Her´mia, daughter of Ege´us (3 syl.) of Athens, and promised by him in marriage to Demētrius. As Hermia loved Lysander, and refused to marry Demetrius, her father summoned her before the duke, and requested that the “law of the land” might be carried out, which was death or perpetual virginity. The duke gave Hermia four days to consider the subject, at the expiration of which time she was either to obey her father or lose her life. She now fled from Athens with Lysander. Demetrius went in pursuit of her, and Helĕna, who doted on Demetrius, followed. All four came to a wood, and falling asleep from weariness, had a dream about the fairies. When Demetrius woke up, he came to his senses, and seeing that Hermia loved another, consented to marry Helena; and Egēus gladly gave the hand of his daughter to Lysander.—Shakespeare, Midsummer Night’s Dream (1592).
Herm´ion, the young wife of Damon “the Pythagore´an” and senator of Syracuse.—J. Banium, Damon and Pythias (1825).
Hermionê (4 syl.) or Harmo´nia, wife of Cadmus. Leaving Thebes, Cadmus and his wife went to Illyr´ia, and were both changed into serpents for having killed a serpent sacred to Mars.—Ovid, Metamorphoses, iv. 590, etc.
Never since of serpent-kind
Lovelier, not those that in Illyria changed—
Hermionê and Cadmus.
Milton, Paradise Lost, ix. 505, etc. (1665).
Hermionê, (4 syl.), wife of Leontês, king of Sicily. The king, being jealous, sent her to prison, where she gave birth to a daughter, who, at the king’s command, was to be placed on a desert shore and left to perish. The child was driven by a storm to the “coast” of Bohemia, and brought up by a shepherd who called her Per´dĭta. Florĭzel, the son of Polixenês, king of Bohemia, fell in love with her, and they fled to Sicily to escape the vengeance of the angry king. Being introduced to Leontês, it was soon discovered that Perdita was his lost daughter, and Polixenês gladly consented to the union he had before objected to. Pauli´na (a lady about the court) now asked the royal party to her house to inspect a statue of Hermionê, which turned out to be the living queen herself.—Shakespeare, The Winter’s Tale (1594).
Hermionê, (4 syl.), only daughter of Helen and Menelā´os (4 syl.) king of Sparta. She was betrothed to Orestês, but after the fall of Troy was promised by her father in marriage to Pyrrhus, king of Epirus. Orestes madly loved her, but Hermione as madly loved Pyrrhus. When Pyrrhus fixed his affections on Androm´achê (widow of Hector, and his captive), the pride and jealousy of Hermione were roused. At this crisis, an embassy led by Orestês arrived at the court of Pyrrhus, to demand the death of Asty´anax, the son of Andromachê and Hector, lest when he grew to manhood he might seek to avenge his father’s death. Pyrrhus declined to give up the boy, and married Andromachê. The passion of Hermionê was now goaded to madness; and when she heard that the Greek ambassadors had fallen on Pyrrhus and murdered him, she stabbed herself and died.—Ambrose Philips, The Distressed Mother (1712).
This was a famous part with Mrs. Porter (*-1762), and with Miss Young, better known as Mrs. Pope (1740-1797).