Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/486

Rh 472 HIMERAEUS. with judgment ; while his doctrines in dogmatic theology must be received with much caution, for Erasmus has clearly proved from several passages, which the Benedictine editors have in vain sought to explain away, that his expressions with regard to the nature of Christ are such as no orthodox divine could adopt. Among his contemporaries, however, and immediate successors his influence was powerful and his reputation high. Rufinus, Augustin, and Jerome speak of him with respect, and even admiration. A few of the opuscula of Hilarius, together with his work De Trinitate, and the treatise of Augustin upon the same subject, were printed at Milan, fol. 1489, by Leon. Pachel under the editorial inspec- tion of G. Cribellus, a presbyter of that city ; and this collection was reprinted at Venice in the course of the same century. More complete was the edition printed at Paris, fol. 1510, by Radius Ascensius, which, however, was greatly inferior to that of Erasmus, printed at Basle by Frobenius, fol., 1523, and reprinted in 152(5 and 1528. By far the best in every respect is that published by Constant, Paris, fol., 1693, forming one of the Benedictine series, and reprinted, with some ad- ditions, by Scipio Maffei, Veron., 2 vols, fol., 1730. (Our chief authorities for the life of Hilarius are an ancient biography by a certain Venantius Fortunatus, who must be distinguished from the Christian poet of the same name, consisting of two books, which, from the difference of style, many suppose to be from two different pens ; the short but valuable notice in Hieronymus, De Viris III. c. 100 ; and the Vita Hllarii ex ipsius potissi- mum Scriptis coUecta, prefixed to the Benedictine edition, in the Prolegomena to which all the early testimonies will be found.) [W. R.] HILDERIC ('lASeptx^O? king of the Vandals, son of Hunneric, and grandson of Hilderic, suc- cessor of Trasamund, reigned A. n. 523 — 530. He was of a gentle disposition, and by his lenity to the African Catholics won the favour of Justinian, though there is no reason for believing the assertion of Nicephorus (xvii. 11) that he was not an Arian. He was deposed, and finally murdered, by Gelimer. There is a scarce silver coin of this prince, bearing his head on the obverse, with d. n. hilderix rex, and the figure of a female on the reverse, with FELIX KART. (Procop. Bell. Vand. i. 9, 17; Eck- hel, vol. iv. p. 138.) [A. P. S.] HIMERAEUS {'IfiepaTos), of the borough of Phalerus in Attica, was son of Phanostratus, and brother of the celebrated Demetrius Phalereus. "We know but little of his life or political career, but it seems certain that he early adopted political views altogether opposed to those of his brother, and became a warm supporter of the anti-Mace- donian party at Athens. He is first mentioned as joining with Hyperides and others in prosecuting before the court of Areiopagus all those who were accused of having received bribes from Harpalus, Demosthenes among the rest. ( Vit. X. Oralt. p. 846 ; Phot. p. 494, a.) During the Lamian war he united zealously in the efforts of the Athenians to throw off the yoke of Macedonia, and was in consequence one of the orators whose surrender was exacted by Antipater after his victory at Cranon. To escape the fate that awaited him, he fled from Athens toy^egina, and took refuge, to- gether with Hyperides and Aristonicus, in the HIMERIUS. temple of Acacus ; but they were forced from thig sanctuary by Archias, and sent prisoners to Anti- pater, who immediately put them all to death, B. c. 322. (Plut. Dem! 28 ; Arrian, ap. Phot. p. Q^., b. ; Athen. xii. p. 542.) Lucian speaks very disparagingly of Himeraeus, as a mere demagogue, indebted to the circumstances of the moment for a temporary influence, {Encom. Demosth. 31.) Of the justice of this character we have no means of judging. [E. H. B.] HIME'RIUS {'l/j-f pios). 1. A celebrated Greek sophist of Prusa in Bithynia, where his father Amei- nias distinguished himself as a rhetorician. (Suid. s. V. 'Ifxepios.) According to the most correct calcu- lation, the life of Himerius belongs to the period from A. D. 315 to 386. He appears to have re- ceived his first education and instruction in rhe- toric in his father's house, and he then went to Athens, which was still the principal seat of intel- lectual culture, to complete his studies. It is not improbable that he there was a pupil of Proaere- sius, whose rival he afterwards became. (Eunap. Proaeres. p. 110.) Afterwards he travelled, ac- cording to the custom of the sophists of the time, in various parts of the East : he thus visited Con- stantinople, Nicomedeia, Lacedaemon, Thessalonica, Philippi, and other places, and in some of them he stayed for some time, and delivered his show speeches. At length, however, he returned to Athens, and settled there. He now began his career as a teacher of rhetoric, and at first gave only private instruction, but soon after he was appointed professor of rhetoric, and received a salary. (Phot. EM. Cod. 165. p. 109, ed. Bekk.) In this po- sition he acquired a very extensive reputation, and some of the most distinguished men of the time, such as Basilius and Gregorius Nazianzenus, were among his pupils. The emperor Julian, who like- wise heard him, probably during his visit at Athens in A. D. 355 and 356 (Eunap. Himer. ; Liban. Orat. x. p. 267, ed. Morel. ; Zosimus, Hist. Eccles. iii. 2), conceived so great an admiration for Hime- rius, that soon after he invited him to his court at Antioch, A. D. 362, and made him his secretary. (Tzetz. Chil. vi. 128.) Himerius did not return to Athens till after the death of his rival, Proaeresius (a. d. 368), although the emperor Julian had fallen five years before, a. d. 363. He there took his former position again, and distinguished himself both by his instruction and his oratory. He lived to an advanced age, but the latter years were not free from calamities, for he lost his only promising son, Rufinus, and was blind during the last period of his life. According to Suidas, he died in a fit of epilepsy (tep^ voaos). Himerius was a Pagan, and, like Libanius and other eminent men, remained a Pagan, though we do not perceive in his writings any hatred or animosity against the Christians ; he speaks of them with mildness and moderation, and seems, on the whole, to have been a man of an amiable dispo- sition. He was the author of a considerable num- ber of works, a part of which only has come down to us. Photius {Bill. Cod. 165, comp. 243) knew seventy-one orations and discourses on different subjects: but we now possess only twenty-four orations complete ; of thirty-six others we have only extracts in Photius, and of the remaining eleven we have only fragments. In his oratory Himerius took Aristeides for his model. The ex- tant orations are declamations and show speeches,