immense riches. _Juvenal_, satire 2, li. 58.
=Histiæa=, a city of Eubœa, anciently called Talantia. It was near the
promontory called Ceneum. _Homer_, _Iliad_, bk. 2.
=Histiæōtis=, a country of Thessaly, situate below mount Olympus and
mount Ossa, anciently called Doris, from Dorus the son of Deucalion,
and inhabited by the Pelasgi. The Pelasgi were driven from the
country by the Cadmeans, and these last were also dispossessed by
the Perrhæbeans, who gave to their newly acquired possessions the
name of Histiæotis, or Estiæotis, from Estiæa, or Histiæa, a town of
Eubœa, which they had then lately destroyed, and whose inhabitants
they had carried to Thessaly with them. _Strabo._――_Herodotus_,
bk. 4.――――A small country of Eubœa, of which Histiæa, or Estiæa,
was the capital.
=Histiæus=, a tyrant of Miletus, who excited the Greeks to take up
arms against Persia. _Herodotus_, bk. 5, &c.――――An historian of
Miletus.
=Histria.= _See:_ Istria.
=Hodius=, a herald in the Trojan war.
=Holŏcron=, a mountain of Macedon.
=Homeromastix=, a surname given to Zoilus the critic.
=Hŏmērus=, a celebrated Greek poet, the most ancient of all the
profane writers. The age in which he lived is not known, though
some suppose it to be about 168 years after the Trojan war, or,
according to others, 160 years before the foundation of Rome.
According to Paterculus, he flourished 968 years before the
christian era, or 884, according to Herodotus, who supposes him
to be contemporary with Hesiod. The Arundelian Marbles fix his
era 907 years before Christ, and make him also contemporary with
Hesiod. This diversity of opinions proves the antiquity of Homer;
and the uncertainty prevails also concerning the place of his
nativity. No less than seven illustrious cities disputed the right
of having given birth to the greatest of poets, as it is well
expressed in these lines:
_Smyrna, Chios, Colophon, Salamis, Rhodos, Argos, Athenæ,
Orbis de patriâ certat, Homere, tuâ._
He was called _Melesigenes_, because supposed to be born on the
borders of the river Meles. There prevailed a report that he had
established a school at Chios in the latter part of his life; and,
indeed, this opinion is favoured by the present inhabitants of the
island, who still glory in showing to travellers the seats where
the venerable master and his pupils sat in the hollow of a rock,
at the distance of about four miles from the modern capital of the
island. These difficulties and doubts have not been removed, though
Aristotle, Herodotus, Plutarch, and others have employed their pen
in writing his life. In his two celebrated poems, called the Iliad
and Odyssey, Homer has displayed the most consummate knowledge of
human nature, and rendered himself immortal by the sublimity, the
fire, sweetness, and elegance of his poetry. He deserves a greater
share of admiration when we consider that he wrote without a model,
and that none of his poetical imitators have been able to surpass,
or, perhaps, to equal their great master. If there are any faults
found in his poetry, they are to be attributed to the age in which
he lived, and not to him; and we must observe that the world is
indebted to Homer for his happy successor Virgil. In his Iliad,
Homer has described the resentment of Achilles, and its fatal
consequences in the Grecian army, before the walls of Troy. In the
Odyssey, the poet has chosen for his subject the return of Ulysses
into his country, with the many misfortunes which attended his
voyage after the fall of Troy. These two poems are each divided into
24 books, the same number as the letters of the Greek alphabet, and
though the Iliad claims an uncontested superiority over the Odyssey,
yet the same force, the same sublimity and elegance, prevail, though
divested of its most powerful fire; and Longinus, the most refined
of critics, beautifully compares the Iliad to the mid-day, and the
Odyssey to the setting sun, and observes, that the latter still
preserves its original splendour and majesty, though deprived of
its meridian heat. The poetry of Homer was so universally admired,
that, in ancient times, every man of learning could repeat with
facility any passage in the Iliad or Odyssey; and, indeed, it was
a sufficient authority to settle disputed boundaries, or to support
any argument. The poems of Homer are the compositions of a man who
travelled and examined with the most critical accuracy whatever
deserved notice and claimed attention. Modern travellers are
astonished to see the different scenes which the pen of Homer
described about 3000 years ago still existing in the same unvaried
form, and the sailor who steers his course along the Ægean, sees all
the promontories and rocks which appeared to Nestor and Menelaus,
when they returned victorious from the Trojan war. The ancients had
such veneration for Homer, that they not only raised temples and
altars to him, but offered sacrifices, and worshipped him as a god.
The inhabitants of Chios celebrated festivals every fifth year in
his honour, and medals were struck, which represented him sitting
on a throne, holding his Iliad and Odyssey. In Egypt his memory was
consecrated by Ptolemy Philopator, who erected a magnificent temple,
within which was placed a statue of the poet, beautifully surrounded
with a representation of the seven cities which contended for the
honour of his birth. The inhabitants of Cos, one of the Sporades,
boasted that Homer was buried in their island; and the Cyprians
claimed the same honour, and said that he was born of Themisto, a
female native of Cyprus. Alexander was so fond of Homer, that he
generally placed his compositions under his pillow, with his sword;
and he carefully deposited the Iliad in one of the richest and most
valuable caskets of Darius, observing that the most perfect work of
human genius ought to be preserved in a box the most valuable and
precious in the world. It is said that Pisistratus tyrant of Athens
was the first who collected and arranged the Iliad and Odyssey in
the manner in which they now appear to us; and that it is to the
well-directed pursuits of Lycurgus that we are indebted for their
preservation. Many of the ancients have written the life of Homer,
yet their inquiries and labours have not much contributed to prove
the native place, the patronage and connections, of a man whom
some have represented as deprived of sight. Besides the Iliad and
Odyssey, Homer wrote, according to the opinion of some authors,
a poem upon Amphiaraus’s expedition against Thebes, besides the
Phoceis, the Cercopes, the small Iliad, the Epicichlides, and the
Batrachomyomachia, and many hymns to some of the gods. The merit
of originality is taken, very improperly perhaps, from Homer, by
those who suppose, with Clement of Alexandria, bk. 6 _Stromateis_,
that he borrowed from Orpheus, or that, according to Suidas [_voce_
Corinnus], he took his plan of the Iliad from Corinnus, an epic poet,
who wrote on the Trojan war, at the very time the Greeks besieged
that famed city. Agathon, an ancient painter, according to Ælian,
represented the merit of the poet in a manner as bold as it was
indelicate. Homer was represented as vomiting, and all other
poets as swallowing what he ejected. Of the numerous commentaries
published on Homer, that of Eustathius bishop of Thessalonica is
by far the most extensive and erudite. The best editions of Homer’s
Iliad and Odyssey may, perhaps, be found to be by Barnes, 2 vols.,
4to, Cambridge, 1711; that of Glasgow, 2 vols., folio, 1758; that
of Berglerus, 2 vols., 12mo, Amsterdam, 1707; that of Dr. Clarke of
the Iliad, 2 vols., 4to, 1729, and that of the Odyssey, 1740; and
that of Oxford, 5 vols., 8vo, 1780, containing the scholia, hymns,
and an index. _Herodotus_, bk. 2, ch. 53.――_Theocritus_, poem 16.
――_Aristotle_, _Poetics_.―― _Strabo._――_ Dio Chrysostom_, bk. 33,
_Orationes_.――_Pausanias_, bks. 2, 9, 10.――_Heliodorus_, bk. 3.
――_Ælian_, _Varia Historia_, bk. 13.――_Valerius Maximus_, bk. 8,
ch. 8.――_Quintilian_, bks. 1, 8, 10, 12.――_Paterculus_, bk. 1, ch. 5.
――_Dionysius of Halicarnassus._――_Plutarch_, _Alexander_, &c.――――One
of the Greek poets called Pleiades, born at Hierapolis, B.C. 263.
He wrote 45 tragedies, all lost.――――There were seven other poets,
of inferior note, who bore the name of Homer.
=Homŏle=, a lofty mountain of Thessaly, once the residence of the
Centaurs. _Virgil_, _Æneid_, bk. 7, li. 675.
=Homŏlea=, a mountain of Magnesia.
=Homolippus=, a son of Hercules and Xanthis. _Apollodorus._
=Homoloides=, one of the seven gates of Thebes. _Statius_, _Thebiad_,
bk. 7, li. 252.
=Homonadenses=, a people of Cilicia.
=Honōrius=, an emperor of the western empire of Rome, who succeeded
his father Theodosius the Great, with his brother Arcadius. He
was neither bold nor vicious, but he was of a modest and timid
disposition, unfit for enterprise, and fearful of danger. He
conquered his enemies by means of his generals, and suffered himself
and his people to be governed by ministers who took advantage
of their imperial master’s indolence and inactivity. He died of
a dropsy in the 39th year of his age, 15th of August, A.D. 423.
He left no issue, though he married two wives. Under him and his
brother the Roman power was divided into two different empires.
The successors of Honorius, who fixed their residence at Rome, were
called the emperors of the west, and the successors of Arcadius,
who sat on the throne of Constantinople, were distinguished by the
name of emperors of the eastern Roman empire. This division of power
proved fatal to both empires, and they soon looked upon one another
with indifference, contempt, and jealousy.
=Honour=, a virtue worshipped at Rome. Her first temple was erected
by Scipio Africanus, and another was afterwards built by Claudius
Marcellus. _Cicero_, _de Natura Deorum_, bk. 2, ch. 23.
=Hora=, a goddess at Rome, supposed to be Hersilia, who married Romulus.
She was said to preside over beauty. _Ovid_, _Metamorphoses_, bk. 14,
li. 851.
=Horacitæ=, a people near Illyricum.
=Horapollo=, a Greek writer, whose age is unknown. His _Hieroglyphica_,
a curious and entertaining book, has been edited by Cornelius de
Pauw, 4to, Utrecht, 1727.
=Horæ=, three sisters, daughters of Jupiter and Themis, according to
Hesiod called Eunomia, Dice, and Irene. They were the same as the
seasons who presided over the spring, summer, and winter, and were
represented by the poets as opening the gates of heaven and of
Olympus. _Homer_, _Iliad_, bk. 5, li. 749.――_Pausanias_, bk. 5,
ch. 11.――_Hesiod_, _Theogony_, li. 902.
=Horātia=, the sister of Horatii, killed by her brother for mourning
the death of the Curiatii. _Cicero_, _de Inventione_, bk. 2, ch. 20.
=Hŏrātius Cocles.= _See:_ Cocles.――――Quintus Flaccus, a celebrated
poet, born at Venusia. His father was a freedman, and though poor
in his circumstances, he liberally educated his son, and sent him to
learn philosophy at Athens, after he had received the lessons of the
best masters at Rome. Horace followed Brutus from Athens, and the
timidity which he betrayed at the battle of Philippi so effectually
discouraged him, that he for ever abandoned the profession of arms,
and at his return to Rome he applied himself to cultivate poetry.
His rising talents claimed the attention of Virgil and Varius,
who recommended him to the care of Mecænas and Augustus, the most
celebrated patrons of literature. Under the fostering patronage of
the emperor and of his minister, Horace gave himself up to indolence
and refined pleasure. He was a follower of Epicurus, and while
he liberally indulged his appetites, he neglected the calls of
ambition, and never suffered himself to be carried away by the
tide of popularity or public employments. He even refused to become
the secretary of Augustus, and the emperor was not offended at his
refusal. He lived at the table of his illustrious patrons as if he
were in his own house; and Augustus, while sitting at his meals
with Virgil at his right hand, and Horace at his left, often
ridiculed the short breath of the former, and the watery eyes
of the latter, by observing that he sat between tears and sighs,
_Ego sum inter suspiria et lacrymas_. Horace was warm in his
friendship, and if ever any ill-judged reflection had caused offence,
the poet immediately made every concession which could effect
a reconciliation, and not destroy the good purposes of friendly
society. Horace died in the 57th year of his age, B.C. 8. His gaiety
was suitable to the liveliness and dissipation of a court; and his
familiar intimacy with Mecænas has induced some to believe that the
death of Horace was violent, and that he hastened himself out of
the world to accompany his friend. The 17th ode of his second book,
which was written during the last illness of Mecænas, is too serious
to be considered as a poetical rhapsody or unmeaning effusion, and
indeed, the poet survived the patron only three weeks, and ordered
his bones to be buried near those of his friend. He left all his
possessions to Augustus. The poetry of Horace, so much commended
for its elegance and sweetness, is deservedly censured for the
licentious expressions and indelicate thoughts which he too
frequently introduces. In his odes he has imitated Pindar and
Anacreon; and if he has confessed himself to be inferior to the
former, he has shown that he bears the palm over the latter by his
more ingenious and refined sentiments, by the ease and melody of
his expressions, and by the pleasing variety of his numbers. In his
satires and epistles, Horace displays much wit, and much satirical
humour, without much poetry, and his style, simple and unadorned,
differs little from prosaical composition. In his art of poetry
he has shown much taste and judgment, and has rendered in Latin
hexameters what Aristotle had, some ages before delivered to his
pupils in Greek prose. The poet gives judicious rules and useful
precepts to the most powerful and opulent citizens of Rome, who,
in the midst of peace and enjoyment, wished to cultivate poetry and
court the muses. The best editions of Horace will be found to be
that of Basil, folio, 1580, illustrated by 80 commentators; that of
Baxter’s, edited by Gesner, 8vo, Lipscomb, 1752; and that of Glasgow,
12mo, 1744. _Suetonius_, _Augustus_.――_Ovid_, _Tristia_, bk. 4,
poem 10, li. 49.――――Three brave Romans, born at the same birth, who
fought against the three Curiatii, about 667 years before Christ.
This celebrated fight was fought between the hostile camps of the
people of Alba and Rome, and on their success depended the victory.
In the first attack two of the Horatii were killed, and the only
surviving brother, by joining artifice to valour, obtained an
honourable trophy. By ♦pretending to fly from the field of battle,
he easily separated his antagonists, and, in attacking them one by
one, he was enabled to conquer them all. As he returned victorious
to Rome, his sister reproached him with the murder of one of the
Curiatii, to whom she was promised in marriage. He was incensed
at the rebuke, and killed his sister. This violence raised the
indignation of the people; he was tried and capitally condemned.
His eminent services, however, pleaded in his favour; the sentence
of death was exchanged for a more moderate, but more ignominious
punishment, and he was only compelled to pass under the yoke. A
trophy was raised in the Roman forum, on which he suspended the
spoils of the conquered Curiatii. _Cicero_, _de Inventione_, bk. 2,
ch. 26.――_Livy_, bk. 1, ch. 24, &c.――_Dionysius of Halicarnassus_,
bk. 3, ch. 3.――――A Roman consul, who defeated the Sabines.――――A
consul, who dedicated the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus. During
the ceremony he was informed of the death of his son, but he did
not forget the sacred character he then bore for the feelings of a
parent, and continued the dedication after ordering the body to be
buried. _Livy_, bk. 2.
♦ ‘pretenting’ replaced with ‘pretending’
=Horcias=, the general of 3000 Macedonians, who revolted from Antigonus
in Cappadocia. _Polyænus_, bk. 4.
=Hormisdas=, a name which some of the Persian kings bore in the reign
of the Roman emperors.
=Horesti=, a people of Britain, supposed to be the inhabitants of
Eskdale, now in Scotland. _Tacitus_, _Agricola_, ch. 38.
=Horratus=, a Macedonian soldier, who fought with another private
soldier in the sight of the whole army of Alexander. _Curtius_,
bk. 9, ch. 7.
=Hortensia=, a celebrated Roman lady, daughter of the orator
Hortensius, whose eloquence she had inherited in the most eminent
degree. When the triumvirs had obliged 14,000 women to give upon
oath an account of their possessions, to defray the expenses of
the state, ♦Hortensia undertook to plead their cause, and was so
successful in her attempt, that 1000 of her female fellow-sufferers
escaped from the avarice of the triumvirate. _Valerius Maximus_,
bk. 8, ch. 3.
♦ ‘Hortensa’ replaced with ‘Hortensia’
=Hortensia lex=, by Quintus Hortensius the dictator, A.U.C. 697. It
ordered the whole body of the Roman people to pay implicit obedience
to whatever was enacted by the commons. The nobility, before this
law was enacted, had claimed an absolute exemption.
=Horta=, a divinity among the Romans, who presided over youth, and
patronized all exhortations to virtue and honourable deeds. She is
the same as Hersilia.
=Horta=, or =Hortinum=, a town of the Sabines, on the confluence of
the Nar and the Tiber. _Virgil_, _Æneid_, bk. 7, li. 716.
=Quintus Hortensius=, a celebrated orator, who began to distinguish
himself by his eloquence, in the Roman forum, at the age of 19.
His friend and successor Cicero speaks with great eulogium of his
oratorical powers, and mentions the uncommon extent of his memory.
The affected actions of Hortensius at the bar procured him the
ridiculous surname of _Dionysia_, a celebrated stage-dancer at the
time. He was pretor and consul, and died 50 years before Christ, in
his 63rd year. His orations are not extant. Quintilian mentions them
as undeserving the great commendations which Cicero had so liberally
bestowed upon them. Hortensius was very rich, and not less than
10,000 casks of Arvisian wine were found in his cellar after his
death. He had written pieces of amorous poetry, and annals, all lost.
_Cicero_, _Brutus_; _Letters to Atticus_; _On Oratory_, &c.――_Varro_,
_de Re Rustica_, bk. 3, ch. 5.――――Corbio, a grandson of the orator
of the same name, famous for his lasciviousness.――――A rich Roman,
who asked the elder Cato his wife, to procreate children. Cato gave
his wife to his friend, and took her again after his death. This
behaviour of Cato was highly censured at Rome, and it was observed,
that Cato’s wife had entered the house of Hortensius very poor,
but that she returned to the bed of Cato in the greatest opulence.
_Plutarch_, _Cato_.――――A Roman, slain by Antony on his brother’s
tomb. _Plutarch._――――A pretor, who gave up Macedonia to Brutus.
_Plutarch._――――One of Sylla’s lieutenants. _Plutarch._――――A Roman,
the first who introduced the eating of peacocks at Rome. This was at
the feast which he gave when he was created augur.
=Hortōna=, a town of Italy, on the confines of the Æqui. _Livy_, bk. 3,
ch. 30.
=Horus=, a son of Isis, one of the deities of the Egyptians.――――A king
of Assyria.
=Hospitālis=, a surname of Jupiter among the Romans as the god of
hospitality.
=Hostilia lex=, was enacted A.U.C. 583. By it such as were among the
enemies of the republic, or absent when the state required their
assistance, were guilty of rapine.
=Hostilia=, a large town on the Po. _Tacitus_, _Annals_, bk. 2, ch. 40.
――_Pliny_, bk. 21, ch. 12.
=Hostius Hostilius=, a warlike Roman, presented with a crown of boughs
by Romulus, for his intrepid behaviour in a battle. _Dionysius of
Halicarnassus._――――A consul.――――A Latin poet in the age of Julius
Cæsar, who composed a poem on the wars of Istria. _Macrobius_,
satire 6, chs. 3 & 5.
=Hunni=, a people of Sarmatia, who invaded the empire of Rome in the
fifth century, and settled in Pannonia, to which they gave the name
of Hungary.
=Hyacinthia=, an annual solemnity at Amyclæ, in Laconia, in honour
of Hyacinthus and Apollo. It continued for three days, during
which time the grief of the people was so great for the death of
Hyacinthus, that they did not adorn their hair with garlands during
their festivals, nor eat bread, but fed only upon sweetmeats. They
did not even sing pæans in honour of Apollo, or observe any of the
solemnities which were usual at other sacrifices. On the second day
of the festival there were a number of different exhibitions. Youths,
with their garments girt about them, entertained the spectators, by
playing sometimes upon the flute, or upon the harp, and by singing
anapestic songs, in loud, echoing voices, in honour of Apollo.
Others passed across the theatre mounted upon horses richly adorned,
and, at the same time, choirs of young men came upon the stage
singing their uncouth rustic songs, and accompanied by persons who
danced at the sound of vocal and instrumental music, according to
the ancient custom. Some virgins were also introduced in chariots of
wood, covered at the top and magnificently adorned. Others appeared
in race chariots. The city began then to be filled with joy, and
immense numbers of victims were offered on the altars of Apollo, and
the votaries liberally entertained their friends and slaves. During
this latter part of the festivity, all were eager to be present
at the games, and the city was almost left without inhabitants.
_Athenæus_, bk. 4.――_Ovid_, _Metamorphoses_, bk. 10, li. 219.
――_Pausanias_, bk. 3, chs. 1 & 19.
=Hyacinthus=, a son of Amyclas and Diomede, greatly beloved by Apollo
and Zephyrus. He returned the former’s love, and Zephyrus, incensed
at his coldness and indifference, resolved to punish his rival. As
Apollo, who was entrusted with the education of Hyacinthus, once
played at quoit with his pupil, Zephyrus blew the quoit, as soon
as it was thrown by Apollo, upon the head of Hyacinthus, and he was
killed with the blow. Apollo was so disconsolate at the death of
Hyacinthus, that he changed his blood into a flower, which bore his
name, and placed his body among the constellations. The Spartans
also established yearly festivals in honour of the nephew of their
king. _See:_ Hyacinthia. _Pausanias_, bk. 3, ch. 19.――_Ovid_,
_Metamorphoses_, bk. 10, li. 185, &c.――_Apollodorus_, bk. 3, &c.
=Hyădes=, five daughters of Atlas king of Mauritania, who were so
disconsolate at the death of their brother Hyas, who had been killed
by a wild boar, that they pined away and died. They became stars
after death, and were placed near Taurus, one of the 12 signs of
the Zodiac. They received the name of Hyades from their brother
Hyas. Their names are Phaola, Ambrosia, Eudora, Coronis, and Polyxo.
To these some have added Thione and Prodice, and they maintained
that they were daughters of Hyas and Æthra, one of the Oceanides.
Euripides calls them daughters of Erechtheus. The ancients supposed
that the rising and setting of the Hyades were always attended with
much rain, whence the name (ὑω _pluo_). _Ovid_, _Fasti_, bk. 5,
li. 165.――_Hyginus_, fable 182.――_Euripides_, _Ion_.
=Hyăgnis=, a Phrygian, father of Marsyas. He invented the flute.
_Plutarch_, _de Musica_.
=Hyăla=, a city at the mouth of the Indus, where the government is the
same as at Sparta.――――One of Diana’s attendant nymphs. _Ovid._
=Hyampŏlis=, a city of Phocis, on the Cephisus, founded by the
Hyanthes. _Herodotus_, bk. 8.
=Hyanthes=, the ancient name of the inhabitants of Bœotia, from king
Hyas. Cadmus is sometimes called _Hyanthius_, because he was king of
Bœotia. _Ovid_, _Metamorphoses_, bk. 3, li. 147.
=Hyantis=, an ancient name of Bœotia.
=Hyarbita=, a man who endeavoured to imitate Timogenes, &c. _Horace_,
bk. 1, ltr. 19, li. 15.