Chapter XX: Part 20

HERMANN OF WIED (1477-1552), elector and archbishop of Cologne, was the fourth son of Frederick, count of Wied (d. 1487), and was born on the 14th of January 1477. Educated for the Church, he became elector and archbishop in 1515, and ruled his electorate with vigour and intelligence, taking up at first an attitude of hostility towards the reformers and their teaching. A quarrel with the papacy turned, or helped to turn, his thoughts in the direction of Church reform, but he hoped this would come from within rather than from without, and with the aid of his friend John Gropper (1503-1559), began, about 1536, to institute certain reforms in his own diocese. One step led to another, and as all efforts at union failed the elector invited Martin Bucer to Cologne in 1542. Supported by the estates of the electorate, and relying upon the recess of the diet of Regensburg in 1541, he encouraged Bucer to press on with the work of reform, and in 1543 invited Melanchthon to his assistance. His conversion was hailed with great joy by the Protestants, and the league of Schmalkalden declared they were resolved to defend him; but the Reformation in the electorate received checks from the victory of Charles V. over William, duke of Cleves, and the hostility of the citizens of Cologne. Summoned both before the emperor and the pope, the elector was deposed and excommunicated by Paul III. in 1546. He resigned his office in February 1547, and retired to Wied. Hermann, who was also a bishop of Paderborn from 1532 to 1547, died on the 15th of August 1552.

See C. Varrentrapp, _Hermann von Wied_ (Leipzig, 1878).

HERMANN, FRIEDRICH BENEDICT WILHELM VON (1795-1868), German economist, was born on the 5th of December 1795, at Dinkelsbuhl in Bavaria. After finishing his primary education he was for some time employed in a draughtsman's office. He then resumed his studies, partly at the gymnasium in his native town, partly at the universities of Erlangen and Wurzburg. In 1817 he took up a private school at Nuremberg, where he remained for four years. After filling an appointment as teacher of mathematics at the gymnasium of Erlangen, he became in 1823 _Privatdozent_ at the university in that town. His inaugural dissertation was on the notions of political economy among the Romans (_Dissertatio exhibens sententias Romanorum ad oeconomiam politicam pertinentes_, Erlangen, 1823). He afterwards acted as professor of mathematics at the gymnasium and polytechnic school in Nuremberg, where he continued till 1827. During his stay there he published an elementary treatise on arithmetic and algebra (_Lehrbuch der Arith. u. Algeb._, 1826), and made a journey to France to inspect the organization and conduct of technical schools in that country. The results of his investigation were published in 1826 and 1828 (_Uber technische Unterrichts-Anstalten_). Soon after his return from France he was made _professor extraordinarius_ of political science of the university of Munich, and in 1833 he was advanced to the rank of ordinary professor. In 1832 appeared the first edition of his great work on political economy, _Staatswirthschaftliche Untersuchungen_. In 1835 he was made member of the Royal Bavarian Academy of Sciences. From the year 1836 he acted as inspector of technical instruction in Bavaria, and made frequent journeys to Berlin and Paris in order to study the methods there pursued. In the state service of Bavaria, to which he devoted himself, he rose rapidly. In 1837 he was placed on the council for superintendence of church and school work; in 1839 he was entrusted with the direction of the bureau of statistics; in 1845 he was one of the councillors for the interior; in 1848 he sat as member for Munich in the national assembly at Frankfort. In this assembly Hermann, with Johann Heckscher and others, was mainly instrumental in organizing the so-called "Great German" party, and was selected as one of the representatives of their views at Vienna. Warmly supporting the customs union (Zollverein), he acted in 1851 as one of its commissioners at the great industrial exhibition at London, and published an elaborate report on the woollen goods. Three years later he was president of the committee of judges at the similar exhibition at Munich, and the report of its proceedings was drawn up by him. In 1855 he became councillor of state, the highest honour in the service. From 1835 to 1847 he contributed a long series of reviews, mainly of works on economical subjects, to the _Munchener gelehrte Anzeigen_ and also wrote for Rau's _Archiv der politischen Okonomie_ and the _Augsburger allgemeine Zeitung_. As head of the bureau of statistics he published a series of valuable annual reports (_Beitrage zur Statistik des Konigreichs Bayern_, Hefte 1-17, 1850-1867). He was engaged at the time of his death, on the 23rd of November 1868, upon a second edition of his _Staatswirthschaftliche Untersuchungen_, which was published in 1870.

Hermann's rare technological knowledge gave him a great advantage in dealing with some economic questions. He reviewed the principal fundamental ideas of the science with great thoroughness and acuteness. "His strength," says Roscher, "lies in his clear, sharp, exhaustive distinction between the several elements of a complex conception, or the several steps comprehended in a complex act." For keen analytical power his German brethren compare him with Ricardo. But he avoids several one-sided views of the English economist. Thus he places public spirit beside egoism as an economic motor, regards price as not measured by labour only but as a product of several factors, and habitually contemplates the consumption of the labourer, not as a part of the cost of production to the capitalist, but as the main practical end of economics.

See Kautz, _Gesch. Entwicklung d. National-Okonomik_, pp. 633-638;
Roscher, _Gesch. d. Nat.-Okon. in Deutschland_, pp. 860-879.

HERMANN, JOHANN GOTTFRIED JAKOB (1772-1848), German classical scholar and philologist, was born at Leipzig on the 28th of November 1772. Entering the university of his native city at the age of fourteen, Hermann at first studied law, which he soon abandoned for the classics. After a session at Jena in 1793-1794, he became a lecturer on classical literature in Leipzig, in 1798 _professor extraordinarius_ of philosophy in the university, and in 1803 professor of eloquence (and poetry, 1809). He died on the 31st of December 1848. Hermann maintained that an accurate knowledge of the Greek and Latin languages was the only road to a clear understanding of the intellectual life of the ancient world, and the chief, if not the only, aim of philology. As the leader of this grammatico-critical school, he came into collision with A. Bockh and Otfried Muller, the representatives of the historico-antiquarian school, which regarded Hermann's view of philology as inadequate and one-sided.

Hermann devoted his early attention to the classical poetical metres, and published several works on that subject, the most important being _Elementa doctrinae metricae_ (1816), in which he set forth a scientific theory based on the Kantian categories. His writings on Greek grammar are also valuable, especially _De emendanda ratione Graecae grammaticae_ (1801), and notes and excursus on Viger's treatise on Greek idioms. His editions of the classics include several of the plays of Euripides; the _Clouds_ of Aristophanes (1799); _Trinummus_ of Plautus (1800); _Poetica_ of Aristotle (1802); _Orphica_ (1805); the Homeric _Hymns_ (1806); and the _Lexicon_ of Photius (1808). In 1825 Hermann finished the edition of Sophocles begun by Erfurdt. His edition of Aeschylus was published after his death in 1852. The _Opuscula_, a collection of his smaller writings in Latin, appeared in seven volumes between 1827 and 1839.

See monographs by O. Jahn (1849) and H. Kochly (1874); C. Bursian,
_Geschichte der klassischen Philologie in Deutschland_ (1883); art. in
_Allgem. deutsche Biog._; Sandys, _Hist. Class. Schol._ iii.

HERMANN, KARL FRIEDRICH (1804-1855), German classical scholar and antiquary, was born on the 4th of August 1804, at Frankfort-on-Main. Having studied at the universities of Heidelberg and Leipzig, he went for a tour in Italy, on his return from which he lectured as _Privatdozent_ in Heidelberg. In 1832 he was called to Marburg as _professor ordinarius_ of classical literature; and in 1842 he was transferred to Gottingen to the chair of philology and archaeology, vacant by the death of Otfried Muller. He died at Gottingen on the 31st of December 1855. His knowledge of all branches of classical learning was profound, but he was chiefly distinguished for his works on Greek antiquities and ancient philosophy. Among these may be mentioned the _Lehrbuch der griechischen Antiquitaten_ (new ed., 1889) dealing with political, religious and domestic antiquities; the _Geschichte und System der Platonischen Philosophie_ (1839), unfinished; an edition of the Platonic Dialogues (6 vols., 1851-1853); and _Culturgeschickte der Griechen und Romer_ (1857-1858), published after his death by C. G. Schmidt. He also edited the text of Juvenal and Persius (1854) and Lucian's _De conscribenda historia_ (1828). A collection of _Abhandlungen und Beitrage_ appeared in 1849.

See M. Lechner, _Zur Erinnerung an K. F. Hermann_ (1864), and article
by C. Halm in _Allgemeine deutsche Biographie_, xii. (1880).

HERMAPHRODITUS, in Greek mythology, a being, partly male, partly female, originally worshipped as a divinity. The conception undoubtedly had its origin in the East, where deities of a similar dual nature frequently occur. The oldest traces of the cult in Greek countries are found in Cyprus. Here, according to Macrobius (_Saturnalia_, iii. 8) there was a bearded statue of a male aphrodite, called Aphroditos by Aristophanes (probably in his [Greek: Niobos], a similar variant). Philochorus in his _Atthis_ (_ap._ Macrobius _loc. cit._) further identified this divinity, at whose sacrifices men and women exchanged garments, with the moon. This double sex also attributed to Dionysus and Priapus--the union in one being of the two principles of generation and conception--denotes extensive fertilizing and productive powers. This Cyprian Aphrodite is the same as the later Hermaphroditos, which simply means Aphroditos in the form of a herm (see HERMAE), and first occurs in the _Characteres_ (16) of Theophrastus. After its introduction at Athens (probably in the 5th century B.C.), the importance of this being seems to have declined. It appears no longer as the object of a special cult, but limited to the homage of certain sects, expressed by superstitious rites of obscure significance. The still later form of the legend, a product of the Hellenistic period, is due to a mistaken etymology of the name. In accordance with this, Hermaphroditus is the son of Hermes and Aphrodite, of whom the nymph of the fountain of Salmacis in Caria became enamoured while he was bathing. When her overtures were rejected, she embraced him and entreated the gods that she might be for ever united with him. The result was the formation of a being, half man, half woman. This story is told by Ovid (_Metam._ iv. 285) to explain the peculiarly enervating qualities of the water of the fountain. Strabo (xiv. p. 656) attributes its bad reputation to the attempt of the inhabitants of the country to find some excuse for the demoralization caused by their own luxurious and effeminate habits of life. There was a famous statue of Hermaphroditus by Polycles of Athens, probably the younger of the two statuaries of that name. In later Greek art he was a favourite subject.

See articles in Daremberg and Saglio, _Dictionnaire des antiquites_,
and Roscher's _Lexikon der Mythologie_; and for art, A. Baumeister,
_Denkmaler des klassischen Altertums_ (1884-1888).

HERMAS, SHEPHERD OF, one of the works representing the Apostolic Fathers (q.v.), a hortatory writing which "holds the mirror up" to the Church in Rome during the 3rd Christian generation. This is the period indicated by the evidence of the Muratorian Canon, which assigns it to the brother of Pius, Roman bishop c. 139-154. Probably it was not the fruit of a single effort of its author. Rather its contents came to him piecemeal and at various stages in his ministry as a Christian "prophet," extending over a period of years; and, like certain Old Testament prophets, he shows us how by his own experiences he became the medium of a divine message to his church and to God's "elect" people at large.

In its present form it falls under three heads: _Visions_, _Mandates_, _Similitudes_. But these divisions are misleading. The personal and preliminary revelation embodied in _Vision_ i. brings the prophet a new sense of sin as essentially a matter of the heart, and an awakened conscience as before the "glory of God," the Creator and Upholder of all things. His responsibility also for the sad state of religion at home is emphasized, and he is given a mission of repentance to his erring children. How far in all this and in the next vision the author is describing facts, and how far transforming his personal history into a type (after the manner of Bunyan's _Pilgrim's Progress_), the better to impress his moral upon his readers, is uncertain. But the whole style of the work, with its use of conventional apocalyptic forms, favours the more symbolic view. _Vision_ ii. records his call proper, through revelation of his essential message, to be delivered both to his wife and children and to "all the saints who have sinned unto this day" (2. 4). It contains the assurances of forgiveness even for the gravest sins after baptism (save blasphemy of the Name and betrayal of the brethren, _Sim._ ix. 19), "if they repent with their whole heart and remove doubts from their minds. For the Master hath sworn by His glory ('His Son,' below) touching His elect, that if there be more sinning after this day which He hath limited, they shall not obtain salvation. For the repentance of the righteous hath an end; the days of repentance for all saints are fulfilled.... Stand fast, then, ye that work righteousness and be not of doubtful mind.... Happy are all ye that endure the great tribulation which is to come.... _The Lord is nigh unto them that turn to Him_, as it is written in the book of Eldad and Modad, who prophesied to the people in the wilderness."

Here, in the gist of the "booklet" received from the hand of a female figure representing the Church, we have in germ the message of _The Shepherd_. But before Hermas announces it to the Roman Church, and through "Clement"[1] to the churches abroad, there are added two _Visions_ (iii. iv.) tending to heighten its impressiveness. He is shown the "holy church" under the similitude of a tower in building, and the great and final tribulation (already alluded to as near at hand) under that of a devouring beast, which yet is innocuous to undoubting faith.

Hermas begins to deliver the message of _Vis._ i.-iv., as bidden. But as he does so, it is added to, in the way of detail and illustration, by a fresh series of revelations through an angel in the guise of a Shepherd, who in a preliminary interview announces himself as the Angel of Repentance, sent to administer the special "repentance" which it was Hermas's mission to declare. This interview appears in our MSS. as _Vis._ v.,[2] but is really a prelude to the _Mandates_ and _Similitudes_ which form the bulk of the whole work, hence known as "The Shepherd." The relation of this second part to _Vis._ i.-iv. is set forth by the Shepherd himself. "I was sent, quoth he, to show thee _again_ all that thou sawest before, to wit the sum of the things profitable for thee. First of all write thou my mandates and similitudes; and _the rest_, as I will show thee, so shalt thou write." This programme is fulfilled in the xii. _Mandates_--perhaps suggested by the _Teaching of the Twelve Apostles_ (see DIDACHE), which Hermas knows--and _Similitudes_ i.-viii., while _Simil._ ix. is "the rest" and constitutes a distinct "book" (_Sim._ ix. 1. 1, x. 1. 1). In this latter the building of the Tower, already shown in outline in _Vis._ iii., is shown "more carefully" in an elaborate section dealing with the same themes. One may infer that _Sim._ ix. represents a distinctly later stage in Hermas's ministry--during the whole of which he seems to have committed to writing what he received on each occasion,[3] possibly for recital to the church (cf. _Vis._ ii. _fin._). Finally came _Sim._ x., really an epilogue in which Hermas is "delivered" afresh to the Shepherd, for the rest of his days. He is "to continue in this ministry" of proclaiming the Shepherd's teaching, "so that they who have repented or are about to repent may have the same mind with thee," and so receive a good report before God (_Sim._ x. 2 2-4). Only they must "make haste to do aright," lest while they delay the tower be finished (4. 4), and the new aeon dawn (after the final tribulation: cf. _Vis._ iv. 3. 5).

The relation here indicated between the Shepherd's instruction and the initial message of one definitive repentance, open to those believers who have already "broken" their "seal" of baptism by deadly sins, as announced in _Visions_ i.-iv. is made yet plainer by _Sim._ vi. 1. 3 f. "These mandates are profitable to such as are about to repent; for except they walk in them their repentance is in vain." Hermas sees that mere repentance is not enough to meet the backsliding condition in which so many Christians then were, owing to the recoil of inveterate habits of worldliness[4] entrenched in society around and within. It is, after all, too negative a thing to stand by itself or to satisfy God. "Cease, Hermas," says the Church, "to pray all about thy sins. Ask for righteousness also" (_Vis._ iii. 1. 6). The positive Christian ideal which "the saints" should attain, "the Lord enabling," it is the business of the Shepherd to set forth.

Here lies a great merit of Hermas's book, his insight into experimental religion and the secret of failure in Christians about him, to many of whom Christianity had come by birth rather than personal conviction. They shared the worldly spirit in its various forms, particularly the desire for wealth and the luxuries it affords, and for a place in "good society"--which meant a pagan atmosphere. Thus they were divided in soul between spiritual goods and worldly pleasures, and were apt to doubt whether the rewards promised by God to the life of "simplicity" (all Christ meant by the childlike spirit, including generosity in giving and forgiving) and self-restraint, were real or not. For while the expected "end of the age" delayed, persecutions abounded. Such "doubled-souled" persons, like Mr Facing-both-ways, inclined to say, "The Christian ideal may be glorious, but is it practicable?" It is this most fatal doubt which evokes the Shepherd's sternest rebuke; and he meets it with the ultimate religious appeal, viz. to "the glory of God." He who made man "to rule over all things under heaven," could He have given behests beyond man's ability? If only a man "hath the Lord in his heart," he "shall know that there is nothing easier nor sweeter nor gentler than these mandates" (_Mand._ xii. 3-4). So in the forefront of the _Mandates_ stands the secret of all: "First of all believe that there is one God.... Believe therefore in Him, and fear Him, and fearing Him have self-mastery. For the fear of the Lord dwelleth in the good desire," and to "put on" this master-desire is to possess power to curb "evil desire" in all its shapes (_Mand._ xii. 1-2). Elsewhere "good desire" is analysed into the "spirits" of the several virtues, which yet are organically related, Faith being mother, and Self-mastery her daughter, and so on (_Vis._ iii. 8. 3 seq.; cf. _Sim._ ix. 15). These are the specific forms of the Holy Spirit power, without whose indwelling the mandates cannot be kept (_Sim._ x. 3; cf. ix. 13. 2, 24. 2).

Thus the "moralism" sometimes traced in Hermas is apparent rather than real, for he has a deep sense of the enabling grace of God. His defect lies rather in not presenting the historic Christ as the Christian's chief inspiration, a fact which connects itself with the strange absence of the names "Jesus" and "Christ." He uses rather "the Son of God," in a peculiar Adoptianist sense, which, as taken for granted in a work by the bishop's own brother, must be held typical of the Roman Church of his day. But as it is implicit and not part of his distinctive message, it did not hinder his book from enjoying wide quasi-canonical honour during most of the Ante-Nicene period.

The absence of the historic names, "Jesus" and "Christ," may be due to
the form of the book as purporting to quote angelic communications.
This would also explain the absence of explicit scriptural citations
generally, though knowledge both of the Old Testament and of several
New Testament books--including the congenially symbolic Gospel of
John--is clear (cf. _The New Testament in the Apostolic Fathers_,
Oxford, 1905, 105 seq.). The one exception is a prophetic writing, the
apocryphal _Book of Eldad and Modad_, which is cited apparently as
being similar in the scope of its message. Among its non-scriptural
sources may be named the allegoric picture of human life known as
_Tabula Cebetis_ (cf. C. Taylor, as below), the _Didache_, and perhaps
certain "Sibylline Oracles."

Hermas regarded Christians as "justified by the most reverend Angel"
(i.e. the pre-existent Holy Spirit or Son, who dwelt in Christ's
"flesh"), in baptism, the "seal" which even Old Testament saints had
to receive in Hades (_Sim._ ix. 16. 3-7) and so attain to "life." Yet
the degree of "honour" (e.g. that of martyrs, _Vis._ iii. 2; _Sim._
ix. 28), the exact place in the kingdom or consummated church (the
Tower), is given as reward for zeal in doing God's will beyond the
minimum requisite in all. Here comes in Hermas's doctrine of works of
supererogation, in fulfilment of counsels of perfection, on lines
already seen in _Did._ vi. 2, cf. i. 4, and reappearing in the two
types of Christian recognized by Clement and Origen and in later
Catholicism. Again his doctrine of fasting is a spiritualizing of a
current _opus operatum_ conception on Jewish lines as though "keeping
a watch" (_statio_) in that way atoned for sins (_Sim._ v.). The
Shepherd enjoins instead, first, as "a perfect fast," a fast "from
every evil word and every evil desire, ... from all the vanities of
this world-age" (3. 6; cf. _Barn._ iii. and the Oxyrhynchus Saying,
"except ye fast from the world"); and next, as a counsel of
perfection, a fast to yield somewhat for the relief of the widow and
orphan, that this extra "service" may be to God for a "sacrifice."

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

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

FOOTNOTES:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

FOOTNOTE:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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