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

416 HERMIONE. HERMIPPUS.
the same person as the poet, we may be sure that time Orestes carried off Hermione from the house
Pausanias would have said so. [P. S.] of Peleus, and she, in remembrance of her fornler
HERMI'NIA GENS, a very ancient patrician love for Orestes, followed him. She had also
house at Rome, which appears in the first Etruscan reason to fear the revenge of Neoptolemus, for she
war with the republic, B. c. 506, and vanishes from had made an attempt to murder Andromache,
history in B. c. 448. The name Herminius occurs whom Neoptolemus seemed to love more than her,
only twice in the Fasti, and has only one cogno- but had been prevented from committing the crime.
men, AqUILINUS. [AQUILINUS.] Whether this According to others, Menelaus betrothed her at
gens were of Oscan, Sabellian, or Etruscan origin, Troy to Neoptolemus; but in the meantime her
is doubtful. An Herminius defends the sublician grandfather, Tyndareus, promised her to Orestes,
bridge against an Etruscan army, and probably re- and actually gave her in marriage to him. Neoppresents in that combat one of the three tribes of tolemus, on his return, took possession of her by
Rome. Horatius Codcles, as a member of a lesser force, but was slain soon after either at Delphi or
gens, the Horatian, is the symbol of the Luceres; in his own home at Phthia. (Virg. Aen. iii. 327,
and therefore Herminius is the symbol either of xi. 264; Sophocl. ap. Eustathl. ad Hom. p. 1479.)
the Ramnes or the Titienses. Probably of the Hermione had no children by Neoptolemus (Eurip.
latter, since the Titienses were the Sabine tribe, Androm. 33; Paus. i. 11. ~ 1; Schol. ad Pind.
and the syllable Her is of frequent occurrence in Neem. vii. 58), but by Orestes, whose wife she ultiSabellian names-Her-ennius, Her-ins, Her-nicus, mately became, she was the mother of Tisamenus.
Her-silia, &c. (Comp. M-uller, Etrusc. vol. i. p. (Paus. i. 33. ~ 7, ii. 18. ~ 5.) The Lacedaemo423.) But, on the other hand, the nomen of one nians dedicated a statue of her, the work of Calamis,
of the Herminii is Lar, Larius, or Larcins (Liv. at Delphi. (Paus. x. 16. ~ 2.) A scholiast on
iii. 65; Dionys. xi. 51; Diod. xii. 27), and the Pindar (Nens. x. 12) calls her the wife of DioEtruscan origin of Lar is unquestionable. (MUller, medes, and Hesychius (s. v.) states that Hermione
lb. p. 408.) It is remarkable, that the first Her- was a surname of Persephone at Syracuse. [L. S.]
minius, cos. B. C. 506, in his consulate, on the HERMIPPUS (Epjurnriros). 1. An Athenian
bridge, and at the "Battle of Regillus," is cou- comic poet of the old comedy, was the son of
pled with Sp. Larcius. (Liv. ii. 10, 21; Dionys. Lysis and the brother of the comic poet Myrv. 22.) The Roman antiquaries regarded the tilus. He was a little younger than Telecleides,
Herminii as an Etruscan family (Val. Max. de but older than Eupolis and Aristophanes (Suid.
Praenom. 15); and Silius Italicus gives a North- s. v.). He vehemently attacked Pericles, espeEtruscan fisherman the - name of Herminius. cially on the occasion of Aspasia's acquittal on the
(Punic. v. 580.) In the diverging dialects of the charge of akeigfa, and in connection with the beWest-Caucasian languages, Arminius, the Cherus- ginning of the Peloponnesian war. (Plut. Peric. 32,
can name (Tac. Ann. ii.), and Herminius, are per- 33.) He also attacked Hyperbolus. (Aristoph.
haps cognate appellations. [W. B. D.] Nub. v. 553, and Schol.) According to Suidas,
IHERMI'NUS ('EpjATvos), a Peripatetic phi- he wrote forty plays, and his chief actor was
losopher, a contemporary of Demonax (called by Simermon (Schol. in AristopL. Nub. 535, 537, 542).
Porphyrius, Vit. Plot. 20, a stoic). He appears to There are extant of his plays several fragments and
have written commentaries on most of the works nine titles; viz.'AOs7va, yoval,'Ap7TOrZAIbes,A&71u odof Aristotle. Simplicius (ad Arist. de Caelo, ii. Tat, Evpo~vr7, Oeoi, KepKccres, MoZpai, Ipa'rLaL,
23, fol. 105) says he was the instructor of Alex- 4Ioptuooepoi. The statement of Athenaeus (xv. p.
ander ofAphrodisias. His writings, of which no- 699, a.) that Hermippus also wrote parodies, seems
thing now remains, are frequently referred to by to refer not to any separate works of his, but to
Boethius, who mentions a treatise by him, reptI parodies contained in his plays, of which there are'EpjuAvYelas, as also Analytica and Topica. (Lucian, examples in the extant fragments, as well as in
Demson. ~ 56; Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol. iii. p. the plays of other comic poets.
495.) [C. P. M.] Besides the comedies of Hermippus, -several of
HE'RMION ('EpjcAwv), a son of Europs, and the ancient writers quote his lanmbics, Trimeters,
grandson of Phoroneus, was, according to a tradi- and Tetrameters. Meineke's analysis of these
tion of Hermione, the founder of that town on the quotations leaves little room to doubt that Hersouth-east coast of Peloponnesus. (Paus. ii. 34. mippus published scurrilous poems, like those of
~ 5.) [L. S.] the old iambic poets, partly in Iambic trimeters,
HERMI'ONE ('Epiu&o'w), the only daughter of and partly in trochaic tetrameters. (Meineke,
Menelaus and Helena, and beautiful,like the golden Frag. Corn. Graec. vol. i. pp. 90-99, vol. ii. pp.
Aphrodite. (Hom. Od. iv. 14, Ii. iii. 175). As 380-417; Bergk, Comnlent. de Reliq. Comn. Att.
she was a grand-daughter of Leda, the mother of Ant. c. 3.)
Helena, Virgil (Aen. iii. 328) calls her Ledaea. 2. Of Smyrna, a distinguished philosopher, surDuring the war against Troy, Menelaus promised named by the ancient writers the Callimacheian
her in marriage to Neoptolemus (Pyrrhus); and (o KaAAXjuaXEos.). From this title it may be inafter his return he fulfilled his promise. (Od. iv. ferred that he was a disciple of Callimachus about
4, &c.) This Homeric tradition differs from those the middle of the third century B. C., while the
of later writers. According to Euripides (Androm. fact of his having written the life of Chrysippus
891, &c.; comp. Pind. Nem. vii. 43; Hygin. Fab. proves that he lived to about the end of the cen123), Menelaus, previous to his expedition against tury. His writings seem to have been of very great
Troy, had promised Hermione to Orestes. After importance and value. (Joseph. c. Apion. i. 22;
the return of Neoptolemus, Orestes informed him Hieronym. de Vir. Illnstr. Praef.) They are reof this, and claimed Hermione for himself; but peatedly referred to by the ancient writers, under
Neoptolemus haughtily refused to give her up. many titles, of which, however, most, if not all,
Orestes, in revenge, incited the Delphians against seem to have been chapters of his great biograhim, and Neoptolemus was slain. In the mean- phical work, which is often quoted under the title