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

~444 HESPERIUS. HESTIA.
dians of the golden apples which Ge had given to accusations, had incurred discredit at court. No.
Hera at her marriage with Zeus. Their names are thing is known of him after this.
Aegle, Erytheia, Hestia, and Arethusa, but their Hesperius had at least three sons. One of them,
descent is not the same in the different traditions; Paulinus, distinguished as " the Penitent," author'
sometimes they are called the daughters of Night of a poem called Eucharisticon or Carmen Eucharisor Erebus (Hes. Theog. 215; Hygin. Fab. init.), ticum de Vita sua (sometimes ascribed, but incorsometimes of Phorcys and Ceto (Schol. ad Apollon. rectly, to the better known Paulinus of Nola),
Rhod. iv. 1399), sometimes of Atlas and Hesperis, was born in Macedonia about A. D. 375 or 376,
whence their names Atlantides or Hesperides (Diod. before his father's proconsulship of Africa, which
iv. 27), and sometimes of Hesperus, or of Zeus and renders it not unlikely that Hesperius then held
Themis. (Serv. ad Aen. iv. 484; Schol. ad Eu- some office under the Eastern emperor Valens.
rip. Hipp. 742.) Instead of the four Hesperides Another son, Pastor, died young, and is commementioned above, some traditions know only of three, morated in the Parentalia of Ausonius. (Amm.
viz. Hespere, Erytheis, and Aegle, or Aegle, Are- Marc. xxviii. 6; Symmach. Epist. i. 69-82, ed.
thusa, and Hesperusa or Hesperia (Apollon. Rhod. Paris, 1604; Auson. Epigram. p. 79, ed. Vineti, Caeiv. 1427; Serv. I. c.; Stat. Thleb. ii. 281); whereas sares Duodecimr, Eidyll. xxx., Parental. xi., Gratiar.
others mention seven. (Diod. 1. c.; Hygin. Fab. Actio pro Cons. p. 377, 378, ed. Vineti; Cod. Theod.
init.) The poets describe them as possessed of the 6. tit. 30. ~ 4; 7. tit. 18. ~ 2; 8 tit. 5. ~ 34; tit.
power of sweet song. (Hes. T/zeog. 518; Orph. 18. ~ 6; 10. tit. 20. ~ 10; 13. tit. 1. ~ 11;tit. 5.
Fragin. 17; Eurip. Here. Fur. 394; Apollon. ~ 15; 15. tit. 7. ~ 3; 16. tit. 5. ~ 4, 5; GothoRhod. iv. 1399.) In the earliest legends, these fred, Prosop.. Cod. Theodos.; Tillemont, Hist. des
nymphs are described as living on the river Oceanus, Emp. vol. v.) [J. C. M.]
in the extreme west (Hes. Tseog. 334, &c., 518; HE'SPERUS ('Eorepos), the evening-star, is
Eurip. Hipp. 742); but the later attempts to fix called by Hesiod a son of Astraeus and Eos, and
their abodes, and the geographical position of their was regarded, even by the ancients, as the same
gardens, have led poets and geographers to different as the morning star, whence both Homer and
parts of Libya, as in the neighbourhood of Cyrene, Hesiod call him the bringer of light, icoo-Jpos (II..Mount Atlas, or the islands on the western coast xxii. 317, xxiii. 226; comp. Plin. H. N. ii. 8;
of Libya (Plin. H. N. vi. 31, 36; Virg. Aen. iv. Mart. Capell. viii. ~ 882, &c., ed. Kopp.) Diodorus
480; Pomp. Mela, iii. 10), or even to the north- (iii. 60) calls him a son of Atlas, who was fond of
ern extremity of the earth, beyond the wind Boreas, astronomy, and once, after having ascended Mount
among the Hyperboreans. In their watch over the Atlas to observe the stars, he disappeared. He
golden apples they were assisted or superintended was worshipped with divine honours, and regarded
by the dragon Ladon. [L. S.] as the fairest star in the heavens. (Eratosth. Catast.
HESPE'RIUS, son of the poet Ausonius by his 24.) Hyginus (de Sign. Coel. 2) says that some
wife Attusia Lucana Sabina. We have no data called him a son of Eos and Cephalus. The Rofor fixing the year of his birth. He lost his mother mans designated him by the names Lucifer and
while he was young; but his education was care- Hesperus, to characterise him as the morning or
filly superintended by his father, who wrote evening star. [L. S.]
"Fasti," for the use of his son, and inscribed to him HE'STIA ('Elria, Ion.'Iar-l), the goddess of
his metrical catalogue of the Caesars. Hesperius the hearth, or rather the fire burning on the hearth,
received, probably from the emperor Gratian, who was regarded as one of the twelve great gods, and
was his father's pupil, the proconsulship of Africa, accordingly as a daughter of Cronus and Rhea.
which he held A. D. 376, and perhaps later. He According to the common tradition, she was the
was one of the persons appointed to inquire into first-born daughter of Rhea, and was therefore the
the malpractices of Count Romanus and his accom- first of the children that was swallowed by Cronus.
plices, and executed the task with equity, in con- (Hes. PTeog. 453, &c.; Hoem. Hymn. in Ven. 22;
junction with Flavianus, vicarius of the province. Apollod. i. 1. ~ 5.) She was, like Artemis and
[FLAVIANUS, No. 5.] He afterwards held the Athena, a maiden divinity, and when Apollo and
praetorian praefecture in conjunction (as we judge Poseidon sued for her hand, she swore by the head
from some expressions of Ausonius) with his father. of Zeus to remain a virgin for ever (Hom. IymR2n.
Valesius thinks they were joint praefecti praetorio in Ven. 24, &c.), and in this character it was that
Galliarum; Gothofred, that they were joint P. P. her sacrifices consisted of cows which were only one
of the whole western empire (comprehending the year old. The connection between Hestia and
praefectures of Gaul, Italy, and Illyrium), but Apollo and Poseidon, which is thus alluded to in
that Ausonius usually resided in Gaul, and Hespe- the legend, appears also in the temple of Delphi,
rius in Italy. There are extant several letters of wheri the three divinities were worshipped in
Symmachus addressed. to Hesperius; and from one common, and Hestia and Poseidon appeared toof these (lib. i. ep. 80) he appears to have been at gether also at Olympia. (Paus. v. 26. ~12, x. 5. ~ 3;:
Mediolanum (Milan), the usual seat of the P. P. Hom. Hymn. xxxi. 2.) As the hearth was looked
of Italy, but it is not clear that the letter was ad- upon as the sacred centre of domestic life, so Hestia.
dressed to him while he was praefect. Tillemont, was the goddess of domestic life and the giver of
who discusses the question in a careful, but unsatis- all domestic happiness and blessings, and as such
fiactory note, thinks that Ausonius first held the she was believed to dwell in the inner part of every
praefecture of Italy alone, and afterwards that of house (Hom. Hymn. in Ven. 30; Callim. Hymn. in
Gaul, in conjunction with Hesperius. In A. D. lDel. 325, in Cer. 129), and to have invented the
384, a Count Hesperius (apparently the son of art of building houses. (Diod. v. 68; Eustath. ad
Ausonius), was sent by the emperor Valentinian Hom. p. 735.) In this respect she appears often
II. on a mission to Rome, which he was enabled together with Hermes, who was likewise a dens
to see, and bear witness to the innocence of his penetralis, as protecting the works of man. (Hom.
friend Symmachus, Who, through some unjust Hymn. xxxii. 10 ~ Paus. x. 11. ~ 3.) As the hearth: