Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/487

HIMILCO. sxich as were customary at the time, and were delivered either on certain occasions, as those on the marriage of Severus, and on the death of his son Rufinus, or they were spoken merely by way of oratorical exhibitions. Some of them relate to events of the time, and so far are of historical interest. Their style is not above that of the ordi- nary rhetoricians of his period ; it is obscure and overladen with figurative and allegorical expres- sions ; and although it is clear that Himerius was not without talent as an orator, yet he is so much under the influence of his age, that with a great want of taste he indulges in bombastic phraseology, mixes up poetical and obsolete expressions with his prose, and seldom neglects an opportunity of dis- playing his learning. After the revival of letters, the productions of Himerius were very much neglected, for a com- plete edition of all that is still extant of them was never made till towards the end of last century. F'ive orations had been published before ; one by Fabricius {Bibl. Graec. ix. p. 426, &c. old edition), another by J. H. Majus (Giessen, 1719, 8vo.), and again three by the same Majus (Halle, 1720, fol.), when G. Ch. Harles edited one oration (the seventh in the present order), as a specimen and precursor of all the others, with a commentary by G. Werns- dorf, Erlangen, 17B4, 8vo. Wernsdorf now pre- pared a complete collection of all the extant pro- ductions of Himerius, with commentary and in- troduction, which appeared at length at Gcittingen, 1790, 8vo., and is still the only complete edition of Himerius. One fragment of some length, which has since been discovered, is contained in Boisson- ade's Anecdot. Graec. vol. i. p. 172, &c. (Comp. Wernsdorf's edition, p. xxxv., &c. ; Westermann, Gesch. der Griech. Beredtsamk. § 101, and Beilage, xiii., where a complete list of Himerius's orations is given.) 2. The father of lamblichus, is mentioned in several of the letters of Libanius. (Wernsdorf, p. xxxvii., &c.) 3. Bishop of Nicomedeia, where he succeeded Nestorius, but was deposed by Maximian, in a. d. 432. (Murat. in the Anecdot. Graec. ad Ep. Firmi.) 4. A Thracian, one of the generals of Justinian, whom we meet with at first in Africa, and after- wards at Rhegium in Italy. (Procop. Bell. Vandal. iv. 23, Bell. Goth. iii. 39.) Nine more persons of the name of Himerius, concerning whom, however, nothing of interest is known, are enumerated by Wernsdorf in the intro- duction to his edition, and in Fabricius, Bibl. Graec. vol. vi. p. 55, note ww. [L. S.] HI'MERUS ("iMepos), the personification of longing love, is first mentioned by Hesiod {Tlieog. 201), where he and Eros appear as the companions of Aphrodite. He is sometimes seen in works of art representing erotic circles; and in the temple «)f Aphrodite at Megara, he was represented by Scopas, together with Eros and Pothus. (Paus. i. 43. § 6.) [L. S.] HIMILCO ('I/iiAKoi'). Considerable variations are found in the MSS. (especially of Greek authors) in the mode of writing this name, which is fre- quently confounded with Hamilcar, and written 'Afi'iKKuy^ *ll.ilKas, or even 'A/xiA/cas (see Wes- seling, ad Diod. xiv. 49). It is probable indeed that Hamilcar and Himilco are only two forms of the same name : both were of common occurrence at Carthage. HIMILCO. 473 1. A Carthaginian, mentioned by Pliny (//. N. ii. 67) as having conducted a voyage of discovery from Gades to^tards the north, along the western shores of Europe, at the same time that Hanno un- dertook his well-known voyage along the west coast of Africa. [Hanno the Navigator.] He is not elsewhere referred to by Pliny, but is quoted repeatedly as an authority by Festus Avienus in his geographical poem called Ora Maritima (vv. 117, 383, 412, ed. Wernsdorf, in the Poetae Latini Minores, vol. v. pars 3). It appears from the passages there cited that Himilco had repre- sented his farther progress as prevented by the stagnant nature of the sea, loaded with sea weed, and the absence of wind, statements which do not speak highly for his character as a discoverer. His voyage is said to have lasted four months, but it is impossible to judge how far it was extended. Perhaps it was intentionally wrapt in obscurity by the commercial jealousy of the Carthaginians, and the fabulous statements just alluded to may have been designed to prevent navigators of other na- tions from following in the same track. We have no clue to the period at which this expedition was undertaken : Pliny says only that it was during the flourishing times of Carthage {Carthaginis poteniia Jiorente). Heeren {Ideen. vol. iv. p. 539) and Botticher {Gesch. d. Carthager., p. 17) are dis- posed to regard this Himilco as the same with No. 2, the grandson of Mago ; but there are no suffi- cient grounds for this supposition. 2. A son of Hamilcar, and grandson of Mago, mentioned by Justin (xix. 2 init. of whom nothing more is known, for the Himilco subsequently men- tioned in the same chapter is clearly the same as the subject of the next article, though Justin seems to have confounded the two. 3. Son of Hanno, commander, together with Hannibal, the son of Gisco, in the great Carthagi- nian expedition to Sicily, B. c. 406. His father is probably the same Hanno mentioned by Justin (xix. 2) among the sons of Hamilcar, in which case Himilco and Hannibal were first cousins. Dio- dorus (xiii. 80) expressly states them to have been of the same family. It was probably this relation- ship that induced the Carthaginians, when Hannibal manifested some reluctance to undertake the com- mand of a new expedition, to associate Himilco with him. The forces placed under their joint command amounted, according to Timaeus and Xenophon, to 120,000 men: Ephonis, with his usual exaggeration, stated them at 300,000. (Diod. xiii. 80; Xen. Hell. i. 5. § 21.) With this great army the two generals formed the siege of Agri- gentum, and directed their attacks against it on several points at once. In the course of the works they constructed for this purpose, they destroyed many sepulchres, a circumstance to which the superstitious fears of the multitude attributed a pestilence that broke out in the camp soon after- wards, and which carried oif many victims, Han- nibal among the rest. Himilco, now left sole general, after attempting to relieve the religious ap- prehensions of his soldiers by propitiatory sacrifices, continued to press the siege with vigour. The arrival of Daphnaeus with a body of Syracusan and other auxiliaries for a time changed the face of affairs, and Himilco was even blockaded in his camp, and reduced to great straits for want of pro- visions ; but having, with the assistance of hia I fleet, intercepted a Syracusan convoy, he was re-