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

420- HERMOGENES. HIERMOGENES.
hear him,'and admired and richly rewarded him 8flvtu'OS, and their subdivisions; ho examines them
for his wonderful talent. Shortly after this he was from eight different points of view, and shows how
appointed public teacher of rhetoric, and at the age by a skilful application of them the orator is most
of seventeen he began his career as a writer, which sure of gaining his end. In this discussion, too,
unfortunately did not last long, for at the age of every point is illustrated by examples, chiefly from
twenty-five he fell into a mental' debility, which the orators, accompanied by some very ingenious
rendered him entirely unfit for further literary and remarks. The work is printed in the editions of
intellectual occupation, and of which he never got Aldus and Laurentius, and separately at Paris,
rid, although he lived to an advanced age; so that 1531, 4to., and with a Lat. transl. and notes by
he was a man in the time of his youth, and a child Sturm, Argentorat, 1571, 8vo. The best edition
during his maturer years. After his death his is that in Walz, Rhet. Graeci, vol. iii., who has also
heart is said to have been found covered with hair. published the Greek commentaries by Syrianus and
(Philostr. Vit. Soph. ii. 7; Suid. Hesych. s. v. Joh. Siceliota (vols. vi. and vii. Comp. Spengel,'Epoye7vrls; Eudoc. p. 165; Schol. ad Hermog. ZvveaaywyJ) reX. pp. 195, &c., 227, &c.)
7rep o'rTdewsv, in Olearius's note on Philostr. 1. c.) (4.) fIepl eO v aJou elzvwros (De apto et solerti
If we may judge from what Hermogenes did at so genere dicendi Methzodus), forms a sort of appendix
early *an age, there can be little doubt that he to the preceding work, and contains suggestions for
would have far excelled all other Greek rhetorici- the proper application of the rules there laid down,
ans, if he had remained in the full possession of his together with other useful remarks. It is printed in
mental powers.- His works, five in number, which the editions of Aldus, Wechel, Laurentius, Sturm,
are still extant, form together a complete system of and best in Walz's Rket. Graec. vol. iii., who has
rhetoric, and were for a long time used in all the also published the Greek commentaries by Grerhetorical schools as manuals. Many distinguished gorius Corinthius (vol. vii.). The work is said to
rhetoricians and grammarians wrote commentaries have been left unfinished by the author, and to
upon them, some of which are still extant; many have been completed by two later rhetoricians, Mialso made abridgments of the works of Hermogenes, nucianus and Apsines. (Matth. Camariota, Compend.
for the use of schools, and the abridgment of Aph- JRhet. p. 12, ed. Hoeschel, Augsburg, 1594, 4to.)
thonius at length supplanted the original in most (5.) Ilpo-yvuvdaceaTa, that is, practical instrucschools. The works of Hermogenes are:- tions in oratory according to given models. A very
(1.) Te'Xv/l P-TO'p,) vrepl crcv o-darcv, was convenient abridgment of this work was made by
composed by the author at' the age of eighteen, and Aphthonius, in consequence of which the original
on the principles laid down by Hermagoras. The fell into oblivion. But its great reputation in anwork treats of the points and questions which an tiquity is attested by the *fact, that the learned
orator, in civil cases, has to take into his consider- grammarian, Priscian, made a Latin translation of
ation; it examines every one separately, and thence it, with some additions of his own, under the title
deduces the rules which a speaker has to observe. of Praeexercitamenta Rhetorica ex Hermogene.
(See the whole reduced to a tabular view in West- (Putschius, Gram. Lat. p. 1329, &c.; Fr. Pithoeus,
ermann's Gesch. der Griech. Beredtsamkeit, p. 325.) Rhetor. Lat. p. 322, &c.) This Latin version of'
The work is a very useful guide to those who Priscian was for a long time the only edition of the
prepare themselves for speaking in the courts of Progymnasmata, until the Greek original was found
justice. We still possess the commentaries which in a MS. at Turin, from which it was published
were written upon it by Syrianus, Sosipater, and by Heeren in the Biblioth. fiir alte Lit. und Kunst,
Marcellinus. It is printed in the Rhetores of parts viii. and ix. (Gottingen, 1791), and by
Aldus, vol. i. pp. 1-179, and has been edited Ward in the Classical Journal, parts v.-viii. A
separately at Paris (1530 and 1538, 4to. ex off. separate edition was published by G. Veesenmeyer,
Wechelii), by J. Caselius (Rostock, 1583, 8vo.), Niirnberg, 1812, 8vo. It is also contained in
E. Sturm (Argentorat. 1570, with a Latin transl. Krehl's edition of Priscian, vol. ii. p. 419, &c., but
and scholia), G. Laurentius (Col. Allobrog. 1614, best in Walz's iRletor. Graec. vol. i. p. 9, &c., who
8vo.), and M. Corales (Venice, 1799, 4to.). The has collated six other MSS. besides the Turin one.
extant scholia are printed in Walz, Rhetor. Graec. Some of the works of Hermogenes are lost, such
vols. iv.' vi. and vii. as a commentary on Demosthenes (els AnueoaeO'rv
(2.) Nlepl e opeefWs (De Inventione), in four books, 67rotzv4ulaara, Syrian. ad Hermog. Proleg. ad Ideas,
contains instructions about the proper composition p.. 195, ed. Spengel), of which a work on the Lepof an oration, discussing first the introduction, then tinea, to which Hermogenes himself alludes (De
the plan of the whole, viz. the exposition of the Method. 24), may have been only a part. Another
subject, the argumentation, the refutation of ob- work, which is likewise lost, was entitled aiy7jections that may be raised, and lastly, on the ypal.u a rsepl wrpooglfov. (Schol. in Hermog. ap.
oratorical ornament and delivery. Every point WaIz, vol. iv. p. 31, ap. Aldum, ii. p. 176.) Suidas
which Hermogenes discusses is illustrated, as in and Eudocia (p. 165) further mention a work of
the preceding work, by examples taken from the Hermogenes in two books, lepl trohA7s:vplae,
Attic orators, which greatly enhance the clearness which is not noticed anywhere else, and of which
and utility of the treatise. It is printed in Aldus's no trace has come down to us.
Rhetores, in the editions of G. Laurentius, Wechel, All the extant works of Hermogenes bear strong
and Sturm, mentioned above, but best in Walz's marks of the youthful age of the author; for it is
Rhetor. Graec. vol. iii. We still possess scholia on clear that his judgment and his opinions have not
the work' by an anonymous commentator, printed yet become settled; he has not the consciousness
in Aldus's Rhetores, vol. ii. p. 352, &c. of a man of long experience, and his style is rather
(3.) [Ipl 1e;v, (De Formis Oratoriis), in two diffuse, but always clear and unaffected. He is
books, treats of the forms of-the oratorical style, of moderate in his judgment and censure of other
which Hermogenes distinguishes seven, viz. cDad- rhetoricians, has a correct appreciation of the merits
vretla, e4'yos. PdXos, yopY74'Tr, ob, a dXhOeta, of'the earlier Greek orators, and every where shows