something belonging to a hero, or heroine. Thus we say, heroic actions, heroic virtue, heroic style, heroic verse, heroic poet, heroic age, &c.

HEROIC Age, is that age or period of the world wherein the heroes, or those called by the poets the children of the gods, are supposed to have lived.—The heroic age coincides with the fabulous age.

HEROIC Poem, is that which undertakes to describe some extraordinary action or enterprise. Homer, Virgil, Statius, Lucan, Tasso, Camoens, Milton, and Voltaire, have composed heroic poems. In this sense, heroic poem coincides with epic-poem.

HEROIC Verse, is that wherein heroic poems are usually composed; or, it is that proper for such poems. In the Greek and Latin, hexameter verses are peculiarly denominated heroic verses, as being alone used by Homer, Virgil, &c. Alexandrine verses, of 12 syllables, were formerly called heroic verses, as being supposed the only verse proper for heroic poetry; but later writers use verses of ten syllables.