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Hierocles (2)

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a Neo-Platonist of the 5th century at Alexandria. He is said to be the author of a Commentary upon the Golden Verses of Pythagoras, which is still extant; and also a Discourse on Foreknowledge and Fate, of which Photius has preserved large extracts. Stobeeus has also preserved the fragments of several other works which are ascribed to Hierocles. The Greek text of the Commentary on the Golden Verses of Pythagoras was first published by Curterius (Paris, 1583; reprinted at London, 1654; also 1742; and Padua, 1744). The fragments of the Discourse on Foreknowledge and Fate, in which Hierocles attempts to reconcile the free-will of man with the foreknowledge of God, have been edited by Morell (Paris, 1593, 1597), and by Pearson (London, 1655, 1673); the latter edition contains the fragments of the other works of Hierocles. A complete edition of his works was published by Needham (Cambridge, 1709). Both Pearson and Needham confound this Hierocles with Hierocles, the prefect of Bithynia. The Discourse on Foreknowledge and Fate was translated into French by Regnaud (Lyons, 1560). Grotius translated part of this work into Latin in his Sententiae Philosophorum de Fato (Paris, 1624; Amst. i648; reprinted in the third volume of his theological works, 1679). The Commentary on the Golden Verses has been translated into English by Hall, London, 1657: Norris, London, 1682; Rayner, Norw. 1797; and into French (with life) by Dacier, Paris, 1706. See English Cyclopedia, s.v.; Smith, Dictionary of Biography and Mythology, 2, 453; Augusti, Dogmengeschichte, 1 and 2; Lardner, Works, 8, 127.