Hermodōrus
(
Ἑρμόδωρος). A philosopher of Ephesus, who is said to
have assisted, as interpreter, the Roman decemvirs in the composition of the first ten tables
of laws which had been collected in Greece (B.C. 451) (
Cic.
Tusc. v. 36). “An ancient tradition mentions,”
says Niebuhr, “as an auxiliary to the Decemviri, in this code, Hermodorus, an
Ephesian, the friend of the sage Heraclitus, whom his fellow-citizens had banished because he
filled them with shame, and they desired to be all on an equality in profligacy of conduct. It
cannot, indeed, be well explained how this story could have been invented, for which nothing
but a celebrated name could have given occasion, while that of Hermodorus appears to have been
known to the Greeks themselves only by the saying of his friend. On this ground, the naming of
the statue, which was inscribed as his at Rome, may pass for genuine.” See
Twelve Tables.