affairs was fully apparent in the ensuing campaign, in which, nevertheless, Antiochus, having followed the advice of Zeuxis, in opposition to that of Hermeias, defeated Molon in a pitched battle, and recovered the revolted provinces. But during the subsequent halt at Seleuceia, Hermeias had again an opportunity of displaying his evil disposition by the cruelties with which, notwithstanding the opposition of Antiochus, he stained the victory of the young king. Meanwhile, the birth of a son of Antiochus, by Laodice, is said to have excited in the mind of this profligate and ambitious minister the project of getting rid of the king himself, in order that he might rule with still more uncontrolled authority under the name of his infant son. This nefarious scheme was fortunately revealed in time to Antiochus, who had long regarded Hermeias with fear as well as aversion, and he now gladly availed himself of the assistance of his physician, Apollophanes, and others of his friends, to rid himself of his minister by assassination. Polybius, who is our sole authority for all the preceding facts, has drawn the character of Hermeias in the blackest colours, and represents his death as a subject of general rejoicing, though he considers his fate as a very inadequate punishment for his misdeeds. (Plb. 5.41-56.) [E. H. B.]
HERMEIAS (Ἑρμείας) 1. An iambic poet, a native of Curia in Cyprus. He was a contemporary of Alexander the Great, but only a few fragments of his productions have come down to us. (Athen. 13.563; Schneidewin, Delectus Poes. p. 242.)
2. Of Methymna in Lesbos, the author of a history of Sicily, the third book of which is quoted by Athenaeus (x. p. 438); but we know from Diodorus Siculus (15.37) that Hermeias related the history of Sicily down to the year B. C. 376, and that the whole work was divided into ten or twelve books. Stephanus Byzantius (s. v. Χαλκίς) speaks of a Periegesis of Hermeias, and Athenaeus (iv. p. 149) quotes the second book of a work Περὶ τοῦ Γρυνείον Ἀπόλλωνος, by one Hermeias, but whether both or either of them is identical with the historian of Sicily is quite uncertain.
3. A Christian writer, who seems to have lived in the latter half of the second century after Christ, and about the time of Tatianus. Respecting his life nothing is known, but we possess under his name a Greek work, entitled Διασυρμὸς τῶν ἔξω φιλοσόφων, in which the author holds the Greek philosophers up to ridicule. It is addressed to the friends and relations of the author, and is intended to guard them against the errors of the pagan philosophers. The author puts together the various opinions of philosophers on nature, the world, God, his nature, and relation to the world, the human soul, &c.; shows their discrepancies and inconsistencies, and thus proves their uselessness and insufficiency on those important questions. The author is not without considerable wit and talent, and his work is of some importance for the history of ancient philosophy. It is divided into nineteen chapters, and was first published with a Latin translation by Seiler at Zurich, 1553, 8vo., and again in 1560, fol. It was subsequently printed in several collections of ecclesiastical writers, e. g. in Morell's Tabul. Compendios. (Basel, 1580, 8vo. p. 189, &c.), in several editions of Justin Martyr, in the edition of Tatianus by W. Worth (Oxford, 1700, 8vo.), in the Auctarium Bibl. Patr. (Paris, 1624, fol.), and in Gallandi's Bibl. Patr. vol. ii. p. 68, &c. A separate edition, with notes by H. Wolf, Gale, and Worth, was published by J. C. Dommerich, Halle, 1764, 8vo. (Comp. Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol. vii. p. 114, &c.; Cave, Hist. Lit. vol. i. p. 50.) This Hermeias must not be confounded with Hermeias Sozomenus, the ecclesiastical historian [SOZOMENUS], nor with the Hermeias who is mentioned by St. Augustin (De Haeres. 59) as the founder of the heretical sect of the Henneians or Seleucians, who belongs to the fourth century after Christ. A few more persons of this name are mentioned by Fabricius. (Bibl. Graec. vol. vii. p. 114, &c) [L. S.]
HERMERICUS, king of the Suevi, who, in conjunction with the Vandals and Alans, entered Spain, A. D. 409. The Suevi occupied a considerable part of Gallaecia, in the N.W. part of Spain; but the rest of the Gallaecians retained their independence; and, though apparently unsupported by the troops of the empire, carried on an obstinate and desultory warfare with the invaders. In A. D. 419 war broke out between Hermeric and his former allies, the Vandals, who, under their king Gunderic, attacked the Suevi in the mountains of Nervasi or Nerbasis (Tillemont understands the mountains of Biscay, but we rather identify them with the mountains of Gallicia or of Portugal, N. of the Douro); but the Vandals were recalled to their own settlements in Baetica, by the advance of the Roman troops into Spain. In their retreat they had a severe conflict at Bracara (Braga), in which they slew many of the Suevi. In A. D. 431 Hermeric, who had coneluded peace with the independent portion of the Gallaecians, broke the treaty, and ravaged their territory; but, failing to reduce their strongholds, restored his captives, and renewed the peace. Next year (A. D. 432) he broke it again; and Idatius, the chronicler, was sent to Aёtius, the patrician, then in Gaul, to solicit help. In A. D. 433 Idatius, accompanied by Count Censorius, returned to Spain, and by his intervention peace was made, but was not ratified by the court of Valentinian III. In A. D. 437 Censorius was sent again to Hermeric, and in 438 peace was concluded. Hermeric resigned his crown the same year to his son Rechilda, having been suffering for four years from some disease, of which he died, three years after his abdication (A. D. 441). Isidore of Seville says he reigned 14 years, which, reckoned back from his abdication (A. D. 438), carries us to 424. As this was long after his invasion and settlement in Gallaccia, it perhaps marks the epoch of his recognition by the Romans of the Western Empire. (Idatius, Chromcon; Isid. Hispal. Histor. Suevor.; Tillemont, Hist. des Elmp. vol. v. vi.) [J.C. M.]
HERMES (Ἑρμῆς, Ἑρμείας, Dor. Ἑρμᾶς), a son of Zeus and Maia, the daughter of Atlas, was born in a cave of Mount Cyllene in Arcadia (Hom. Od. viii. 335, xiv. 435, xxiv. 1; Hymn. in Merc. 1, &c.; Ov. Met. i. 682, xiv. 291), whence he is called Atlantiades or Cyllenius; but Philostratus (Icon. 1.26) places his birth in Olympus. In the first hours after his birth, he escaped from his cradle, went to Pieiria, and carried off some of the oxen of Apollo. (Hom. Hymn. in Merc. 17.) In the Iliad and Odyssey this tradition is not mentioned, though Hermes is characterised as a cunning thief. (Il. v. 390, xxiv. 24.) Other accounts, again, refer the theft of the oxen to a more advanced period of the life of the god. (Apollod. iii.
