Eppaar7rlas), a tree and a tower. By these three means, visions,
Greek grammarian, who is mentioned several times commands and similes, the author endeavours to
in the Venetian scholia on Homer, among the show that a godly life consists in observing the
commentators of the Homeric poems (ad II. iv. 235, commands of God and doing penance; that he who
xi. 326, xiii. 137.) From these passages we learn leads a godly life is safe against all temptations
that his commentary treated on grammar, accent, and persecutions, and will ultimately be raised
and the like; but the author, as well as his com- into heaven. The objects of the writer were thus
mentaries, are otherwise unknown. [L. S.] evidently good and noble, but some of his opiHERMARCHUS ("EpuapXos), sometimes, but nions have been very severely censured by theoincorrectly, written Hermachus. He was a son of logians, and the character of the author has been
Agemarchus, a poor man of Mytilene,'and was at the subject of lively controversies down to the
first brought up as a rhetorician, but afterwards present time. Most theologians are of opinion
became a faithful disciple of Epicurus, who left to that, if not an imposter, he was at least a person
him his garden, and appointed him his successor as of a weak understanding, but of a lively and enthe head of his school, about B. C. 270. (Diog. thusiastic imagination. Mosheim judges of him
Laert. x. 17, 24.) He died in the house of Lysias most severely, and treats him as a person guilty
at an advanced age, and left behind him the reputa- of a most unpardonable pious fraud, and whose
tion of a great philosopher. Cicero (de Fin. ii. 30) production is of scarcely any value. The doctrines,
has preserved a letter of Epicurus addressed to however, are, on the whole, sound; and as to the
him. Hermarchus was the author of several works, form in which they are clothed, it is impossible for
which are characterised by Diogenes Laertius (x. us to say what induced him to adopt it. The book
24) as IcKALhaTa, viz.'ErLooAcKd c irepl'Eu7re0o- itself is a sort of devotional treatise, and contains
iahAOvs, in 22 books, fIIEpl Trv zaOeq,uaT~wv, rprs many a lesson, encouragement and warning, which
lAdav'va, and rlpos'Apzor'e7TAlv; but all of them must have been useful to the early Christians,
are lost, and we know nothing about them but and have comforted them under the sufferings to
their titles. But from an expression of Cicero (de which they were exposed in those times. The
Nat. Deor. i. 33), we may infer that his works high estimation in which the work was held is
were of a polemical nature, and directed against attested by Irenaeus (adv. Haeres. iv. 3), Clemens
the philosophy of Plato and Aristotle, and on of Alexandria (Strom. i. 29), and Origen. (Explan.
Empedocles. (Comp. Cic. Acad. ii. 30; Athen. Epist. ad: Rom. 16.) According to Eusebius
xiii. p. 588; Phot. Bibl. Cod. 167, p. 115, b. ed. (Hist. Eccles. iii. 3), many indeed doubted the
Bekker.) It should be remarked that his name genuineness of the Pastor, but others had it read in
was formerly written Hermachus, until it was cor- public, and regarded it as a necessary introduction
rected by Villoison in his Anecdota Graec. ii. pp. to Christianity. This latter was the case, accord159, 290. [L. S.] ing to Hieronymus (de Script. Eccles. 10), more
HERMAS ('Ep/uls), a disciple of the apostle especially in those countries where Greek was
Paul, and one of the apostolic fathers. So at spoken; but Hieronymus himself is uncertain in
least it is generally believed, and it is further sup- his opinion, for sometimes he calls it a useful book,
posed that he is the same person as the Hermas and sometimes a foolish one. (Comnment. in Habac.