Hiero'nymus(Ἱερώνυμος), of Cardia, an historian who is frequently cited as one of the chief authorities for the
history of the times immediately following the death of [Alexander](alexander-the-great-bio-1). He had himself taken an active part in
the events of that period. Whether he had accompanied his fellow-citizen Eumenes during the
campaigns of [Alexander](alexander-the-great-bio-1) we have no distinct
testimony, but after the death of that prince, we find him not only attached to the service of
his countryman, but already enjoying a high place in his confidence. It seems probable also
from the terms in which he is alluded to as describing the magnificent bier or funeral car of
[Alexander](alexander-the-great-bio-1), that his admiration was that of an
eye-witness, and that he was present at Babylon at the time of its construction. (Athen. 5.206; comp. Diod. 18.26.) The
first express mention of him occurs in B. C. 320, when he was sent
by Eumenes, at that time shut up in the castle of Nora, at the head of the deputation which he
despatched to Antipater. But before he could return to Eumenes, the death of the regent
produced a complete change in the relative position of parties, and Antigonus, now desirous to
conciliate Eumenes, charged Hieronymus to be the bearer of friendly offers and protestations
to his friend and countryman. (Diod. 18.42, 50 ; Plut. Eum. 12.) But though Hieronymus was so far
gained over by Antigonus as to undertake this embassy, yet in the struggle that ensued he
adhered steadily to the cause of Eumenes, and accompanied that leader until his
final captivity. In the last battle in Gabiene (B. C. 316)
Hieronymus himself was wounded, and fell a prisoner into the hands of Antigonus, who treated
him with the utmost kindness, and to whose service he henceforth attached himself. (Diod. 19.44.) In B. C. 312, we find him
entrusted by that monarch with the charge of collecting bitumen from the Dead Sea, a project
which was frustrated by the hostility of the neighbouring Arabs. (Id. 19.100.) The statement
of Josephus (c. Apion. 1.23) that he was at one time appointed by
Antigonus to the government of Syria, is in all probability erroneous. After the death of
Antigonus, Hieronymus continued to follow the fortunes of his son Demetrius, and he is again
mentioned in B. C. 292 as being appointed by the latter governor or
harmost of Boeotia, after his first conquest of Thebes. (Plut.
Demetr. 39.) Whether he was reinstated in this office when Thebes, after shaking off
the yoke for a while, fell again under the power of Demetrius, we are not told, nor have we
any information concerning the remaining events of his long life; but it may be inferred, from
the hostility towards Lysimachus and Pyrrhus evinced by his writings at a period long
subsequent, that he continued unshaken in his attachment to Demetrius and to his son,
Antigonus Gonatas, after him. It appears that he survived Pyrrhns, whose death, in B. C. 272, was mentioned in his history (Paus.
1.13.9), and died at the advanced age of 104, having had the unusual advantage of
retaining his strength and faculties unimpaired to the last. (Lucian. Macrob. 22.)
Works
History of the Epigoni
The historical work of Hieronymus is cited under various titles (ὁ τὰς τῶν διαδόχων ἱστορίας γεγραφώς, Diod.
18.42; ἐν τῇ περὶ τῶν ἐπιγόνων
πραγματείᾳ, Dionys. A. R. 1.6), and these
have sometimes been regarded as constituting separate works; but it seems probable, on the
whole, that he wrote but one general work, comprising the history from the death of [Alexander](alexander-the-great-bio-1) to that of Pyrrhus, if not later.
Whether he gave any detailed account of the wars of [Alexander](alexander-the-great-bio-1) himself is at least doubtful, for the few facts cited from him previous to
the death of that monarch are such as might easily have been incidentally mentioned ; and
the passage in Suidas (s. v. Ἱερώνυμος), which is quoted by Fabricius to prove that he wrote a
history of that prince, is manifestly corrupt, Probably we should read τὰ ἐπʼ Ἀλεξάνδρῳ, instead of τὰ
ὑπʼ Ἀλεξάνδρου, as proposed by Fabricius. Nor is there any reason to infer
(as has been done by the Abbé Sévin, Mém.. de l'Acad.
des Inscr. vol. xiii. p. 32), that his history of Pyrrhus formed a distinct work,
though he is repeatedly cited by Plutarch as an authority in his life of that prince. (Plut. Pyrrh. 17, 21.) It was in
this part of his work, also, that he naturally found occasion to touch upon the affairs of
Rome, and he is consequently mentioned by Dionysius as one of the first Greek writers who
had given any account of the history of that city (Dionys. A. R.
1.6). But that Dionysius himself did not follow his authority in regard to the
expedition of Pyrrhus to Italy is clear from the passages of Plutarch already cited, in
which the statements of the two are contrasted. Hieronymus is enumerated by Dionysius (de comp. 4) among the writers whose defective style rendered it almost
impossible to read them through. He is also severely censured by Pausanias for his
partiality to Antigonus and Demetrius, and the injustice he displayed in consequence in
regard to Pyrrhus and Lysimachus. Towards the latter monarch, indeed, he had an additional
cause of enmity, on account of Lysimachus having destroyed his native city of Cardia to make
way for the foundation of Lysimacheia. (Paus. 1.9.8, 13.9.) There can be little doubt that the history of [Alexander's](alexander-the-great-bio-1) immediate successors (the διάδοχοι and ἐπίγονοι),
which has descended to us, is derived in great part from Hieronymus, but it is impossible to
determine to what extent his authority was followed by Diodorus and Plutarch.
Further Information
On the importance of Hieronymus, see Heyne, De Font. Diodori, p. cxiv.
in Dindorf's edition of Diodorus; and concerning Hieronymus in general, Vossius, de Historicis Graecis, p. 99, ed. Westermann; Sévin, Recherches sur la Vie et les Ouvrages de Jerome de Cardie, in the
Mém.
de l'Acad. d'Inscr. vol. xiii. p. 20, &c. ; and Droysen,
Hellenism. vol. i. pp. 670, 683.
[E.H.B](author.E.H.B)]