Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/458

Rh 444 HESPERIUS. dians of the golden apples which Ge had given to Hera at her marriage with Zeus. Their names are Aegle, Erytheia, Hestia, and Arethusa, but their descent is not the same in the different traditions ; sometimes they are called the daughters of Night or Erebus (Hes. Theog. 215 ; Hygin. Fah. init.), sometimes of Phorcys and Ceto (Schol. ad ApoUon. Rhod. iv. 1 399), sometimes of Atlas and Hesperis, whence their names Atlantides or Hesperides (Diod. iv. 27), and sometimes of Hesperus, or of Zeus and Themis. (Serv. ad Aen. iv. 484 ; Schol. ad Eu- rip. Hipp. 742.) Instead of the four Hesperides mentioned above, some traditions know only of three, viz. Hespere, Erytheis, and Aegle, or Aegle, Are- thusa, and Hesperusaor Hesperia (Apollon, Rhod. iv. 1427 ; Serv. L c. ; Stat. Theb. ii. 281) ; whereas others mention seven. (Diod. l. c. ; Hygin. Fab. init.) The poets describe them as possessed of the power of sweet song. (Hes. Tkeog. 518 ; Orph. Fragm. 17; Eurip. Here. Fur. 394; Apollon. Rhod. iv. 1399.) In the earliest legends, these nymphs are described as living on the river Oceanus, in the extreme west (Hes. Tlieog. 334, &c., 518 ; Eurip. Hifp. 742) ; but the later attempts to fix their abodes, and the geographical position of their gardens, have led poets and geographers to different parts of Libya, as in the neighbourhood of Cyrene, Mount Atlas, or the islands on the western coast of Libya (Plin. H.N. vi. 31, 36 ; Virg. Aen. iv. 480; Pomp. Mela, iii. 10), or even to the north- ern extremity of the earth, beyond the wind Boreas, among the Hyperboreans. In their watch over the golden apples they were assisted or superintended by the dragon Ladon. [L. S.] HESPE'RIUS, son of the poet Ausonius by his wife Attusia Lucana Sabina. We have no data for fixing the year of his birth. He lost his mother while he was young ; but his education was care- fully superintended by his father, who wrote " Fasti," for the use of his son, and inscribed to him his metrical catalogue of the Caesars. Hesperius received, probably from the emperor Gratian, who was his father's pupil, the proconsulship of Africa, which he held A. D. 376, and perhaps later. He was one of the persons appointed to inquire into the malpractices of Count Romanus and his accom- plices, and executed the task with equity, in con- junction with Flavianus, vicarius of the province. [Fi-AViANUS, No. 5.] He afterwards held the praetorian praefecture in conjunction (as we judge from some expressions of Ausonius) with his father. Valesius thinks they were joint praefecti praetoiio Galliarum ; Gothofred, that they were joint P. P. of the whole western empire (comprehending the praefectures of Gaul, Italy, and Illyrium), but that Ausonius usually resided in Gaul, and Hespe- rius in Italy. There are extant several letters of Symmachus addressed to Hesperius ; and from one of these (lib. i. ep. 80) he appears to have been at Mediolanum (Milan), the usual seat of the P. P. of Italy, but it is not clear that the letter was ad- dressed to him while he was praefect. Tillemont, who discusses the question in a carefid, but unsatis- factory note, thinks that Ausonius first held the praefecture of Italy alone, and afterwards that of Gaul, in conjunction with Hesperius. In A. D. 384, a Count Hesperius (apparently the son of Ausonius), was sent by the emperor Valentinian 1 1, on a mission to Rome, which he was enabled to see, and bear witness to the innocence of his friend Symmachus, who, through some unjust HESTIA. accusations, had incurred discredit at court. No- thing is known of him after this. Hesperius had at least three sons. One of them, Paulinus, distinguished as " the Penitent," author of a poem called Eucliaristicon or Carmen Eucliaris- ticum de Vita sua (sometimes ascribed, but incor- rectly, to the better known Paulinus of Nola), was born in Macedonia about A. D. 375 or 376, before his father's proconsulship of Africa, which renders it not unlikely that Hesperius then held some office under the Eastern emperor Valens. Another son, Pastor, died young, and is conmie- rtiorated in the Parenialia of Ausonius. (Annn. Marc, xxviii. 6; Symmach. Epist i. ^9 — 82, ed. Paris, 1604; Auson. Epigram, p. 79, ed. Vineti, Cae- sares Duodecirn., Eidyll. xxx., Parental, xi., Gratiur. Actio pro Cons. p. 377, 378, ed. Vineti ; Cod. Theod. 6. tit. 30. § 4 ; 7. tit. 18. § 2 ; 8 tit. 5. § 34 ; tit. 18. § 6 ; 10. tit. 20. § 10 ; 13. tit. 1. § 11 ; tit. 5. § 15 ; 15. tit. 7. § 3 ; 16. tit. 5. § 4, 5 ; Gotho- fred, Frosop. Cod. Theodos. ; Tillemont, Hist, des Emp. vol. V.) [J. C. M.] HE'SPERUS ("EtTTrepos), the evening-star, is called by Hesiod a son of Astraeus and Eos, and was regarded, even by the ancients, as the same as the morning star, whence both Homer and Hesiod call him the bringer of light, iwacpopos (11. xxii. 317, xxiii. 226 ; comp. Plin. H. N. ii. 8 ; Mart. Capell. viii. § 882, &c., ed. Kopp.) Diodorus (iii. 60) calls him a son of Atlas, who was fond of astronomy, and once, after having ascended Mount Atlas to observe the stars, he disappeared. He was worshipped with divine honours, and regarded as the fairest star in the heavens. (Eratosth. Catast. 24.) Hyginus (de Sign. Coel. 2) says that some called him a son of Eos and Cephalus. The Ro- mans designated him by the names Lucifer and Hesperus, to characterise him as the morning or evening star. [L. S.] HE'STIA ('Eo-Tio, Ion. 'larlv), the goddess of the hearth, or rather the fire burning on the hearth, was regarded as one of the twelve great gods, and accordingly as a daughter of Cronus and Rhea. According to the common tradition, she was the first-bom daughter of Rhea, and was therefore the first of the children that was swallowed by Cronus. (Hes. Theog. 453, &c. ; Hom. Hymn, in Yen. 22 ; ApoUod. i. 1. § 5.) She was, like Artemis and Athena, a maiden divinity, and when Apollo and Poseidon sued for her hand, she swore by the head of Zeus to remain a virgin for ever (Hom. Hymn, in Ven. 24, &c.), and in this character it was that her sacrifices consisted of cows which were only one year old. The connection between Hestia and Apollo and Poseidon, which is thus alluded to in the legend, appears also in the temple of Delphi, where the three divinities were worshipped in common, and Hestia and Poseidon appeared to- gether also at Olympia. (Paus. v. 26. § 2, x. 5. § 3 ; Hom. Hymn. xxxi. 2.) As the hearth was looked upon as the sacred centre of domestic life, so Hestia was the goddess of domestic life and the giver of all domestic happiness and blessings, and as such she was believed to dwell in the inner part of every hoiise (Horn. Hymn, in Ven. 30 ; Callim. Hymn, in Del. 325, in Cer. 129), and to have invented the art of building houses. (Diod. v. 68 ; Eustath. ad Hom. p. 735.) In this respect she appears often together with Hermes, who was likewise a deu^ penetralis^ as protecting the works of man. (Hom. Hymn, xxxii. 10 ; Paus. x. 1 1. § 3.) As the hearth