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HEXAHEDRON-HEYLIN.

method of dividing a circle into six equal parts, and at the same time constructing the hexagon, by merely laying off round the circle lines equal to the radius. Of the three figures which can completely occupy space (the equilateral triangle, square, and hexagon), the hexagon contains the greatest area within a given perimeter, the proportions between the three different figures being nearly as the numbers 4, 5, 6. It is thus that bees, by making their cells of a hexagonal form, enclose the greatest space with the least expenditure of wax.

HEXAHE'DRON (Gr. her, six, and hedra, base), so called from its having six faces, is one of the five regular solids, according to Plato; but in modern times the term Cube (q. v.) has been used in this signification, and the hexahedron is taken to include all solid figures of six faces.

HEXA'METER (Gr. hex, six, and metron, a measure), the name applied to the most important form of classical verse. It is the heroic or epic verse of the Greeks and Romans, the grandest examples of which are the Iliad and Odyssey of Homer, and the Eneid of Virgil. It consists, as its name implies, of six feet or measures, the last of which must be a spondee (a measure composed of two long syllables), and the penultimate a dactyl (one long syllable and two short). If the penultimate is also a spondee, the verse is said to be spondaic. The following are examples of the

hexameter:

Pollă d'ă năntă, kă tăntă, părḥāntă tě ¦dōchmiă|t'elthōn. HOMER.

Tityrě | tū pătă¦lē, rècă|bāns sūb | tēgměně | fāgi. VIRGIL. The hexameter has been frequently employed in modern poetry, especially in German and English. The facility with which the first of these languages forms compounds is favourable to its use; and Klopstock, Goethe, and Voss have produced admirable specimens of this kind of verse. It has been doubted whether the English is not too stubborn and intractable for the free-flowing majesty of the hexameter; and at present a slightly acrimonious controversy on the point is being carried on among scholars; although many think that the Evangeline of Longfellow, and to some extent the Vacation Ramble of Clough, have definitely settled the question in favour of the practicability of this measure being adopted into English. Our readers may judge from the opening lines of Evangeline: "This is the forest primeval. The | murmuring | pines

and the hemlocks

Bearded with moss, and with garments green, indistinct in the twilight, Stand like Druids of eld, with | voices | sad and prophetic,

Stand like harpers | hoar with | beards that | rest on their bosoms.'

The last two lines shew where English versification is weak-viz., in its spondees, unaccented syllables being compelled to do the duty of accented ones.

HEXAPLA (Gr. hexapla, the sixfold'), a celebrated edition of the Septuagint version, compiled by Origen for the purpose of restoring the purity of its text, and bringing it into closer agreement with the original Hebrew. Owing to the multiplication of transcripts of the Greek text, numerous errors had crept in; and in the frequent controversies which arose between the Jews and the Greek or Hellenist (q. v.) Christians, the latter, in appealing to the Greek text, were often mortified by the discovery that it by no means represented faithfully the Hebrew original. In order to meet this evil, Origen undertook to provide a means of at least verifying

the genuine Greek text, as well as of confronting it with the original. With this view, he prepared what is known as his Tetrapla, or 'fourfold' version, which he afterwards extended into the Hexapla. The Tetrapla contained, in four parallel columns, the Septuagint version, together with those of Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotion. The Hexapla contained, in addition, the Hebrew text, together with a transcript of that text in Greek characters. In some parts of the Old Testament there were superadded one, two, and even three other versions; so that in some parts the work contains nine columns, whence it is occasionally designated the Henneapla, or ninefold.' Of the origin of these latter versions but little is known.

6

The Hexapla, however, was something more than a mere compilation of these versions. In the margin of the Hebrew names. were given notes chiefly explanatory, as, for instance, But a still more important characteristic of the work were its restorations and corrections of the original, in which Origen was guided chiefly by the version of Theodotion. This, however, he did not effect by arbitrary alterations of the received text; but, while he retained the common text, by indicating with the help of certain signs (an asterisk for an addition; an obelisk for a retrenchment) the corrections which he sought to introduce. Both these texts, the common (koiné ekdosis) and that of the Hexapla, are found combined in existing MSS. The Hexapla, as a whole, has long been lost; several editions of those fragments of it which it has been possible to recover have been printed; by far the most complete of which is that of the celebrated Benedictine, Montfaucon (2 vols. fol. Paris, 1714), which retains, so far as it was preserved in the MSS., the arrangement and even the asterisks and obelisks of Origen. For Preliminaria of this learned work. a more detailed account, see the preface and

HE'XHAM, a small market-town of England, in the county of Northumberland, is agreeably situated on the right bank of the Tyne, 20 miles west of Newcastle. The Tyne is here crossed by a bridge of nine arches. The priory church, an old cruciform structure of the 12th c., is now used as the parish church. It has a lofty central tower, and at its western end are remains of the magnificent mon astery erected in the 7th c. by St Wilfrid. The chief manufactures of the town are gloves and hats. Pop. (1861) 5270.

At

HEYLIN, DR PETER, an English divine, of considerable note in his own day, was descended from an ancient Welsh family belonging to Montgomeryshire, and was born at Burford, in Oxfordshire, November 29, 1600. He studied at Oxford, where he took the degree of D.D. Through the interest of Laud, in whose theory of church and king he devoutly believed, H. was appointed chaplain-inhe held a variety of livings, but was deprived of ordinary to King Charles in 1629. Subsequently, them during the period of the commonwealth. the restoration, he was made sub-dean of Westminster, an office which many of his friends thought an utterly inadequate reward of his literary services to the royal cause. He died May 8, 1662. H. was a very voluminous controversial writer, but his works are of no value now, except as illustrative of the age in which he lived, and the ecclesiastical party to which he belonged. Among others may be mentioned, History of the Sabbath; Ecclesia Vindicata, or the Church of England Justiñed; Theologia Veterum; Examen Historicum, containing, among other things, a violent attack on Fuller's Church History, which involved him in a controversy with that author; Historia Quinquarticularis,

HEYNE-HEZEKIAH.

or a defence of Arminianism; History of the Reformation of the Church of England; and Erius Redivivus, or the History of the Presbyterians.

poor weaver.

HEYNE, CHRISTIAN GOTTLOB, a German scholar of great celebrity, was born at Chemnitz, in Upper Saxony, 25th September 1729. His father was a The pastor of Chemnitz, himself very poor, got H. educated at a school in the suburbs, and afterwards sent him to Leipsic university, but forgot to give him money for his support! His sufferings here were something frightful, but his endurance was heroic. In 1753, he obtained the situation of under-clerk in the Brühl library at Dresden. While in this humble office, he prepared his edition of Tibullus, which saw the light in 1755, and happening to fall into the hands of Rhunken of Leyden, excited the admiration of that scholar. In 1756, unfortunately for H., the Seven Years' War broke out. Frederick the Great marched against Dresden, and burned, among other things, the Brühl library, but not before H. had edited, from a codex there, the Enchiridion of Epictetus. For some time he led a precarious life, being often without employment, and without bread. In 1761, he married, and supported himself as best he could by writing for the booksellers; and in 1763, on the death of Gessner, professor of rhetoric at Göttingen, he was appointed his successor on the recommendation of Rhunken of Leyden (who had not forgotten his editions of Tibullus and Epictetus). This closed his period of misfortune. The rest of his long life was spent in peace and comfort and professorial activity. He died 12th July 1812. The principal works of H., besides those mentioned, are his editions of Virgil (1767, 6th ed. 1803), Pindar (1774), Apollodorus (1787), Pliny (1790), Conon and Parthenius (1798), and Homer (8 vols. 1802; 2d ed. 1804). He also executed 'almost a cart-load of translations,' besides 'some ten or twelve thick volumes of Prolusions, Eulogies, and Essays,' of which six volumes were published separately under the title of Opuscula Academica (Götting. 1785-1812); and finally, about 7500 reviews of books in the Göttinger Gelehrten Anzeigen, of which he was director from 1770. In addition to this herculean work, he had a private class or Seminarium for the advanced study of philology and classical antiquity, from which he sent forth, in the course of his life, no less than 135 professors! Compare the Life of Heyne by his son-in-law, Ludwig Heeren (Götting. 1813), and Carlyle's essay

on the same.

HEZEKIAH (Heb. Hiskiah, Yehiskiyahu, May Jehovah strengthen him'), king of Judah, son and successor of Ahaz, reigned from 726 [725] to 696 [697] B.C. There was none like him among all the kings of Judah,' is the praise bestowed upon him in 2 Kings xviii. 5, and scarcely less flattering is the account preserved of this monarch in 2 Chron. xxix. From the moment that, at the early age of fiveand-twenty, he mounted the throne, his efforts seem chiefly to have been directed towards the abolition of the idolatry which reigned paramount in the land, and the restoration of the worship of Jehovah to its pristine purity and glory. The temple was reopened, the Priests and Levites whose genealogies had proved correct had their ancient revenues assigned to them, and recommenced the daily service; and the first passover which fell in H.'s reign, was-albeit a month after the appointed seasoncelebrated with almost unparalleled pomp for full fourteen days, amidst a vast concourse of people, not only of Judah, but even of Israel. Victorious in the wars he waged with the Philistines, and relying on an Egyptian alliance, into which he had entered

against the advice of Isaiah, H. dared also to with. hold the annual tribute imposed by Shalmanassar in the days of his father: whereupon, as would appear from cuneiform records, Sargon, Shalmanassar's suc however, Sargon's successor, Sennacherib, on his cessor, invaded Judea, but without success. When, Lachish, or, according to Chron. and Isaiah, 'all the way to Egypt and Ethiopia, had already seized fortresses' of Judea, nothing remained for H. but to ask for peace, and to offer any ransom that Sennacherib might deem fit to impose. Sennacherib took an enormous sum in silver and gold, for which the sacred treasury and the very doors of the temple stratagem to convince the conqueror of the poverty were laid under contribution :-perhaps only a of the royal coffers. It is a moot-point whether intended to procure the peace, treacherously marched Sennacherib, after having received the money upon Jerusalem at once, or whether he continued Pelusium, besieged Jerusalem on his return-which his march to Egypt, and being beaten there before would be equal to a second invasion. to render his capital impregnable were futile. SudH.'s efforts denly, however, an Angel of the Lord' (explained variously to mean the plague, an earthquake. slew during one single night 180,000 men in the a sudden attack by Tirhaka, or the Simoom} Assyrian camp, and Sennacherib was obliged to

retreat.

Whether H.'s illness-'Shechin,' ulcers, according to some, or the plague, as others undercherib's invasion, is not fully established as yet; stand that word-took place before or after Sennaindicated to him by the retrograde movements of certain it is, that after his miraculous recovery, the dial, he, among other visits of congratulation, also received that of the ambassadors of Merodach Baladon (Mardocampados), king of Babylon. The latter-as would appear from the Chaldean historian Berosus was at that time likewise tributary to Assyria, and sent the embassy with a view to securing H.'s co-operation against the common enemy. H., imprudently enough, made a great but so far from impressing the messengers with his display of his treasures, his magazines, and arsenals; greatness, he only kindled in Merodach Baladon the desire to possess himself of all these things; and the later Babylonian invasion ending in the

captivity, is undoubtedly to be traced back to this act of vanity on the part of Hezekiah. peace and prosperity, so that he was enabled to The remainder of H.'s life was passed in profound turn his attention to the internal development of the resources of the country, and the fortification of its towns. He collected great treasures and executed many highly useful works, among which the aqueducts of Jerusalem take a foremost place. His was also the golden age of prophetic poetry. Besides Isaiah, there lived in his time the prophets Micah and Nahum. From a passage in Prov. xxv. 1, it would also appear that he founded a society of literati, who collected and arranged the ancient documents of Hebrew literature, more especially the Proverbs attributed to Solomon. H. himself was a poet of no mean order; witness the hymn he composed after his recovery. H. died at the age of 54 years, in the 29th year of his reign, and was succeeded by his son Manasseh.

The Mishna (Pes. 4, 9) enumerates three things for which H. is to be praised, and three things for which he is to be blamed. The unworthy burial of his father, on account of his wickedness; the breaking of the brass serpent of Moses, which had become an object of idolatry; and the hiding of a

book of medicaments'--some superstitious work -are the three good deeds. His spoiling the doors of the temple, to pay the tribute to Sennacherib;

HIBERNATION-HIBISCUS.

the stopping up of the upper Gihon during the siege of Jerusalem; and his postponing the first passover for a month (see above), are his three wicked deeds.

HIBERNATION (from hibernare, to pass the winter) is the term applied by naturalists to express a peculiar condition of sleep in which certain animals -chiefly cheiroptera and rodentia-pass the winter season. It is not very clearly known to what extent hibernation prevails in the animal kingdom. The bats, the hedgehog, and the dormouse are the animals which in this country present the most striking examples of this phenomenon.

The term hibernation is not a good one, because summer heat produces in some animals a very similar condition to that which winter cold produces in others; and hence the Germans use the words Winterschlaf (winter sleep) and Sommerschlaf (summer sleep) to express the two similar if not identical conditions.

The following are the most marked peculiarities presented by bats, hedgehogs, and dormice, when in a state of perfect hibernation :-The respiration is very nearly suspended, as is shewn (1), by the absence of all detectable respiratory acts; (2), by the almost entire absence of any change in the air in the bell-jar or case in which the animal is placed during the investigation; (3), by the subsidence of the temperature to that of the atmosphere; and (4), by the capability of supporting, for a great length of time, the entire privation of air. The circulation is reduced to an extreme degree of slowness. In an observation made by Dr Marshall Hall, the heart of a bat was observed to beat only twenty-eight times in the minute. The excretions are very scanty. The bat is observed to have scarcely any excretion during its continued lethargy. In regard to the nervous system, sensation and volition are quiescent, but reflex or excito-motary actions are very readily produced. The slightest touch applied to one of the spines of a hedgehog, or the merest shake given to a bat, induces one or two inspiratory movements. Dr Marshall Hall made the important discovery that, while the respiration is almost totally suspended, the muscular irritability is proportionally augmented. All hibernating animals instinctively adopt various measures to secure themselves, during the lethargic period, from sources of disturbance and excitement. They choose sheltered and retired situations, as caves, burrows, &c. Some form themselves nests; others congregate together in large numbers. The hedgehog and dormouse roll themselves up into a ball; the bats group together in clusters, with the head down wards, and in some species the wings are spread, so that each individual embraces and shelters its neighbour. Revivescence is due partly to the return of warmth, but mainly in all probability to the calls of hunger. The return of the respiration and animal heat to the normal standard is very gradual.

The physiological use of hibernation is doubtless to enable certain animals to avoid the consequences of severe winter cold, and (especially in the case of the insectivorous animals) the deprivation of food. Before the period of hibernation, a large amount of fat is accumulated in the organism, and this fat constitutes the fuel on which the animal lives and supports its comparatively trifling heat during the winter. The other tissues suffer to a less extent, and the total loss of weight is sometimes nearly 40 per cent.—a proportion fully as great as that which is usually sustained in death by starvation. For a full account of the phenomena of hibernation, the reader is referred to Barkow, Der Winterschlaf nach seiner Erscheinungen im Thierreich dargestellt (Berlin, 1846).

Both Diodorus Siculus

HIBERNIA, IBERNIA, IVERNIA, also IERNE, names by which Ireland is designated in the classical writers. The first mention of Ireland in ancient times occurs in a poem on the Argonautic expedition, attributed to the mythical Orpheus, and perhaps as early as the time of the first Darius. Aristotle speaks of two islands situated in the ocean beyond the pillars of Hercules, called Britannic, very large, Albion and Ierne, beyond the Celta.' and Strabo report the natives to be addicted to cannibalism; but, by their own admission, on insufficient grounds. Pomponius Mela, with quite an Irish warmth of eulogy, declares the herbage to be so luxuriant that the cattle who feed on it sometimes burst. Pliny repeats this statement, and adds that the Hibernian mother trains her child from the very first to eat food from the point of a sword. But the most important of all classical authorities on H. is Ptolemy, who describes the country, and gives the names of the principal rivers, promontories, seaports, and inland towns. The island was never conquered, nor even explored, by the Romans. See IRELAND.

HIBISCUS, a genus of plants of the natural order Malvacea, the type of a tribe or sub-order distinguished by a double calyx and fruit of three or more many-seeded carpels united into a many-celled capsule. The species are numerous, natives of warm climates, some of them trees or shrubs, but most of them large herbaceous plants, annual or perennial. The flowers of many are very beautiful. H. Syriacus, sometimes called Althaca jrutex, a native of Syria and Carniola, has long been in cultivation as an ornamental shrub, and proves sufficiently hardy in many parts of Britain. Some are favourite hothouse plants. The characteristic mucilaginous and fibrous properties of the Malvacea are very strongly developed in this tribe. H. Abelmoschus (or Abelmoschus esculentus) so abounds in mucilage, that it is much used in the north-west of India for clarifying sugar. The fruit of H. esculentus (or Abelmoschus esculentus) is in general use both in the East and West Indies for thickening soups, and otherwise as an article of food. It is called GOMBO, GOBBO, and ОCHRO in the West Indies; BANDIKAI, RAM-TURAL, and DENROOS in different parts of India; and BAMMIA in the west of Africa; if indeed the East Indian H. longifolius and the African H. Bammia are, as seems probable, mere varieties. It is an annual plant, with a soft herbaceous stem, 3-5 feet high, crenate leaves, axillary sulphur-coloured flowers, and pyramidal, somewhat podlike capsules. It is cultivated in some parts of the south of Europe. The fruit is used in an unripe state. It is generally much esteemed, but is disliked by some on account of its viscidity. It enters, as an important ingredient, into the pepper-pot of the West Indies. The ripe seeds are sometimes used in soups as barley. The bark of H. tiliaceus-a tree of twenty feet high, with a very thick bole-so abounds in mucilage, that by chewing it the natives of the South Sea Islands obtain nourishment in times of scarcity. This tree, the BOLA of Bengal-supposed to be the same with the MOHO or MOHAUT of the West Indies (H. arboreus) is one of the most abundant trees of the South Sea Islands; and the wood being light, tough, and durable, is much used for many purposes. bark is very fibrous, and cordage and matting are made of the fibre in various tropical countries. Many other species yield fibres, some of them coarse, some of them fine and beautiful, which are used in different countries; but the most important in this respect is H. cannabinus, the AMBAREE HEMP and DECKANEE HEMP of Western India,

The

HICCUP-HIERACIUM.

called PALUNGOO at Madras, and MAESTA PAUT in Bengal; a plant very generally cultivated in all parts of India, although nowhere to a great extent. It is an annual herbaceous plant, having a straight unbranching stem, 3-7 feet high. The fibre is not so strong as hemp, and is useful only for ropes and coarse fabrics. It has been suggested that many species of H. might be found valuable for the manufacture of paper.-H. Sabdariffa is very generally cultivated in warm countries, on account of its calyx, which, as the fruit ripens, becomes fleshy, and acquires a very pleasant acidity. It is much used for making tarts and jelly, and a decoction of it, sweetened and fermented, affords a refreshing beverage, well known in the West Indies as Sorrel Cool Drink, the plant being called RED SORREL. H. Abelmoschus (or Abelmoschus moschatus), sometimes called MUSK SEED, another plant common in widely separated tropical countries, is cultivated for its seeds, which have a fragrance between that of musk and that of amber. They are much used by perfumers, and are called Ambrette or Graines d'Ambrette. In Egypt and Arabia they are mixed-C. alba, the SHELL-BARK or SHAG-BARK H., so with coffee, and stimulant and stomachic qualities are ascribed to them. The petals of H. Rosa-Sinensis are astringent, and are used by the Chinese to stain their eyebrows and their shoes black.

HICCUP, or HICCOUGH, consists of sudden short convulsive inspirations, attended with a peculiar sound produced in the larynx, and immediately followed by expiration. The movements concerned in the production of hiccup are a spasmodic contraction of the diaphragm, and a certain degree of constriction in the glottis, which occasions the peculiar sound, and limits the amount of air inspired. These convulsive inspirations commonly occur in paroxysms, and succeed each other at intervals of a few seconds. The paroxysm may last only a few minutes, or may extend to hours or days; in the last-named case, it may be dangerous to life, from the exhaustion which it causes, but usually it merely excites a feeling of uneasiness or slight pain about the region of the diaphragm.

A debilitated state of the system predisposes to hiccup. In those predisposed to it, any gastric derangement, as emptiness, or over-distention of the stomach, the ingestion of cold water, excessive acidity, &c., will provoke it. Certain diseases are frequently attended by hiccup.

When the attack is slight, it may often be stopped by making a very full inspiration, and then holding the breath as long as possible, the diaphragm being thus held in a state of voluntary contraction. Strong pressure, as a belt tightly drawn round the waist, will sometimes give relief. In more obstinate cases, aromatic spirit of ammonia, camphor, musk, &c., may be resorted to. A combination of camphor and chloroform, and the frequent swallowing of small rounded pieces of ice, are perhaps the most efficient remedies.

HICKES, GEORGE, D.D., an eminent English divine and philologist, was born at Newsham, Yorkshire, June 20, 1642. He studied at Oxford, and in 1664 was elected fellow of Lincoln College. In 1665 he passed M.A., and in 1666 was admitted into orders. In 1676 he became chaplain to John, Duke of Lauderdale, whom, in 1677, he accompanied to Edinburgh. In 1678 he received the degree of D.D. from the university of Glasgow, and in 1679 from that of Oxford. In 1682 he was appointed one of the king's chaplains, and the following year made dean of Worcester. Refusing at the revolution to take the oaths to King William III., he was deprived of all his benefices. In 1693 he was sent with a list of the nonjuring

clergy to the exiled king at St Germains, and in 1694 was consecrated by a prelate of his own party suffragan bishop of Thetford. His publi cations in controversial and practical divinity are numerous. His greatest work, entitled Thesaurus Grammatico-Criticus et Archaologicus Linguarum Veterum Septentrionalium, appeared at Oxford in 1705, 3 vols. fol. He died December 15, 1715. HICKORY (Carya), a genus of trees formerly included among Walnuts (Juglans). The Hickories are exclusively North American. They are large and beautiful trees, attaining a height of 70 or 80 feet, with pinnate leaves. The timber of all of them is very heavy, strong, and tenacious, but decays speedily when exposed to heat and moisture. and is said to be peculiarly liable to injury from worms. Great quantities of H. are used to make hoops for casks. It is much used for handspikes. Musket-stocks, shafts of carriages, handles of whips, large screws, &c., are made of it. It is greatly esteemed for fuel. The nuts of some of the species are excellent eating, and much resemble walnuts. called from its shaggy outer bark peeling off in long narrow plates, yields the common hickory-nut of the northern parts of the United States; also known as the Kisky Thomas Nut. It abounds on Lake Erie, and in some parts of New Jersey and Pennsylvania. The trunk is slender. The leaves are often 20 inches long. The nuts are in considerable request, and are sometimes exported. The shell is thin but hard, the kernel sweet. An oil, which is used by the Indians as an article of food, is obtained from it by pounding and boiling.-C. sulcata, the THICK SHELL-BARK H., a very similar tree, abounding in the fertile valleys of the Alleghany Mountains, has a nut with a thick yellowish shell, which is often brought to market in America, under the names of Springfield Nut and Gloucester Nut.-C. oliveformis yields the PACANE, or PECAN NUT, sometimes called the Illinois Nut.-Other species yield the MOCKER NUT, PIG NUT, and BITTER NUT.

HICKS, ELIAS, a celebrated American preacher of the Society of Friends, was born at Hempstead, Long Island, March 19, 1748. His gifts were early recognised by the society, and at the age of 27 he had become a well-known preacher, and for many years travelled through the States and Canada. His unitarianism, or denial of the divinity of Christ and a vicarious atonement, brought him into disfavour with orthodox Friends; but he preached his own views with perseverance, and at the age of 80 still travelled and preached. The result of his labours was a schism of the society into two divisions, popularly known as Orthodox and Hicksite Quakers. He died at Jericho, Long Island, February 27, 1830. See Elias H.'s Journal of his Life and Labours (Philadelphia, 1828).

HIDALGO (Spanish, in Portuguese, Fidalgo; a word derived by some from hijo del Goto, son of a Goth,' implying purity of descent, and by others from hijo de alguno, son of somebody') is the title of a class of the lower nobility in Spain.

HIERA PI'CRA, or HOLY BITTER, once a highly popular remedy, and still much employed in domestic medicine, and in veterinary practice, is composed of four parts of powdered aloes and one part of canella. It is identical with the officinal preparation known as Pulvis Aloës cum Canella. The principal objection to its use as a purgative medicine is, that the nauseous taste of the aloes is not concealed by the canella; and that, like aloetic preparations generally, it is liable to cause irritation of the lower part of the intestinal canal.

HIERA'CIUM. See HAWKWEED.

HIERARCHY-HIEROCLES.

HIERARCHY (Gr. hieros, sacred, and archo, to govern), the name used by theological writers to designate the whole sacred governing and ministering body in the church, distributed according to its several gradations. The word, in its strict acceptation, is, of course, only applicable to the Roman Catholic Church, and to those Christian communities which retain the prelatical form of church government, or at least the distinctions of ecclesiastical order and gradation. In considering the hierarchy of the Catholic Church, it is necessary to bear in mind the well-known distinction of order and of jurisdiction. I. Considered under the head of order, the hierarchy embraces all the various orders or classes of sacred ministers to whom has been assigned the duty of directing the public worship, administering the sacraments, and discharging the various other offices connected with the preaching of the gospel; and these are of two kinds-the orders directly instituted by divine authority, and those established by ecclesiastical ordinance. Theologians commonly distinguish a hierarchy of divine right, and a hierarchy of ecclesiastical right. (1.) The first includes the three ranks of bishops, priests, and deacons. The bishops are believed, as successors of the apostles, to have inherited the integrity of the Christian priesthood. The order of episcopate, however, is not believed to be a distinct order from that of priesthood, but only a fuller and entirely unrestricted form of that order. In all that regards what Catholics believe to be the Christian sacrifice of the eucharist, they hold that the priest possesses the same powers of order with the bishop; but he cannot confer the sacrament of orders, nor can he validly exercise the power of absolving in the sacrament of penance without the approbation of the bishop. The office of deacons is, to serve as helpmates of the priests and bishops, especially in the administration of the eucharist and baptism, and in the relief of the material as well as the spiritual necessities of the faithful (Acts vi. 1, and foll.). (2.) To the three ranks thus primitively instituted, several others have been added by ecclesiastical ordinance. See ORDERS, MINOR. II. The hier archy of jurisdiction directly regards, and is founded upon, the government of the church, and it comprises not only all the successive degrees of ecclesiastical authority derived from the greater or less local extension of the several spheres within which such governing authority is limited-beginning with the pope as primate of the universal church, and extending to the patriarchs as ruling their several patriarchates, the primates in the several kingdoms as national churches, and the metropolitans or archbishops within their respective provinces ;-but also, although less properly, the ecclesiastical grades which, although ecclesiastical jurisdiction may be attached to them, are more directly honorary in their nature, as those of the cardinalate, the archipresbyterate, and the archidiaconate.

In the Anglican Church, with the office of the episcopate, the theory of a hierarchical gradation of rank and of authority has been retained. The Anglican hierarchy comprises bishops, priests, and deacons. In the Scottish Church it is of course unknown, as it is in the greater number of the foreign Protestant churches; while those Lutheran communities which have retained or have revived the title of bishop, concede little to the office which can be considered as imparting to the distinction of grades in the ministry which it imports a strict hierarchical character. The Lutheran bishop has little beyond his brother-ministers, except the right to bear certain insignia, and the first place in the

consistories.

In the well-known work, The Celestial Hierarchy,

falsely ascribed to Dionysius the Areopagite, the hierarchy includes Christ as its head, and the various orders of angels as his ministering spirits.

HIERA'TIC WRITING. See HIEROGLYPHICS. brother Gelon in the year 478 B.C. HI'ERO I., king of Syracuse, succeeded his The most important event of his reign was the naval victory gained by his fleet and that of the Cumani over the Etruscans in 474, which deprived the latter of their supremacy in the Tyrrhenian Sea. In the year 472, Thrasidaus, who had meanwhile become tyrant of Agrigentum, was conquered by Hiero. H. himself to his brother Gelon. His love of poetry, and the was violent and rapacious, far inferior in character manner in which he entertained poets like Simonides, Eschylus, Bacchylides, and Pindar at his court, have perhaps caused him to be overestimated.

was

HIERO II., king of Syracuse (269-214 B.C.), was the son of a noble Syracusan named Hierocles. During the troubles which prevailed in Sicily, after the retreat of King Pyrrhus, 275 B.C., H. greatly distinguished himself, and first appointed commander-in-chief, and then elected king. joined the Carthaginians in besieging Messana, which had surrendered to the Romans, but he was beaten by Appius Claudius the Roman consul, and obliged to retire to Syracuse, where he was soon blockaded.

He

He died

In 263, seeing himself threatened by a large army under Manius Valerius Maximus, he concluded a peace with the Romans for fifteen years, during which he proved so faithful to his engagements, that in 248 peace was permanently established. H. himself visited Rome in 237, on which occasion he presented the Roman people In the second Punic with 200,000 bushels of corn. War he likewise proved himself the faithful ally of the Romans, and supported them with money and troops, especially after their defeat at the lake of Thrasymene, when the golden statues of the goddess of Victory, weighing 320 pounds, which he sent to Rome, were welcomed as a good omen. about the year 216, in the 92d year of his age. His son Gelon having died before him, he was succeeded by his grandson Hieronymus. H., by his clemency, wisdom, and simplicity, had gained the affections of the Syracusans, who refused on several occasions to accept his resignation of the kingly office. He devoted great attention to the improvement of agriculture, and his laws respecting the tithe of corn, &c. (Leges Hieronica), were still in force in He was likewise the country in Cicero's time. a patron of the arts, particularly architecture. In these pursuits, as well as in the construction of warlike machines, he was assisted by his friend and

relative Archimedes.

HIE'ROCLES, a common name among the Greeks. The most celebrated of this name was H., the Neo-Platonist, who lived at Alexandria about the middle of the 5th c., and enjoyed a great reputation. He is usually reckoned the author of a commentary on the golden verses of Pythagoras, of which the best edition is that by Warren (Lond. 1742). Of H.'s history we know nothing. His most celebrated works are-On Providence, Fate, and the Harmony between the Divine Government and Man's Freewill; of which there remain only a few extracts preserved by Photius, and published by Morelli (Paris, 1593 and 1597). Another ethical work of his, On Justice, Reverence of the Gods, and the Domestic and Social Virtues, is known to us from a number of extracts in Stobæus. There is also a work called Asteia ('a collection of jests and ludicrous stories') attributed to him, but it is now believed to belong to a much later age than that of Hierocles. This and the previous works are contained in Pearson and

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