Chapter 5

See Wilamowitz-Möllendorff’s Introduction to his German translation of Euripides’Hippolytus(1891); A. Kalkmann,De Hippolytis Euripideis(Bonn, 1882); and (for representations in art) “Über Darstellung der Hippolytussage” inArchäologische Zeitung(xli. 1883); J. E. Harrison,Mythology and Monuments of Ancient Athens(1890), cl.

HIPPOLYTUS,a writer of the early Church. The mystery which enveloped the person and writings of Hippolytus,1one of the most prolific ecclesiastical writers of early times, had some light thrown upon it for the first time about the middle of the 19th century by the discovery of the so-calledPhilosophumena(see below). Assuming this writing to be the work of Hippolytus, the information given in it as to the author and his times can be combined with other traditional dates to form a tolerably clear picture. Hippolytus must have been born in the second half of the 2nd century, probably in Rome. Photius describes him in hisBibliotheca(cod. 121) as a disciple of Irenaeus, and from the context of this passage it is supposed that we may conclude that Hippolytus himself so styled himself. But this is not certain, and even if it were, it does not necessarily imply that Hippolytus enjoyed the personal teaching of the celebrated Gallic bishop; it may perhaps merely refer to that relation of his theological system to that of Irenaeus which can easily be traced in his writings. As a presbyter of the church at Rome under Bishop Zephyrinus (199-217), Hippolytus was distinguished for his learning and eloquence. It was at this time that Origen, then a young man, heard him preach (Hieron.Vir. ill.61; cp. Euseb.H.E.vi. 14, 10). It was probably not long before questions of theology and church discipline brought him into direct conflict with Zephyrinus, or at any rate with his successor Calixtus I. (q.v.). He accused the bishop of favouring the Christological heresies of the Monarchians, and, further, of subverting the discipline of the Church by his lax action in receiving back into the Church those guilty of gross offences. The result was a schism, and for perhaps over ten years Hippolytus stood as bishop at the head of a separate church. Then came the persecution under Maximinus the Thracian. Hippolytus and Pontius, who was then bishop, were transported in 235 to Sardinia, where it would seem that both of them died. From the so-called chronograph of the year 354 (Catalogus Liberianus) we learn that on the 13th of August, probably in 236, the bodies of the exiles were interred in Rome and that of Hippolytus in the cemetery on the Via Tiburtina. So we must suppose that before his death the schismatic was received again into the bosom of the Church, and this is confirmed by the fact that his memory was henceforth celebrated in the Church as that of a holy martyr. Pope Damasus I. dedicated to him one of his famous epigrams, and Prudentius (Peristephanon, 11) drew a highly coloured picture of his gruesome death, the details of which are certainly purely legendary: the myth of Hippolytus the son of Theseus was transferred to the Christian martyr. Of the historical Hippolytus little remained in the memory of afterages. Neither Eusebius (H.E.vi. 20, 2) nor Jerome (Vir. ill.61) knew that the author so much read in the East and the Roman saint were one and the same person. The notice in theChronicon Paschalepreserves one slight reminiscence of the historical facts, namely, that Hippolytus’s episcopal see was situated at Portus near Rome. In 1551 a marble statue of a seated man was found in the cemetery of the Via Tiburtina: on the sides of the seat were carved a paschal cycle, and on the back the titles of numerous writings. It was the statue of Hippolytus, a work at any rate of the 3rd century; at the time of Pius IX. it was placed in the Lateran Museum, a record in stone of a lost tradition.

Hippolytus’s voluminous writings, which for variety of subject can be compared with those of Origen, embrace the spheres of exegesis, homiletics, apologetics and polemic, chronography and ecclesiastical law. His works have unfortunately come down to us in such a fragmentary condition that it is difficult to obtain from them any very exact notion of his intellectual and literary importance. Of his exegetical works the best preserved are theCommentary on the Prophet Danieland theCommentary on the Song of Songs. In spite of many instances of a want of taste in his typology, they are distinguished by a certain sobriety and sense of proportion in his exegesis. We are unable to form an opinion of Hippolytus as a preacher, for theHomilies on the Feast of Epiphanywhich go under his name are wrongly attributed to him. He wrote polemical words directed against the pagans, the Jews and heretics. The most important of these polemical treatises is theRefutation of all Heresies, which has come to be known by the inappropriate title of thePhilosophumena. Of its ten books, the second and third are lost; Book i. was for a long time printed (with the titlePhilosophumena) among the works of Origen; Books iv.-x. were found in 1842 by the Greek Minoides Mynas, without the name of the author, in a MS. at Mount Athos. It is nowadays universally admitted that Hippolytus was the author, and that Books i. and iv.-x. belong to the same work. The importance of the work has, however, been much overrated; a close examination of the sources for the exposition of the Gnostic system which is contained in it has proved that the information it gives is not always trustworthy. Of the dogmatic works, that onChrist and Antichristsurvives in a complete state. Among other things it includes a vivid account of the events preceding the end of the world, and it was probably written at the time of the persecution under Septimius Severus,i.e.about 202. The influence of Hippolytus was felt chiefly through his works on chronographic and ecclesiastical law. His chronicle of the world, a compilation embracing the whole period from the creation of the world up to the year 234, formed a basis for many chronographical works both in the East and West. In the great compilations of ecclesiastical law which arose in the East since the 4th century (see below: alsoApostolic Constitutions) much of the material was taken from the writings of Hippolytus; how much of this is genuinely his, how much of it worked over, and how much of it wrongly attributed to him, can no longer be determined beyond dispute even by the most learned investigation.

Bibliography.—The edition of J. A. Fabricius,Hippolyti opera graece et latine(2 vols., Hamburg, 1716-1718, reprinted in Gallandi,Bibliotheca veterum patrum(vol. ii., 1766), and Migne,Cursus patrol. ser. Graeca, vol. x.) is out of date. The preparation of a complete critical edition has been undertaken by the Prussian Academy of Sciences. The task is one of extraordinary difficulty, for the textual problems of the various writings are complex and confused: the Greek original is extant in a few cases only (theCommentary on Daniel, theRefutation, on Antichrist, parts of theChronicle, and some fragments); for the rest we are dependent on fragments of translations, chiefly Slavonic, all of which are not even published. Of the Academy’s edition one volume was published at Berlin in 1897, containing theCommentaries on Danieland on theSong of Songs, the treatise onAntichrist, and theLesser ExegeticalandHomiletic Works, edited by Nathanael Bonwetsch and Hans Achelis. TheCommentary on the Song of Songshas also been published by Bonwetsch (Leipzig, 1902) in a German translation based on a Russian translation by N. Marr of the Grusian (Georgian) text, and he added to it (Leipzig, 1904) a translation of various small exegetical pieces, which are preserved in a Georgian version only (The Blessing of Jacob,The Blessing of Moses,The Narrative of David and Goliath). A great part of the original of theChroniclehas been published by Adolf Bauer (Leipzig, 1905) from theCodex Matritensis Graecus, 221. For theRefutationwe are still dependent on the editions of Miller (Oxford, 1851), Duncker and Schneidewin (Göttingen, 1859), and Cruice (Paris, 1860). An English translation is to be found in theAnte-Nicene Christian Library(Edinburgh, 1868-1869).See Bunsen,Hippolytus and his Age(1852, 2nd ed., 1854; Ger. ed., 1853); Döllinger,Hippolytus und Kallistus(Regensb. 1853; Eng. transl., Edinb., 1876); Gerhard Ficker,Studien zur Hippolytfrage(Leipzig, 1893); Hans Achelis,Hippolytstudien(Leipzig, 1897); Karl Johannes Neumann,Hippolytus von Rom in seiner Stellung zu Staat und Welt, part i. (Leipzig, 1902); Adhémar d’Alès,La Théologie de Saint Hippolyte(Paris, 1906).

See Bunsen,Hippolytus and his Age(1852, 2nd ed., 1854; Ger. ed., 1853); Döllinger,Hippolytus und Kallistus(Regensb. 1853; Eng. transl., Edinb., 1876); Gerhard Ficker,Studien zur Hippolytfrage(Leipzig, 1893); Hans Achelis,Hippolytstudien(Leipzig, 1897); Karl Johannes Neumann,Hippolytus von Rom in seiner Stellung zu Staat und Welt, part i. (Leipzig, 1902); Adhémar d’Alès,La Théologie de Saint Hippolyte(Paris, 1906).

(G. K.)

1According to the legend St Hippolytus was a Roman soldier who was converted by St Lawrence.

HIPPOLYTUS, THE CANONS OF.This book stands at the head of a series of Church Orders, which contain instructions in regard to the choice and ordination of Christian ministers, regulations as to widows and virgins, conditions of reception of converts from heathenism, preparation for and administration of baptism, rules for the celebration of the eucharist, for fasting, daily prayers, charity suppers, memorial meals, first-fruits, &c. We shall give (1) a description of the book as we have it at present; (2) a brief statement of its relation to allied documents; (3) some remarks on the evidence for its date and authorship.

1. We possess theCanons of Hippolytusonly in an Arabic version, itself made from a Coptic version of the original Greek. Attention was called to the book by Wansleben and Ludolf towards the end of the 17th century, but it was only in 1870 that it was edited by Haneberg, who added a Latin translation, and so made it generally accessible. In 1891 H. Achelis reproduced this translation in a revised form, embodying it in a synopsis of allied documents. He suspected much interpolation and derangement of order, and consequently rearranged its contents with a free hand. In 1900 a German translation was made by H. Riedel, based on fresh MSS. These showed that the book, as hitherto edited, had been thrown into disorder by the displacement of two pages near the end; they also removed other difficulties upon which the theory of interpolation had been based. Further discoveries, to be spoken of presently, have added to our materials for the study of the book.

The book is attributed to “Hippolytus, the chief of the bishops of Rome,” and is divided into thirty-eight canons, to which short headings are prefixed. This division is certainly not original, but it is convenient for purposes of reference. Canon 1 is prefatory; it contains a brief confession of faith in the Trinity, and especially in the Word, the Son of God; and it speaks of the expulsion of heretics from the Church. Canons 2-5 give regulations for the selection and ordination of bishops, presbyters and deacons. The bishop is chosen by the whole congregation: “one of the bishops and presbyters” is to lay hands upon him and say a prayer which follows (3): he is at once to proceed with “the offering,” taking up the eucharistic service at the point where thesursum cordacomes in. A presbyter (4) is to be ordained with the same prayer as a bishop, “with the exception of the word bishop”; but he is given no power of ordination (this appears to be inconsistent with c. 2). The duties of a deacon are described, and the prayer of his ordination follows (5). Canons 6-9 deal with various classes in the Church. One who has suffered punishment for the faith (6) is to be counted a presbyter without ordination: “his confession is his ordination.” Readers and sub-deacons (7) are given the Gospel, but are not ordained by laying-on of hands. A claim to ordination on the ground of gifts of healing (8) is to be admitted, if the facts are clear and the healing is from God. Widows are not ordained (9): “ordination is for men only.” Canons 10-15 describe conditions for the admission of converts. Certain occupations are incompatible with Christian life: only under compulsion may a Christian be a soldier. Canons 16-18 deal chiefly with regulations concerning women. Canon 19 is a long one dealing with catechumens, preparation for baptism, administration of that sacrament, and of the eucharist for the newly baptized. The candidate is twice anointed: first, with the oil of exorcism, after he has said, with his face westward, “I renounce thee, O devil, and all thy following”; and, again, immediately after the baptism. As he stands in the water, he declares his faith in response to an interrogatory creed; and after each of the three clauses he is immersed. After the second anointing the bishop gives thanks “for that Thou hast made them worthy that they should be born again, and hast poured out Thy Holy Ghost upon them, so that they may belong, each one of them, to the body of the Church”: he signs them with the cross on their foreheads, and kisses them. The eucharist then proceeds: “the bishop gives them of the body of Christ and says, This is the body of Christ, and they answer Amen”; and similarly for the cup.Milk and honey are then given to them as being “born a second time as little children.” A warning is added against eating anything before communicating. Canons 20-22 deal with fast-days, daily services in church, and the fast of the passover-week. Canon 23 seems as if it closed the series, speaking, as it does, of “our brethren the bishops” who in their cities have made regulations “according to the commands of our fathers the apostles”: “let none of our successors alter them; because it saith that the teaching is greater than the sea, and hath no end.” We pass on, however, to regulations about the sick (24) who are to be visited by the bishop, “because it is a great thing for the sick that the high-priest should visit them (for the shadow of Peter healed the sick).” Canons 25-27 deal again with prayers and church-services. The “seven hours” are specified, with reasons for their observance (25): attendance at sermons is urged (26), “for the Lord is in the place where his lordship is proclaimed” (comp.Didachè4, part of theTwo Ways). When there are no prayers in church, reading at home is enjoined (27): “let the sun each morning see the book upon thy knees” (comp. Ath.Ad virg., § 12, “Let the sun when he ariseth see the book in thy hands”). Prayer must be preceded by the washing of the hands. “No believer must take food before communicating, especially on fast-days”: only believers may communicate (28). The sacred elements must be guarded, “lest anything fall into the cup, and it be a sin unto death for the presbyters.” No crumb must be dropped, “lest an evil spirit get possession of it.” Canons 30-35 contain various rules, and specially deal with suppers for the poor (i.e.agapae) and memorial feasts. Then we have a prayer for the offering of first-fruits (36); a direction that ministers shall wear fair garments at “the mysteries” (37); and a command to watch during the night of the resurrection (38). The last canon hereupon passes into a general exhortation to right living, which forms a sixth part of the whole book. In Riedel’s translation we read this for the first time as a connected whole. It falls into two parts, and describes, first, the true life of ordinary Christians, warning them against an empty profession, and laying down many precepts of morality; and then it addresses itself to the “ascete” who “wishes to belong to the rank of the angels,” and who lives a life of solitude and poverty. He is encouraged by an exposition, on somewhat strange lines, of the temptations of our Lord, and is specially warned against spiritual pride and contempt of other men. The book closes with an appeal for love and mutual service, based on the parables in St Matthew xxv.

2. It is impossible to estimate the position of the Canons of Hippolytus without some reference to allied documents (seeApostolical Constitutions). (a) The most important of these is what is now commonly called theEgyptian Church Order. This is preserved to us in Coptic and Aethiopic versions, of which Achelis, in his synopsis, gives German translations. The subject-matter and arrangement of these canons correspond generally to those of Hippolytus; but many of the details are modified to bring them into accord with a later practice. A new light was thrown on the criticism of this work by Hauler’s discovery (1900) of a Latin version (of which, unfortunately, about half is missing) in the Verona palimpsest, from which he has also given us large Latin fragments of theDidascalia(which underlies books i.-vi. of the Apostolic Constitutions, and which hitherto we have only known from the Syriac). The Latin of the Egyptian Church Order is somewhat more primitive than the Coptic, and approaches more nearly, at some points, to theCanons of Hippolytus. It has a preface which refers to a treatiseConcerning Spiritual Gifts, as having immediately preceded it; but neither this nor the Coptic-Aethiopic form has either the introduction or concluding exhortation which is found in theCanons of Hippolytus. (b)The Testament of the Lordis a document in Syriac, of which the opening part had been published by Lagarde, and of which Rahmani (1899) has given us the whole. It professes to contain instructions given by our Lord to the apostles after the resurrection. After an introduction containing apocalyptical matter, it passes on to give elaborate directions for the ordering of the Church, embodying, in a much-expanded form, the Egyptian Church Order, and showing a knowledge of the preface to that document which appears in the Latin version. It cannot be placed with probability earlier than the latter part of the 4th century. (c) TheApostolic Constitutionsis a composite document, which probably belongs to the end of the 4th century. Its first six books are an expanded edition of aDidascaliawhich we have already mentioned: its seventh book similarly expands and modifies theDidachèits eighth book begins by treating of “spiritual gifts,” and then in c. 3 passes on to expand in like manner the Egyptian Church Order. The hand which has wrought up all these documents has been shown to be that of the interpolator of the Ignatian Epistles in the longer Greek recension. (d) TheCanons of Basilis the title of an Arabic work, of which a German translation has been given us by Riedel, who thinks that they have come through Coptic from an original Greek book. They embody, in a modified form, considerable portions of the Canons of Hippolytus.

3. We now approach the difficult questions of date and authorship. Much of the material has been quite recently brought to light, and criticism has not had time to investigate and pronounce upon it. Some provisional remarks, therefore, are all that can prudently be made. It seems plain that we have two lines of tradition: (1) The Canons of Hippolytus, followed by the Canons of Basil; (2) the Egyptian Church Order, itself represented (a) by the Latin version, the Testament of the Lord, and the Apostolic Constitutions, which are linked together by the same preface (or portions of it); (b) by the Coptic and Aethiopic versions. Now, the preface of the Latin version points to a time when the canons were embodied in acorpusof similar materials, or, at the least, were preceded by a work on “Spiritual Gifts.” The Canons of Hippolytus have a wholly different preface, and also a long exhortation at the close. The question which criticism must endeavour to answer is, whether the Canons of Hippolytus are the original from which the Egyptian Church Order is derived, or whether an earlier body of canons lies behind them both. At present it is probably wise to assume that the latter is the true explanation. For the Canons of Hippolytus appear to contain contradictory regulations (e.g.cc. 2 and 4 of the presbyters), and also suggest that they have received a considerable supplement (after c. 23). There is, however, no doubt that they present us with a more primitive stage of Church life than we find in the Egyptian Church Order. The mention of sub-deacons (which, after Riedel’s fresh manuscript evidence, cannot now be dismissed as due to interpolation) makes it difficult to assign a date much earlier than the middle of the 3rd century.

The Puritan severity of the canons well accords with the temper of the writer to whom the Arabic title attributes them; and it is to be noted that the exhortation at the close contains a quotation from 2 Peter actually attributed to the apostle, and Hippolytus is perhaps the earliest author who can with certainty be said to have used this epistle. But the general style of Hippolytus, which is simple, straight-forward and strong, is in marked contrast with that of the closing passage of the canons; moreover, his mind, as presented to us in his extant writings, appears to be a much larger one than that of the writer of these canons; it is as difficult to think of Hippolytus as it would be to think of Origen in such a connexion. How, then, are we to account for the attribution? There is evidence to show that Hippolytus was highly reverenced throughout the East: his writings, which were in Greek, were known, but his history was entirely unknown. He was supposed to be “a pupil (γνώριμος) of apostles” (Palladius, 4th century), and the Arabic title calls him “chief of the bishops of Rome,”i.e.archbishop of Rome. It is hard to trust this attribution more than the attribution of a Coptic discourse on theDormitio Mariaeto “Evodius, archbishop of the great city Rome, who was the second after Peter the apostle” (Texts and Studies, iv. 2-44)—Evodius being by tradition first bishop of Antioch. A whole group of books on Church Order bears the name of Clement of Rome; and the attribution of our canons to Hippolytus may be only an example of the same tendency. The fact that Hippolytus wrote a treatiseConcerning Spiritual Gifts, and that some such treatise is not only referred to in the Latin preface to the Egyptian Church Order, but is actually found at the beginning of book viii. of the Apostolic Constitutions, introduces an interesting complication; but we cannot here pursue the matter further. Dom Morin’s ingenious attribution of the canons to Dionysius of Alexandria (on the ground of Eusebius,H.E.vi. 46., 5) cannot be accepted in view of the broader church policy which that writer represents. If the Hippolytean authorship be given up, it is probable that Egypt will makethe strongest claim to be the locality in which the canons were compiled in their present form.

The authorities of chief practical importance are H. Achelis,Texte u. Unters.vi. 4 (1891); Rahmani,Testamentum Domini(1899); Hauler,Didascaliae Apostolorum(1900); Riedel,Kirchenrechtsquellen des Patriarchats Alexandrien(1900).

(J. A. R.)

HIPPONAX,of Ephesus, Greek iambic poet. Expelled from Ephesus in 540B.C.by the tyrant Athenagoras, he took refuge in Clazomenae, where he spent the rest of his life in poverty. His deformed figure and malicious disposition exposed him to the caricature of the Chian sculptors Bupalus and Athenis, upon whom he revenged himself by issuing against them a series of satires. They are said to have hanged themselves like Lycambes and his daughters when assailed by Archilochus, the model and predecessor of Hipponax. His coarseness of thought and feeling, his rude vocabulary, his want of grace and taste, and his numerous allusions to matters of merely local interest prevented his becoming a favourite in Attica. He was considered the inventor of parody and of a peculiar metre, thescazonorcholiambus, which substitutes a spondee for the final iambus of an iambic senarius, and is an appropriate form for the burlesque character of his poems.

Fragments in Bergk,Poëtae lyrici Graeci; see also B. J. Peltzer,De parodica Graecorum poèsi(1855), containing an account of Hipponax and the fragments.

HIPPOPOTAMUS(“river-horse,” Gr.ἵππος, horse andποταμός, river), the name of the largest representative of the non-ruminating artiodactyle ungulate mammals, and its living and extinct relatives. The common hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius), which formerly inhabited all the great rivers of Africa but whose range has now been much restricted, is most likely thebehemothof Scripture, and may very probably in Biblical times have been found in the Jordan valley, since at a still earlier (Pleistocene) epoch it ranged over a large part of Europe. It typifies not only a genus, but likewise a family,Hippopotamidae, distinguished from its relatives the pigs and peccaries, orSuidae, by the following assemblage of characters: Muzzle very broad and rounded. Feet short and broad, with four subequal toes, bearing short rounded hoofs, and all reaching the ground in walking. Incisors not rooted but continuously growing; those of the upper jaw curved and directed downwards; those of the lower straight and procumbent. Canines very large, curved, continuously growing; upper ones directed downwards. Premolars4⁄4; molars3⁄3. Stomach complex. No caecum.

In form the hippopotamus is a huge, unwieldy creature, measuring in the largest specimens fully 14 ft. from the extremity of the upper lip to the tip of the tail, while it ordinarily attains a length of 12 ft., with a height of 5 ft. at the shoulders, and a girth round the thickest part of the body almost equal to its length. The small ears are exceedingly flexible, and kept in constant motion when the animal is seeking to catch a distant sound; the eyes are placed high up on the head, but little below the level of the ears; while the gape is wide, and the upper lip thick and bulging so as to cover over even its large tusks when the mouth is closed. The molars, which show trefoil-shaped grinding-surfaces are well adapted for masticating vegetable substances, while the formidable array of long spear-like incisors and curved chisel-edged canines or tusks root up rank grass like an agricultural implement. The legs are short, so that the body is but little elevated above the ground; and the feet, which are small in proportion to the size of the animal, terminate in four short toes each bearing a small hoof. With the exception of a few tufts of hair on the lips, on the sides of the head and neck, and at the extremity of the short robust tail, the skin of the hippopotamus, some portions of which are 2 in. in thickness, is destitute of covering. Hippopotamuses are gregarious animals, living in herds of from 20 to 40 individuals on the banks and in the beds of rivers, in the neighbourhood of which they most readily find appropriate food. This consists chiefly of grass and of aquatic plants, of which these animals consume enormous quantities, the stomach being capable of containing from 5 to 6 bushels. They feed principally by night, remaining in the water during the day, although in districts where they are little disturbed they are less exclusively aquatic. In such remote quarters, they put their heads boldly out of the water to blow, but when rendered suspicious they become exceedingly cautious in this respect, only exposing their nostrils above the water, and even this they prefer doing amid the shelter of water plants. In spite of their enormous size and uncouth form, they are expert swimmers and divers, and can remain easily under the water from five to eight minutes. They walk on the bottoms of rivers, beneath at least 1 ft. of water. At nightfall they come on land to feed; and when, as often happens on the banks of the Nile, they reach cultivated ground, they do immense damage to growing crops, destroying by their ponderous tread even more than they devour. To scare away these unwelcome visitors the natives in such districts are in the habit of kindling fires at night. Although hippopotamuses do not willingly go far from the water on which their existence depends, they occasionally travel long distances by night in search of food, and in spite of their clumsy appearance are able to climb steep banks and precipitous ravines with ease. Of a wounded hippopotamus which Sir S. Baker saw leaving the water and galloping inland, he writes: “I never could have imagined that so unwieldy an animal could have exhibited such speed. No man could have had a chance of escape.” The hippopotamus does not confine itself to rivers and lakes, but has been known to prefer the waters of the ocean as its home during the day. Of a mild and inoffensive disposition, it seeks to avoid collision with man; when wounded, however, or in defence of its young, it exhibits great ferocity, and native canoes are capsized and occasionally demolished by its infuriated attacks; the bellowing grunt then becoming loud enough to be heard a mile away. As among elephants, so also among hippopotamuses there are “rogues”—old bulls which have become soured in solitude, and are at all times dangerous. Assuming the offensive on every occasion, they attack all and sundry without shadow of provocation; and the natives avoid their haunts, which are usually well known.

The only other living species is the pygmy hippopotamus,H.(Choeropsis)liberiensis, of West Africa, an animal not larger than a clumsily made pig of full dimensions, and characterized by having generally one (in place of two) pair of incisors. It is much less aquatic than its giant relative, having, in fact, the habits of a pig.

A small extinct species (H. lemerlei) inhabited Madagascar at a comparatively recent date; while other dwarf kinds were natives of Crete (H. minutus) and Malta and Sicily (H. pentlandi) during the Pleistocene. A large form of the ordinary species (H. amphibius major) was distributed over Europe as far north as Yorkshire at the same epoch; while an allied species (H. palaeindicus) inhabited Pleistocene India. Contemporary with the latter was, however, a species (H. namadicus) with three pairs of incisors; and “hexaprotodont” hippopotamuses arealso characteristic of the Pliocene of India and Burma (H. sivalensisandH. iravadicus), and of Algeria, Egypt and southern Europe (H. hipponensis).

For the ancestral genera of the hippopotamus line, seeArtiodactyla.

(R. L.*)

HIPPURIC ACID(Gr.ἵππος, horse,οὖρον, urine), benzoyl glycocoll or benzoyl amidoacetic acid, C9H9NO3or C6H5CO·NH·CH2·CO2H, an organic acid found in the urine of horses and other herbivorae. It is excreted when many aromatic compounds, such as benzoic acid and toluene, are taken internally. J. v. Liebig in 1829 showed that it differed from benzoic acid, and in 1839 determined its constitution, while in 1853 V. Dessaignes (Ann.87, p. 325) synthesized it by acting with benzoyl chloride on zinc glycocollide. It is also formed by heating benzoic anhydride with glycocoll (Th. Curtius,Ber., 1884, 17, p. 1662), and by heating benzamide with monochloracetic acid. It crystallizes in rhombic prisms which are readily soluble in hot water, melt at 187° C. and decompose at about 240° C. It is readily hydrolysed by hot caustic alkalis to benzoic acid and glycocoll. Nitrous acid converts it into benzoyl glycollic acid, C6H5CO·O·CH2·CO2H. Its ethyl ester reacts with hydrazine to form hippuryl hydrazine, C6H5CO·NH·CH2·CO·NH·NH2, which was used by Curtius for the preparation of azoimide (q.v.).

HIPURNIAS,a tribe of South American Indians, 2000 or 3000 in number, living on the river Purus, western Brazil. Their houses are long, low and narrow: the side walls and roof are one, poles being fixed in the ground and then bent together so as to meet and form a pointed arch for the cross-sections. They use small bark canoes. Their chief weapons are poisoned arrows. They have a native god called Guintiniri.

HIRA,the capital of an Arabian kingdom, founded in the 2nd centuryA.D., on the western edge of Irak, was situated at 32° N., 44° 20′ E., about 4 m. S.E. of modern Nejef, by the Sa’ade canal, on the shore of the Bahr Nejef or Assyrium Stagnum. Its kings governed the western shore of the lower Euphrates and of the Persian Gulf, their kingdom extending inland to the confines of the Nejd. This Lakhmid kingdom was more or less dependent, during the four centuries of its existence, on the Sassanian empire, to which it formed a sort of buffer state towards Arabia. After the battle of Kadesiya and the founding of Kufa by the Arabs, Hira lost its importance and fell into decay. The ruin mounds covering the ancient site, while extensive, are insignificant in appearance and give no indications of the existence of important buildings.

HIRADO,an island belonging to Japan, 19½ m. long and 6 m. wide, lying off the west coast of the province of Hizen, Kiushiu, in 33° 15′ N. and 129° 25′ E. It is celebrated as the site of the original Dutch factory—often erroneously written Firando—and as the place where one of the finest blue-and-white porcelains of Japan (Hiradoyaki) was produced in the 17th and 18th centuries. The kilns are still active.

HIRE-PURCHASE AGREEMENT,in the law of contract, a form of bailment of goods, on credit, which has extended very considerably of late years. Originally applied to the sale of the more expensive kinds of goods, such as pianos and articles of furniture, the hire-purchase agreement has now been extended to almost every description. The agreement is usually in writing, with a stipulation that the payments to purchase shall be by weekly, monthly or other instalments. The agreement is virtually one to purchase, but in order that the vendor may be able to recover the goods at any time on non-payment of an instalment, it is treated as an agreement to let and hire, with a provision that when the last instalment has been paid the goods shall become the property of the hirer. A clause provides that in case of default of any instalment, or breach of any part of the agreement, all previous payments shall be forfeited to the lender, who can forcibly recover the goods. Such agreements, therefore, do not pass the property in the goods, which remains in the lender until all the instalments have been paid. But the terms of the agreement may sometimes purposely obscure the nature of the transaction between the parties, where, for example, the hire-purchase is merely to create a security for money. In such a case a judge will look to the true nature of the transaction. If it is not a real letting and hiring, the agreement will require registration under the Bills of Sale Acts. If the agreement contains words to the effect that a person has “bought or agreed to buy” goods, the transaction comes under the Factors Act 1889, and the person in possession of the goods may dispose of them and give a good title. The doctrine of reputed ownership, by which a bankrupt is deemed the reputed owner of goods in his apparent possession, has been somewhat modified by trade customs, in accordance with which property is frequently let out on the hire-purchase system (seeBankruptcy).

HIRING(from O. Eng.hýrian, a word common to many Teutonic languages cf. Ger.heuern, Dutchhuren, &c.), in law, a contract by which one man grants the use of a thing to another in return for a certain price. It corresponds to thelocatio-conductioof Roman law. That contract was either a letting of a thing (locatio-conductio rei) or of labour (locatio operarum). The distinguishing feature of the contract was the price. Thus the contracts ofmutuum,commodatum,depositumandmandatum, which are all gratuitous contracts, become, if a price is fixed, cases oflocatio-conductio. In modern English law the term can scarcely be said to be used in a strictly technical sense. The contracts which the Roman law grouped together under the head oflocatio-conductio—such as those of landlord and tenant, master and servant, &c.—are not in English law treated as cases of hiring but as independent varieties of contract. Neither in law books nor in ordinary discourse could a tenant farmer be said to hire his land. Hiring would generally be applied to contracts in which the services of a man or the use of a thing are engaged for a short time.

Hiring Fairs, orStatute Fairs, still held in Wales and some parts of England, were formerly an annual fixture in every important country town. These fairs served to bring together masters and servants. The men and maids seeking work stood in rows, the males together and the females together, while masters and mistresses walked down the lines and selected those who suited them. Originally these hiring-fairs were always held on Martinmas Day (11th of November). Now they are held on different dates in different towns, usually in October or November. In Cumberland the men seeking work stood with straws in their mouths. In Lincolnshire the bargain between employer and employed was closed by the giving of the “fasten-penny,” the earnest money, usually a shilling, which “fastened” the contract for a twelvemonth. Some few days after the Statute Fair it was customary to hold a second called a Mop Fair or Runaway Mop. “Mop” (from Lat.mappa, napkin, or small cloth) meant in Old English a tuft or tassel, and the fair was so called, it is suggested, in allusion to tufts or badges worn by those seeking employment. Thus the carter wore whipcord on his hat, the cowherd a tuft of cow’s hair, and so on. Another possible explanation would be to take the word “mop” in its old provincial slang sense of “a fool,” mop fair being the fools’ fair, a sort of last chance offered to those who were too dull or slovenly-looking to be hired at the statute fair. Perhaps “runaway” suggests the idea of those absent through drunkenness, or those who simply feared to face the ordeal of the larger hiring and so ran away.

HIROSAKI,a town of Japan in the province of Michmoku or Rikuchiu, north Nippon, 22 m. S.W. of Aomori by rail. Pop. about 37,000. The fine isolated cone of Iwakisan, a mountain of pilgrimage, rises to the west. Hirosaki is a very old place, formerly residence of a great daimio (or daimyo) and capital of a vast principality, and still the seat of a high court with jurisdiction over the surrounding districts of Aomori and Akita. Like most places in north Nippon, it is built with continuous verandas extending from house to house, and affording a promenade completely sheltered from the snows of winter. Apples of fine flavour grow in the district, which also enjoys some reputation for its peculiar green lacquer-ware.

HIROSHIGE(1797-1858), Japanese artist, was one of the principal members of that branch of theUkiyo-yeor Popular School of Painting in Japan, a school which chiefly madecolour-prints. His family name was Andō Tokitarō; that under which he is known having been, in accordance with Japanese practice, adopted by him in recognition of the fact that he was a pupil of Toyohiro. The earliest reference to him is in the account given by an inhabitant of the Lu-chu islands of a visit to Japan; where a sketch of a procession drawn with great skill by Hiroshige at the age of ten years only is mentioned as one of the remarkable sights seen. At the age of fifteen he applied unsuccessfully to be admitted to the studio of the elder Toyokuni; but was eventually received by Toyohiro. On the death of the latter in 1828, he began to practise on his own account, but finding small encouragement at Yedo (Tōkyō) he removed to Kiōto, where he published a set of landscapes. He soon returned to Yedo, where his work soon became popular, and was imitated by other artists. He died in that city on the 6th day of the 9th month of the year, Ansei 5th, at the age of sixty-two, and was buried at Asakusa. One of his pupils, Hironobu, received from him the name of Hiroshige II. and another, Ando Tokubei, that of Hiroshige III. All three were closely associated with the work signed with the name of the master. Hiroshige II. some time after the year 1863 fell into disgrace and was compelled to leave Yedo for Nagasaki, where he died; Hiroshige III. then called himself Hiroshige II. He died in 1896. The earlier prints by these artists, whose work can hardly be separated, are of extraordinary merit. They applied the process of colour block printing to the purposes of depicting landscape, with a breadth, skill and suitability of convention that has been equalled only by Hokusai in Japan, and by no European. Most of their subjects were derived from the neighbourhood of Yedo, or were scenes on the old high road—the Tokaidō—that ran from that city to Kiōto. The two elder of the name were competent painters, and pictures and drawings by them are occasionally to be met with.

See E. F. Strange, “Japanese Colour-prints” (Victoria and Albert Museum Handbook, 1904).

(E. F. S.)

HIROSHIMA,a city and seaport of Japan, capital of the government of its name in central Nippon. Pop. (1903) 113,545. It is very beautifully situated on a small plain surrounded by hills, the bay being studded with islands. In its general aspect it resembles Osaka, from which it is 190 m. W. by rail, and next to that place and Hiogo it is the most important commercial centre on the Inland Sea. The government has an area of about 3000 sq. m., with a population of about 1,500,000. Hiroshima is famous all over Japan owing to its association with the neighbouring islet of Itaku-Shima, “Island of Light,” which is dedicated to the goddess Bentin and regarded as one of the three wonders of Japan. The chief temple dates from the year 587, and the island, which is inhabited largely by priests and their attendants, is annually visited by thousands of pilgrims. But the hallowed soil is never tilled, so that all provisions have to be brought from the surrounding districts.

HIRPINI(from an Oscan or Sabine stemhirpo-, “wolf”), an inland Samnite tribe in the south of Italy, whose territory was bounded by that of the Lucani on the S., the Campani on the S.W., the Appuli (Apuli) and Frentani on the E. and N.E. On the N. we find them, politically speaking, identified with the Pentri and Caracēni, and with them constituting the Samnite alliance in the wars of the 4th centuryB.C.(seeSamnites). The Roman policy of separation cut them off from these allies by the foundation of Beneventum in 268B.C., and henceforward they are a separate unit; they joined Hannibal in 216B.C., and retained their independence until, after joining in the Social war, which in their part of Italy can hardly be said to have ceased till the final defeat of the Samnites by Sulla in 83B.C., they received the Roman franchise. Of their Oscan speech, besides the evidence of their place-names, only a few fragments survive (R. S. Conway,The Italic Dialects, pp. 170 ff.; and forhirpo-,ib.p. 200). In the ethnology of Italy the Hirpini appear from one point of view as the purest type of Safine stock, namely, that in which the proportion of ethnica formed with the suffix-no-is highest, thirty-three out of thirty-six tribal or municipal epithets being formed thereby (e.g.Caudini,Compsani) and only one with the suffix -ti- (Abellinates), where it is clearly secondary. On the significance of this seeSabini.

(R. S. C.)

HIRSAU(formerlyHirschau), a village of Germany, in the kingdom of Württemberg, on the Nagold and the Pforzheim-Horb railway, 2 m. N. of Calw. Pop. 800. Hirsau has some small manufactures, but it owes its origin and historical interest to its former Benedictine monastery,Monasterium Hirsaugiense, at one period one of the most famous in Europe. Its picturesque ruins, of which only the chapel with the library hall are still in good preservation, testify to the pristine grandeur of the establishment. It was founded about 830 by Count Erlafried of Calw, at the instigation of his son, Bishop Notting of Vercelli, who enriched it with, among other treasures, the body of St Aurelius. Its first occupants (838) were a colony of fifteen monks from Fulda, disciples of Hrabanus Maurus and Walafrid Strabo, headed by the abbot Liudebert. During about a century and a half, under the fostering care of the counts of Calw, it enjoyed great prosperity, and became an important seat of learning; but towards the end of the 10th century the ravages of the pestilence combined with the rapacity of its patrons, and the selfishness and immorality of its inmates, to bring it to the lowest ebb. After it had been desolate and in ruins for upwards of sixty years it was rebuilt in 1059, and under Abbot William—Wilhelm von Hirsau—abbot from 1069 to 1091, it more than regained its former splendour. By hisConstitutiones Hirsaugienses, a new religious order, the Ordo Hirsaugiensis, was formed, the rule of which was afterwards adopted by many monastic establishments throughout Germany, such as those of Blaubeuren, Erfurt and Schaffhausen. The friend and correspondent of Pope Gregory VII., and of Anselm of Canterbury, Abbot William took active part in the politico-ecclesiastical controversies of his time; while a treatise from his pen,De musica et tonis, as well as thePhilosophicarum et astronomicarum institutionum libri iii., bears witness to his interest in science and philosophy. About the end of the 12th century the material and moral welfare of Hirsau was again very perceptibly on the decline; and it never afterwards again rose into importance. In consequence of the Reformation it was secularized in 1558; in 1692 it was laid in ruins by the French. TheChronicon Hirsaugiense, or, as in the later edition it is called,Annales Hirsaugiensesof Abbot Trithemius (Basel, 1559; St Gall, 1690), is, although containing much that is merely legendary, an important source of information, not only on the affairs of this monastery, but also on the early history of Germany. TheCodex Hirsaugiensiswas edited by A. F. Gfrörer and printed at Stuttgart in 1843.

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