Harpăly̆cus, one of the companions of Æneas, killed by Camilla. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 11, li. 675.——The father of Harpalyce, king of part of Thrace.
Harpăsa, a town of Caria.
Harpăsus, a river of Caria. Livy, bk. 38, ch. 13.
Harpŏcrătes, a divinity, supposed to be the same as Orus the son of Isis among the Egyptians. He is represented as holding one of his fingers on his mouth, and from thence he is called the god of silence, and intimates that the mysteries of religion and philosophy ought never to be revealed to the people. The Romans placed his statues at the entrance of their temples. Catullus, poem 75.—Varro, de Lingua Latina, bk. 4, ch. 10.
Harpocration, a Platonic philosopher of Argos, from whom Stobæus compiled his eclogues.——A sophist, called also Ælius.——Valerius, a rhetorician of Alexandria, author of a Lexicon on 10 orators.——Another, surnamed Caius.
Harpylæ, winged monsters, who had the face of a woman, with the body of a vulture, and had their feet and fingers armed with sharp claws. They were three in number, Aello, Ocypete, and Celeno, daughters of Neptune and Terra. They were sent by Juno to plunder the tables of Phineus, whence they were driven to the islands called Strophades by Zethes and Calais. They emitted an infectious smell, and spoiled whatever they touched by their filth and excrements. They plundered Æneas during his voyage towards Italy, and predicted many of the calamities which attended him. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 3, li. 212; bk. 6, li. 289.—Hesiod, Theogony, li. 265.
Harudes, a people of Germany. Cæsar, Gallic War, bk. 1, ch. 31.
Haruspex, a soothsayer at Rome, who drew omens by consulting the entrails of beasts that were sacrificed. He received the name of Aruspex, ab aris aspiciendis, and that of Extispex, ab extis inspiciendis. The order of Aruspices was first established at Rome by Romulus, and the first Haruspices were Tuscans by origin, as they were particularly famous in that branch of divination. They had received all their knowledge from a boy named Tages, who, as was commonly reported, sprung from a clod of earth. See: [Tages]. They were originally three, but the Roman senate yearly sent six noble youths, or, according to others, 12, to Etruria, to be instructed in all the mysteries of the art. The office of the Haruspices consisted in observing these four particulars: the beast before it was sacrificed; its entrails; the flames which consumed the sacrifice; and the flour, frankincense, &c., which was used. If the beast was led up to the altar with difficulty, if it escaped from the conductor’s hands, roared when it received the blow, or died in agonies, the omen was unfortunate. But, on the contrary, if it followed without compulsion, received the blow without resistance, and died without groaning, and after much effusion of blood, the Haruspex foretold prosperity. When the body of the victim was opened, each part was scrupulously examined. If anything was wanting, if it had a double liver, or a lean heart, the omen was unfortunate. If the entrails fell from the hands of the Haruspex, or seemed besmeared with too much blood, or if no heart appeared, as for instance it happened in the two victims which Julius Cæsar offered a little before his death, the omen was equally unlucky. When the flame was quickly kindled, and when it violently consumed the sacrifice, and arose pure and bright, and like a pyramid, without any paleness, smoke, sparkling, or crackling, the omen was favourable. But the contrary augury was drawn when the fire was kindled with difficulty, and was extinguished before the sacrifice was totally consumed, or when it rolled in circles round the victim with intermediate spaces between the flames. In regard to the frankincense, meal, water, and wine, if there was any deficiency in the quantity, if the colour was different, or the quality was changed, or if anything was done with irregularity, it was deemed inauspicious. This custom of consulting the entrails of victims did not originate in Tuscany, but it was in use among the Chaldeans, Greeks, Egyptians, &c., and the more enlightened part of mankind well knew how to render it subservient to their wishes or tyranny. Agesilaus, when in Egypt, raised the drooping spirits of his soldiers by a superstitious artifice. He secretly wrote in his hand the word νεκη, victory, in large characters, and holding the entrails of a victim in his hand till the impression was communicated to the flesh, he showed it to the soldiers, and animated them by observing that the gods signified their approaching victories even by marking it in the body of the sacrificed animals. Cicero, de Divinatione.
Hasdrubal. See: [Asdrubal].
Quintus Haterius, a patrician and orator at Rome under the first emperors. He died in the 90th year of his age. Tacitus, Annals, bk. 4, ch. 61.——Agrippa, a senator in the age of Tiberius, hated by the tyrant for his independence. Tacitus, Annals, bk. 6, ch. 4.——Antoninus, a dissipated senator, whose extravagance was supported by Nero. Tacitus, Annals, bk. 13, ch. 34.