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

HERME1AS. HERMES. 411
affairs was fully apparent in the ensuing campaign, 1700, 8vo.), in the Auctarium Bibl. Patir (Paris,
in which, nevertheless, Antiochus, having followed 1624, fol.), and in Gallandi's Bibl. Patr. vol. ii. p. 68,
the advice of Zeuxis, in opposition to that of Her- &c. A separate edition, with notes by H. Wolf,
meias, defeated Molon in a pitched battle, and re- Gale, and Worth, was published by J. C. Dommecovered the revolted provinces. But during the rich, Halle, 1764, 8vo. (Comp. Fabric. Bibl. Graec.
subsequent halt at Seleuceia, Hermeias had again an vol. vii. p.114, &c.; Cave, Hist. Lit. vol. i. p. 50.)
opportunity of displaying his evil disposition by This Hermeias must not be confounded with Herthe cruelties with which, notwithstanding the op- meias Sozomenus, the ecclesiastical historian [Sozoposition of Antiochus, he stained the victory of the MENUS], nor with the Hermeias who is mentioned
young king. Meanwhile, the birth of a son of by St. Augustin (De Haeres. 59) as the founder of
Antiochus, by Laodice, is said to have excited in the heretical sect of the Hermeians or Seleucians,
the mind of this profligate and ambitious minister who belongs to the fourth century after Christ. A
the project of getting rid of the king himself, in few more persons of this name are mentioned by
order that he might rule with still more uncon- Fabricius. (Bibl. Graec. vol. vii. p. 114, &c) [L.S.]
trolled authority under the name of his infant son. HERMERICUS, king of the Suevi, who, in
This nefarious scheme was fortunately revealed in conjunction with the Vandals and Alans, entered
time to Antiochus,who had long regarded Hermeias Spain, A. D. 409. The Suevi occupied a considerable
with fear as well as aversion, and he now gladly part of Gallaecia, in the N.W. part of Spain; but
availed himself of the assistance of his physician, the rest of the Gallaecians retained their independApollophanes,' and others of his friends, to rid him- ence; and, though apparently unsupported by the
self of his minister by assassination. Polybius, troops of the empire, carried on an obstinate and
who is our sole authority for all the preceding desultory warfare with the invaders. In A.D. 419
facts, has drawn the character of Hermeias in the war broke out between Hermeric and his former
blackest colours, and represents his death as a sub- allies, the Vandals, who, under their king Gunject of general rejoicing, though he considers his deric, attacked the Suevi in the mountains of Nerfate as a very inadequate punishment for his mis- vasi or Nerbasis (Tillemont understands the moundeeds. (Polyb. v. 41-56.) [E. H. B]. tains of Biscay, but we rather identify them with
HERMEIAS ('EpCelCas). 1. An iambic poet, the mountains of Gallicia or of Portugal, N. of the
a native of Curia in Cyprus. He was a contem- Douro); but the Vandals were recalled to their own
porary of Alexander the Great, but only a few settlements in Baetica, by the advance of the Roman
fragments of his productions have come down to troops into Spain. In their retreat they had a severe
us. (Athen. xiii. p. 563; Schneidewin, Delectus conflict at Bracara (Braga), in which they slew many
Poes. p. 242.) of the Suevi. In A. D. 431 Hermeric, who had con2. Of Methymna in Lesbos, the author of a eluded peace with the independent portion of the
history of Sicily, the third book of which is quoted Gallaecians, broke the treaty, and ravaged their terby Athenaeus (x. p. 438); but we know from ritory; but, failing to reduce their strongholds, reDiodorus Siculus (xv. 37) that Hermeias related stered his captives, and renewed the peace. Next
the history of Sicily down to the year B. C. 376, year (A. D. 432) he broke it again; and Idatius, the
and that the whole work was divided into ten or chronicler, was sent to Aetius, the patrician, then in
twelve books. Stephanus Byzantius (s. v. XAiCs) Gaul, to solicit help. In A. D. 433 Idatius, accom.
speaks of a Periegesis -of Hermeias, and Athe- panied by Count Censorius, returned to Spain, and
naeus (iv. p. 149) quotes the second book of a by his intervention peace was made, but was not
work lfIp! T0'o rpVYeiou'ArAXotvos, by one Her- ratified by the court of Valentinian III. In A. D.
meias, but whether both or either of them is iden- 437 Censorius was sent again to Hermeric, and in
tical with the historian of Sicily is quite uncer- 438 peace was concluded. Hermeric resigned his
tain. crown the same year to his son Rechilda, having
3. A Christian writer, who seems to have lived been suffering for four years from some disease, of
in the latter half of the second century after Christ, which he died, three years after his abdication
and about the time of Tatianus. Respecting his (A.D. 441). Isidore of Seville says he reigned
life nothing is known, but we possess under his 14 years, which, reckoned back from his abdication
name a Greek work, entitled AtouovpyJs i-wc c w ('A. D. 438), carries us to 424. As this was long
)tLhoAoocPov, in which the author holds the Greek after his invasion and settlement in Gallaecia, it
philosophers up to ridicule. It is addressed to the perhaps marks the epoch of his recognition by the
friends and relations of the author, and is intended Romans of the Western. Empire. (Idatius, C]h'onsto guard them against the errors of the pagan phi- con; Isid. Hispal. Histor. Suevor.; Tillemont, HIist.
losophers. The author puts together the various des Enmp. vol. v. vi.) [J. C. M.]
opinions of philosophers on nature, the world, God, HERMES ('Epuzis,'Epj.sday, Dor.'EppA6s), a
his nature, and relation to the world, the human son of Zeus and Maia, the daughter of Atlas, was
soul, &c.; shows their discrepancies and inconsist- born in a cave of Mount Cyllene in Arcadia (Horn.
encies, and thus proves their uselessness and in- Od. viii. 335, xiv. 435, xxiv. 1; Hlymnn. in Merc.
sufficiency on those. important questions. The 1, &c.; Ov. Met. i. 682, xiv. 291), whence he is
author is not without considerable wit and talent, called Atlantiades or Cyllenius; but Philostratus
and his work is of some importance for the history (Icon. i. 26) places his birth in Olympus. In the
of ancient philosophy. It is divided into nineteen first hours after his birth, he escaped from his
chapters, and was first published with a Latin cradle, went to Pieiria, and carried off some of the
translation by Seiler at Zurich, 1553, 8vo., and oxen of Apollo. (Hom. Hymn. in Mere. 17.) In
again in 1560, fol. It was subsequently printed the Iliad and Odyssey this tradition is not mnenin several collections of ecclesiastical writers, e. g. tioned, though Hermes is characterised as a cunin Morell's Tabul. Compendios. (Basel, 1580, 8vo. ning thief. (I.. v. 390, xxiv. 24.) Other accounts,
p. 189, &c.), in several editions of Justin Martyr, again, refer the theft of the oxen to a more adin the edition of Tatianus by. W. Worth (Oxford, vanced period of the life of the god. (Apollod. iii.