that apocryphal book, as he calls it, which in his "Catalogue of Writers," he had fo highly applauded. Tertullian, who fpake of it decently, if not honourably, while a catholic, rejected it with fcorn, after he was turned montanist [M]: and most of the other fathers, who have spoken of it well themfelves, yet plainly enough infinuate, that there were others who did not put the fame value upon it. The moderns in general have not esteemed it fo highly; and, indeed, as Dupin obferves [N], "whether we confider the manner it is written in, or the matter it contains, it does not appear to merit much regard." The first part, for it is divided into three, is called "Visions," and contains many vifions, which are explained to Hermas by a woman, who reprefents the church. Thefe vifions regard the ftate of the church, and the manners of the Chriftians. The fecond, which is the most useful, is called "Commands," and comprehends many moral and pious inftructions, delivered to Hermas by an angel: and the third is called "Similitudes." Many useful leffons are taught in these books, but the visions, allegories, and fimilitudes, are apt to tire; and Hermas had probably been more agreeable as well as more profitable, if he had enforced his precepts with that fimplicity with which the apostles themselves were content. The original Greek of this piece is loft, and we have nothing but a Latin verfion of it, except fome fragments preserved in the quotations of other authors; which, it is obfervable, are fufficient to evince the fidelity of this verfion. The best edition of it is that of 1698; where it is to be found among the other apoftolical fathers, illuftrated with the notes and corrections of Cotelerius and Le Clerc. With them also it was tranflated into English by archbishop Wake, and published with a large preliminary difcourfe relating to each father; the best edition of which tranflation is that of 1710. HERMES, an Egyptian legiflator, prieft, and philofopher, lived, as fome think, in the year of the world 2076, in the reign of Ninus, after Mofes: and was fo fkilled in all profound arts and fciences, that he acquired the furname of Trifinegiftus, or "thrice great.' Clemens Alexandrinus has given us an account of his writings, and a catalogue of fome of them [o]; fuch as, the book containing the Hymns of the Gods; another. "De rationibus vitæ regiæ;" four more "De aftrologia," that is, "De ordine fixarum ftellarum, & de conjunctione & illuminatione Solis & Lunæ; ten more, entitled, "Iɛparina," or which treat of laws, of the gods, and of the whole doctrine and. difcipline of the priests. Upon the whole, Clemens makes Hermes the author of thirty-fix books of divinity and philo [M] De Orat. e. xii. De Pudic. c. x. P. 28. [o] Strom. lib. vi, [N] Biblioth. des Aut. Ecclef. Tom. 1. sophy, fophy, and fix of phyfic; but they are all loft. There goes indeed one under his name, whofe title is "Poemander;" but this is agreed by all to be fuppofititious, and Cafaubon imagines it to be written about the beginning of the fecond century, by fome Platonizing Chriftian; who, to enforce Chriftianity with a better grace upon Pagans [P], introduces Hermes Trifmegiftus delivering, as it were long before, the greatest part of thofe doctrines which are comprifed in the Chriftian's creed. This philofopher has stood exceedingly high in the opinion of mankind, ancients as well as moderns; higher perhaps than he would have done if his works had been extant; for there is an advantage in being not known too much. Very great things, however, have been faid of him in all ages. Thus Plato tells us [Q], that he was the inventor of letters, of ordinary writing, and hieroglyphics. Cicero fays, that he was governor of Egypt, and invented letters, as well as delivered the first laws to the people of that country [R]. Suidas fays, that he flourished before Pharaoh, and acquired the furname of Trismegiftus, becaufe he gave out fomething oracular concerning the Trinity. Though the ancients are by no means precife in their encomiums, yet they seem to have conceived a wonderful opinion of him; and the moderns have done the fame. Hermes, fays Gyraldus, was called Thrice Great, because he was the greatest philofopher, the greatest prieft, and the greatest king[s]. Polydore Vergil obferves, that he divided the day into twelve hours, from his obfervation of a certain animal confecrated to Serapis by the Egyptians, which made water twelve times a day at a certain interval[T]: fuch was his marvellous fagacity and infight into things! Laftly, when the great lord chancellor Bacon, endeavoured to do juftice to the merits of our James I. he could think of no better means for this purpose, than by comparing him to Hermes Trismegiftus. These are his words addreffed to that king, in the entrance of his immortal work "De Augmentis Scientiarum:" "Tuæ vero majeftati etiam illud accedit, quod in eodem pectoris tui fcrinio facræ literæ cum profanis recondantur; adeo ut cum Hermete illo Trifmegifto triplici gloria infigniaris, poteftate regis, illuminatione facerdotis, eruditione philofophi:" that is," but this is peculiar to your majefty, that the treasures of facred as well as profane learning are all repofited in your royal breast; so that you may juftly be compared to that famous Hermes Trifmegiftus of old, who was at once diftinguifhed by the glory of a king, the illuminations of a priest, and the learning of a philofopher." [P] Exercitat. 1. in Baron. Num. 10, P.75 [2] In Phaedro & Philebo. [R] De Narur. Deor. 1. iii. IT] De Invent. Rer. I. ii. c. 5. HERMO. HERMOGENES, of Tarfus, a Greek rhetorician of the fecond century, a remarkable inftance of early maturity and early deficiency of talents. At fifteen he taught rhetoric publicly; at feventeen he wrote his art of rhetoric; and at twenty, two books tegi idɛav, or on oratorical forms: but in his twentyfifth year he loft his memory, and the faculty of fpeech, which he never recovered, though he lived to be old. Antiochus the fophift, therefore faid of him, "that he was an old man in his infancy, and an infant in his age." Of his book on oratory, which confifted of five parts, the first part only is loft. There are extant alfo, 2. De inventione Oratoriâ," four books. 3. De formis," above-mentioned. 4. "Methodus apti et ponderofi generis dicendi." These were published by Aldus in 1509, with the other Greek rhetoricians, and in two or three fubfequent editions. The beft is that of Gafpar Laurentius, publifhed at Geneva, in 1614, in 8vo. He flourished after A. D. 161. HERMOGENES, an heretic of the fecond century, was a native of Africa, a painter, and ftoic philofopher. He was ftill alive in the days of Tertullian, according to Fleury. Tillemont makes him flourish in the year 200; but according to Du Frefnoy, he did not preach his erroneous opinions concerning the origin of the world, and the nature of the foul, till the year 208. He established matter as the first principle, and made Idea the mother of all the elements; for which reafon his followers were commonly called Materiarians. By his affertion of the self-existence and improduction of matter, he endeavoured to give an account (as ftoic philofophers had done before him) of the original of evils, and to free God from the imputation of them. He argued thus: God made all things either out of himfelf, or out of nothing, or out of pre-exiftent matter. He could not make all things out of himself, becaufe, himself being always unmade, he fhould then really have been the maker of nothing: and he did not make all out of nothing, because, being effentially good, he would have made every thing in the best manner, and fo there could have been no evil in the world: but fince there are evils, and these could not proceed from the will of God, they must needs rife from the fault of fomething, and therefore of the matter out of which things were made. Some modern fects do alfo, at this day, affert the uncreatedness of matter; but these fuppofe, as the ftoics did, body to be the only fubftance. Seleucus and Hermias embraced the fame opinion. His followers denied the refurrection, rejected water-baptifm, afferted that angels were compofed of fire and fpirit, and were the creators of the foul of man; and that Christ, as he afcended, divested himself of human nature, and left his body in the fun. Tertullian has written against him. VOL. VIII. F HEROD HEROD the Great, fo called rather from his power and talents, than his goodness, was a native of Ascalon in Judea, and thence fometimes called the Afcalonite. He was born seventy years before the Christian æra, the son of Antipater an Idumean, who appointed him to the government of Galilee. He at first embraced the party of Brutus and Caffius, but, after their death, that of Antony. By him he was named tetrarch, and afterwards, by his intereft, king of Judea in the year 40, A. C. After the battle of Actium, he fo fuccefsfully paid his court to Auguftus, that he was by him confirmed in his kingdom. On all occafions he proved himself an able politician, and a good foldier. But he was far from being mafter of his paffions, and his rage very frequently was directed against his own family. Ariftobulus, brother to his beloved wife Mariamne, her venerable grandfather Hyrcanus, and finally the herself, fell victims to his jealousy and fury. His keen remorfe for her death rendered him afterwards yet more cruel. He put to death her mother Alexandra, and many others of his family. His own fons Alexander and Ariftobulus, having excited his fufpicions, he destroyed them also, which made Auguftus fay, that it was better to be Herod's hog than his fon. Among his good actions was the rebuilding of the temple at Jerufalem, which he performed in nine years, with great magnificence; and in the time of a famine he fold many valuable and curious articles he had collected, to relieve the fufferers. To Auguftus he paid the utmost adulation, and even divine honours. At the birth of our Saviour, his jealousy was fo much excited by the prophetic intimations of his greatness, that he flaughtered all the infants in Bethlehem, in hopes of destroying him among the number. But his tyranny was now nearly at an end, and two or three years after the birth of Christ he died of a miserable difeafe at the age of more than 70. He had nine or ten wives, of which number Mariamne was the fecond. A little before his death, foured yet more by his acute fufferings, he attempted a greater act of cruelty than any he had performed in his former life. He fent for all the most confiderable perfons in Judea, and ordered that as foon as he was dead they should all be maffacred, that every great family in the country might weep for hin. But this favage order was not executed. Some have fuppofed that he affumed the character of the Meffiah, and that the perfons who admitted that claim were those called in the gospel Herodians. But this is by no means certain. Herod was the first who fhook the foundations of the Jewish government. He appointed the high-priests, and removed them at his pleasure, without regard to the laws of fucceffion, and he deftroyed the authority of the national council. But by his credit with Augaftus, by his power, and the very magnificent buildings he erected, he gave a temporary fplendor to that nation. His fon, Herod 3 Antipas Antipas (by his fifth wife Cleopatra) was tetrarch of Galilee after his death. HERODIAN, a Greek hiftorian, who flourished under the reigns of Severus, Caracalla, Heliogabalus, Alexander, and Maximin. His hiftory contains eight books; at the beginning of the first of which he declares, that he will only write of the affairs of his own time, fuch as he had either known himself, or received information of from creditable perfons: and for this he was indeed very well qualified, on account of the public employments in which he was engaged, for he might boast of having paffed through the greateft offices of the flate. About the end of his fecond book he acquaints us, that his history shall comprehend a period of 72 years, and relate the government of all the emperors that fucceeded one another, from the reign of Marcus Aurelius Antonius the philofopher, to that of the younger Gordianus: and accordingly his eighth book ends with the unworthy flaughter of the two old men Balbinus and Maximin, which was committed on them by the Prætorian foldiers, for the fake of advancing Gordian to the throne. Herodian may be ranked with the best hiftorians, and is remarkable for good faith and freedom of fentiment. His faith, however, has been thought by the critics to 'be less strict when he comes to Alexander and Maximin, and he has been blamed for want of due exactnefs in chronological notices. His ftyle is neat, perfpicuous, and pleafing, occafionally eloquent, particularly in the fpeeches he inferts, which are concife but full of acuteness, and importance. Herodian was tranflated into Latin by Angelus Politianus, and may therefore be read, as the Camdenian profeffor obferved [u], either in Greek or Latin; "for," fays he, "I don't know which of the two deferves the greater praife; Herodian, for writing fo well in his own language, or Politian, for tranflating him fo happily, as to make him appear like an original in a foreign one. This, however, is paying no fmall compliment to Politian; for Photius [x] tells us, that Herodian's style is very elegant and perfpicuous; and adds, to com~ plete his character, that, confidering all the virtues of an hiftorian, there are few to whom Herodian ought to give place. Julius Capitolinus mentions Herodian, in his "Life of Clodius Albinus," as a good hiftorian; but accufes him, in his "two Maximins," of bearing too hard upon the memory of Alexander Severus, and his mother Mammea. This charge however does not feem to be well fupported, and Caufabon and Boecler [x] incline to acquit him of it. It is remarkable, that he speaks [v] Whear de legend. Hift. &c. p. 74. Cant. 1684. [x] Bibliothec. c. 99. [x] Cauf. in notis ad Gapit. in Maxim. Bacl. præfat. in Herod. F 2 very |