Hercula- 
scripts, 
HER 
have been sent, on some occasion, to the Prince of 
his operations from 1802 to 1806, during which time 
he affirms, that more than 200 papyri had’ been opened 
wholly or in part, and he calculated that the remainder 
would have been unrolled and copied within six years 
farther at latest. But as to the precise nature and de- 
scription of these manuscripts, the accessions which li- 
terature has gained or would gain by the work, we 
are only informed that certain fac similes of some books 
of Epicurus were engraved. : 
It cannot but be considered particularly unfortunate 
that the public expectation, so repeatedly excited re- 
garding what are to: appearance among the most in- 
teresting memorials of antiquity, should be as often 
disappointed. Admitting every possible difficulty, and 
all the opposition which might have been rienced, 
unquestionably there were sufficient materials ‘to make 
a specific report regarding the state and description of 
the manuscripts, towards the developement of which 
the public had so liberally contributed. 
In 1806, during Mr Hayter’s operations, it became 
necessary to evacuate Naples ; but the existing govern- 
ment acquainted him, that the king had prohibited the 
removal of the manuscripts ; and in the flight of the 
court, every thing was abandoned to the French, who 
seem to have continued the assistants in unrolling and de- 
ciphering as before. From the opposition which’ Mr 
Hayter experienced, he’ could de nothing more than 
retire with some of the fac similes’to Palermo, where it 
appears he superintended engravings of them. | Yet 
misunderstandings with the secretary of state prevent- 
ed him from procuring a complete copy of the whole, 
until the British ambassador interfered. 
* Ninety-four fac simile copies were then obtained, 
partly engraved it would seem, and partly in manuscript, 
These were carried toEngland by Mr Hayter on his final 
recal in 1809, and presented by the Prince Regent to the 
university of Oxford. However; a very confused and 
indistinct account of the whole of this matter has reach- 
ed the public, which compels us to be thus brief regard- 
ing the history of the Herculaneum manuscripts. 
Perhaps it may ultimately be found that they are less 
worthy of notice than was anticipated, particularly if we 
are entitled to form any judgment regarding the rest, 
from the inconsiderable portions that have’already been 
published, See. Antichita d’ Ercolano, 9 vols. in folio; 
Bayardi Prodromo delle Antichita d’ Ereolano ;—Notizie, 
del Scoprimento dell Antichita citta @ Ercolano; Venuti 
Descrizione delle prime scoperte dell Anticha citta d’ Erco- 
tane ; Murr de Papyris Herculanensibus ; Drummond 
744 
| HER 
and Walpole Herculanensia ; Hayter, Letter ana Re« Hercules 
port on the Herculaneum Manuscripts ; Philosophical 
Transactions for 1751, 1753, 1754, 1755, 1756; and 
Sir W. Hamilton Campi Phlegrei, p. 58. (c ; 
HERCULES, one of the most illustrious heroes of 
antiquity, and the first of the Dii Minorum Gentium, 
or demi-gods.. He was descended from the kings of 
Argos ; but in the Pagan mythology, he is said to have 
been the son of Jupiter. by Alcmena, the wife of Am- 
phitryon, king of Thebes. The period of his birth is 
uncertain: Herodotus places it about the year 1282, 
before the commencement of the Christian ra; and in 
Blair’s Chronological Tables, his death is placed in the 
year 1222'B:.0; fpiteda to. groan 
The history of this celebrated consists of 
a tissue of prodigies. » His first, or what may be called 
his infantine, exploits, were his strangling two serpents, 
which were sent: to destroy him ‘in his cradle; and his 
killing a large lion, near his native city, Thebes. Next 
come those adventures, which: are: commonly known 
by the name of his twelve labours;, undertaken by or- 
der of Eurystheus, and of a decree of the Delphian 
oracle, as it is said, by way of expiation for the crime 
of killing the three children which he had by his wife 
Megara, and in order to acquire immortality. The 
first of these was his combat and victory over the Cleo- 
nzan lion, in the forest of Nema; the second, his 
conquest of the hydra, by which he is said to have 
cleared the fens of Lerna near Argos, of the: serpents 
that infested them, and which seemed to multiply as 
fast as they were destroyed; the third, his destrucs 
tion of the Erymanthian boar; the fourth, his slaying 
the brazen-footed stag on Mount:Menalus,; the fifth, 
yhis shooting the — or stymphalides; the sixth, 
his cleansing the s s of Augeas ; the seventh «and 
eighth, his destroying the Cretan bull, and Diomede, 
the barbarous tyrant of Thrace, with his horses or mares 
who were fed on human flesh; the ninth, his combat 
with Geryon, who is generally represented with three 
bodies ; the tenth, his conquest of the Amazons; the 
eleventh, his dragging Cerberus up from the infernal 
regions ; and the last, his killing the a a or dragon, 
and carrying off the golden fruit from en of the 
Hesperides. The remainder of his exploits were those 
which he undertook voluntarily ; such as) his: slaying 
the giant Anteus, and Cacus, the notorious robber’ of 
Italy, fixin pillars in the: Fretum Gaditanum, or 
Straits of Gibraltar,) &c.. It would appear; that:this 
redoubted champion was by no means. insensible to 
the influence of the’ tender passion; or proof against 
the allurements of vicious pleasure.» the principal 
scene of his effeminacies was.in Asia, whilst he lived 
with Omphale, queen of Lydia; and:he.at length fell 
a sacrifice to the jealousy of his wife, Deganira, who, 
dreading the influence of his: passion for, Iole,, the 
daughter of Eurytus, king of ia, poisoned his 
robe, so that he died in great:agonies: on Mount Oéta. 
Ovid represents him as preparing his own funeral pile, 
and laying himself upon it with great composure.» 
Such is the substance of the traditional histories of 
this celebrated hero of antiquity, whose. adventures 
have afforded ample materials to the sculptor and:the 
poet.: . These téditions seem to contain a mixture of 
truth and fable. It a 's from ancient authors, that 
there were’several individuals of the name of Hercules, 
whose heroic actions were probably exaggerated, and 
-ascribed to:one man ; and to him, as his fame 
and spread abroad, was likewise transferred the credit 
of all great-and~valorous enterprises, the authors of 
1 
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