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

410 HERM EI AS. -HERMEIAS.
i. 1.) Tertullian (de Pudlicit. 1'0), who had judged his authority without opposition. The exact period
it very severely, does not appear to have made of his accession is unknown, and we know not how
any deep impression upon his readers, for the fact long he had held the sovereign power when he inof the Pastor being declared an apocryphal work by vited Aristotle and Xenocrates to his little court,
several synods, does not imply any opinion as to about the year B. c. 347. The long sojourn of
its value or worthlessness, but only shows that Aristotle with him, and the warm attachment
they did not regard it as a canonical work. which that philosopher formed towards him, are
One of the main reasons why the Pastor was strong arguments in favour of the character of
generally held in such high esteem was undoubt- Hermias: yet the relations between them did not
edly the belief that its author, Hermas, was the escape the most injurious suspicions, for which
same as the one mentioned by St. Paul, an opinion there was doubtless as little reason as for the obwhich has been maintained in modern times by loquy with which Aristotle was loaded when, after
Dodwell, Wake, and others. But although.there the death of Hermias, he married Pythias, the
is no internal evidence to prove that the author niece, or, according to other accounts, the adopted
of the Pastor was a different person, yet the un- daughter of' his friend and benefactor. (Strab.
certainty of the early church (see Tertull. 1. c.; xiii. p. 610; Pseud. Ammon. vit. Aristot.; AristoEuseb. Hist. EcdcIes. iii. 25) seems to show that cles ap. Euseb. Praep. Ev. xv. 2; Diog. Laert. v. 3.)
the author himself had given no clue to ascertain Of other occurrences under the rule of Hermias
the identity, and perhaps intentionally avoided we know nothing; but he appears to have maingiving any. Another opinion, which is based tained himself in the undisputed sovereignty of his
on ancient authorities (Canrm. c. Marcionem, iii. in little state, and in avowed independence of Persia,
fin.; Muratori, Antiq. Ital. med. aevi, iii. p. 853, until the year 345, when the Greek general,
&c.), is that Hermas, the author of the Pastor, was Mentor, who was sent down by the Persian king
a brother of Pius II., bishop of Rome, who entered to take the command in Asia Minor, decoyed him,
upon his office about the middle of the second by a promise of safe conduct, to a personal intercentury after Christ. But in the first place, the view, at which, in defiance of his pledge, he seized
authorities on which this opinion is founded are of and detained him as a prisoner. After making
a very doubtful nature; and- secondly, a writer of use of his signet to enforce the submission of the
that time could not have avoided mentioning some governors left in the cities subject to his rule,
of the heresies which were then spreading, but of Mentor sent him as a captive to the court of
which there is not a trace in the Pastor. Con- Artaxerxes, where he was soon after put to death.
sidering, moreover, that the work already enjoyed (Diod. xvi. 52; Strab. xiii. p. 610, 614; Diog.
considerable reputation in the time of Irenaeus and Laeirt. v. 6.)
Clemens of Alexandria, we must suppose that it Aristotle testified his reverence for the memory
was written either in the time of the apostles or of his friend, not only by erecting a statue to him
soon after, and that its author was either the person at Delphi, but by celebrating his praises in an ode
mentioned by St. Paul, or one who assumed the or hymn, addressed to Virtue, which has fortunately
name of that person for the purpose of acquiring a been preserved to the present day. (Athen. xv.
greater influence upon the minds of his readers. p. 696; Diog. La6rt. v. 6, 7.) Concerning the relaThe first edition of the Pastor is that by J. tions of the philosopher with Hermias, and the inFaber, Paris, 1513, which was afterwards often jurious imputations to which they gave rise, see the
reprinted. A better edition is that of Cotelier in article ARISTOTLE [vol. i. p. 318], and Blakesley's
his Partes Apostol. Paris, 1672. It is also printed Life of Aristotle, p. 35-44.
in other collections of the fathers; but a very good 2. A Carian by birth, who had raised himself to
separate edition, together with the Epistle of Bar- be the favourite and chief minister of Seleucus
nabas, appeared at Oxford, 1685, 12mo. (Cave, Ceraunus, and was left at the head of affairs in
Hist. Lit. vol. i. p. 20, &c.; Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol. Syria by that monarch when he set out on the exvii. p. 18, &c.; Mosheim, Comment. de Reb. Christ. pedition across the Taurus, in the course of which
ante Constant. p. 106; Neander, Kirchengeschichte, he met with his death, B. c. 223. That event
vol. i. p. 1107.) [L. S.] placed Hermeias in the possession of almost undisHERMEIAS or HERMIAS ('EpsePas or'Ep- puted power, the young king, Antiochus III., being
iLcas: see concerning the mode of writing this then only in his 15th year; and his jealous and
name, Stahr, Aristotelia, vol. i. p. 75). 1. Tyrant grasping disposition led him to remove as far as
or dynast of the cities of Atarneus and Assos, in possible all competitors for power. The formidable
Mysia, celebrated as the friend and patron of Ari- revolt of Molon and Alexander in the eastern prostotle. He is said to have been an eunuch, and to vinces of the kingdom seemed to demand all the
have begun life as a slave, but whether he obtained attention of Antiochus, but Hermeias persuaded
his liberty or not, he appears to have early risen him to confide the conduct of the army sent against
to a confidential position with Eubulus, the ruler the insurgents to his generals, Xenon'and Theoof Atarneus and Assos. If, however, Strabo's dotus, while he advanced in person to attack Coelestatement, that he repaired to Athens, and there Syria. Here, however, the king met with a comattended the lectures of both Plato and Aristotle, plete repulse, while the army sent against Molon
be correct, we cannot doubt that he had at that was totally defeated by that general, who made
time obtained his freedom, though he remained at-'himself master in consequence of several of the
tached to the service of Eubulus, who had raised provinces bordering on the Tigris. The opinion of
himself from the situation of a banker to the undis- Hermeias, who still opposed the march of Antioputed government of the two cities already men- chus to the East, was now overruled, and the king
tioned. In this position Eubulus maintained him- took the field in person the ensuing spring. But
self till his death, in defiance, it would appear, of though the favourite had' succeeded in removing
the authority of Persia (see Arist. Pol. ii. 4), and his chief opponent, Epigenes, by a fabricated charge
on that event Hermias sesms to have succeeded to of conspiracy, his utter incapacity for military