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

HERMES. HERMESIANAX. 415
euliar to the philosophy of the period to.which we Some of the works bearing the name of Hermes
have assigned this work. It was first published in seem to be productions of the middle ages, such
a Latin translation by Ficinus, under the title as, —
Mercerii Trismegisli Liber de Potestate et Saptentia 8. Tractatas vere Aurous de Lapidis Philosophici
Dei, Tarvisii, 1471, fol., which was afterwards Decreto, that is, on the. philosopher's stone. The
often reprinted, as at Venice in 1481, 1483, 1493, work is divided into seven chapters, which are
1497, &c. The Greek original, with the translation regarded as the seven seals of Hermes Trismegisof Ficinus, was first edited by Hadr. Turnebus, tus. It was published in Latin by D. Gnosius,
Paris, 1554,.4to., and was afterwards published Leipzig, 1610, and. 1613, 8vo.
again in Fr. Flussatis, Candallae Industria, Bor- 9. Tabula Smnaragdina,-.an essay, professing to
deaux, 1574; in Patricius' Nova de universis Phi- teach the art of making gold, was published at
losophia Libris quatuor comprehensa, Ferrara, 1593, Niirnberg, 1541 and 1545, 4to., and at Strassburg,
fol., and again in 1611, fol., and at Cologne in 1566, 8vo.
1630, fol., with a commentary by Hannibal Ro- 10. IIsp1l Poravac t XuvXoSws is only a fragment,
sellus. but probably belongs to an earlier period than the
4.'Ia'TpoiaOzartKca 0 j7repl caraKXafoews voo-ov'- two preceding works, and treats of similar subjects
7rov 7rpoyvw'trsor'- rLt'ec a1s ua'rtaTcs j to iai-rws as the KvpavioEs. It is printed at the end of Roe7rpvr J"Ajueova Aiyjv'7rTrov, is a work of less import- ther's edition of L. Lydus, de Mensibus, with notes
ance, and contains instructions for ascertaining the by Baehr.
issue of a disease by the aid of mathematics, that 11. IIepl atopCiov, on earthquakes, or rather on
is, of astrology, for the author endeavours to show the forebodings implied in them. It is only a
that the nature of a disease, as well as its cure and fragment, consisting of sixty-six hexameter lines,
issue, must be. ascertained from the constellation and is sometimes ascribed to Hermes Trismegistus,
under which it commenced. The substance of and sometimes to Orpheus. It was first edited by
this work seems to have been unknown to Fir- Fr. Morel, with a Latin translation by F. A. Baif,
micus (about the middle of the fourth century), Paris, 1586, 4to., and afterwards by J. S. Schoder,
and this leads us to the supposition that it was 1691, 4to. It is also contained in Maittaire's
written after the time of Firmicus. The work was Miscellanea, London, 1722, 4to., and in Brunck's
published in a Latin translation in Th. Boder's De Analecta, iii. p. 127.
Ratione et Usa Diemrurm Csiticorum, Paris, 1.555, For a more detailed account of the works bearing
4 to., and in Andr. Argolus' De Diebus Criticis Libri the name of Hermes Trismegistus, see Fabric. Bibl.
du., Patavii, 1639, 4to. The Greek original was Graec. vol. i. pp. 46-94; and especially Baumpublished by J. Cramer (Astrolog. No. vi. Norim- garten-Crusius, De Librorums Hermeticorums Origine
bergae, 1532, 4to.), and by D. Hoeschel. (Aug. agque Indole, Jena, 1827. [L. S.]
Vindelic. 1597, 8vo.) HERME'SIANAX ('EpnV,&,dval). 1. Of Co5. De Revolutionibus Nativitatum, is likewise an lophon, a distinguished elegiac poet, the friend and
astrological work, and intended to show how the disciple of Philetas, lived in the time of Philip and
nativity should be regulated at the end of every Alexander the Great, and seems to have died
year. The original seems to have been written in before the destruction of Colophon by Lysimachus,
Greek, though some say that it was in Arabic; but B. c. 302. (Paus. i. 9. ~ 8.) His chief work was
it was at any rate composed at a later time than an elegiac poem, in three books, addressed to his
the work mentioned under No. 4. xVe now possess mistress, Leontium, whose name formed the title
only a Latin version, which was edited by Hiero- of the poem, like the Cynthia of Propertius. A
nymus Wolf, together with the Isagoge of Por- great part of the third book is quoted by Athephyrius, and some other works, Basel, 1559, fol. naeus (xiii. p. 597). The poem is also quoted by
6. Aphorismi sive Centum Sententiae Astrologicae, Pausanias (vii. 17. ~ 5, viii. 12. ~ 1, ix. 35. ~ 1),
also called Centiloquium, that is, one hundred astro- by Parthenius (Erot. 5, 22), and by Antoninus
logical propositions, which are supposed to have Liberalis (Metam. 39). We learn from another
originally been written in Arabic; but we now quotation in Pausanias, that Hermesianax wrote
have only a Latin translation, which has been re- an elegy on the Centaur Eurytion (vii. 1.8. ~ 1).
peatedly printed, as at Venice, 1492, 1493, 1501, It is somewhat doubtful whether the Hermesianax
1519, fol., at Basel, 1533, fol., 1551, 8vo., and at who is mentioned by the scholiast on Nicander.Ulm, 1651, 1674, 12mo. (Theriaca, 3), and who wrote a poem entitled
7. Liber Physico-Medicus Kiranidumn Kirani, id IIepowar, was the same or a younger poet. The
est, reqis Persarunm vere aureus gemmeusque, &c., fragment of Hermesianax has been edited sepabelongs to the same class of medico-astrological rately by Ruhnken (Append. ad Epist. Crit. ii.
works, and is as yet printed only in a Latin trans- p. 283, Opusc. p. 614), by Weston, Lond. 1784,
lation, published by Andr. Rivinus (Leipzig, 1638, 8vo., by C. D. Ilgen (Opusc. Var. Philol. vol. i.
and Frankfurt, 1681, 12mo.), though the Greek p. 247, Erford, 1797, 8vo.), by Rigler and Axt,
original is still extant in MS. at Madrid, under the Colon. 1828, 16mo., by Hermann (Opusc. Acad.
title of Kvpavil8s (from Ku'pos, lord or master). vol. iv. p. 239), by Bach (Philet. et Phanoc. Reliq.
This work is referred to even by Olympiodorus, Hal. 1829, 8vo.), by J. Bailey, with a critical
and must therefore have existed in the fourth cen- epistle by G. Burgess, Lond. 1839, 8vo., and by
tury of our era. It is divided into four parts, and Schneidewin (Delect. Poes. Eleg. p. 147). Comp.
is a sort of materica medica, arranged in alphabet- Bergk, De Hermesianactis Elegia, Marburgi, 1845.
ical order, for it treats of the magic and medicinal 2. Of Cyprus, an historian, whose,bpvylaKd is
powers of a variety of stones, plants, and animals, quoted by Plutarch (De Fluv. 2, 24, 12.)
and under each head it mentions some mineral, 3. Of Colophon, the son of Agoneus, an athlete.
vegetable, or animal medicine. It is generally whose statue was erected by his fellow-citizens in
supposed that this work was originally compiled honour of his victory at Olympia (Paus. vi. 17.
from Persian, Arabic, or Egyptian sources. ~ 3). If he had been, as Vossius (I. c.) supposes,