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

HIERONYMUS. HIERONYMUS. 459
dispatched him with numerous wounds, before his b., v. p. 217, d., x. p. 424, f. p. 435, a., xi. p. 499,
guards could come to his succour, B. c. 215. (Liv. f.,.xiii. p. 556, a. p. 557, e. p. 601, f. p. 604, d.;:xxiv. 4-7; Polyb. vii. 2-6.) Strab. viii. p. 378, ix. p. 443, x. p. 475, xiv. p. 655;
The short reign of Hieronymus, which had lasted Diog. Lairt. iv. 41, 45; Plut. Ages. 13, Arist. 27;
only 13 months, had presented the most striking Vossius, de Hist. Graec. pp. 82, 83, ed. Westercontrast to that of his grandfather. Brought up in mann; Fabric. Bibl. G-raec. vol. ii. p. 306, vol. iii.
the midst of all the enervating and corrupting in- p. 495, vol. vi. p. 131.)
fluences of a court, his naturally bad disposition, at 3. Very probably the same as the preceding, the
once weak and violent, felt them all in their full author of a work on poets, from the fifth book of
force; and he exhibited to the Greeks the first in- which (lepl iciOap~ibdv), and from another book
Stance of a childish tyrant. From the moment of of it (Iep! Tc'~v Tpayq6o7roiczxv), there are quohis accession he gave himself up to the influence of tations. (Athen. xiv. p. 635, f.; Apost. Prov. xi.
flatterers, who urged him to the vilest excesses: 41; Suidas, s. v.'Avayvpdalos.) Perhaps he is
lie assumed at once all the external pomp of royalty the same person as the author of a commentary on
which Hieron had so studiously avoided; and the'ATrtvs of Hesiod. (Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol. i.
while he plunged in the most shameless manner p. 582.) [P. S.]
into every species of luxury and debauchery, he HIERO'NYMUS, commonly known as SAINT
displayed the most unrelenting cruelty towards all JEROME. EUSEBIUS HIERONY'MUS SOPHROthose who became objects of his suspicion. Poly- NIUS was a native of Stridon, a town upon the
bius indeed appears inclined to doubt the state- confines of Dalmatia and Pannonia, which having.
ments on this subject; and it is not improbable been utterly destroyed by the Goths in A. D. 377,
that they may have been exaggerated by the its site cannot now be determined. His parents
writers to whom he refers: but there is certainly were both Christian, living, it would appear, in
nothing in the nature of the case to justify his easy circumstances. The period of his birth is a
scepticism; and the example, in later days, of Ela- matter of considerable doubt. Prosper Aquitagabalus, to whose character that of Hieronymus nicus, in his chronicle, fixes upon the year A. D.
appears to have borne much resemblance, is suffi- 331; Dupin brings down the event as low as 345;
cient to show how little any excesses that are re- while other writers have decided in favour of variported of the latter can be called incredible. Among ous intermediate epochs. That the first of the
other instances of his wanton contempt of public above dates is too early seems certain, for Jerome,
decency, he is said to have married a common in the commentary upon Habbakuk (c. 3), speaks
prostitute, on whom he bestowed the title and of himself as having been still occupied with gramhonours of a queen. (Polyb. vii. 7; Liv. xxiv. 5; matical studies at the death of Julian the apostate;
Diod. Exe. Vales. xxvi. p. 568, 569; Athen. vi. but since this took place in 363, he must, accordp. 251, xiii. p. 577; Val. Max. iii. 3. Ext. ~ 5.) ing to the statement of Prosper, have been at that
The coins of Hieronymus are more abundant time thirty-two years old, while the calculation
than might have been expected from the shortness adopted by Du Pin would make him just eighteen,
of his reign: they all bear his portrait on the ob- an age corresponding much better with the expresverse, and a thunderbolt on the reverse. [E. H. B.] sions employed, unless we are to receive them in a
very extended acceptation. After having acquired
- - the first rudiments of a liberal education from his
/ 11 father, Eusebius, he was despatched to Rome for
the prosecution of his studies, where he devoted
himself with great ardour and success to the Greek
4 himseand Latin languages, to rhetoric, an d to the different
branches of philosophy, enjoying the instructions of
the most distinguished preceptors of that era, among
whom was Aelius Donatus [DONATUS]. Having
been admitted to the rite of baptism, he undertook
a journey into Gaul, accompanied by his friend and
COIN OF HIERONYMUS. schoolfellow Bonosus; and after a lengthened tour,
passed some time at Treves, where he occupied
HIERO'NYMUS ('Iepw'vvuos), literary. 1. himself in transcribing the commentaries of HilaSon of Xenophanes, a tragic and dithyrambic poet, rius upon the Psalms, and his voluminous work
who is attacked by Aristophanes (Achlarn. 387, Nub. upon Synods. Here too he seems to have been,
347, and Schol.; Suid. s. v. KAEiros). for the first time, impressed with a deep religious
2. Of Rhodes, commonly called a peripatetic, feeling, to have formed a steadfast resolution to
though Cicero questions his right to the title, was amend his career, which had hitherto been somea disciple of Aristotle, and contemporary with Ar- what irregular, and to have resolved to devote
cesilaiis, about B. C. 300. He appears to have lived himself with zeal to the interests of Christianity.
down to the time of Ptolemy Philadelphus. He is Upon quitting Gaul, he probably returned to Rome;
frequently mentioned by Cicero, who tells us that but in 370 we find him living at Aquileia, in close
he held the highest good to consist in freedom intimacy with Rufinus and Chromatius; and at
from pain and trouble, and denied that pleasure this time he composed his first theological essay,
was to be sought for its own sake. There are the letter to Innocentius, De Moliere septies perquotations from his writings nlEpl 406ols, o'reopucda cussa. Having been compelled by some violent
Troluv4'uata or rcA o7ropd"S7jv vJro0ve1sava, and cause, now unknown (Subitus turbo me a latere tuo
from his letters. It would seem from Cicero (Or. convulsit, Ep. iii. ad JRuf.), suddenly to quit this
56), compared with Rufinus (de Comp. et Metr. p. abode in 373, he set out for the East, along with
318), that he was the same as the Hieronymus Innocentius, Evagrius, and Heliodorus, and trawho wrote on numbers and feet. (Athen. ii. p. 48t, versing Thrace, Bithynia, Galatia, Pontus, Cappa