ix. 28), the exact place in the kingdom or consummated church (the

Tower), is given as reward for zeal in doing God's will beyond the minimum requisite in all. Here comes in Hermas's doctrine of works of supererogation, in fulfilment of counsels of perfection, on lines already seen in _Did._ vi. 2, cf. i. 4, and reappearing in the two types of Christian recognized by Clement and Origen and in later Catholicism. Again his doctrine of fasting is a spiritualizing of a current _opus operatum_ conception on Jewish lines as though "keeping a watch" (_statio_) in that way atoned for sins (_Sim._ v.). The Shepherd enjoins instead, first, as "a perfect fast," a fast "from every evil word and every evil desire, ... from all the vanities of this world-age" (3. 6; cf. _Barn._ iii. and the Oxyrhynchus Saying, "except ye fast from the world"); and next, as a counsel of perfection, a fast to yield somewhat for the relief of the widow and orphan, that this extra "service" may be to God for a "sacrifice."

Generally speaking, Hermas's piety, especially in its language, adheres closely to Old Testament forms. But it is doubtful (_pace_ Spina and Volter, who assume a Jewish or a proselyte basis) whether this means more than that the Old Testament was still _the_ Scriptures of the Church. In this respect, too, Hermas faithfully reflects the Roman Church of the early 2nd century (cf. the language of 1 Clem., esp. the liturgical parts, and even the Roman Mass). Indeed the prime value of the _Shepherd_ is the light it casts on Christianity at Rome in the otherwise obscure period c. 110-140, when it had as yet hardly felt the influences converging on it from other centres of tradition and thought. Thus Hermas's comparatively mild censures on Gnostic teachers in _Sim._ ix. suggest that the greater systems, like the Valentinian and Marcionite, had not yet made an impression there, as Harnack argues that they must have done by c. 145. This date, then, is a likely lower limit for Hermas's revision of his earlier prophetic memoranda, and their publication in a single homogeneous work, such as the _Shepherd_ appears to be. Its wider historic significance--it was felt by its author to be adapted to the needs of the Church at large, and was generally welcomed as such--is great but hard to determine in detail.[5] What is certain is its influence on the development of the Church's policy as to discipline in grave cases, like apostasy and adultery--a burning question for some generations from the end of the 2nd century, particularly in Rome and North Africa. Indirectly, too, Hermas tended to keep alive the idea of the Christian prophet, even after Montanism had helped to discredit it.

LITERATURE.--The chief modern edition is by O. von Gebhardt and A. Harnack, in Fasc. iii. of their _Patr. apost. opera_ (Leipzig, 1877); it is edited less fully by F. X. Funk, _Patr. apost._ (Tubingen, 1901), and in an English trans., with Introduction and occasional notes, by Dr C. Taylor (S.P.C.K., 2 vols., 1903-1906). For the wide literature of the subject, see the two former editions, also Harnack's _Chronologie der altchr. Lit._ i. 257 seq., and O. Bardenhewer, _Gesch. der altkirchl. Lit._ i. 557 seq. For the authorship see APOCALYPTIC LITERATURE, sect. III. (J. V. B.)

FOOTNOTES:

[1] More than one interpretation, typical or otherwise, of this "Clement" is possible; but none justifies us in assigning even to this _Vision_ a date consistent with that usually given to the traditional bishop of this name (see CLEMENT I.). Yet we may have to correct the dubious chronology of the first Roman bishops by this datum, and prolong his life to about A.D. 110. This is Harnack's date for the nucleus of _Vis._ ii., though he places our _Vis._ i.-iii. later in Trajan's reign, and thinks _Vis._ iv. later still.

[2] That a prior vision in which Hermas was "delivered" to the Shepherd's charge, has dropped out, seems implied by _Vis._ v. 3 f., _Sim._ x. 1. 1.

[3] Harnack places "The Shepherd" proper mostly under Hadrian (117-138), and the completed work c. 140-145.

[4] A careful study of practical Christian ethics at Rome as implied in the _Shepherd_, will be found in E. von Dobschutz, _Christian Life in the Primitive Church_ (1904).

[5] Note the prestige of martyrs and confessors, the ways of true and false prophets in _Mand._ xi., and the different types of evil and good "walk" among Christians, e.g. in _Vis._ iii. 5-7; _Mand._ viii.; _Sim._ viii.

HERMENEUTICS (Gr. [Greek: hermeneutike], sc. [Greek: techne], Lat. _ars hermeneutica_, from [Greek: hermeneuein], to interpret, from Hermes, the messenger of the gods), the science or art of interpretation or explanation, especially of the Holy Scriptures (see THEOLOGY).

HERMES, a Greek god, identified by the Romans with Mercury. The derivation of his name and his primitive character are very uncertain. The earliest centres of his cult were Arcadia, where Mt. Cyllene was reputed to be his birthplace, the islands of Lemnos, Imbros and Samothrace, in which he was associated with the Cabeiri and Attica. In Arcadia he was specially worshipped as the god of fertility, and his images were ithyphallic, as also were the "Hermae" at Athens. Herodotus (ii. 51) states that the Athenians borrowed this type from the Pelasgians, thus testifying to the great antiquity of the phallic Hermes. At Cyllene in Elis a mere phallus served as his emblem, and was highly venerated in the time of Pausanias (vi. 26. 3). Both in literature and cult Hermes was constantly associated with the protection of cattle and sheep; at Tanagra and elsewhere his title was [Greek: kriophoros], the ram-bearer. As a pastoral god he was often closely connected with deities of vegetation, especially Pan and the nymphs. His pastoral character is recognized in the _Iliad_ (xiv. 490) and the later epic hymn to Hermes; and his Homeric titles [Greek: akaketa, eriounios, dotor eaon], probably refer to him as the giver of fertility. In the _Odyssey_, however, he appears mainly as the messenger of the gods, and the conductor of the dead to Hades. Hence in later times he is often represented in art and mythology as a herald. The conductor of souls was naturally a chthonian god; at Athens there was a festival in honour of Hermes and the souls of the dead, and Aeschylus (_Persae_, 628) invokes Hermes, with Earth and Hades, in summoning a spirit from the underworld. The function of a messenger-god may have originated the conception of Hermes as a dream-god; he is called the "conductor of dreams" ([Greek: hegetor oneiron]), and the Greeks offered to him the last libation before sleep. As a messenger he may also have become the god of roads and doorways; he was the protector of travellers and his images were used for boundary-marks (see HERMAE). It was a custom to make a cairn of stones near the wayside statues of Hermes, each passer-by adding a stone; the significance of the practice, which is found in many countries, is discussed by Frazer (_Golden Bough_, 2nd ed., iii. 10 f.) and Hartland (_Legend of Perseus_, ii. 228). Treasure found in the road ([Greek: hermaion]) was the gift of Hermes, and any stroke of good luck was attributed to him; but it may be doubted whether his patronage of luck in general was developed from his function as a god of roads. As the giver of luck he became a deity of gain and commerce ([Greek: kerdoos, agoraios]), an aspect which caused his identification with Mercury, the Roman god of trade. From this conception his thievish character may have been evolved. The trickery and cunning of Hermes is a prominent theme in literature from Homer downwards, although it is very rarely recognized in official cult.[1] In the hymn to Hermes the god figures as a precocious child (a type familiar in folk-lore), who when a new-born babe steals the cows of Apollo. In addition to these characteristics various other functions were assigned to Hermes, who developed, perhaps, into the most complete type of the versatile Greek. In many respects he was a counterpart of Apollo, less dignified and powerful, but more human than his greater brother. Hermes was a patron of music, like Apollo, and invented the cithara; he presided over the games, with Apollo and Heracles, and his statues were common in the stadia and gymnasia. He became, in fact, the ideal Greek youth, equally proficient in the "musical" and "gymnastic" branches of Greek education. On the "musical" side he was the special patron of eloquence ([Greek: logios]); in gymnastic, he was the giver of grace rather than of strength, which was the province of Heracles. Though athletic, he was one of the least militant of the gods; a title [Greek: promachos], the Defender, is found only in connexion with a victory of young men ("ephebes") in a battle at Tanagra. A further point of contact between Hermes and Apollo may here be noted: both had prophetic powers, although Hermes held a place far inferior to that of the Pythian god, and possessed no famous oracle. Certain forms of popular divination were, however, under his patronage, notably the world-wide process of divination by pebbles ([Greek: thriai]). The "Homeric" Hymn to Hermes explains these minor gifts of prophecy as delegated by Apollo, who alone knew the mind of Zeus. Only a single oracle is recorded for Hermes, in the market-place of Pharae in Achaea, and here the procedure was akin to popular divination. An altar, furnished with lamps, was placed before the statue; the inquirer, after lighting the lamps and offering incense, placed a coin in the right hand of the god; he then whispered his question into the ear of the statue, and, stopping his own ears, left the market place. The first sound which he heard outside was an omen.

From the foregoing account it will be seen that it is difficult to derive the many-sided character of Hermes from a single elemental conception. The various theories which identified him with the sun, the moon or the dawn, may be dismissed, as they do not rest on evidence to which value would now be attached. The Arcadian or "Pelasgic" Hermes may have been an earth-deity, as his connexion with fertility suggests; but his symbol at Cyllene rather points to a mere personification of reproductive powers. According to Plutarch the ancients "set Hermes by the side of Aphrodite," i.e. the male and female principles of generation; and the two deities were worshipped together in Argos and elsewhere. But this phallic character does not explain other aspects of Hermes, as the messenger-god, the master-thief or the ideal Greek ephebe. It is impossible to adopt the view that the Homeric poets turned the rude shepherd-god of Arcadia into a messenger, in order to provide him with a place in the Olympian circle. To their Achaean audience Hermes must have been more than a phallic god. It is more probable that the Olympian Hermes represents the fusion of several distinct deities. Some scholars hold that the various functions of Hermes may have originated from the idea of good luck which is so closely bound up with his character. As a pastoral god he would give luck to the flocks and herds; when worshipped by townspeople, he would give luck to the merchant, the orator, the traveller and the athlete. But though the notion of luck plays an important part in early thought, it seems improbable that the primitive Greeks would have personified a mere abstraction. Another theory, which has much to commend it, has been advanced by Roscher, who sees in Hermes a wind-god. His strongest arguments are that the wind would easily develop into the messenger of the gods ([Greek: Dios ouros]), and that it was often thought to promote fertility in crops and cattle. Thus the two aspects of Hermes which seem most discordant are referred to a single origin. The Homeric epithet [Greek: Argeiphontes], which the Greeks interpreted as "the slayer of Argus," inventing a myth to account for Argus, is explained as originally an epithet of the wind ([Greek: argestes]), which clears away the mists ([Greek: argos, phaino]). The uncertainty of the wind might well suggest the trickery of a thief, and its whistling might contain the germ from which a god of music should be developed. But many of Roscher's arguments are forced, and his method of interpretation is not altogether sound. For example, the last argument would equally apply to Apollo, and would lead to the improbable conclusion that Apollo was a wind-god. It must, in fact, be remembered that men make their gods after their own likeness; and, whatever his origin, Hermes in particular was endowed with many of the qualities and habits of the Greek race. If he was evolved from the wind, his character had become so anthropomorphic that the Greeks had practically lost the knowledge of his primitive significance; nor did Greek cult ever associate him with the wind.

The oldest form under which Hermes was represented was that of the Hermae mentioned above. Alcamenes, the rival or pupil of Pheidias, was the sculptor of a herm at Athens, a copy of which, dating from Roman times, was discovered at Pergamum in 1903. But side by side with the Hermae there grew up a more anthropomorphic conception of the god. In archaic art he was portrayed as a full-grown and bearded man, clothed in a long chiton, and often wearing a cap ([Greek: kyne]) or a broad-brimmed hat ([Greek: petasos]), and winged boots. Sometimes he was represented in his pastoral character, as when he bears a sheep on his shoulders; at other times he appears as the messenger or herald of the gods with the [Greek: kerykeion], or herald's staff, which is his most frequent attribute. From the latter part of the 5th century his art-type was changed in conformity with the general development of Greek sculpture. He now became a nude and beardless youth, the type of the young athlete. In the 4th century this type was probably fixed by Praxiteles in his statue of Hermes at Olympia.

AUTHORITIES.--F. G. Welcker, _Griech. Gotterl._ i. 342 f. (Gottingen, 1857-1863); L. Preller, ed. C. Robert, _Griech. Mythologie_, ii. 385 seq. (Berlin, 1894); W. H. Roscher, _Lex. der griech. u. rom. Mythologie_, s.v. (Leipzig, 1884-1886); A. Lang, _Myth, Ritual and Religion_, ii. 225 seq. (London, 1887); C. Daremberg and E. Saglio, _Dict. des ant. grecques et rom._; Farnell, _Cults_ v. (1909); O. Gruppe, _Griech. Mythologie u. Religionsgesch._ p. 1318 seq. (Munich, 1906). In the article GREEK ART, figs. 43 and 82 (Plate VI.) represent the Hermes of Praxiteles; fig. 57 (Plate II.), a professed copy of the Hermes of Alcamenes. (E. E. S.)

FOOTNOTE:

[1] We only hear of a Hermes [Greek: dolios] at Pellene (Paus. vii. 27. 1) and of the custom of allowing promiscuous thieving during the festival of Hermes at Samos (Plut. _Quaest. Graec._ 55).

HERMES, GEORG (1775-1831), German Roman Catholic theologian, was born on the 22nd of April 1775, at Dreyerwalde, in Westphalia, and was educated at the gymnasium and university of Munster, in both of which institutions he afterwards taught. In 1820 he was appointed professor of theology at Bonn, where he died on the 26th of May 1831. Hermes had a devoted band of adherents, of whom the most notable was Peter Josef Elvenich (1796-1886), who became professor at Breslau in 1829, and in 1870 threw in his lot with the Old Catholic movement. His works were _Untersuchungen uber die innere Wahrheit des Christenthums_ (Munster, 1805), and _Einleitung in die christkatholische Theologie_, of which the first part, a philosophical introduction, was published in 1819, the second part, on positive theology, in 1829. The _Einleitung_ was never completed. His _Christkatholische Dogmatik_ was published, from his lectures, after his death by two of his students, Achterfeld and Braun (3 vols., 1831-1834).

The _Einleitung_ is a remarkable work, both in itself and in its effect upon Catholic theology in Germany. Few works of modern times have excited a more keen and bitter controversy. Hermes himself was very largely under the influence of the Kantian and Fichtean ideas, and though in the philosophical portion of his _Einleitung_ he criticizes both these thinkers severely, rejects their doctrine of the moral law as the sole guarantee for the existence of God, and condemns their restricted view of the possibility and nature of revelation, enough remained of purely speculative material to render his system obnoxious to his church. After his death, the contests between his followers and their opponents grew so bitter that the dispute was referred to the papal see. The judgment was adverse, and on the 25th of September 1835 a papal bull condemned both parts of the _Einleitung_ and the first volume of the _Dogmatik_. Two months later the remaining volumes of the _Dogmatik_ were likewise condemned. The controversy did not cease, and in 1845 a systematic attempt was made anonymously by F. X. Werner to examine and refute the Hermesian doctrines, as contrasted with the orthodox Catholic faith (_Der Hermesianismus_, 1845). In 1847 the condemnation of 1835 was confirmed by Pius IX.

See K. Werner, _Geschichte der katholischen Theologie_ (1866), pp. 405 sqq.

HERMES TRISMEGISTUS ("the thrice greatest Hermes"), an honorific designation of the Egyptian Hermes, i.e. Thoth (q.v.), the god of wisdom. In late hieroglyphic the name of Thoth often has the epithet "the twice very great," sometimes "the thrice very great"; in the popular language (demotic) the corresponding epithet is "the five times very great," found as early as the 3rd century B.C. Greek translations give [Greek: ho megas kai megas] and [Greek: megistos: trismegas] occurs in a late magical text. [Greek: ho trismegistos] has not yet been found earlier than the 2nd century A.D., but there can now be no doubt of its origin in the above Egyptian epithets.

Thoth was "the scribe of the gods," "Lord of divine words," and to Hermes was attributed the authorship of all the strictly sacred books generally called by Greek authors Hermetic. These, according to Clemens Alexandrinus, our sole ancient authority (_Strom._ vi. p. 268 et seq.), were forty-two in number, and were subdivided into six divisions, of which the first, containing ten books, was in charge of the "prophet" and dealt with laws, deities and the education of priests; the second, consisting of the ten books of the _stolistes_, the official whose duty it was to dress and ornament the statues of the gods, treated of sacrifices and offerings, prayers, hymns, festive processions; the third, of the "hierogrammatist," also in ten books, was called "hieroglyphics," and was a repertory of cosmographical, geographical and topographical information; the four books of the "horoscopus" were devoted to astronomy and astrology; the two books of the "chanter" contained respectively a collection of songs in honour of the gods and a description of the royal life and its duties; while the sixth and last division, consisting of the six books of the "pastophorus," was medical. Clemens's statement cannot be contradicted. Works are extant in papyri and on temple walls, treating of geography, astronomy, ritual, myths, medicine, &c. It is probable that the native priests would have been ready to ascribe the authorship or inspiration, as well as the care and protection of all their books of sacred lore to Thoth, although there were a goddess of writing (Seshit), and the ancient deified scribes Imuthes and Amenophis, and later inspired doctors Petosiris, Nechepso, &c., to be reckoned with; there are indeed some definite traces of such an attribution extant in individual cases. Whether a canon of such books was ever established, even in the latest times, may be seriously doubted. We know, however, that the vizier of Upper Egypt (at Thebes) in the eighteenth dynasty, had 40 (not 42) parchment rolls laid before him as he sat in the hall of audience. Unfortunately we have no hint of their contents. Forty-two was the number of divine assessors at the judgment of the dead before Osiris, and was the standard number of the nomes or counties in Egypt.

The name of Hermes seems during the 3rd and following centuries to have been regarded as a convenient pseudonym to place at the head of the numerous syncretistic writings in which it was sought to combine Neo-Platonic philosophy, Philonic Judaism and cabalistic theosophy, and so provide the world with some acceptable substitute for the Christianity which had even at that time begun to give indications of the ascendancy it was destined afterwards to attain. Of these pseudepigraphic Hermetic writings some have come down to us in the original Greek; others survive in Latin or Arabic translations; but the majority appear to have perished. That which is best known and has been most frequently edited is the [Greek: Poimandres] _sive De potestate et sapientia divina_ ([Greek: Poimandres] being the Divine Intelligence, [Greek: poimen andron]), which consists of fifteen chapters treating of such subjects as the nature of God, the origin of the world, the creation and fall of man, and the divine illumination which is the sole means of his deliverance. The _editio princeps_ appeared in Paris in 1554; there is also an edition by G. Parthey (1854); the work has also been translated into German by D. Tiedemann (1781). Other Hermetic writings which have been preserved, and which have been for the most part collected by Patricius in the _Nova de universis philosophia_ (1593), are (in Greek) [Greek: Iatromathematika pros Ammona Aiguption, Peri katakliseos nosounton perignostika, Ek tes mathematikes epistemes pros Ammona]: (in Latin) _Aphorismi sive Centiloquium, Cyranides_; (in Arabic, but doubtless from a Greek original) an address to the human soul, which has been translated by H. L. Fleischer (_An die menschliche Seele_, 1870).

The connexion of the name of Hermes with alchemy will explain what is meant by hermetic sealing, and will account for the use of the phrase "hermetic medicine" by Paracelsus, as also for the so-called "hermetic freemasonry" of the middle ages.

Besides Thoth, Anubis (q.v.) was constantly identified with Hermes; see also HORUS.

See Ursinus, _De Zoroastre, Hermete_, &c. (Nuremberg, 1661); Nicolas Lenglet-Dufresnoy, _L'Histoire de la philosophie hermetique_ (Paris, 1742); Baumgarten-Crusius, _De librorum hermeticorum origine atque indole_ (Jena, 1827); B. J. Hilgers, _De Hermetis Trismegisti Poemandro_ (1855); R. Menard, _Hermes Trismegiste, traduction complete, precedee d'une etude sur l'origine des livres hermetiques_ (1866); R. Pietschmann, _Hermes Trismegistus, nach agyptischen, griechischen, und orientalischen Uberlieferungen_ (1875); R. Reitzenstein, _Poimandres, Studien zur griechisch-agyptischen und fruhchristlichen Literatur_ (Leipzig, 1904); G. R. S. Mead, _Thrice Greatest Hermes_ (1907), introduction and translation. (F. Ll. G.)

HERMESIANAX, of Colophon, elegiac poet of the Alexandrian school, flourished about 330 B.C. His chief work was a poem in three books, dedicated to his mistress Leontion. Of this poem a fragment of about one hundred lines has been preserved by Athenaeus (xiii. 597). Plaintive in tone, it enumerates instances, mythological and historical, of the irresistible power of love. Hermesianax, whose style is characterized by alternate force and tenderness, was exceedingly popular in his own times, and was highly esteemed even in the Augustan period.

Many separate editions have been published of the fragment, the text of which is in a very unsatisfactory condition: by F. W. Schneidewin (1838), J. Bailey (1839, with notes, glossary, and Latin and English versions), and others; R. Schulze's _Quaestiones Hermesianacteae_ (1858), contains an account of the life and writings of the poet and a section on the identity of Leontion.

HERMIAS. (1) A Greek philosopher of the Alexandrian school. A disciple of Proclus, he was known best for the lucidity of his method rather than for any original ideas. His chief works were a study of the _Isagoge_ of Porphyry and a commentary on Plato's _Phaedrus_. Unlike the majority of logicians of the time, he admitted the absolute validity of the second and third figures of the syllogism.

(2) A Christian apologist and philosopher who flourished probably in the 4th and 5th centuries. Nothing is known about his life, but there has been preserved of his writings a small thesis entitled [Greek: Diasyrmos ton exophilosophon]. In this work he attacked pagan philosophy for its lack of logic in dealing with the root problems of life, the soul, the cosmos and the first cause or vital principle. There is an edition by von Otto published in the _Corpus apologetarum_ (Jena, 1872). It is interesting, but without any claim to profundity of reasoning.

Two minor philosophers of the same name are known. Of these, one was a disciple of Plato and a friend of Aristotle; he became tyrant of Atarneus and invited Aristotle to his court. Aristotle subsequently married Pythias, who was either niece or sister of Hermias. Another Hermias was a Phoenician philosopher of the Alexandrian school; when Justinian closed the school of Athens, he was one of the five representatives of the school who took refuge at the Persian court.

HERMIPPUS, "the one-eyed," Athenian writer of the Old Comedy, flourished during the Peloponnesian War. He is said to have written 40 plays, of which the titles and fragments of nine are preserved. He was a bitter opponent of Pericles, whom he accused (probably in the [Greek: Moirai]) of being a bully and a coward, and of carousing with his boon companions while the Lacedaemonians were invading Attica. He also accused Aspasia of impiety and offences against morality, and her acquittal was only secured by the tears of Pericles (Plutarch, _Pericles_, 32). In the [Greek: Artopolides] ("Bakeresses") he attacked the demagogue Hyperbolus. The [Greek: Phormophoroi] (Mat-carriers) contains many parodies of Homer. Hermippus also appears to have written scurrilous iambic poems after the manner of Archilochus.

Fragments in T. Kock, _Comicorum Atticorum fragmenta_, i. (1880), and A. Meineke, _Poetarum Graecorum comicorum fragmenta_ (1855).

HERMIT, a solitary, one who withdraws from all intercourse with other human beings in order to live a life of religious contemplation, and so marked off from a "coenobite" (Gr. [Greek: koinos], common, and [Greek: Bios], life), one who shares this life of withdrawal with others in a community (see ASCETICISM and MONASTICISM). The word "hermit" is an adaptation through the O. Fr. _ermite_ or _hermite_, from the Lat. form, _eremite_, of the Gr. [Greek: eremites], a solitary, from [Greek: eremia], a desert. The English form "eremite," which was used, according to the _New English Dictionary_, quite indiscriminately with "hermit" till the middle of the 17th century, is now chiefly used in poetry or rhetorically, except with reference to the early hermits of the Libyan desert, or sometimes to such particular orders as the eremites of St Augustine (see AUGUSTINIAN HERMITS). Another synonym is "anchoret" or "anchorite." This comes through the French and Latin forms from the Gr. [Greek: anachoretes], from [Greek: anachorein], to withdraw. A form nearer to the Greek original, "anachoret," is sometimes used of the early Christian recluses in the East.

HERMOGENES, of Tarsus, Greek rhetorician, surnamed [Greek: Xuster] (the polisher), flourished in the reign of Marcus Aurelius (A.D. 161-180). His precocious ability secured him a public appointment as teacher of his art while as yet he was only a boy; but at the age of twenty-five his faculties gave way, and he spent the remainder of his long life in a state of intellectual impotence. During his early years, however, he had composed a series of rhetorical treatises, which became popular text-books, and the subject of subsequent commentaries. Of his [Greek: Techne rhetorike] we still possess the sections [Greek: Peri ton staseon] (on legal issues), [Greek: Peri heureseos] (on the invention of arguments), [Greek: Peri ideon] (on the various kinds of style), [Greek: Peri methodou deinotetos] (on the method of speaking effectively), and [Greek: Progymnasmata] (rhetorical exercises).

Editions by C. Walz (1832), and by L. Spengel (1854), in their _Rhetores Graeci_; bibliographical note on the commentaries in W. Christ, _Geschichte der griechischen Literatur_ (1898).

HERMON, the highest mountain in Syria (estimated at 9050 to 9200 ft.), an outlier of the Anti-Lebanon. As the Hebrew name ([Hebrew: Hermon], "belonging to a sanctuary," "separate") shows, it was always a sacred mountain. The Sidonians called it _Sirion_, and the Amorites _Shenir_ (Deut. iii. 9). According to one theory it is the "high mountain" near Caesarea Philippi, which was the scene of the Transfiguration (Mark ix. 2). A curious reference in Enoch vi. 6, says that in the days of Jared the wicked angels descended on the summit of the mountain and named it Hermon. The modern name is _Jebel es-Sheikh_, or "mountain of the chief or elder." It is also called _Jebel eth-Thelj_, "snowy mountain." The ridge of Hermon, rising into a dome-shaped summit, is 20 m. long, extending north-east and south-west. The formation of the lower part is Nubian sandstone, that of the upper part is a hard dark-grey crystalline limestone belonging to the Neocomian period, and full of fossils. The spurs consist in some cases of white chalk covering the limestone, and on the south there are several basaltic outbreaks. The view from Hermon is very extensive, embracing all Lebanon and the plains east of Damascus, with Palestine as far as Carmel and Tabor. On a clear day Jaffa also may be seen. The mountain in spring is covered with snow, but in autumn there is occasionally none left, even in the ravines. To the height of 500 ft. it is clothed with oaks, poplars and brush, while luxuriant vineyards abound. Foxes, wolves and Syrian bears are not infrequently met with, and there is a heavy dew or night mist. Above the snow-limit the mountain is bare and covered with fine limestone shingle. The summit is a plateau from which three rocky knolls rise up, that on the west being the lowest, that on the south-east the highest. On the south slope of the latter are remains of a small temple or _sacellum_ described by St Jerome. A semicircular dwarf wall of good masonry runs round this peak, and a trench excavated in the rock may perhaps indicate the site of an altar. On the plateau is a cave about 25 ft. sq. with the entrance on the east. A rock column supports the roof, and a building (possibly a Mithraeum) once stood above. Other small temples are found on the sides of Hermon, of which twelve in all have been explored. They face the east and are dated by architects about A.D. 200. The most remarkable are those of Deir el 'Ashaiyir, Hibbariyeh, Hosn Niha and Tell Thatha. At the ruined town called Rukleh on the northern slopes are remains of a temple, the stones of which have been built into a church. A large medallion, 5 ft. in diameter, with a head supposed to represent the sun-god, is built into the wall. Several Greek inscriptions occur among these ruins. In the 12th century Psalm lxxxix. 12 was supposed to indicate the proximity of Hermon to Tabor. The conical hill immediately south of Tabor was thus named Little Hermon, and is still so called by some of the inhabitants of the district.

HERMSDORF, a village of Germany, in the Prussian province of Silesia. Pop. (1900) 10,975. There are coal and iron mines and lime quarries in the vicinity, and in the town there are large iron-works. Hermsdorf is known as Niederhermsdorf to distinguish it from other places of the same name. Perhaps the most noteworthy of these is a village in Silesia at the foot of the Riesengebirge, chiefly famous for the ruins of the castle of Kynast. This castle, formerly the seat of the Schaffgotsch family, was destroyed by lightning in 1675. A third Hermsdorf is a village in Saxe-Altenburg, where porcelain is made.

HERNE, JAMES A. [originally AHERNE] (1840-1901), American actor and playwright, was born in Troy, New York, and after theatrical experiences in various companies produced his own first play, _Hearts of Oak_, in 1878, and his great success _Shore Acres_ in 1882. It was in rural drama that his humour and pathos found their proper setting, and _Shore Acres_ was seen throughout the United States almost continuously for six seasons, being followed by the less successful _Sag Harbor_, 1900.

HERNE, a town of Germany, in the Prussian province of Westphalia, 15 m. by rail N.W. of Dortmund. Pop. (1905) 33,258. It has coal mines, boiler-works, gunpowder mills, &c. Herne was made a town in 1897.

HERNE BAY, a seaside resort in the St Augustine's parliamentary division of Kent, England, 8 m. N. by E. of Canterbury, on the South Eastern and Chatham railway. Pop. of urban district (1901) 6726. It has grown up since 1830, above a sandy and pebbly shore, and has a pier 3/4 m. long. The church of St Martin in the village of Herne, 1(1/2) m. inland, is Early English and later; the living was held by Nicholas Ridley (1538), afterwards Bishop of London. At Reculver, 3 m. E. of Herne Bay on the coast, is the site of the Roman station of _Regulbium_. The fortress occupied about 8 acres, but only traces of the south and east walls remain. In Saxon times it was converted into a palace by King Ethelbert, and in 669 a monastery was founded here by Egbert. The Early English church was taken down early in the 19th century owing to the encroachment of the sea, and parts of its fabric were preserved in the modern church of St Mary. But its twin towers, known as the Sisters from the tradition that they were built by a Benedictine abbess of Faversham in memory of her sister, were preserved by Trinity House as a conspicuous landmark.

HERNE THE HUNTER, a legendary huntsman who was alleged to haunt Windsor Great Park at night, especially around an aged tree, long known as Herne's oak, said to be nearly 700 years old. This was blown down in 1863, and a young oak was planted by Queen Victoria on the spot. Herne has his French counterpart in the _Grand Veneur_ of Fontainebleau. Mention is made of Herne in _The Merry Wives of Windsor_ and in Harrison Ainsworth's _Windsor Castle_. Nothing definite is known of the Herne legend. It is suggested that it originated in the life-story of some keeper of the forest; but more probably it is only a variant of the "Wild Huntsman" myth common to folk-lore, which (E. B. Tylor, _Primitive Culture_, 4th ed. pp. 361-362) is almost certainly the modern form of a prehistoric storm-myth.

HERNIA (Lat. _hernia_, perhaps from Gr. [Greek: ernos], a sprout), in surgery, the protrusion of a viscus, or part of a viscus, from its normal cavity; thus, _hernia cerebri_ is a protrusion of brain-substance, _hernia pulmonum_, a protrusion of a portion of lung, and _hernia iridis_, a protrusion of some of the iris through an aperture in the cornea. But, used by itself, hernia implies a protrusion from the abdominal cavity, or, in common language, a "rupture." A rupture may occur at any weak point in the abdominal wall. The common situations are the groin (_inguinal hernia_), the upper part of the thigh (_femoral hernia_), and the navel (_umbilical hernia_). The more movable the viscus the greater the liability to protrusion, and therefore one commonly finds some of the small intestine, or of the fatty apron (omentum), in the hernia. The tumour may contain intestine alone (enterocele), omentum alone (epiplocele), or both intestine and omentum (entero-epiplocele). The predisposing cause of rupture is abnormal length of the suspensory membrane of the bowel (the mesentery), or of the omentum, in conjunction with some weak spot in the abdominal wall, as in an inguinal hernia, which descends along the canal in which the spermatic cord lies in the male and the round ligament of the womb in the female. A femoral hernia comes through a weak spot in the abdomen to the inner side of the great femoral vessels; a ventral hernia takes place by the yielding of the scar tissue left after an operation for appendicitis or ovarian disease. The exciting cause of hernia is generally some over-exertion, as in lifting a heavy weight, jumping off a high wall, straining (as in difficult micturition), constipation or excessive coughing. The pressure of the diaphragm above and the abdominal wall in front acting on the abdominal viscera causes a protrusion at the weakest point.

Rupture is either congenital or acquired. A child may be born with a hernia in the inguinal or umbilical region, the result of an arrest of development in these parts; or the rupture may be acquired, first appearing, perhaps, in adult life as the result of a strain or hurt. Men suffer more frequently than women, because of their physical labours, because they are more liable to accidents, and because of the passage for the spermatic cord out of the abdomen being more spacious than that for the round ligament of the womb.

At first the rupture is small, and it gradually increases in bulk. It varies from the size of a marble to a child's head. The swelling consists of three parts--the coverings, sac and contents. The "coverings" are the structures which form the abdominal wall at the part where the rupture occurs. In femoral hernia the coverings are the structures at the upper part of the thigh which are stretched, thinned and matted together as the result of pressure; in other cases there is an increase in their thickness, the result of repeated attacks of inflammation. The "sac" is composed of the peritoneum or membrane lining the abdominal cavity; in some rare cases the sac is wanting. The neck of the sac is the narrowed portion where the peritoneum forming the sac becomes continuous with the general peritoneal cavity. The neck of the sac is often thickened, indurated and adherent to surrounding parts, the result of chronic inflammation. The "contents" are bowel, omental fat, or, in children, an ovary.

The hernia may be reducible, irreducible or strangulated. A "reducible" hernia is one in which the contents can be pushed back into the abdomen. In some cases this reduction is effected with ease, in others it is a matter of great difficulty. At any moment a reducible hernia may become "irreducible," that is to say, it cannot be pushed back into the abdominal cavity, perhaps because of inflammatory adhesions in and around the fatty contents, or because of extra fullness of the bowel in the sac. A "strangulated" hernia is one in which the circulation of the blood through the hernial contents is interfered with, by the pinching at the narrowest part of the passage. The interference is at first slight, but it quickly becomes more pronounced; the pinched bowel in the hernial sac swells as a finger does when a string is tightly wound round its base. At first there is congestion, and this may go on to inflammation, to infection by micro-organisms and to mortification. The rapidity with which the change from simple congestion to mortification takes place depends on the tightness of the constriction, and on the virulence of the bacterial infection from the bowel. As a rule, the more rapidly a hernia forms the greater the rapidity of serious change in the conditions of the bowel or omentum, and the more urgent are the symptoms. The constricting band may be one of the structures which form the boundaries of the openings through which the hernia has travelled, or it may be the neck of the sac, which has become thickened in consequence of inflammation--especially is this the case in an inguinal hernia.

_Reducible Hernia._--With a reducible hernia there is a soft compressible tumour (elastic when it contains intestine, doughy when it contains omentum), its size increasing in the erect, and diminishing in the horizontal posture. As a rule, it causes no trouble during the night. It gives an impulse on coughing, and when the intestinal contents are pushed back into the abdomen a gurgling sensation is perceptible by the fingers. Such a tumour may be met with in any part of the abdominal wall, but the chief situations are as follows. The inguinal region, in which the neck of the tumour lies immediately above Poupart's ligament (a cord-like ligamentous structure which can be felt stretching from the front of the hip-bone to a ridge of bone immediately above the genital organs); the femoral region, in the upper part of the thigh, in which the neck of the sac lies immediately below the inner end of Poupart's ligament; the umbilical region, in which the tumour appears at or near the navel. As the inguinal hernia increases in size it passes into the scrotum in the male, into the labium in the female; while the femoral hernia gradually pushes upwards to the abdomen.

The palliative treatment of a reducible hernia consists in pushing back the contents of the tumour into the abdomen and applying a truss or elastic bandage to prevent their again escaping. The younger the patient the more chance there is of the truss acting as a curative agent. The truss may generally be left off at night, but it should be put on in the morning before the patient leaves his bed. If, after the hernia has been once returned, it is not allowed again to come down, there is a probability of an actual cure taking place; but if it is allowed to come down occasionally, as it may do, even during the night, in consequence of a cough, or from the patient turning suddenly in bed, the weak spot is again opened out, and the improvement which might have been going on for weeks is undone. It is sometimes found impossible to keep up a hernia by means of a truss, and an operation becomes necessary. The operation is spoken of as "the radical treatment of hernia," in contra-distinction to the so-called "palliative treatment" by means of a truss. It should not be spoken of as the radical cure, for skilfully as the operation may have been performed it is not always a cure. The principles involved in the operation are the emptying of the sac and its entire removal, and the closure of the opening into the abdomen by strong sutures; and, in this way, great advance has been made by modern surgery. Without tiresome delay, and the tedious and sometimes disappointing application of trusses, the weak spot in the abdominal wall is exposed, the sac of the hernia is tied and removed, and the canal by which the rupture descended is blockaded by buried sutures, and with no material risk to life. Thus the patient's worries become a thing of the past, and he is rendered a fit and normal member of society. Experience has shown that very few ruptures are unsuited for successful treatment by operation. No boy should now be sent to school compelled to wear a truss, and so hindered in his games and rendered an object of remark.

_Irreducible Hernia._--The main symptom is a tumour in one of the situations already referred to, of long standing and perhaps of large size, in which the contents of the tumour, in whole or in part, cannot be pushed back into the abdomen. The irreducibility is due either to its large size or to changes which have taken place by indurations or adhesions. Such a tumour is a constant source of danger: its contents are liable, from their exposed situation, to injury from external violence; it has a constant risk of increase; it may at any time become strangulated, or the contents may inflame, and strangulation may occur secondarily to the inflammation. It gives rise to dragging sensations (referred to the abdomen), colic, dyspepsia and constipation, which may lead to obstruction, that is to say, a stoppage may occur of the passage of the contents of that portion of the intestinal canal which lies in the hernia. When an irreducible hernia becomes painful and tender, a local peritonitis has occurred, which resembles in many of its symptoms a case of strangulation, and must be regarded with suspicion and anxiety. Indeed, the only safe treatment is by operation.

The treatment of irreducible hernia may be palliative; a "bag truss" may be worn in the hope of preventing the hernia getting larger; the bowels must be kept open, and all irregularities of diet avoided. A person with such a hernia is in constant danger, and if his general condition does not contra-indicate it he should be submitted to operative treatment. That is to say, the surgeon should cut down on the hernia, open the sac, divide any omental adhesions, tie and cut away indurated omentum, return the bowel, and complete the radical operation by closing the aperture by strong sutures.

In _Strangulated Hernia_ the bowel or omentum is being nipped at the neck of the sac, and the flow of blood into and from the delicate tissues is stopped. The symptoms are--nausea, vomiting of bilious matter, and after a time of faecal-smelling matter; a twisting, burning pain generally referred to the region of the navel, intestinal obstruction; a quick, wiry pulse and pain on pressure over the tumour; the expression grows anxious, the abdomen becomes tense and drum-like, and there is no impulse in the tumour on coughing, because its contents are practically pinched off from the general abdominal cavity. Sometimes there is complete absence of pain and tenderness in the hernia itself, and in an aged person all the symptoms may be very slight. Sooner or later, from eight hours to eight days, if the strangulation is unrelieved, the tumour becomes livid, crackling with gas, mortification of the bowel at the neck of the sac takes place, followed by extravasation of the intestinal contents into the abdominal cavity; the patient has hiccough; he becomes collapsed; and dies comatose from blood-poisoning.

The treatment of a strangulated hernia admits of no delay; if the hernia does not "go back" on the surgeon trying to reduce it, it must be operated on at once, the constriction being relieved, the bowel returned and the opening closed. There should be no treatment by hot-bath or ice-bag: operation is urgently needed. An anaesthetic should be administered, and perhaps one gentle attempt to return the contents by pressure (termed "taxis") may be made, but no prolonged attempts are justifiable, because the condition of the hernial contents may be such that they cannot bear the pressure of the fingers. "Think well of the hernia," says the aphorism, "which has been little handled."

The taxis to be successful should be made in a direction opposite to the one in which the hernia has come down. The inguinal hernia should be pressed upwards, outwards and backwards, the femoral hernia downwards, backwards and upwards. The larger the hernia the greater is the chance of success by taxis, and the smaller the hernia the greater the risk of its being injured by manipulation and delay. In every case the handling must be absolutely gentle. If taxis does not succeed the surgeon must at once cut down on the tumour, carefully dividing the different coverings until he reaches the sac. The sac is then opened, the constriction divided, care being taken not to injure the bowel. The bowel must be examined before it is returned into the abdomen, and if its lustreless appearance, its dusky colour, or its smell, suggests that it is mortified, or is on the point of mortifying, it must not be put back or perforation would give rise to septic peritonitis which would probably have a fatal ending. In such a case the damaged piece of bowel must be resected and the healthy ends of the bowel joined together by fine suturing. Matted or diseased omentum must be tied off and removed. Should peritonitis supervene after the operation on account of bacillary infection, the bowels should be quickly made to act by repeated doses of Epsom salts in hot water.

A person who is the subject of a reducible hernia should take great care to obtain an accurately fitting truss, and should remember that whenever symptoms resembling in any degree those of strangulation occur, delay in treatment may prove fatal. A surgeon should at once be communicated with, and he should come prepared to operate. (E. O.*)

HERNICI, an ancient people of Italy, whose territory was in Latium between the Fucine Lake and the Trerus, bounded by the Volscian on the S., and by the Aequian and the Marsian on the N. They long maintained their independence, and in 486 B.C. were still strong enough to conclude an equal treaty with the Latins (Dion. Hal. viii. 64 and 68). They broke away from Rome in 362 (Livy vii. 6 ff.) and in 306 (Livy ix. 42), when their chief town Anagnia (q.v.) was taken and reduced to a praefecture, but Ferentinum, Aletrium and Verulae were rewarded for their fidelity by being allowed to remain free _municipia_, a position which at that date they preferred to the _civitas_. The name of the Hernici, like that of the Volsci, is missing from the list of Italian peoples whom Polybius (ii. 24) describes as able to furnish troops in 225 B.C.; by that date, therefore, their territory cannot have been distinguished from Latium generally, and it seems probable (Beloch, _Ital. Bund_, p. 123) that they had then received the full Roman citizenship. The oldest Latin inscriptions of the district (from Ferentinum, _C.I.L._ x. 5837-5840) are earlier than the Social War, and present no local characteristic.

For further details of their history see _C.I.L._ x. 572.

There is no evidence to show that the Hernici ever spoke a really different dialect from the Latins; but one or two glosses indicate that they had certain peculiarities of vocabulary, such as might be expected among folk who clung to their local customs. Their name, however, with its _Co_-termination, classes them along with the _Co_-tribes, like the Volsci, who would seem to have been earlier inhabitants of the west coast of Italy, rather than with the tribes whose names were formed with the _No_-suffix. On this question see VOLSCI and SABINI.

See Conway's _Italic Dialects_ (Camb. Univ. Press, 1897), p. 306 ff., where the glosses and the local and personal names of the district will be found. (R. S. C.)

HERNOSAND, a seaport of Sweden, chief town of the district (_lan_) of Vesternorrland on the Gulf of Bothnia. Pop. (1900) 7890. It stands on the island of Herno (which is connected with the mainland by bridges) near the mouth of the Angerman river, 423 m. N. of Stockholm by rail. It is the seat of a bishop and possesses a fine cathedral. There are engine-works, timber-yards and saw-mills. The harbour is good, but generally ice-bound from December to May. Timber, iron and wood-pulp are exported. There are a school of navigation and an institute for pisciculture. Hernosand was founded in 1584, and received its first town-privileges from John III. in 1587. It was the first town in Europe to be lighted by electricity (1885). The poet Franzen (q.v.), Bishop of Hernosand, is buried here.