MADNESS, or Hogweed; a genus of plants belonging to the pentandria clas; and in the natural method ranking under the 4th order, Umbellatae. See Botany Index.

HERACLIDÆ, the descendants of Hercules, greatly celebrated in ancient history. Hercules at his death left to his son Hyllus all the rights and demands which he had upon the Peloponnesus, and permitted him to marry Iole as soon as he came of age. The posterity of Hercules were not more kindly treated by Eurystheus than their father had been, and they were obliged to retire for protection to the court of Ceyx, king of Trachinia. Eurystheus pursued them thither; and Ceyx, afraid of his resentment, begged the Heraclidae to depart from his dominions. From Trachinia they came to Athens, where Theseus, the king of the country, who had accompanied their father in some of his expeditions, received them with great humanity, and assisted them against their common enemy Eurystheus. Eurystheus was killed by the hand of Hyllus himself, and his children perished with him, and all the cities of the Peloponnesus became the undivided property of the Heraclidae. Their triumph, however, was short; their numbers were lessened by a pestilence; and the oracle informed them, that they had taken possession of the Peloponnesus before the gods permitted their return. Upon this they abandoned Peloponnesus, and came to settle in the territories of the Athenians, where Hyllus, obedient to his father's commands, married Iole the daughter of Eurystheus. Soon after he consulted the oracle, anxious to recover the Peloponnesus; and the ambiguity of the answer determined him to make a second attempt. He challenged to single combat Atreus, the successor of Eurystheus on the throne of Mycenæ; and it was mutually agreed that the undisturbed possession of the Peloponnesus should be ceded to whoever defeated his adversary. Echemus accepted the challenge for Atreus, and Hyllus was killed, and the Heraclidae a second time departed from Peloponnesus. Cleodaeus the son of Hyllus made a third attempt, and was equally unsuccessful; and his son Aristomachus some time after met with the same unfavourable reception, and perished in the field of battle. Aristodemus, Temenus, and Chrephontes, the three sons of Aristomachus, encouraged by the more expressive word of an oracle, and desirous to revenge the death of their progenitors, assembled a numerous force, and with a fleet invaded all Peloponnesus. Their expedition was attended with much success; and after some decisive battles, they became masters of all the peninsula. The recovery of the Peloponnesus by the descendants of Her- HERACLIDAE forms an interesting epoch in ancient history, which is universally believed to have happened 83 years after the Trojan war, or 1190 years before the Christian era. This conquest was totally achieved about 120 years after the first attempt of Hyllus, who was killed about 25 years before the Trojan war. As it occasioned a world of changes and revolutions in the affairs of Greece, insomuch that scarce a state or people but were turned upside down thereby, the return of the Heracleidae is the epocha of the beginning of profane history: all the time that preceded it is reputed fabulous. Accordingly, Ephorus, Cumanus, Callisthenes, and Theopompus, only begin their histories from hence.