Himerius

For other people with the same name, seeHimerius (disambiguation).

Himerius(Ancient Greek:Ἱμέριος;c. 315 – c. 386) was aGreeksophistandrhetorician.24 of his orations have reached us complete, and fragments of 12 others survive.

Life and works

Himerius was born atPrusias ad HypiuminBithynia.He completed his education atAthens,whence he was summoned toConstantinoplein 362 by theemperor Julian,possibly to act as his private secretary. After the death of Julian in the following year Himerius returned to Athens, where he established a school of rhetoric, which he compared with that ofIsocratesand theDelphic oracle,owing to the number of those who flocked from all parts of the world to hear him. Amongst his pupils wereGregory of NazianzusandBasil the Great,bishop of Caesarea.

In recognition of his merits, civic rights and the membership of the Areopagus were conferred upon him. The death of his son Rufinus (his lament for whom, called the Μονῳδία, is extant) and that of a favourite daughter greatly affected his health; in his later years he became blind and he died of epilepsy.In his lament for Rufinus he identifies himself as a descendant ofPlutarchandSextus of Chaeronea.

Although a pagan, who had been initiated into the mysteries ofMithrasby Julian, his works show no attacks against theChristians.

Himerius is a typical representative of the later rhetorical schools.Photius(cod. 165, 243Bekker) had read 71 speeches by him, of 36 of which he has given an epitome; 24 have come down to us complete and fragments of 12 others. They consist of epideictic or "display" speeches after the style ofAristides,the majority of them having been delivered on special occasions, such as the arrival of a new governor,visits to different cities (Thessalonica,Constantinople), or the death of friends or well-known personages.

ThePolemarchicus,like theMenexenusofPlatoand theEpitaphios LogosofHypereides,is a panegyric of those who had given their lives for their country; it is so called because it was originally the duty of the polemarch to arrange the funeral games in honour of those who had fallen in battle. Other declamations, only known from the excerpts in Photius, were imaginary orations put into the mouth of famous persons--Demosthenesadvocating the recall ofAeschinesfrom banishment,Hypereidessupporting the policy of Demosthenes,Themistoclesinveighing against theking of Persia,an orator unnamed attacking the philosopherEpicurusfor denying the doctrine of divine providence before a court in Athens.

Himerius is more of a poet than a rhetorician, and his declamations are valuable as giving prose versions or even the actual words of lost poems by Greek lyric writers. The prose poem on the marriage of his pupil Severus and his greeting to Basil at the beginning of spring are quite in the spirit of the old lyric. Himerius possesses vigour of language and descriptive powers, though his productions are spoilt by too frequent use of imagery, allegorical and metaphorical obscurities, mannerism and ostentatious learning. But they are valuable for the history and social conditions of the time, although lacking the sincerity characteristic ofLibanius.

References

• This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain:Chisholm, Hugh,ed. (1911). "Himerius".Encyclopædia Britannica.Vol. 13 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 476.
• Eunapius,Vitae sophistarum.
• Suda,s.v..

Editions

• G Wernsdorf (1790),Online at Google bookswith valuable introduction and commentaries.
• Philostratorum et Callistrati opera, Eunapii vitae sophistarum, Himerii sophistae declamationes,A. Westermann, Jo. Fr. Boissoade, Fr. Dübner (ed.), Parisiis, editore Ambrosio Firmin Didot, 1849,pp. 1-106.
• Colonna, A. Himerii Declamationes et orationes cum deperditarum fragmentis. Rome, 1951. The standard critical edition.

Studies and translations

• C Teuber,Quaestiones Himerianae(Breslau, 1882);
• E Norden,Die antike Kunstprosa(1898) discusses the style.
• Robert J. Penella,Man and the word: the orations of Himerius,2007. The English translation.Google books preview