orator unnamed attacking the philosopher Epicurus for denying the doctrine of divine providence before a court in Athens. Himerius is more of a poet than a rhetorician, and his declamations are valuable as giving prose versions or even the actual words of lost poems by Greek lyric writers. The prose poem on the marriage of his pupil Severus and his greeting to Basil at the beginning of spring are quite in the spirit of the old lyric. Himerius possesses vigour of language and descriptive powers, though his productions are spoilt by too frequent use of imagery, allegorical and metaphorical obscurities, mannerism and ostentatious learning. But they are valuable for the history and social conditions of the time, although lacking the sincerity characteristic of Libanius. Notes References Eunapius, Vitae sophistarum. Suda, s.v.. Editions G Wernsdorf (1790), Online at Google books with valuable introduction and commentaries. Philostratorum et Callistrati opera, Eunapii vitae sophistarum, Himerii sophistae declamationes, A. Westermann, Jo. Fr. Boissoade, Fr. Dübner (ed.), Parisiis, editore Ambrosio Firmin Didot, 1849, pp. 1-106. Colonna, A. Himerii Declamationes et orationes cum deperditarum fragmentis. Rome, 1951. The standard critical edition. Studies and translations C Teuber, Quaestiones Himerianae (Breslau, 1882); E Norden, Die antike Kunstprosa (1898) discusses the style. Robert J. Penella, Man and the word: the orations of Himerius, 2007. The English translation. Google books preview 315 births 386 deaths People from Bursa People from Bithynia 4th-century philosophers Roman-era Sophists Roman-era philosophers in Athens Late-Roman-era pagans 4th-century writers Ancient Greek writers Roman-era Greeks Roman-era students in Athens 4th-century Byzantine people