8-20 HER 
and a recent French verfion by Larcher, is much ef- 
teemed. 
Although very different opinions have been enter¬ 
tained by the learned concerning the credit due to He¬ 
rodotus, it may perhaps be afl'erted with truth, that 
his hiftory has of late been riling in reputation. The 
cenfures palled on this hiftoria-n by Plutarch, in his 
traft “On the Malignity of Herodotus,” which appears 
to have had, fora long time, too much influence on the 
public judgment, have been difcovered, on more accu¬ 
rate examination, to be, for the mod part, ill-founded. 
The principal charge which Plutarch brings againft He¬ 
rodotus, viz. that of falfely accufing the Thebans of 
deferring the common caufe of the Greeks in the Per- 
fian war, is afcribed, with much probability, to the par¬ 
tiality of the critic for his own native country. This 
point, with the reft of Plutarch’s ftridtures, has been 
fully examined by the abbe Geinoz, in three diftindt 
dilfertations on the fubject, contained in the Memoirs 
of the Academy of I nfcriptions and Belles Lettres. The 
charge of credulity, fo often brought againft Herodotus, 
appears alfo to have little foundation ; for, though many 
parts of his narrative be marvellous and incredible, he 
commonly takes care to inform his readers, that he re¬ 
lates tales of this kind on traditionary authority alone ; 
and he often intimates, that he himfelf doubts of their 
truth, or confiders them as entirely fabulous. Major 
Rennell, in his Obfervations on Park’s Journey in Afri¬ 
ca, has the following remarkable pafl'age in vindication 
of the accuracy of Herodotus : “ Mr.' Park has demon- 
ftrated, from ocular oblervation, that the courfe of the 
Niger runs from wcjlto eajl, dividing Africa in like manner 
as the Danube does Europe. Thefe were the very words 
of Herodotus, (Euterpe, c.32.) twenty-two centuries 
ago, in his defcription of this great river. Yet M. de 
la Lande and Mr. Bruce have both erroneoufly infilled, 
agreeably to common report, that its courfe was from 
tqfl to wejl ; fo that, after a lapfe of twenty-two centuries, 
Mr. Park, in detecting this vulgar error, has firmly el- 
tablilhed the veracity of the venerable Fatherof Hiftory.” 
Cicero, Dionylius of Halicarnalfus, and Longinus, are 
unanimous in their encomiums on the richnels and har¬ 
mony of his didtion ; and the latter (peaks of him as, in 
this refpedt, fo perfect an imitator of Homer, as to de- 
ferve the appellation of O/xygwvlxlo;. Another very 
pleafing inftance of the accurate defcription of the coun¬ 
tries vifited by this hiftorian, is given by A. Dureau de 
Lamalle, in his Geographic Phyfique de la Mer Noire, pub- 
lilhed at Paris in 180? ; in wmch we have the following 
tranllation from Herodotus: 
“The country occupied by the Perfians, extends even 
to the Erythrean fea. Above them, towards the north, 
live the Medes and the Sapires. Beyond the Sapires 
are the Colchidians, who border on the fea into which 
the Phafis empties itfelf. Thefe four nations reachfrom 
©ne fea to the other. In going thence towards the weft, 
are found two oppofite peniniulae, which border on the 
fea. The one 0.1 the north commences at Phafis, and 
extends towards the fea along the Euxine, quite to the 
promontory of Sigeum, in tlie Troad. On the fouth, 
this peninfula begins at the Myriandric gulf adjacent 
to Phoenicia, and reaches to the promontory of Trio- 
peum. It is inhabited by thirty different nations. 
The other peninfula begins on the confines of Perfia, 
and extends to the Erythrean lea ; and along this fea 
it includes fir ft Perfia, and then Allyria and Arabia. It 
borders on the Arabian gulf at the place at which Da¬ 
rius had a canal opened to communicate with the N^le. 
From Perfia to Phoenicia, the country is vail and exten- 
five. From Phoenicia, the fame peninfula runs along 
this very fea by Syria of Paleftine, and Egypt, on which 
it bounds, it comprehends only three nations. The 
countries towards the eaft above the Perfians, the Medes, 
the Sapires, and the Colchidians, are bounded on this 
fide by the Erythrean fea (here (Jie Perfian gulf), and 
HER 
©n the north by the Cafpiap fea and Pile Araxes, which 
takes its courfe towards the eaft. 
_ “The greater part of Afia was difcovered by Da¬ 
rius. This prince, wifhing to know into what part of 
the fea the Indus threw itfelf, embarked in veffels men 
of veracity and confidence, and among others Scylax. 
They defcended the river towards the eaft and the 
fouth ; then, navigating towards the weft, they arrived 
at length, on the thirtieth month after they had fet out, 
at the very port at which the Phoenicians had former¬ 
ly embarked by order of the king of Egypt to navigate 
round Lybia. After that circumnavigation was finifhed, 
Darius fubdued the Indians, and made ufe of this lea. 
It^was thus that it was difcovered that Afia, except the 
oriental part of it, on the whole refembles Lybia. 
“ Lybia immediately fucceeds Egypt, and makes part 
of the fecond peninfula, which is narrow on the confines 
of this province. In fadt, from the Mediterranean to 
the Erythrean or Red fea, the diftance is only about one 
thoufand ftadia ; but from this narrow place the penin¬ 
fula becomes fpacious and more expanded. Lybia itfelf 
fhows that it is furrounded by the fea, except on the 
fide on which it borders on Afia. Nechos, king of 
Egypt, is the firft who proved this fadt. When he had 
finifhed the excavation of the canal which was defigned 
to convey the waters of the Nile to the Arabian gulf, 
he made Phoenicians fet out in fhips, with orders to en¬ 
ter on their return by the pillars of Hercules into the 
northern fea, and to come back that way to Egypt. 
The Phoenicians, having embarked on the Red fea, fail¬ 
ed into the fouthern ocean ; and, after a navigation of 
two years, they doubled the pillars of Hercules, and 
returned into Egypt. They mentioned, on their arri¬ 
val, that, in failing round Lybia, they had obferved the 
fun on their right ; and thus for the firft time Lybia be¬ 
came known.”—The experience of navigators and travel¬ 
lers for upwards of two thoufand years, has here again 
proved the accuracy and fidelity of this great hiftorian. 
HE'ROESS, f. [from Aero-, herois, Lat.J A heroine ; 
a female hero. Not in ufe. 
In which were held, by fad difeafe. 
Heroes and keroejes. Chapman. 
HERO'IC, adj. [from for#j kercique , Fr.jJ Produc¬ 
tive of heroes : 
Bolingbroke 
From John of Gaunt doth bring his pedigree, 
Being but the fourth of that heroic line. Shahefpeare. 
Noble: fuitable to a hero; brave j magnanimous; in¬ 
trepid ; enterprifing ; illuftrious : 
Not that which jultly gives heroic name 
To perfon or to poem. Milton. 
Verfe makes heroic virtue live. 
But you can life to verfes give. Waller . 
Reciting the acts of heroes. Ufed of poetry.—An heroic 
poem is the greateft work which the foul of man is ca¬ 
pable to perform; the defign of it is to form the mind 
to heroic virtue by example. Dryden. 
Meihinks heroic poefy, ’till now, 
Like fome fantaftic fairy land did ftiow. Cowley. 
Ufed in heroic poetry.—I n this contemplation they found 
the heroic foot (which includes the fpondee, the dadtyle, 
and the anapastt) to be majeftic and grave. Harris’s Phi- 
lolog. Inquiries.—Thefe verfes are all long ox heroic verfes, 
that is, of ten fyllubles. Chejlerfeld. 
KERO'ICAL, adj. Befitting a hero ; noble ; illuf- 
trious ; heroic. 
HERO'IC ALLY, adv. After the prowefs of a hero 3 
fuitable to a hero : 
Free from all meaning, whether good or bad ; 
And, in one word, heroically mad. Dryden. 
HERO'ICLY, adv. Suitably to a hero. Heroically in 
more frequent and more analogical; 
1 $amfoR 
