Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Rollock, Hercules
ROLLOCK, HERCULES (fl. 1577–1619), writer of Latin verse, was an elder brother of Robert Rollock [q. v.] He graduated at St. Andrews, was regent at King's College, Aberdeen, and then spent several years abroad, chiefly in France, where he studied at Poitiers. He enjoyed the friendship of Scaliger. Returning to Scotland, he owed to the recommendation of Thomas Buchanan his appointment (1580) as commissary of St. Andrews and the Carse of Gowrie. In 1584 he became master of the high school of Edinburgh. From this post he was removed in 1595, and subsequently held some office in connection with the courts of justice. His earliest dated epigram refers to the comet of 1577. In an undated ‘Apologia,’ written at the end of his tenth lustrum, he speaks of his wife and numerous family. He died before 5 March 1619; on 20 Feb. 1600 the Edinburgh magistrates gave an allowance to his ‘relict and bairns.’ His verses are to be found in Arthur Johnston's ‘Delitiæ Poetarum Scotorum’ (1637, 12mo, ii. 323–87).
[Rollock's Poems; Steven's Hist. of the High School of Edinburgh, 1849; McCrie's Life of Melville, 1856, pp. 381 sq., 395, 431.]