HORATII and CURIATII, in Roman legend, two sets of three brothers born at one birth on the same day—the former Roman, the latter Alban—the mothers being twin sisters. During the war between Rome and Alba Longa it was agreed that the issue should depend on a combat between the two families. Two of the Horatii were soon slain; the third brother feigned flight, and when the Curiatii, who were all wounded, pursued him without concert he slew them one by one. When he entered Rome in triumph, his sister recognized a cloak which he was wearing as a trophy as one she had herself made for her lover, one of the Curiatii. She thereupon invoked a curse upon her brother, who slew her on the spot. Horatius was condemned to be scourged to death, but on his appealing to the people his life was spared (Livy i. 25, 26; Dion. Halic. iii. 13-22). Monuments of the tragic story were shown by the Romans in the time of Livy (the altar of Janus Curiatius near the sororium tigillum, the “sister’s beam,” or yoke under which Horatius had to pass; and the altar of Juno Sororia). The legend was probably invented to account for the origin of the provocatio (right of appeal to the people), while at the same time it points to the close connexion and final struggle for supremacy between the older city on the mountain and the younger city on the plain. Their relationship and origin from three tribes are symbolically represented by the twin sisters and the two sets of three brothers.
For a critical examination of the story, see Schwegler, Römische Geschichte, bk. xii. 11. 14; Sir G. Cornewall Lewis, Credibility of Early Roman History, ch. xi. 15; W. Ihne, Hist. of Rome, i.; E. Pais, Storia di Roma, i. ch. 3 (1898), and Ancient Legends of Roman History (Eng. trans., 1906), where the story is connected with the ceremonies performed in honour of Jupiter Tigillus and Juno Sororia; C. Pascal, Fatti e legende di Roma antica (Florence, 1903); O. Gilbert, Geschichte und Topographie der Stadt Rom im Altertum (1883–1885).
HORATIUS COCLES, a legendary hero of ancient Rome.
With two companions he defended the Sublician bridge against
Lars Porsena and the whole army of the Etruscans, while the
Romans cut down the bridge behind. Then Horatius threw
himself into the Tiber and swam in safety to the shore. A
statue was erected in his honour in the temple of Vulcan, and
he received as much land as he could plough round in a single
day. According to another version, Horatius alone defended
the bridge, and was drowned in the Tiber.
There is an obvious resemblance between the legend of Horatius Cocles and that of the Horatii and Curiatii. In both cases three Romans come forward as the champions of Rome at a critical moment of her fortunes, and only one successfully holds his ground. In the one case, the locality is the land frontier, in the other, the boundary stream of Roman territory. E. Pais finds the origin of the story in the worship of Vulcan, and identifies Cocles (the “one-eyed”) with one of the Cyclopes, who in mythology were connected with Hephaestus, and later with Vulcan. He concludes that the supposed statue of Cocles was really that of Vulcan, who, as one of the most ancient Roman divinities and, in fact, the protecting deity of the state, would naturally be confounded with the hero who saved it by holding the bridge against the invaders. He suggests that the legend arose from some religious ceremony, possibly the practice of throwing the stuffed figures called Argei into the Tiber from the Pons Sublicius on the ides of May. The conspicuous part played in Roman history by members of the Horatian family, who were connected with the worship of Jupiter Vulcanus, will explain the attribution of the name Horatius to Vulcan-Cocles.
See Livy ii. 10; Dion. Halic. v. 23-25; Polybius vi. 55; Plutarch, Poplicola, 16. For a critical examination of the legend, see Schwegler, Römische Geschichte, bk. xxi. 18; W. Ihne, History of Rome, i.; E. Pais, Storia di Roma, i. ch. 4 (1898), and Ancient Legends of Roman History (Eng. trans., 1906).
HORDE, a manufacturing town of Germany, in the Prussian
province of Westphalia, is 2 m. S.E. from Dortmund on the
railway to Soest. Pop. (1905) 28,461. It has a Roman Catholic
and an Evangelical church, a synagogue and an old castle dating
from about 1300. There are large smelting-works, foundries,
puddling-works, rolling-mills and manufactures of iron and
plated wares. In the neighbourhood there are large iron and
coal mines. A tramway connects the town with Dortmund.
HOREB, the ancient seat of Yahweh, the tribal god of the
Kenites, adopted by His covenant by Israel. This is the name
preferred by the Elohistic writer (E) whose work is interwoven
into the Old Testament narrative, and he is followed by the
Deuteronomist school (D). The Yahwistic writer (J), on the
other hand, prefers to call the mountain Sinai (q.v.), and so
do the priestly writers (P). This latter form became the more
usual. There is no ground for distinguishing between Horeb
as the range and Sinai as the single mountain, or between Horeb
and Sinai as respectively the N. and S. parts of the range.
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HOREHOUND (O. Eng. harhune, Ger. Andorn, Fr. marrube). Common or white horehound, Marrubium vulgare, of the natural order Labiatae, is a perennial herb with a short stout rootstock, and thick stems, about 1 ft. in height, which, as well as their numerous branches, are coated with a white or hoary felt—whence the popular name of the plant. The leaves have long petioles, and are roundish or rhombic-ovate, with a bluntly toothed margin, much wrinkled, white and woolly below and pale green and downy above; the flowers are sessile, in dense whorls or clusters, small and dull-white, with a 10-toothed calyx and the upper lobe of the corolla long and bifid. The plant occurs in Europe, North Africa and West Asia to North-West India, and has been naturalized in parts of America. In Britain, where it is found generally on sandy or dry chalky ground, it is far from common. White horehound contains a volatile oil, resin, a crystallizable bitter principle termed marrubiin and other substances, and has a not unpleasant aromatic odour, and a persistent bitter taste. Formerly it was official in British pharmacopoeias; and the infusion, syrup or confection of horehound has long been in popular repute for the treatment of a host of dissimilar affections. Black horehound, Ballota nigra, is a hairy perennial herb, belonging to the same order, of foetid odour, is 2 to 3 ft. in height, and has stalked, roundish-ovate, toothed leaves and numerous flowers, in dense axillary clusters, with a green or purplish calyx, and a pale red-purple corolla. It occurs in Europe, North Africa and West Asia, and in Britain south of the Forth and Clyde, and has been introduced into North America.
HORGEN, a small town in the Swiss canton of Zürich, situated
on the left or west shore of the Lake of Zürich, and by rail
1012 m. S.E. of the town of Zürich. Pop. (1900) 6883, mostly
German-speaking and Protestants. It possesses many industrial
establishments of various kinds, and is a centre of the Zürich
silk manufacture. It came in 1406 into the possession of
Zürich, with which it communicates by means of steamers on
the lake, as well as by rail.
HORIZON (Gr. ὁρίζων, dividing), the apparent circle around
which the sky and earth seem to meet. At sea this circle is
well defined, the line being called the sea horizon, which divides
the visible surface of the ocean from the sky. In astronomy
the horizon is that great circle of the sphere the plane of which
is at right angles to the direction of the plumb line. Sometimes
a distinction is made between the rational and the apparent
horizon, the former being the horizon as determined by a plane
through the centre of the earth, parallel to that through the
station of an observer. But on the celestial sphere the great
circles of these two planes are coincident, so that this distinction
is not necessary (see Astronomy: Spherical). The Dip of the
horizon at sea is the angular depression of the apparent sea
