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Rh Sometimes Harley and I would go about twenty miles of a flight up the snow farther north, partly for pleasure and partly to see whether or not we could extend operations. We would have taken longer flights had our boat been fitted to carry more stores of force. As it was, we on one occasion went too far, and had to walk home over the snow, sometimes through it. Our boat had to he carried five miles next day. We had a sleigh also, but the snow surface was broken up too much, and we could not make much use of it.

Government boats, specially equipped, have been at the north and south poles. The snowcaps, however, are very great. They extend for twenty degrees of latitude even in summer, and in winter they come twenty degrees further. Indeed, the subsoil is almost always frozen above the fiftieth parallel of latitude. Winter begins to be felt as positive cold at thirty degrees from the equator, ice and snow forming in great quantities.

I had almost finished my task and was thinking of returning to Sidonia, pushing on with my studies, and of the pleasure of going to all the grand sights of the metropolis with father, mother and sister, when one night something happened to modify my plans.

It was about twenty-three o'clock, and I was just about to retire, when Fred Harley came running in with the news that an air boat with three people in it was supposed to be lost on the snow-fields.

We had two air boats and a sleigh at our disposal, and I requested Harley to charge all the accumulators while I got particulars, I found that a boat containing three travellers had called about seventy-five minutes, three-quarters of an hour ago. It was going to the village of Ayreton, eighty miles to the west, and would have to call at the next station to renew its electrical supply in about thirty minutes. In such cases it was usual to report arrival. The report had not come, and the man in charge had seen nothing of the boat. It was already half-an-hour behind time, and its route lay over a desolate snow-field with an atmospheric temperature below zero. The boat would not have warning appliances; it was described as a common family one.

The large boat was ready when I got back, and I left Fred to make ready for the starved strangers if I could find them. I turned the light into a couple of search lamps that Fred had attached, and flying as low as I dared went after the missing ones. I had travelled quite twenty miles when I saw something dark on the snow surface, and went down to see if it was anything dropped from the missing boat. Truly it was something: dropped; the dark object was the covering of a woman's head. She was all but buried in loose, powdery, dry snow, and could not have extricated herself, If I had not had the good fortune to find her she would soon have perished. When I attempted to lift her out of the drift into my boat she made some effort to

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text: Talk:The Dundee Courier & Argus/1899/John Ferguson Nisbet

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Author talk:John Ferguson Nisbet

Lloyd's Weekly Newspaper (London, England), Sunday, April 2, 1899; Issue 2941. — Public Amusements
Mr. John Ferguson Nisbet, the well-known journalist and dramatic critic of the times since 1882, died on Friday after a lengthy and prolonged illness. For many years he had written the "Handbook" article for the Referee. Among his works may be mentioned "Insanity of Genius," and "Marriage and Heredity." As a dramatist he appeared with Dorothy Gray, produced at the Princess's on April 10, 1888. Mr. Nisbet, who had a perfect command of seven languages, was only 48.Gale Document Number: BC3206333409

 * The Times (London, England), Monday, Apr 03, 1899; pg. 7; Issue 35793. — Obituary

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86 send me away in search of her father and brother, who were in some difficulty further on. Evidently she wanted me to leave her.

This I could not do. I lifted her up and wrapped her in a rug, and went forward on the track of the missing boat. In another fifteen minutes I found it. It was disabled owing to an accident. The old man, feeling down in the bottom of the boat for something in the dark, had mistaken his position and accidentally slipped his hand in the joint or hinge of the propellor. It had, of course, smashed his hand, and even his wrist, and the jerk had thrown his daughter out. For some time neither father nor son knew that anything had happened to the girl; they were busy, the son in trying to bind up the hand, the father in bearing his pain. When the loss was discovered they flew back and round about and across and across their track until their supply of power gave out, and they dropped helplessly to the ground.

There was nothing before these two also but death before morning. It was very fortunate that I had taken the larger boat, for I took them on board and calculating how far I had come decided to go forward as it would be nearer than going back. In a few minutes more we were at the station and could see each other and look at the wounded hand. It was very badly injured; all we could do was to bind it up and stop the bleeding. There was no help to be had there and if they had come back with me I could not have done much more for them so we went to Ayreton. It was fifty miles due west, but mine being a first-class boat and fully charged cleared the distance in less than half an hour.

After I got to Ayreton I meant to return but was persuaded to remain; this was not a very difficult task for I had told Fred that I might not come back and I was a little interested in the family and desired to know more about its members—especially one of them.

When first I heard this girl speak her voice had a strange thrill that seemed to run through me and I knew not what memories. I wanted to hear her speak again and yet again and each time she spoke the same sensation stole over or through me. I felt that the voice had something to say to me and that no other voice could say it. I could not define the effect; I could not tell in what it differed from other voices, but it had a charm for me. I cannot be in love I have only heard her speak a few times; I have never had a conversation with her, I have never looked fairly into her face; I know nothing of her and yet her voice runs through me and keeps ringing in my brain. The first thing I listen for in the morning is that voice and hearing it amongst others at a distance the same feeling comes over me again. Had I not better go? Why should I stay to see her I can be back at my work in less than an hour, why wait? And yet I wait and as I look upon her from my window I can see that she is certainly looking for me. Perhaps I had better let her have the opportunity of thanking me for the

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Rh little service I rendered them; besides it would be cruel to go away without enquiring about the old man's hand, he must have had a terrible night of pain with that smashed member. Does fate hang on these little things?

'Good morning, Helen, I hope you are not injured by the severe experiences last evening.' These common-place words I managed to get out someway and then I became silent, I had approached to within a few feet of her and got the first glance of her eye and the first fair look at her face. So far she had not spoken but she just glanced at me and her eyes dropped and her face changed color.

'Thank you, I am quite well; we have all to thank you that we are not dead in the snow this morning. Father is in great trouble and pain. Dr. Simmons is with him and she says he will have to undergo amputation, some of the bones in the wrist being completely pulverised.'

While speaking about her father she became quite natural again and looked a very pleasant, winsome, and happy girl of about nine years of age. The Martial women are all beautiful and well proportioned. To say that Helen Vance is beautiful is but to utter a platitude. She is fair, her eyes are blue, her hair has plenty of golden sunshine in it; not, red, but rich gold, fine, bright, and full of rippling wavelets and curly masses.

Her eye is a puzzle to me. It seems to be looking at something faraway in the distance one moment and the next it has a deep pleading beauty like that seen in some well-bred and superior animals. I have seen it before and I have heard that voice before sometime, somewhere. Bodily she may be a stranger to me, but there is something familiar in those two great soul revealers; the eye and the voice.

'Is your father unwilling to have the hand removed? It may be a question of life and death in a few days, perhaps hours. He must be already much weakened through the shock and what he has suffered since.'

'Quite true; but he thinks that if he could get to the metropolis early he might have the powdered bones taken out and replaced with silver; there are such wonders in surgery performed in these days.'

'We can have him in the metropolis in two days or very little more if that is all. I can take you and your father; and Fred Hurley can bring your brother; but we cannot travel night and day at this season of the year. We cannot go much more than a thousand miles a day.'

'How kind you are,' said Helen, 'our own boat might be made to serve, however. My brother says it is not disabled; that it only had to stop because its power was spent. If you would let my brother have your boat he could half fill our accumulators and bring both back, one at once. We then could return as we came.'

I did not relish this idea; I wanted, to take the sufferer and his daughter myself. I could send for Fred to help with the boat. 'Perhaps I had better see your father; mine is a new government boat and very powerful; if your

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88 father and you can bear to travel in the night I will have you in Sidonia, in the metropolitan hospital in thirty hours or less.'

'Oh, that will be best,' said Helen, 'do see him before the Dr. goes. I will go first and tell them of your readiness and ability to help; I can travel in the night; if father can, and maybe we will start at once.'

A moment later Helen called me into her father's room and the Dr., who for the present had given up the idea of persuading her patient to undergo an amputation, asked me a few questions. For a moment she seemed inclined to treat me as as a very young man, but her manner changed when she saw the badge. She said, 'I am sorry to have to tell you Frankston that you are undertaking a very difficult if not a dangerous task I advise an immediate start. The nerve shock and the intense pain have almost brought on collapse. I dare not make free use of sedatives under the circumstances. Hern must be kept still and well wrapped. You will be in a warmer latitude to night and so may travel right on. Still; taking what care you may I cannot guarantee that he will reach Sidonia alive.'

I had sent for Fred half-an-hour before, and as he had only eighty miles to come I knew he might be expected any minute. And before we had got Thomas Hern comfortably settled he was at hand. I introduced him to Henry Hern, Helen Vance's brother and left the two to bring on the boats to Sidonia. I told them my route and advised them to follow it so that if anything happened they would know in a few minutes.

Away I went, up into the space above all law; and then bearing S.W. by S. I shot along at the rate of one hundred and fifty miles an hour. I had to recharge at the each hundred miles: what a pity we cannot carry an indefinite supply of electricity. I will invent some plan. At seventeen o'clock we had travelled a thousand miles; if I could keep up the same speed, during the night we should be in Sidonia before daylight and at the hospital by ten o'clock, twenty-six hours after starting.

We were now travelling over a populous district almost town-like in the number of its inhabitants to the square mile. I dropped in a small village, and got a recharge and some refreshments, for in our haste we had forgotten our usual meal, and we knew that our strength would be wanted during the night. Our patient was asleep, and to all appearance doing well, so we soon shot off again. I could not now fly quite so high and so quickly, for I had to keep an eye upon the lights below that tell of charging places. At out next drop I found that Fred Harly and Harry Hern were following, and that the boats were all right. I told them where we were and reported 'All well.' After this I spoke them twice more.

When I alighted a third time, however, and was filling up with power, I heard a wild cry of grief and pain break the silence of the night. I flung down my insulators and went astern to see what was the matter, and there found Helen thrown full length on the dead body of her father. The man

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50 men from all the provinces of the Empire had stepped into their places. Romans in Rome, they were nowhere strangers. They greatly surpassed the old Cethegus family by their refined minds and humane feelings. They did not regret the Republic; they did not regret liberty, the recollection of which recalled simultaneously proscriptions and civil wars. They honoured Cato as the heroic figure of another age, without wishing to see so exalted a type of virtue arise on top of fresh ruins. They looked upon the Augustan epoch and the first years of Tiberius as the happiest the world had ever known, since the Golden Age had existed in the imagination of the poets only. They lamented the fact that the new order of things, which had promised the world a long reign of felicity, should have so promptly burdened Rome with an unheard of shame unknown even to the contemporaries of Marius and Sulla. They had, during the madness of Caius, seen the best citizens branded with a hot iron, sentenced to the mines, to labour on the roads, thrown to wild beasts, fathers compelled to be present at the agony of their children, and men shining by their virtues, such as Cremutius Cordus, suffer themselves to die of starvation, in order to cheat the tyrant of their death. To Rome's shame, be it said, Caligula respected neither his sisters nor the most illustrious dames. And, what filled these rhetors and

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Rh with as great an indignation as the one they felt over the rape of the matrons and the assassination of the best citizens, were the crimes perpetrated by Caius against eloquence and letters. This madman had conceived the idea of destroying the poems of Homer, and had caused to be removed from all bookshelves the writings, the portraits, and the names of Virgil and of Livy. Finally, Gallio could not forgive him for having compared the style of Seneca to mortar without cement.

They dreaded Claudius in a somewhat lesser degree, but despised him the more for all that. They ridiculed his pumpkin-like head and his seal-like voice. That old savant was not a monster of wickedness. The worst they could reproach him with was his weakness. But, in the exercise of the sovereign power, such weakness became at times as cruel as the cruelty of Caius. They also bore domestic grievances against him. If Caius had held Seneca up to ridicule, Claudius had banished him to Corsica. It is true that he had subsequently recalled him to Rome and conferred a praetorship on him. But they showed him no gratitude for having thus carried out the behests of Agrippina, in ignorance of what he was commanding. Indignant but long suffering, they left it to the Empress to determine the fate of the aged man, and the choice of the new prince. Many rumours were current

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52 to the shame of the unchaste and cruel daughter of Germanicus. They heeded them not, and sang the praises of the illustrious woman to whom the Senecas owed the termination of their misfortune and their rise in honours. As will oftentimes happen, their convictions were in harmony with their interests. A painful experience of public life had left unshaken their trust in the régime established by the divine Augustus, a régime placed on a firmer basis by Tiberius, and under which they filled high positions. They were reckoning on a new master to redress the evils engendered by the masters of the Empire.

Gallio produced from the folds of his toga a roll of papyrus.

"Dear friends," he said, "I have learnt this morning, through letters from Rome, that our young prince has married Octavia, the daughter of Caesar."

A murmur of approval greeted the news.

"We should indeed," continued Gallio, "congratulate ourselves over a union, by virtue of which the prince, combining with his former qualifications those of husband and of son-in-law, becomes henceforth the equal of Britannicus. My brother Seneca never ceases praising in his letters to me the eloquence and gentleness of his pupil who sheds lustre on his youth by pleading before the Senate in the

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Rh presence of the Emperor. He has not yet completed his sixteenth year, yet he has already won the cases of three unfortunate or guilty cities—Ilion, Bolonia, and Apamea."

"He has not then," asked Lucius Cassius, "inherited the evil disposition of the Domitians, his ancestors?"

"Indeed he has not," replied Gallio. "It is Germanicus who lives anew in him."

Annaeus Mela, who was not looked upon as a sycophant, joined in the praise of the son of Agrippina. His praises appeared affecting and sincere, since he pledged them, so to speak, on the head of his son, who was still of tender age.

"Nero is chaste, modest, of a kindly disposition, and religious. My little Lucan, who is dearer to me than my eyes, was his play- and school-mate. Together they practised declamation in the Greek and Latin languages. Together they attempted to indite verse. Never did Nero, in the course of these contests of skill at versification, manifest the slightest symptom of jealousy. Quite the contrary, he enjoyed praising his rival's verses, which, in spite of his tender age, revealed traces here and there of a consuming energy. He sometimes seemed happy to be surpassed by the nephew of his teacher. Such was the charming modesty of the prince of youth! Poets will some day compare the friendship

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 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.)

 HERMEIAS (🇬🇷) 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. 🇬🇷) speaks of a Periegesis of Hermeias, and Athenaeus (iv. p. 149) quotes the second book of a work 🇬🇷, 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 🇬🇷, 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, 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)

 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.)

 HERMES (🇬🇷, 🇬🇷, Dor. 🇬🇷), 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.


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54 of Nero and Lucan with that of Euryalus and Nisus."

"Nero," the proconsul went on to say, "displays with the ardour of youth a gentle and merciful spirit. Time will but strengthen such virtues.

"Claudius, when adopting him, has wisely acquiesced in the hope expressed by the Senate and the wish of the people. In so doing, he has removed from the Imperial succession a child overwhelmed by the shame of his mother, and has now, by giving Octavia to Nero, secured the accession of a youthful Cassar whom Rome will delight in. The respectful son of an honoured mother, the zealous disciple of a philosopher, Nero, whose adolescence is illumined with the most agreeable qualities, Nero, our hope and the hope of the world, will remember, when clad in purple, the teachings of the Portico, and will rule the universe with justice and moderation."

"We welcome the omen," remarked Lollius. "May an era of happiness dawn upon the human race!"

"'Tis difficult to predict the future," said Gallio. "Still, we experience no doubts regarding the eternity of the City. The oracles have promised Rome an empire without end, and it would be sacrilegious not to put our faith in the gods. Shall I reveal to you my fondest hope? I joyfully expect the time when peace will reign for ever on the

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Rh earth, following upon the chastising of the Parthians. Yes indeed, we may, without fear of deceiving ourselves, herald the end of war so hated by mothers. Who is there to disturb the Roman peace henceforth? Our eagles have spread to the confines of the universe. All the nations have experienced our strength and our mercy. The Arab, the Sabaean, the dweller on the slopes of the Hasmus, the Sarmatian who quenches his thirst with the blood of his steed, the Sygambri of the curly locks, the woolly-headed Ethiopian, all come in hordes to worship Rome their protectress. Whence would new barbarians spring? Is it likely that the icy plains of the North or the burning sands of Libya hold in store enemies of the Roman nation? All Barbarians, won over to our friendship, will lay down their arms, and Rome, the white-haired great-grandmother, tranquil in her old age, will see the nations respectfully grouped about her as her adopted children, dwelling in harmony and love."

All signified their approval of the foregoing sentiments, excepting Cassius, who shook his head in disagreement.

He felt a pride in his military ancestry while the glory of arms, so greatly extolled by poets and rhetors, kindled his enthusiasm.

"I doubt, my friend Gallio," he commented,

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56 "that nations will ever cease to hate and fear one another. To tell the truth, I should not desire such a consummation. Did war cease, what would become of strength of character, grandeur of soul, and love of country? Courage and devotion would be virtues out of date."

"Rest assured, Lucius," said Gallio, "that when men shall cease to conquer one another, they will strive to subdue their own selves. That is the most virtuous attempt they can make, and the most noble use to which they can put their bravery and magnanimity. Yes indeed, the august mother whose wrinkles and whose hairs, blanched by centuries, we worship, Rome, will establish universal peace. Then shall the enjoyment of life be realised. Life under certain conditions is worth living. Life is a tiny flame between two infinite shadows; 'tis our share of the divine essence. During the term of his life, a man is similar to the gods."

While Gallio was thus discoursing, a dove perched itself on the shoulder of the Venus, whose marble contours gleamed among the myrtles.

"My dear Gallio," said Lollius with a smile, "the bird of Aphrodite takes delight in thy words. They are gentle and full of gracefulness."

A slave approached, bearing cool wine, and the friends of the proconsul discoursed of the gods. Apollodorus was of opinion that it was not easy to

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Rh grasp their nature. Lollius doubted their very existence.

"When thunder peals," he said, "it all depends upon the philosopher whether it is the cloud or the god who has thundered."

Cassius, however, did not countenance such thoughtless arguments. He believed in the gods of the Republic. While entertaining doubts as to the extent of their providence, he asserted their existence, as he did not wish to differ from humanity on an essential point. And to support his belief in the faith of his ancestors, he had recourse to an argument he had learnt from the Greeks.

"The gods exist," he said. "Men have formed their idea of what they are like. Now, it is impossible to conceive an image not based on reality. How would it be possible to see Minerva, Neptune, and Mercury, were there neither Mercury, nor Neptune, nor Minerva?"

"You have convinced me," said Lollius mockingly. "The old woman who sells honey-cakes in the Forum, outside the basilica, has seen the god Typhon, he with the shaggy head of an ass, and a monster belly. He threw her on her back, threw her clothes over her ears, chastised her while keeping time to each resounding blow, and left her for dead, after polluting her in a disgusting fashion. She has herself told how, even as Antiope, she had

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58 been favoured with the visit of an immortal god. It is certain that the god Typhon exists, since he committed an outrage on an old cake-selling hag."

"In spite of thy mockery, Marcus, I do not doubt the existence of the gods," resumed Cassius. And I believe that they enjoy a human form, since it is under that form that they always show themselves to us, whether we slumber or whether we are awake."

"It would be better," remarked Apollodorus, "to say that men possess the divine form, since the gods existed before them."

"My dear Apollodorus," exclaimed Lollius. "You forget that Diana was first worshipped under the form of a tree, and that several important gods have the shape of an unhewn stone. Cybele is represented, not as a woman should be, with two breasts, but with several teats like a bitch or a sow. The sun is a god, but being too hot to assume the human form, he has taken the shape of a ball; he is a round god."

Annaeus Mela gently censured this academic jesting.

"All that is related about the gods," he said, should not be taken literally. The vulgar herd calls wheat Ceres, and wine Bacchus. But where is to be found the man crazy enough to believe that he drinks and eats a god? Let us indulge in a more exalted knowledge of the divine nature. The

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Rh gods are but the several parts of nature, and they are all lost in one god, who is nature in its entirety."

The proconsul signified his approval of the words of his brother, and speaking in a serious strain, defined the attributes of divinity.

"God is the soul of the world; this soul spreads to all parts of the universe, infusing motion and life into it. This soul, a creative flame, penetrating the inert mass of matter, gave shape to the world, governing and preserving it. Divinity, an active force, is essentially good. The matter which it has put to good use, being inert and passive, is bad in certain of its parts. God has been powerless to change its nature. This explains the origin of the evil in the world. Our souls are particles of the divine fire into which they will some day be merged. Consequently, God is within us and he dwells in particular in the virtuous man whose soul is not hampered with gross materialism. This wise man, in whom God dwells, is God's equal. He should not implore him, but contain him within himself. And what madness it is to pray to God! What an act of impiety it is to petition him! It is tantamount to believing that it is possible to enlighten his intelligence, to change his heart, and to persuade him to mend his behaviour. It is displaying ignorance of the necessity governing his immutable

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60 wisdom. He is subjected to Destiny, or, to be more accurate, he is Destiny. His ways are laws to which he is like ourselves subjected. For once that he commands, he obeys for ever. Free and powerful in his submission, it is to himself that he shows obedience. All the happenings in the world are the manifestations of sovereign intentions originating with himself. His helplessness against himself is infinite."

Gallio's speech was applauded by his hearers. Apollodorus, however, craved permission to submit a few objections.

"You are right, Gallio," he said, "when you believe that Jupiter is at the mercy of Anankè and I hold with you that Anankè is the first among the immortal goddesses. But it appears to me that your god, above all admirable in his compass and his perpetuity, had better intentions than luck when he created the world, since he found nothing better wherewith to knead it than a rebellious and ingrate substance, and that the material betrays the workman. I cannot but feel for him over his discomfiture. The potters of Athens are more fortunate. They procure, for the purpose of making vases, a delicate and plastic clay which readily takes and preserves the contours they give it. Hence do their goblets and amphorae present an agreeable form. Their curves are graceful, and the painter limns with ease figures

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 10. § 2; Anton. Lib. 23.) In order not to be discovered by the traces of his footsteps, Hermes put on sandals, and drove the oxen to Pylos, where he killed two, and concealed the rest in a cave. (Comp. the different stratagems by which he escaped in Hom. ''Hymn. in Merc.'' 75, &c., and Anton. Lib. l.c.) The skins of the slaughtered animals were nailed to a rock, and part of their flesh was prepared and consumed, and the rest burnt; at the same time he offered scrifices to the twelve gods, whence he is probably called the inventor of divine worship and sacrifices. (Hom. ''Hymn. in Merc.'' 125, &c.; Diod. i. 16.) Hereupon he returned to Cyllene, where he found a tortoise at the entrance of his native cave. He took the animal's shell, drew strings across it, and thus invented the lyre and plectrum. The number of strings of his new invention is said by some to have been three and by others seven, and they were made of the guts either of oxen or of sheep. (Hom. l.c. 51; Diod. i. 16, v. 75; Orph. Argon. 381; Horat. Carm. i. 10. 6.) Apollo, by his prophetic power, had in the meantime discovered the thief, and went to Cyllene to charge him with it before his mother Maia. She showed to the god the child in its cradle; but Apollo took the boy before Zeus, and demanded back his oxen. Zeus commanded him to comply with the demand of Apollo, but Hermes denied that he had stolen the cattle. As, however, he saw that his assertions were not believed, he conducted Apollo to Pylos, and restored to him his oxen; but when Apollo heard the sounds of the lyre, he was so charmed that he allowed Hermes to keep the animals. Hermes now invented the syrinx, and after having disclosed his inventions to Apollo, the two gods concluded an intimate friendship with each other. (Hom. l.c. 514, &c.) Apollo presented his young friend with his own golden shepherd's staff, taught him the art of prophesying by means of dice, and Zeus made him his own herald, and also of the gods of the lower world. According to the Homeric hymn (533, &c.), Apollo refused to teach Hermes the art of prophecy, and referred him for it to the three sisters dwelling on Parnassus; but he conferred upon him the office of protecting flocks and pastures (568; comp. Lucian, ''Dial. Deor.'' 7; Ov. Met. ii. 683, &c.).

The principal feature in the traditions about Hermes consists in his being the herald of the gods, and in this capacity he appears even in the Homeric poems; his original character of an ancient Pelasgian, or Arcadian divinity of nature, gradually disappeared in the legends. As the herald of the gods, he is the god of skill in the use of speech and of eloquence in general, for the heralds are the public speakers in the assemblies and on other occasions. (Il. i. 333, iv. 193, vii. 279, 385, viii. 517, xi. 684; comp. Orph. Hymn. 27. 4; Aelian, H. A. x. 29; Hor. Carm. i. 10. 1.) As an adroit speaker, he was especially employed as messenger, when eloquence was required to attain the desired object. (Od. i. 38, Il. xxiv. 390; Hom. Hymn. in Cer. 335.) Hence the tongues of sacrificial animals were offered to him. (Aristoph. Pax. 1062; Athen. i. p. 16.) As heralds and messengers are usually men of prudence and circumspection, Hermes was also the god of prudence and skill in all the relations of social intercourse. (Il. xx. 35, xxiv. 282, Od. ii. 38.) These qualities were combined with similar ones, such as cunning both in words and actions, and even fraud, perjury, and the inclination to steal; but acts of this kind were committed by Hermes always with a certain skill, dexterity, and even gracefulness. Examples occur in the Homeric hymn on Hermes (66, 260, 383; comp. Eustath. ad Hom. p. 1337; Hom. Il. v. 390, xxiv. 24; Apollod. i. 6. § 3).

Being endowed with this shrewdness and sagacity, he was regarded as the author of a variety of inventions, and, besides the lyre and syrinx, he is said to have invented the alphabet, numbers, astronomy, music, the art of fighting, gymnastics, the cultivation of the olive tree, measures, weights, and many other things. (Plut. Sympos. ix. 3; Diod. l.c. and v. 75; Hygin. Fab. 277.) The powers which he possessed himself he conferred upon those mortals and heroes who enjoyed his favour, and all who had them were under his especial protection, or are called his sons. (Od. x. 277, &c., xv. 318, &c., xix. 397; Soph. Philoct. 133; Hes. Op. 67; Eustath. ad Hom. pp. 18, 1053.) He was employed by the gods and more especially by Zeus on a variety of occasions which are recorded in ancient story. Thus he conducted Priam to Achilles to fetch the body of Hector (Il. xxiv. 336), tied Ixion to the wheel (Hyg. Fab. 62), conducted Hera, Aphrodite, and Athena to Paris (Hyg. Fab. 92; Paus. v. 19. § 1), fastened Prometheus to Mount Caucasus (Serv. ad Virg. Eclog. vi. 42), rescued Dionysus after his birth from the flames, or received him from the hands of Zeus to carry him to Athamas (Apollod. iii. 4. § 3; Apollon. iv. 1137), sold Heracles to Omphale (Apollod. ii. 6. § 3), and was ordered by Zeus to carry off Io, who was metamorphosed into a cow, and guarded by Argus; but being betrayed by Hierax, he slew Argus. (Apollod. ii. 1. § 3.) From this murder he is very commonly called 🇬🇷. (Il. xxiv. 182; comp. Schol. ad Aeschyl. Prom. 563; Ov. Met. i. 670, &c.) In the Trojan war Hermes was on the side of the Greeks. (Il. xx. 72, &c.) His ministry to Zeus is not confined to the offices of herald and messenger, but he is also the charioteer and cupbearer. (Hom. Od. i. 143, Il. xxiv. 178, 440, Hymn. in Cer. 380; Eustath. ad Hom. p. 1205.) As dreams are sent by Zeus, Hermes, the 🇬🇷, conducts them to man, and hence he is also described as the god who had it in his power to send refreshing sleep or to take it away. (Hom. Hymn. in Merc. 14, Il. ii. 26, xxiv. 343, &c.) Another important function of Hermes was to conduct the shades of the dead from the upper into the lower world, whence he is called 🇬🇷, 🇬🇷, 🇬🇷, &c. (Hom. Od. xxiv. 1, 9, Hymn. in Cer. 379, &c.; Eustath. ad Hom. p. 561; Diog. Laёrt. viii. 31; Hygin. Fab. 251.)

The idea of his being the herald and messenger of the gods, of his travelling from place to place and concluding treaties, necessarily implied the notion that he was the promoter of social intercourse and of commerce among men, and that he was friendly towards man. (Od. xix. 135, Il. xxiv. 333.) In this capacity he was regarded as the maintainer of peace, and as the god of roads, who protected travellers, and punished those who refused to assist travellers who had mistaken their way. (Il. vii. 277, &c.; Theocrit. xxv. 5; Aristoph. Plut. 1159.) Hence the Athenian generals, on setting out on an expedition, offered sacrifices to Hermas, surnamed Hegemonius, or Agetor; and


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 numerous statues of the god were erected on roads, at doors and gates, from which circumstance he derived a variety of surnames and epithets. As the god of commerce, he was called 🇬🇷, 🇬🇷, 🇬🇷, 🇬🇷, 🇬🇷, &c. (Aristoph. Plut. 1155; Pollux, vii. 15; Orph. Hymn. xxvii. 6; Paus. i. 15. § 1, ii. 9. §. 7, iii. 11. § 8, &c.); and as commerce is the source of wealth, Hermes is also the god of gain and riches, especially of sudden and unexpected riches, such as are acquired by commerce. As the giver of wealth and good luck (🇬🇷), he also presided over the game of dice, and those who played it threw an olive leaf upon the dice, and first drew this leaf. (Hom. Il. vii. 183; Aristoph. Pax, 365; Eustath. ad Hom. p. 675.) We have already observed that Hermes was considered as the inventor of sacrifices, and hence he not only acts the part of a herald at sacrifices (Aristoph. Pax, 433), but is also the protector of sacrificial animals, and was believed in particular to increase the fertility of sheep. (Hom. Hymn. in Merc. 567, &c., Il. xiv. 490, 1xiv. 180, &c; Hes. Theog. 444.) For this reason he was especially worshipped by shepherds, and is mentioned in connection with Pan and the Nymphs. (Hom. Od. xiv. 435; Eustath. ad Hom. p. 1766; Aristoph. Thesm. 977; Paus. viii. 16. § 1; ix. 34. § 2; Schol. ad Soph. Philoct. 14, 59.) This feature in the character of Hermes is a remnant of the ancient Arcadian religion, in which he was the fertilising god of the earth, who conferred his blessings on man; and some other traces of this character occur in the Homeric poems. (Il. xxiv. 360, Od. viii. 335, xvi. 185, Hymn. in Merc. 27.)

Another important function of Hermes was his being the patron of all the gymnastic games of the Greeks. This idea seems to be of late origin, for in the Homeric poems no trace of it is found; and the appearance of the god, such as it is there described, is very different from that which we might expect in the god of the gymnastic art. But as his images were erected in so many places, and among them, at the entrance of the gymnasia, the natural result was, that he, like Heracles and the Dioscuri, was regarded as the protector of youths and gymnastic exercises and contests (Pind. Nem. x. 53), and that at a later time the Greek artists derived their ideal of the god from the gymnasium, and represented him as a youth whose limbs were beautifully and harmoniously developed by gymnastic exercises. Athens seems to have been the first place in which he was worshipped in this capacity. (Pind. Pyth. ii. 10, Isthm. i. 60; Aristoph. Plut. 1161.) The numerous descendants of Hermes are treated of in separate articles. It should be observed that the various functions of the god led some of the ancients to assume a plurality of gods of this name. Cicero (de Nat. Deor. iii. 22) distinguishes five, and Servius (ad Aen. i. 301, iv. 577) four; but these numbers also include foreign divinities, which were identified by the Greeks with their own Hermes.

The most ancient seat of his worship is Arcadia, the land of his birth, where Lycaon, the son of Pelasgus, is said to have built to him the first temple. (Hygin. Fab. 225.) From thence his worship was carried to Athens, and ultimately spread through all Greece. The festivals celebrated in his honour were called 🇬🇷. (Dict. of Ant. s. v.) His temples and statues (Dict. of Ant. s.v. Hermae) were extremely numerous in Greece. The Romans identified him with Mercury. [MERCURIUS.] Among the things sacred to him we may mention the palm tree, the tortoise, the number four, and several kinds of fish; and the sacrifices offered to him consisted of incense, honey, cakes, pigs, and especially lambs and young goats. (Paus. vii. 22. § 2; Aristoph. Plut. 1121, 1144; Hom. Od. xiv. 435, xix. 397; Athen. i. p. 16.)

The principal attributes of Hermes are: 1. A travelling hat, with a broad brim, which in later times was adorned with two little wings; the latter, however, are sometimes seen arising from his locks, his head not being covered with the hat. 2. The staff (🇬🇷 or 🇬🇷): it is frequently mentioned in the Homeric poems as the magic staff by means of which he closes and opens the eyes of mortals, but no mention is made of the person or god from whom he received it, nor of the entwining serpents which appear in late works of art. According to the Homeric hymn and Apollodorus, he received it from Apollo; and it appears that we must distinguish two staves, which were afterwards united into one: first, the ordinary herald's staff (Il. vii. 277, xviii. 505), and secondly, a magic staff, such as other divinities also possessed. (Lucian, Dial. Deor. vii. 5; Virg. Aen. iv. 242, &c.) The white ribbons with which the herald's staff was originally surrounded were changed by later artists into two serpents (Schol. ad Thuc. i. 53; Macrob. Sat. i. 19; comp. Hygin. Poet. Astr. ii. 7; Serv. ad Aen. iv. 242, viii. 138), though the ancients themselves accounted for them either by tracing them to some feat of the god, or by regarding them as symbolical representations of prudence, life, health, and the like. The staff, in later times, is further adorned with a pair of wings, expressing the rapidity with which the messenger of the gods moved from place to place. 3. The sandals (🇬🇷.) They were beautiful and golden, and carried the god across land and sea with the rapidity of wind; but Homer no where says or suggests that they were provided with wings. The plastic art, on the other hand, required some outward sign to express this quality of the god's sandals, and therefore formed wings at his ancles, whence he is called 🇬🇷, or alipes. (Orph. Hymn. xxvii. 4; Ov. Met. xi. 312.) In addition to these attributes, Hermes sometimes holds a purse in his hands. Several representations of the god at different periods of his life, as well as in the discharge of his different functions, have come down to us. (Hirt, Mythol. Bilderb. i. p. 63, &c.)

 HERMES, a Greek rhetorician, who is mentioned in the work ad Herennium (i. 11), where he is called doctor noster, and an opinion of his is quoted. The MSS. of that passage, however, vary, some having Hermes, and others Hermestes. Some critics have conjectured Hermagoras, but the opinion quoted in the work ad Herennium does not agree with what we know to have been the opinion of Hermagoras.

 HERMES and HERMES TRISMEGISTUS (🇬🇷 and 🇬🇷), the reputed author of a variety of works, some of which are still extant. In order to understand their origin and nature, it is necessary to cast a glance at the philosophy of the New Platonists and its objects. The religious ideas of the Greeks were viewed as in some way connected with those of the Egyptians


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Rh pleasing to the eye, such as old Silenus bestriding his ass, the toilet of Aphrodite, and the chaste Amazons. When I come to think of it, Gallio, I am of the opinion that if your god was less fortunate than the potters of Athens, 'tis for the reason that he lacked wisdom and that he was a poor artisan. The material at his disposal was not of the best. Still, it was not devoid of all serviceable properties, as you have yourself confessed. Nothing is absolutely good or absolutely bad. A thing may be bad if put to a certain use, while it may be excellent in some other. It would be waste of time to plant olive-trees in the clay used in fashioning amphorae. The tree of Pallas would not grow in the light and pure soil of which are made the beautiful vases which our victorious athletes receive, blushing the while with pride and modesty. It seems to me, Gallio, that your god, when fashioning the world with a material that was not suitable for the undertaking, was guilty of the mistake which a vine-dresser of Megara would be committing, were he to plant a vine in modelling clay, or were some worker in ceramics to select for the making of amphorae the stony soil which affords nutriment to the clusters of the grape-vine. Your god, you say, made the universe. He ought certainly to have given form to some other thing, in order to make suitable use of his material. Since the substance, as

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62 you assert, proved rebellious to him, either through its inherent inertia, or through some other bad quality, should he have persisted in putting it to a use it could not respond to, and, as the saying goes, carve his bow out of a cypress? The secret of industry does not consist in accomplishing much, but in doing good work. Why did he not content himself with creating some small thing, say a gnat, or a drop of water, but finish it to perfection?

"I might add further remarks about your god, Gallio, and ask you, for instance, if you do not entertain a fear that from his constant rubbing against matter, he may wear out, just as a millstone becomes worn in the long run in the course of grinding wheat. But such questions are not to be solved in a hurry, and the time of a proconsul is precious. Permit me at least to say to you that you are not justified in believing that your god rules and preserves the world, since, according to your own admission, he deprived himself of intelligence after having become acquainted with all things; of will-power, after having willed all things, and of power, following upon his ability to do what he saw fit. Herein again lay, on his part, a serious mistake, for he was thus an instrument in depriving himself of the means of correcting his imperfect work. So far as I am concerned, I am inclined to believe that god is in reality, not the one you have conceived, but

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Rh indeed the matter he discovered on a certain day, and which the Greeks have styled chaos. You are mistaken in your belief that matter is inert. It is ever in motion, and its perpetual activity keeps life a-going throughout the universe."

Thus spake the philosopher Apollodorus. Gallio, who had listened to his speech with some degree of impatience, denied that he had fallen a victim to the mistakes and contradictions with which the Greek charged him. But he failed in refuting successfully the arguments of his opponent, as his intellect was not a subtle one and because he demanded principally of philosophy the means of rendering men virtuous, and because he was interested in useful truths only.

"Try to grasp, Apollodorus," he said, "that God is none other than nature. Nature and himself are one. God and Nature are the two names of a single being, just as Novatus and Gallio designate one and the same man. God, if you prefer, is divine reason commingling with the earth. You need have no fear that he will wear out through this amalgamation, since his tenous substance participates of the fire which consumes all matter while remaining unchanged.

"But should, nevertheless," proceeded Gallio, "my doctrine embrace ill-assorted ideas, do not blame me for it, my dear Apollodorus, but rather

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64 give me praise because I suffer a few contradictions to find a place in my mind. Were I not conciliatory as regards my own ideas, were I to confer upon a single system an exclusive preference, I could no longer tolerate the freedom of every opinion; having destroyed my own freedom of thought, I could not readily tolerate it in the case of others, and I should forfeit the respect due to every doctrine established or professed by a sincere man. The gods forbid that I should see my opinion prevail to the exclusion of any other, and exercise an absolute sway on other minds. Conjure up a picture, my dear friends, of the state of manners and morals, were a sufficient number of men firmly to believe that they were the sole possessors of the truth, if, by some impossible chance, they were thoroughly agreed as to that truth. A too narrow piety among the Athenians, who are nevertheless full of wisdom and of doubt, was the cause of the banishment of Anaxagoras and of the death of Socrates. What would happen were millions of men enslaved by one solitary idea concerning the nature of the gods? The genius of the Greeks and the prudence of our ancestors made allowance for doubt, and tolerated the worship of Jupiter under several names. No sooner should a powerful sect come on this ailing earth and proclaim that Jupiter has one name only, than blood would flow the

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Rh world over, and no longer would there be but one Caius whose madness should threaten the human race with death. All the men of such a sect would be so many Caiuses. They would face death for a name. For a name, they would kill, since it is rather in the nature of men to kill than to die on behalf of what seems to them true and most excellent. Hence it is better to base public order on the diversity of opinions, than to seek to establish it on a universal consent to one and the same belief. A like unanimous consent could never be realised, and in seeking to obtain it, men would become stupid and maddened. For, indeed, the most patent truth is but a vain jangle of words to the men on whom it is attempted to impose it. You would compel me to believe a thing which you understand, but which passes my understanding. You would thus be forcing upon me not a thing that is intelligible, but one that is incomprehensible. And I am nearer you when holding a different belief, one which I understand. For, in that case, both of us are making use of our reason, and we both possess an intelligent comprehension of our own belief."

"Enough of all this," remarked Lollius. "Educated men will never combine for the purpose of stifling all other doctrines to the advantage of a single one. As to the vulgar herd, who cares to teach

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66 it that Jupiter has six hundred names, or a single one?"

Cassius, slow of utterance, and of a serious turn of mind, spoke next.

"Beware, Gallio," he said, "lest the existence of God, such as expounded by you, be not in contradiction with the beliefs of our forefathers. It matters little, after all, whether your arguments are better or worse than those of Apollodorus. What we have to consider is the fatherland. To its religion does Rome owe her virtues and her power. To destroy our gods is to compass our own destruction."

"You need not fear, my friend," rejoined Gallio with some show of animation, "have no fear, I repeat, that I deny in an insolent spirit the heavenly protectors of the Empire. The only divinity which the philosophers acknowledge embodies within itself all the gods, just as humanity embraces all men. The gods whose worship was instituted by the wisdom of our forefathers, Jupiter, Juno, Mars, Minerva, Quirinus, and Hercules, constitute the most august parts of the universal providence, and no less than the whole do these parts exist. No, indeed, I am not an impious man, nor inimical to the laws. None respects the sacred things more than Gallio."

No one seemed disposed to dispute these ideas.

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Rh for if they did cross there, as he hoped they would, he should be able to take advantage of the high ground at that place to oppose the Parthian cavalry. Bassus confidentially communicated this to a petty chieftain, a native of Cyrrhestica, who was about him ; and, as he expected, the chieftain, who was favourable to the Parthians, sent the information to Pacorus. It turned out as Bassus wished: Pacorus, believing that Ventidius wished to meet him at the Zeugma, did not cross the Euphrates there, but advanced by a longer route, which took him forty days, and gave Bassus time to collect his forces. (Frontin. Stratagem, i. 6. § 6.) The Parthians were defeated in Cyrrhestica, and Pacorus fell in the battle. The head of Pacorus was sent round to the Syrian cities, which induced them to keep quiet. Eutropius (vii. 3) says that Bassus killed Pacorus, the son of king Orodes, on the same day on which Orodes had killed Crassus through the means of his general Surena. Bassus then moved against Antiochus, king of Commagene, on the pretext that he had not given up some slaves to him, but in reality to ease king Antiochus of some of liis money. In the mean time Antonius arrived, and so far from being pleased with the success of Ventidius, he showed great jealousy of him, and treated him in an unworthy manner. It is said that Antiochus had offered Ventidius a thousand talents as the price of peace, and that Antonius, who undertook the siege of Samosata, was obliged to be content with three hundred. (Plut. Anton, c. 34.) The Senate decreed to Antonius a supplicatio and a triumph for the victories of Ventidius ; and Antonius rewarded his general by dismissing him from his employment. Yet the services of Ventidius were too great to be overlooked ; and on his coming to Rome he had a triumph in November B. c. 38. Nothing more is known of him, Bassus was often cited (Plin. H. N. vii. 43) as an instance of a man who rose from the lowest condition to the highest honours ; a captive became a Roman consul and enjoyed a triumph ; but this was in a period of revolution. It is probable that the talents of Bassus made Caesar and Antonius think it prudent to reward such a man and secure his services. As to Publius Ventidius, who is named in the text of Appian {Bell. Civ. i. 47) as a commander in the Marsic war, see the note in Schweighaeuser's edition of Appian. It is very improbable that P. Ventidius Bassus commanded in that war ; and besides this, some authorities state that he was a child when he was taken prisoner. The annexed coin, struck by Ventidius Bassus, has on the obverse the head of M. Antonius. (In addition to the authorities cited, see Florus, IV. 9, and notes in Duker's edition ; and the passages in Dion Cassius, with the notes of Reimarus ; and Drumann, Geschichte Roms, Antonii.) [G.L.]

VENTIDIUS CUMA'NUS, procurator of Judaea about A. D. 50, is spoken of more at length mider Antonius Felix. [Vol. II. p. 143, a.]

 VENULEIA, the wife apparently of P. Licinius Crassus Dives, consul B. C. 97. (Cic. ad Att. xii. 24.)

 VENULEIUS. 1. A Roman senator put to death by Sulla in B. C. 82. (Florus, iii. 21. § 26 ; Oros. v. 21.)

 2. A decumanus in Sicily, one of the vile instruments of Verres in oppressing the province. (Cic. Verr. iii. 42.)

 3. A legatus apparently of C. Calvisius Sabinus in Africa, was deprived of his lictors by Q. Cornificius, when he took possession of the province in B. C. 43. (Cic. ad Fain. xii. 30. § 7.) [Comp. Vol. III. p. 689, a.]

 L. VENULEIUS APRONIA'NUS. 1. Consul suffectus under Domitian, 92. 2. Consul under Hadrian 123 with Q. Articuleius Paetinus. 3. Consul under M. Aurelius 168 with L. Sergius Paulus (Fasti).

 VENULEIUS SATURNI'NUS. [.]

 VENUS, the goddess of love among the Romans, and more especially of sensual love. Previously to her identification with the Greek Aphrodite, she was one of the least important divinities in the religion of the Romans, and it is observed by the ancients themselves, that her name was not mentioned in any of the documents relating to the kingly period of Roman history. (Macrob. Sat. i. 12.) This is further evident from the fact that at no time a festival was celebrated in honour of Venus, for the Vinalia (on the 23d of April and 19th of August) were quite a different festival, and were connected with this goddess only by a misinterpretation of the name (Dict. of Ant. s. v. Vinalia), which led courtesans to regard the 23d of April as a holiday of their own, and to worship the goddess on that day in their peculiar way in a temple outside the city. (Ov. Fast. iv. 865.) In later times several other solemnities were celebrated to Venus in the month of April, partly because that month being the beginning of spring, was thought to be particularly sacred to the goddess of love, and partly because the belief had gradually gained ground that Venus, as the beloved of Mars, was concerned in the origin of the Roman people. This latter point gained support from the legend which made Aeneas a son of Anchises and Aphrodite (identified with Venus ; see Ov. Fast. iv. 135; Plut. Num. 19; Macrob. l.c.; Laur. Lyd. De Mens. iv. 45). There was at Lavinium a sanctuary of Venus common to all Latium, the ceremonies at which were performed by the people of Ardea, but its age cannot be defined. (Strab. p. 232.) At Rome we may notice the following circumstances as proving the worship of Venus to have been established there at an early time. There was a stone chapel with an image of Venus Murtea or Murcia in the Circus near to the spot where the altar of Consus was concealed. (Fest. p. 149, ed. Müller; Apul. Met. vi. 395; Tertull. De Spect. 8; Varro, De L. L. v. 154; Liv. i. 33; August. De Civ. Dei, iv. 16.) The surname Murtea or Murcia shows that the myrtle-tree stood in some relation to the goddess, and it is actually said that in ancient times there was a myrtle grove in front of her sanctuary below the Aventine. (Plin. H. N. xv. 36; Serv. ad Aen. i. 724; Plut.<section end="Venus"/>


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 ''Quaest. Rom. 20.) It must however be observed that some of the ecclesiastical writers preferred taking the surname Murcia in the sense of "stupid" or "dull" (from murcus''). Another ancient surname of Venus was Cloacina, which, according to Lactantius (i. 20), was derived from the fact that her image was found in the great sewer (cloaca), and was set up by the Sabine king, T. Tatius, in a temple near the forum. (Comp. Liv. 3.48 ; Plaut. Curcul. iv. 1. 10.) If Venus had been one of the divinities of the lower world, this story might be intelligible enough, but as such was not the case, it appears to be nothing but an etymological inference from the name. Cloaca is connected with cluere, Cluilia, Cloelia, 🇬🇷, luere (i. e. purgare), and there is a tradition that T. Tatius and Roranlus, after the war which had arisen out of the rape of the Sabine women, ordered their subjects to purify themselves before the image of Venus Cluacina. (Plin. H. N. xv. 29; comp. Serv. ad Aen. i. 724, where purgare must be read for pugnare.) This explanation agrees perfectly with the belief of the ancients that T. Tatius was the founder of marriage; and Venus Cloacina, accordingly, is the goddess presiding over and purifying the sexual intercourse in marriage. A third ancient surname of the goddess is Calva, under which she had two temples in the neighbourhood of the Capitol. Some believed that one of them had been built by Ancus Marcius, because his wife was in danger of losing her hair ; others thought that it was a monument of a patriotic act of the Roman women, who during the siege of the Gauls cut off their hair and gave it to the men to make strings for their bows, and others again to the fancies and caprices of lovers, calvere signifying "to teaze." (Serv. ad Aen. i. 724; Lactant. i. 20; Nonius, p. 6.) But it probably refers to the fact that on her wedding day the bride, either actually or symbolically, cut off a lock of hair to sacrifice it to Venus. (Pers. Sat. ii. 70, with the Schol.) In these, the most ancient surnames of Venus, we must recognise her primitive character and attributes. In later times her worship became much more extended, and the identification with the Greek Aphrodite introduced various new attributes. At the beginning of the second Punic war, the worship of Venus Erycina or Erucina was introduced from Sicily, and a temple was dedicated to her on the Capitol, to which subsequently another was added outside the Colline gate. (Liv. xxii. 9, 10, xxiii. 30, 31, xl. 34; Ov. ''Rem. Am. 549; P. Victor, Reg. Urb.'' v.) In the year B. C. 114, a Vestal virgin was killed by lightning, and her body was found naked; as the general moral corruption, especially among the Vestals, was believed to be the cause of this disaster, the Sibylline books were consulted which contained the order to build a temple of Venus Verticordia (the goddess who turns the hearts of men) on the via Salaria. (Ov. Fast. iv. 160; Val. Max. viii. 15. § 12.) After the close of the Samnite war, Fabius Gurges founded the worship of Venus Obsequens and Postvota; Scipio Africanus the younger that of Venus Genitrix, in which he was afterwards followed by Caesar, who added that of Venus Victrix. (Serv. ad Aen. i. 724.) The antiquity of the worship of Venus Militaris, Barbata and Equestris is unknown (Serv. l.c.; Macrcob. Sat. iii. 8); but the sanctuaries of Venus Rhamnusia, Placida, and Alma are all of a very late date. (P. Vict. ''Reg. Urb. v. x. xii.) Lastly, we may remark, that Venus is also said to have presided over gardens. (Varro, De R. R.'' i. 1; Plin. H. N. xix. 4; Fest. p. 58, ed. Müller; compare Hartung, ''Die Relig. der Röm.'' vol. ii. p. 248, &c.)

 VENUSTUS, artist. This name is found on the celebrated marble of Antium, as that of a freedman of the imperial family, in the time of Claudius, whose profession is described by the letters SPEC, which Vulpi interprets Speculator, but which, according to Raoul-Rochette, should be read Speclarius, that is, a manufacturer of the glass ornaments employed in the decoration of houses. M. R, Rochette brings forward strong arguments in support of his opinion, showing that there was a distinct class of such artists, speclarii, speculorum or speculariorum fabri, and that they existed at Rome as a body corporate. Collegium Speclariorum. (Tabul. Antiat. v. 23. p. 15, Rom. 1726, 4to ; R. Rochette, Lettre à M. Schorn, pp. 422 — 425, 2d ed.)

 VENU'TIUS. []

 VERA'NIA, the wife of Piso Licinianus, who was adopted by the emperor Galba. After the murder of her husband in A. D. 69, she obtained his head from Otho and buried it together with his body. (Tac. Hist. i. 47 ; Plut. Galb. 28 ; Plin. Ep. ii. 20.) [, No. 31.]

 Q. VERA'NIUS, was appointed by Tiberius the Caesar's legatus or governor of Cappadocia, when the country was reduced to the form of a Roman province in A. D. 18. Veranius was one of the friends of Germanicus, and accordingly took an active part in A. D. 20 in the prosecution of Cn. Piso, who was believed to have poisoned Germanicus. After the death of Piso in this year [, No. 23], Veranius was rewarded with one of the priestly dignities. He was consul in the reign of Claudius A. D. 49 with C. Pompeius Gallus. In the reign of Nero, A. D. 58 he succeeded Didius Gallus as governor of Britain, but died there within a year, and was followed in the government by Suetonius Paulinus. (Tac. Ann. ii. 56, 74, iii. 10, 13, 17, 19, xii. 5, xiv. 29, Agr. 14.) It was probably to this Veranius that Onosander dedicated his work on military tactics. [.]

 '''VERA'TIUS, CN. EGNATIUS''', a Roman historian, mentioned only by Aurelius Victor (de Orig. Gent. Rom. init,).

 VERATIUS or NERATIUS, P.FU'LVIUS, called by Cicero lectissimus homo, accused Milo in B. C. 52, (Cic. pro Flacc. 20 ; Ascon. in Mil. pp. 40, 54, ed. Orelli.)

 VERAX, the nephew of Civilis, assisted the latter in his war against the Romans, A. D. 70. (Tac. Hist. v. 20.) []

VERCINGETORIX, the celebrated chieftain of the Arverni, who carried on war with great ability against Caesar in B. C. 52. The history of this war, which occupies the seventh book of Caesar.'s Commentaries on the Gallic war, has been related elsewhere. [, p. 548.] It is only necessary to mention here that after Vercingetorix fell into Caesar's hands on the capture of Alesia, he was kept in chains and subsequently taken to Rome, where he adorned the triumph of his conqueror in B. C. 45 and was afterwards put to death. (Dion Cass. xl. 41, xliii. 19 ; Plut. Caes. 27.)

VERGASILLAUNUS, a chief of the Arverni and a consobrinus of Vercingetorix, was one of the


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Rh Thereupon Lollius, bringing the conversation back to its starting-point, remarked:

"We have been seeking to penetrate the veil of the future. What are man's destinies, according to you, my friends, after his demise?"

In reply to this question, Annaeus Mela promised immortality to heroes and wise men, while denying it to the common of mankind.

"It passes belief," he said, "that misers, gluttons, and mean-spirited men should possess an immortal soul. Could so singular a privilege be the portion of coarse and silly oafs? I cannot entertain such a thought. It would be an insult to the majority of the gods to believe that they have decreed the immortality of the boor who wots only of his goats and cheeses, or of the freedman, richer than Croesus, who had no other cares in the world than to check the accounts of his stewards. Why, good gods, should they be provided with a soul? What sort of a figure would they present among heroes and wise men in the Elysian fields? These wretches, like so many others here below, are incapable of realising humanity's short-spanned life. How could they realise a life of longer duration? Vulgar souls are snuffed out at the hour of death, or they may for a while whirl about our globe, to vanish in the dense strata of the atmosphere. Virtue only, by making man the equal of the gods, makes them

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228 Egyptians; but in the course of time, the bull, like other animals, was regarded as a symbol in the astronomical and physical systems of the Egyptian priests. How far this was carried may be seen from what Aelian says about the twenty-nine marks on the body of Apis, which form a complete astronomical and physical system. For further details respecting these late speculations, the reader is referred to the works on Egyptian mythology by Jablonsky, Champollion, Pritchard, and others.

The Persians, in their religious intolerance, ridiculed and scorned the Egyptian gods, and more especially Apis. Cambyses killed Apis with his own hand (Herod iii. 29), and Ochus had him slaughtered. (Plut. l. c. 31.) The Greeks and Romans, on the other hand, saw nothing repugnant to their feelings in the worship of Apis, and Alexander the Great gained the good will of the Egyptians by offering sacrifices to Apis as well as to their other gods. (Arrian, Anab. iii. l.) Several of the Roman emperors visited and paid homage to Apis, and his worship seems to have maintained itself nearly down to the extinction of paganism. (Suet. Aug. 93, Vespas. 5; Tacit. Annal. ii. 59; Plin. l. c.; Spartian. l. c., Sept. Sever. 17.)

 APHRODI'TE, one of the great Olympian divinities, was, according to the popular and poetical notions of the Greeks, the goddess of love and beauty. Some traditions stated that she had sprung from the foam of the sea, which had gathered around the mutilated parts of Uranus, that had been thrown into the sea by Kronos after he had unmanned his father. (Hesiod. Theog. 190; compare .) With the exception of the Homeric hymn on Aphrodite there is no trace of this legend in Homer, and according to him Aphrodite is the daughter of Zeus and Dione. (Il. v. 370, &c., xx. 105.) Later traditions call her a daughter of Kronos and Euonyme, or of Uranus and Hemera. (Cic. De Nat. Deor. iii. 23; Natal. Com. iv. 13.) According to Hesiod and the Homeric hymn on Aphrodite, the goddess after rising from the foam first approached the island of Cythera, and thence went to Cyprus, and as she was walking on the sea-coast flowers sprang up under her feet, and Eros and Himeros accompanied her to the assembly of the other great gods, all of whom were struck with admiration and love when she appeared, and her surpassing beauty made every one desire to have her for his wife. According to the cosmogonic views of the nature of Aphrodite, she was the personification of the generative powers of nature, and the mother of all living beings. A trace of this notion seems to be contained in the tradition that in the contest of Typhon with the gods, Aphrodite metamorphosed herself into a fish, which animal was considered to possess the greatest generative powers. (Ov. Met. v. 318, &c.; comp. Hygin. Poet. Astr. 30.) But according to the popular belief of the Greeks and their poetical descriptions, she was the goddess of love, who excited this passion in the hearts of gods and men, and by this power ruled over all the living creation. (Hom. Hymn. in Ven. ; Lucret. 15, &c.) Ancient mythology furnishes numerous instances in which Aphrodite punished those who neglected her worship or despised her power, as well as others in which she favoured and protected those who did homage to her and recognized her sway. Love and beauty are ideas essentially connected, and Aphrodite was therefore also the goddess of beauty and gracefulness. In these points she surpassed all other goddesses, and she received the prize of beauty from Paris; she had further the power of granting beauty and invincible charms to others. Youth is the herald, and Peitho, the Horae, and Charites, the attendants and companions of Aphrodite. (Pind. Nem. viii. 1, &c.) Marriages are called by Zeus her work and the things about which she ought to busy herself. (Hom. Il. v. 429; comp. Od. xx. 74; Pind. Pyth. ix. 16, &c.) As she herself had sprung from the sea, she is represented by later writers as having some influence upon the sea (Virg. Aen. viii. 800; Ov. Heroid. xv. 213; comp. Paus. ii. 34. § 11.)

During the Trojan war, Aphrodite, the mother of Aeneas, who had been declared the most beautiful of all the goddesses by a Trojan prince, naturally sided with the Trojans. She saved Paris from his contest with Menelaus (Il. iii. 380), but when she endeavoured to rescue her darling Aeneas from the fight, she was pursued by Diomedes, who wounded her in her hand. In her fright she abandoned her son, and was carried by Iris in the chariot of Ares to Olympus, where she complained of her misfortune to her mother Dione, but was laughed at by Hera and Athena. (Il. v. 311, &c.) She also protected the body of Hector, and anointed it with ambrosia. (Il. xxiii. 185.)

According to the most common accounts of the ancients, Aphrodite was married to Hephaestus (Odyss. viii. 270), who, however, is said in the Iliad (viii. 383) to have married Charis. Her faithlessness to Hephaestus in her amour with Ares, and the manner in which she was caught by the ingenuity of her husband, are beautifully described in the Odyssey. (viii. 266, &c.) By Ares she became the mother of Phobos, Deimos, Harmonia, and, according to later traditions, of Eros and Anteros also. (Hesiod. Theog. 934, &c., Scut. Herc. 195; Hom. Il. xiii. 299, iv. 440; Schol. ad Apollon. Rhod. iii. 26; Cic. de Nat. Deor. iii. 23.) But Ares was not the only god whom Aphrodite favoured; Dionysus, Hermes, and Poseidon likewise enjoyed her charms. By the first she was, according to some traditions, the mother of Priapus (Schol. ad Apollon. Rhod. i. 933) and Bacchus (Hesych. s. v. ), by the second of Hermaphroditus (Ov. Met. iv. 289, &c.; Diod. iv. 6; Lucian, Dial. Deor. xv. 2), and by Poseidon she had two children, Rhodos and Herophilus. (Schol. ad Pind. Pyth. viii. 24.) As Aphrodite so often kindled in the hearts of the gods a love for mortals, Zeus at last resolved to make her pay for her wanton sport by inspiring her too with love for a mortal man. This was accomplished, and Aphrodite conceived an invincible passion for Anchises, by whom she became the mother of Aeneas and Lyrus. [.] Respecting her connexions with other mortals see and.

Aphrodite possessed a magic girdle which had the power of inspiring love and desire for those who wore it; hence it was borrowed by Hera when she wished to stimulate the love of Zeus. (Hom. Il. xiv. 214, &c.) The arrow is also sometimes mentioned as one of her attributes. (Plnd. Pyth. iv. 380; Theocrit. xi. 16.) In the vegetable kingdom the myrtle, rose, apple, poppy, and others, were sacred to her. (Ov. Fast. iv. 15. 143; Bion, Idyll. i. 64; Schol. ad Aristoph. Nub. 993; Paus. ii. 10. § 4; Phornut. 23.) The animals sacred to her, which are often mentioned as drawing her


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68 participate in their immortality. To quote the poet:

"Let us realise our condition. We must all die, and all that we are must die. The man of shining virtue simply escapes the common destiny by becoming god, and by obtaining his admission into Olympus among the Heroes and the Gods."

"But he is not conscious of his own apotheosis," said Marcus Lollius. "There does not exist upon earth a slave or a barbarian who is not aware that Augustus is a god. But Augustus knows it not. Hence it is that our Caesars journey reluctantly towards the constellations, and even now we see Claudius near with blanched face these shadowy honours."

Gallio shook his head, and remarked, "The poet Euripides has said:

"Everything that is related concerning the dead is open to doubt, and is bound up with fables and

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Rh falsehoods. Nevertheless, I believe that virtuous men attain an immortality of which they are fully cognisant. Let it be clearly understood that they achieve it by their own efforts, and not as a recompense conferred by the gods. By what right should the immortal gods degrade a virtuous man to the extent of rewarding him? The leading of a blameless life is its own reward, and no prize is there worthy of virtue, which is its own reward. Let us leave to vulgar souls, that they may thereby sustain their wretched fortitude, the dread of punishment, and the hope of a reward. Let us love virtue for its own sake. Gallio, if what the poets tell of the infernal regions be true, if after your death you are arraigned before the tribunal of Minos, you may say to him: "Minos shall not judge me. By my actions have I been judged."

"How," inquired Apollodorus the philosopher, "can the gods give to men an immortality they themselves do not enjoy?"

Apollodorus, indeed, did not believe in the immortality of the gods, or rather that their sway over the world should be exercised for all time.

He proceeded to develop the reasons for his belief.

"The reign of Jupiter," he said, "began after the Golden Age. We know through the traditions

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70 preserved for us by the poets that the son of Saturn succeeded to his father in the governing of the world. Now, everything that had a beginning must have an end. It is foolish to suppose that anything finite in one part can be infinite in another. It would then become necessary to call it finite and infinite as a whole, which would be absurd. Anything possessed of an extreme point can be measured from that point itself, and could not in any way cease to be measured at any point of its extent, without changing its nature, and the proper of what is measurable is to be comprised between two extreme points. We may therefore make up our minds that the reign of Jupiter will end just as did that of Saturn. As Æschylus has said:

Gallio thought the same, for reasons derived from the observation of nature.

"I consider with you, Apollodorus, that the reigns of the gods are not immortal, and the observation of the celestial phenomena inclines me to this belief. The heavens, as well as the earth, are subject to corruption, and the divine palaces, liable to ruin just as the dwellings of mankind, crumble under the weight of the centuries. I have seen stones fall from the aerial regions. They

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 chariot or serving as her messengers, are the sparrow, the dove, the swan, the swallow, and a bird called iynx. (Sappho, in Ven. 10; Athen. ix. 395; Horat. Carm. iv. 1. 10; Aelian, Hist. An. x. 34; Pind. Pyth. l.c.) As Aphrodite Urania the tortoise, the symbol of domestic modesty and chastity, and as Aphrodite Pandemos the ram was sacred to her. [; .] When she was represented as the victorious goddess, she had the attributes of Ares, a helmet, a shield, a sword: or a lance, and an image of Victory in one hand. The planet Venus and the spring-month of April were likewise sacred to her. (Cic. de Nat. Deor. iii. 20; Ov. Fast. iv. 90.) All the surnames and epithets given to Aphrodite are derived from places of her worship, from events connected with the legends about her, or have reference to her character and her influence upon man, or are descriptive of her extraordinary beauty and charms. All her surnames are explained in separate articles.

The principal places of her worship in Greece were the islands of Cyprus and Cythera. At Cnidus in Caria she had three temples, one of which contained her renowned statue by Praxiteles. Mount Ida in Troas was an ancient place of her worship, and among the other places we may mention particularly the island of Cos, the towns of Abydos, Athens, Thespiae, Megara, Sparta, Sicyon, Corinth, and Eryx in Sicily. The sacrifices offered to her consisted mostly of incense and garlands of flowers (Virg. Aen. i. 416; Tacit. Hist. ii. 3), but in some places animals, such as pigs, goats, young cows, hares, and others, were sacrificed to her. In some places, as at Corinth, great numbers of females belonged to her, who prostituted themselves in her service, and bore the name of 🇬🇷. (Dict. of Ant. s. v. 🇬🇷.) Respecting the festivals of Aphrodite see ''Dict. of Ant. s.v.'' 🇬🇷

The worship of Aphrodite was undoubtedly of eastern origin, and probably introduced from Syria to the islands of Cyprus, Cythera, and others, from whence it spread all over Greece. It is said to have been brought into Syria from Assyria. (Paus. i. 14. § 6.) Aphrodite appears to have been originally identical with Astarte, called by the Hebrews Ashtoreth, and her connexion with Adonis clearly points to Syria. But with the exception of Corinth, where the worship of Aphrodite had eminently an Asiatic character, the whole worship of this goddess and all the ideas concerning her nature and character are so entirely Greek, that its introduction into Greece must be assigned to the very earliest periods. The elements were derived from the East, but the peculiar development of it belongs to Greece. Respecting the Roman goddess Venus and her identification with the Greek Aphrodite, see.

Aphrodite, the ideal of female grace and beauty, frequently engaged the talents and genius of the ancient artists. The most celebrated representations of her were those of Cos and Cnidus. Those which are still extant are divided by archaeologists into several classes, accordingly as the goddess is represented in a standing position and naked, as the Medicean Venus, or bathing, or half naked, or dressed in a tunic, or as the victorious goddess in arms, as she was represented in the temples of Cythera, Sparta, and Corinth. (Paus. iii. 23. § 1, ii. 5. § 1, iii. 15. § 10; comp. Hirt, Mythol. Bilderbuch, iv.133, &c.; Manso, Versuche, pp. 1—308.)

 APISA'ON (🇬🇷). Two mythical personages of this name occur in the Iliad, xi. 578, and xvii. 348.

 APOLLAS. [.]

 APOLLINA'RIS and APOLLINA'RIUS are different forms of the same Greek name, 🇬🇷. For the sake of convenience we use in every case the form Apollinaris, which is always employed by Latin writers.

 1., bishop of Hierapolis in Phrygia (A. D. 170 and onwards), wrote an "Apology for the Christian faith" (🇬🇷) to the emperor M. Antoninus. He also wrote against the Jews and the Gentiles, and against the heresies of the Montanists and the Encratites, and some other works, all of which are lost. (Euseb. H. E. iv. 27, v. 19 ; Hieron. de Vir. Illust. 26, Epist. 84 ; Nicephorus, iv. 11 ; Photius, Cod. 14; Theodoret. de Hueret. Fab. iii. 2 ; Chronicon Paschale.)

 2., father and son, the former presbyter, the latter bishop, of Laodicea. The father was born at Alexandria. He taught grammar first at Berytus and afterwards at Laodicea (about A. D. 335), where he married, and became a presbyter of the church. Apollinaris and his son enjoyed the friendship of the sophists Libanius and Epiphanius. They were both excommunicated by Theodotus, bishop of Laodicea, for attending the lectures of Epiphanius, but they were restored upon their profession of penitence. Being firm catholics, they were banished by Georgius, the Arian successor of Theodotus.

When Julian (A. D. 362) issued an edict forbidding Christians to teach the classics, Apollinaris and his son undertook to supply the loss by transferring the Scriptures into a body of poetry, rhetoric, and philosophy. They put the historical books of the Old Testament into poetry, which consisted partly of Homeric hexameters, and partly of lyrics, tragedies, and comedies, in imitation of Pindar, Euripides, and Menander. According to one account, the Old Testament history, up to the reign of Saul, formed a kind of heroic poem, divided into twenty-four books, which were named after the letters of the Greek alphabet, in imitation of Homer. The New Testament was put into the form of dialogues, after the manner of Plato. Only two works remain which appear to have formed a part of these sacred classics, namely, a tragedy entitled " Christ Suffering," which is found among the works of Gregory Nazianzen, and a poetic version of the Psahns, entitled " Metaphrasis Psalmorum," which was published at Paris, 1552, 1580, and 1613; by Sylburg at Heidelberg, 1596 ; and in the various collections of the Fathers. There is some difficulty in determining what shares the father and son had in these works. The Old Testament poems are generally ascribed to the father, who is spoken highly of as a poet, and the New Testament dialogues to the son, who was more distinguished as a philosopher and rhetorician. In accordance with this view, Vossius (de Hist. Graec. ii. 18, and de Poet. Graec. 9) and Cave (sub ann. 362), attribute both the extant works to the son.

Apollinaris the younger, who was bishop of Laodicea in 362 A. D., wrote several controversial works, the most celebrated of which was one in thirty books against Porphyry. He became noted also as the founder of a sect. He was a warm


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Rh were blackened and corroded by fire, and bore testimony to a celestial conflagration.

"The bodies of the gods, Apollodorus, are not any more exempt from injury than their dwellings. If it be true, as Homer teaches, that the gods, inhabitants of Olympus, impregnate the flanks of goddesses and mortal women, it is assuredly because they are not themselves immortal, in spite of their life's span being greater than that of mankind, and hence it is patent that fate subjects them to the necessity of transmitting a life which they may not enjoy for ever.

"In truth," said Lollius, "it is hardly to be conceived that immortals should produce children in the same way as human beings and animals, or even that they should possess organs adapted to such a purpose. But perhaps the loves of the gods owe their origin to the mendacity of the poets."

Apollodorus persisted in his assertion that the reign of Jupiter would some day cease, supporting his opinion with subtile reasons. He prophesied that Prometheus would succeed the son of Saturn.

"Prometheus," replied Gallio, "was set free by Hercules with the consent of Jupiter, and he enjoys in Olympus the happiness he owes to his foresight and to his love of mankind. Nothing will ever happen to change his happy fate."

Apollodorus asked him:

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72 "Who then, according to you, Gallio, shall inherit the thunder which sets the world a-quaking?"

"Although it may seem audacious to answer this question," replied Gallio, "I think I am competent to do so, and to name Jove's successor."

As he spoke, an officer of the basilica, whose duty it was to call cases, approached him, and informed him that some suitors were waiting for him in court."

The proconsul asked if the matter was one of paramount importance.

"It is a most petty case, Gallio," replied the officer of the basilica. "A man from the harbour of Cenchreae has just dragged a stranger before your tribunal. They are both Jews and of humble condition. They are quarelling over some barbarian custom or some gross superstition, as is the wont of Syrians. Here is the minute of their case. It is all Punic to the clerk who wrote it.

"The plaintiff sets forth, Gallio, that he is the head of the assembly of the Jews or, as one says in Greek, of the synagogue, and he begs justice of you against a man from Tarsus, who, recently settled at Cenchreae, goes every Saturday to the synagogue, for the purpose of speaking against the Jewish law. 'It is a scandal and an abomination, which thou shalt put an end to,' says the plaintiff, and he clamours for the integrity of the privileges

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Rh to the children of Israel. The defendant claims for all those who believe his teachings adoption and incorporation into the family of a man named Abraham, and he threatens the plaintiff with the divine ire. You see, Gallio, that the case is a petty and ambiguous one. It rests with you to decide whether you will take the case yourself, or whether you will leave it to be judged by a lesser magistrate."

The proconsul's friends begged him not to disturb himself for so miserable an affair.

"I make it my duty," he said in response to their prayers, "to follow in this respect the rules laid down by the divine Augustus. I must therefore try personally, not only important cases, but also smaller ones, when the jurisprudence concerning them has not been determined. Certain light cases recur daily and are of importance, if only for their frequency. It is meet that I should personally try one of each class. A judgment rendered by a proconsul serves as an example, and establishes a precedent in law."

"You deserve praise, Gallio," said Lollius, "for the zeal you display in the fulfilment of your consular duties. But, acquainted as I am with your wisdom, I doubt whether it is agreeable for you to render justice. That which men honour with this title is really an administration of base

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74 prudence and of cruel revenge. Human laws are the daughters of fear and anger."

Gallio protested feebly against this definition. He did not admit that human laws bore the character of real justice, saying:

"The punishment of crime consists in its commission. The penalty added thereto by the laws is superfluous, and does not fit the crime. However, since through the fault of mankind laws there are, we should apply them equitably."

Thereupon he told the officer of the court that he would proceed to the tribunal very shortly, and, turning towards his friends, he said:

"To speak truly, I have a special reason for looking into this case with my own eyes. I must not neglect any opportunity of keeping an eye on these Jews of Cenchreae, a turbulent, rancorous race, which shows contempt for the laws, and which it is not easy to hold in check. If ever the peace of Corinth should be troubled, it will be by them. This port, where all the ships of the East come to anchor, conceals amid a congested mass of warehouses and taverns, a countless horde of thieves, eunuchs, soothsayers, sorcerers, lepers, desecraters of graves, and assassins. It is the haunt of every abomination and of every form of superstition. Isis, Eschmoun, the Phoenician Venus, and the god of the Jews, are all worshipped there. I am

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Rh alarmed at seeing those unclean Jews multiply, rather in the way of fishes than in that of mankind. They swarm about the miry streets of the harbour like crabs under the rocks."

"What is more dreadful is that they infest Rome to a like extent," exclaimed Lucius Cassius. "To great Pompey's own door must be laid the crime of introducing this plague of leprosy into the City. He it was who committed the wrong of not treating as did our ancestors the prisoners he brought from Judaea for his triumphal entry into the City, and they have peopled the right bank of the Tiber with their base spawn. Dwelling about the base of the Janiculum, amid the tanneries, the gut-works, and the fermenting-troughs, in the suburbs whither flock all the abominations and horrors of the world, they earn their livelihood at the vilest of trades, unloading lighters, selling rags and refuse, and exchanging matches for broken glasses. Their women tell fortunes in the houses of the wealthy; their children beg from the frequenters of Egeria's groves. As you rightly said, Gallio, hostile to the human race and to themselves, they are ever fomenting sedition. A few years back, the followers of a certain Chrestus or Cherestus raised bloody riots among the Jews. The Porta Portuensis was put to fire and sword, and Caesar was compelled to exercise severe repression, in spite of his forbearance.

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76 He expelled from Rome the leaders of the movement."

"Full well do I know it," said Gallio. "Several of these exiles came to Cenchreae, among others a Jew and a Jewess from the Pontus, who still dwell there, following some humble trade. I believe that they weave the coarse stuffs of Cilicia. I have not learnt anything noteworthy in regard to the partisans of Chrestus. As to Chrestus himself, I am ignorant of what has become of him, and whether he is still of this world."

"I am as ignorant on this score as you are, Gallio," resumed Lucius Cassius, "and no one will ever know it. These vile wretches do not so much as attain celebrity in the annals of crime. Moreover, there are so many slaves of the name of Chrestus that it would be no easy matter to distinguish a particular one amid the throng.

"It is but a trifling matter that the Jews should cause tumult within the low purlieus where their number and their lowliness protect them from supervision. They swarm through the city, they ingratiate themselves into families, and are everywhere a source of trouble. They shout in the Forum on behalf of the agitators who pay them, and these despicable foreigners incite the citizens to a hatred of one another. Too long have we endured their presence in popular assemblages, and

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Rh for a long time now have public speakers avoided running counter to the opinion of these wretches, for fear of their insults. Obstinate in the observance of their barbarian law, they wish to subject others to it, and they find adepts among the Asiatics, and even among the Greeks. And, what is hardly to be credited, they impose their customs on the Latins themselves. There are, in the City, whole quarters where all the shops are closed on their Sabbath day. Oh the shame of Rome! And, while corrupting the lowly folk among whom they dwell, their kings, admitted into Caesar's palace, insolently practise their superstitions, and set to all citizens a detestable and noted example. Thus do the Jews inoculate Italy on all sides with an oriental venom."

Annaeus Mela, who had travelled over the whole of the Roman world, sought to make his friends realise the extent of the evil they deplored.

"The Jews corrupt the whole world," he said. "There is not a Greek city, there are hardly any barbarian towns where work does not cease on the seventh day, where lamps are not lit, where their keeping of fast-days is not followed, and where the abstaining from the flesh of certain animals is not observed in imitation of them.

"I have met in Alexandria an aged Jew not lacking in intelligence, who was even versed in

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78 Greek literature. He rejoiced at the progress of his religion in the Empire. 'In proportion to the knowledge foreigners acquire of our laws,' he told me, 'do they find them pleasant, and they conform readily to them, both Romans and Greeks, those who dwell on the mainland and the people of the isles, Eastern and Western nations, Europe and Asia.' The ancient one spoke perhaps with some degree of exaggeration. Still one sees a number of Greeks yielding to the beliefs of the Jews."

Apollodorus sharply denied such to be the case.

"The Greeks who judaise," he said, "are not to be met with except amid the dregs of the populace, and among the barbarians wandering about Greece, as brigands and tramps. The followers of the Stammerer may, however, have persuaded some few ignorant Greeks, by inducing them to believe that the ideas of Plato are to be found in the Hebrew scriptures. Such is the lie which they strive to spread."

"It is a fact," replied Gallio, "that the Jews recognise an only, invisible, almighty god, who has created the earth. But they are far from worshipping him with wisdom. They publicly proclaim that this god is the enemy of all that is not Jewish, and that he will not tolerate in his temple either the effigies of the other gods, or the statue of Caesar, or his own images. They regard as impious those who

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