Hippocorystes, a son of Ægyptus,——of Hippocoon. Apollodorus.
Hippocrăte, a daughter of Thespius. Apollodorus.
Hippŏcrătes, a celebrated physician of Cos, one of the Cyclades. He studied physic, in which his grandfather Nebrus was so eminently distinguished; and he improved himself by reading the tablets in the temples of the gods, where each individual had written down the diseases under which he had laboured, and the means by which he had recovered. He delivered Athens from a dreadful pestilence in the beginning of the Peloponnesian war, and he was publicly rewarded with a golden crown, the privileges of a citizen of Athens, and the initiation at the grand festivals. Skilful and diligent in his profession, he openly declared the measures which he had taken to cure a disease, and candidly confesses, that of 42 patients which were entrusted to his care, only 17 had recovered, and the rest had fallen a prey to the distemper in spite of his medical applications. He devoted all his time for the service of his country; and when Artaxerxes invited him, even by force of arms, to come to his court, Hippocrates firmly and modestly answered, that he was born to serve his countrymen, and not a foreigner. He enjoyed the rewards which his well-directed labours claimed, and while he lived in the greatest popularity, he was carefully employed in observing the symptoms and the growth of every disorder, and from his judicious remarks, succeeding physicians have received the most valuable advantages. The experiments which he had tried upon the human frame increased his knowledge, and from his consummate observations, he knew how to moderate his own life as well as to prescribe to others. He died in the 99th year of his age, B.C. 361, free from all disorders of the mind and body; and after death he received, with the name of Great, the same honours which were paid to Hercules. His writings, few of which remain, have procured him the epithet of divine, and show that he was the Homer of his profession. According to Galen, his opinion is as respectable as the voice of an oracle. He wrote in the Ionic dialect, at the advice of Democritus, though he was a Dorian. His memory is still venerated at Cos, and the present inhabitants of the island show a small house, which Hippocrates, as they mention, once inhabited. The best editions of his works are that of Fæsius, Geneva, folio, 1657; of Linden, 2 vols., 8vo, Amsterdam, 1665; and that of Mackius, 2 vols., folio, Viennæ, 1743. His treatises, especially the Aphorisms, have been published separately. Pliny, bk. 7, ch. 37.—Cicero, On Oratory, bk. 3.——An Athenian general in the Peloponnesian war. Plutarch.——A mathematician.——An officer of Chalcedon, killed by Alcibiades. Plutarch, Alcibiades.——A Syracusan defeated by Marcellus.——The father of Pisistratus.——A tyrant of Gela.
Hippocratia, a festival in honour of Neptune, in Arcadia.
Hippocrēne, a fountain of Bœotia, near mount Helicon, sacred to the muses. It first rose from the ground, when struck by the feet of the horse Pegasus, whence the name ἱππου κρηνη, the horse’s fountain. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 5, li. 256.
Hippŏdămas, a son of the Achelous,——of Priam. Apollodorus.
Hippŏdăme and Hippodamīa, a daughter of Œnomaus king of Pisa, in Elis, who married Pelops son of Tantalus. Her father, who was either enamoured of her himself, or afraid lest he should perish by one of his daughter’s children, according to an oracle, refused to marry her, except to him who could overcome him in a chariot-race. As the beauty of Hippodamia was greatly celebrated, many courted her, and accepted her father’s conditions, though death attended a defeat. Thirteen had already been conquered, and forfeited their lives, when Pelops came from Lydia and entered the lists. Pelops previously bribed Myrtilus the charioteer of Œnomaus, and ensured himself the victory. In the race, Œnomaus mounted on a broken chariot, which the corrupted Myrtilus had purposely provided for him, was easily overcome, and was killed in the course; and Pelops married Hippodamia, and avenged the death of Œnomaus, by throwing into the sea the perfidious Myrtilus, who claimed for the reward of his treachery the favour which Hippodamia could grant only to her husband. Hippodamia became mother of Atreus and Thyestes, and it is said that she died of grief for the death of her father, which her guilty correspondence with Pelops and Myrtilus had occasioned. Virgil, Georgics, bk. 3, li. 7.—Hyginus, fables 84 & 253.—Pausanias, bk. 5, ch. 14, &c.—Diodorus, bk. 4.—Ovid, Heroides, poems 8 & 17.——A daughter of Adrastus king of Argos, who married Pirithous king of the Lapithæ. The festivity which prevailed on the day of her marriage was interrupted by the attempts of Eurytus to offer her violence. See: [Pirithous]. She is called Ischomache by some, and Deidamia by others. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 12.—Plutarch, Theseus.——A daughter of Danaus. Apollodorus.——A mistress of Achilles, daughter of Brises.——A daughter of Anchises, who married Alcathous. Homer, Iliad, bk. 13, li. 429.
Hippŏdămus, a man of Miletus, who settled a republic without any previous knowledge of government. Aristotle, bk. 2, Politics.——A Pythagorean philosopher.——An Athenian who gave his house to his country, when he knew such a concession would improve the port of the Piræus.——An Athenian archon.——A man famous for his voracious appetite.
Hippŏdĭce, one of the Danaides. Apollodorus.
Hippodrŏmus, a son of Hercules. Apollodorus.——A Thessalian, who succeeded in a school at Athens, in the age of Marcus Antony. Philostratus.——A place where horse-races were exhibited. Martial, bk. 12, ltr. 50.