Himerius
Himerius (Greek: Ἱμέριος; c. 315 – c. 386) was a Greek sophist and rhetorician. 24 of his orations have reached us complete, and fragments of 12 others survive.
Life and works
Himerius was born at
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.[1] In his lament for Rufinus he identifies himself as a descendant of Plutarch and Sextus of Chaeronea.[2]
Although a pagan, who had been initiated into the mysteries of
Himerius is a typical representative of the later rhetorical schools.
The Polemarchicus, like the Menexenus of
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 of Libanius.[1]
Notes
- ^ a b c d e f Chisholm 1911.
- ISBN 0520250931p32
- Nicomachus Flavianus, proconsul of Asia in 382-383 (Himerius, Orationes, xii, xxxvi,xliii).
References
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public 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 books with 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
