BEL gica. The Belga were of German extraction, and, | down a bag fastened to a rope, and to have addressed BELGIUM, a canton of Gallia Belgica, from which it is distinguished by Cæsar (B. G., 5, 24), as a part from the whole, and to which he assigns the Bellovaci, As the Ambito whom Hirtius adds the Atrebates. ani were situated between the other two, they must These three tribes were the genualso be included. ine Belge. (Cæs., B. G., 5, 24.-Hirt., 8, 46.) BELIDES, a surname given to the daughters of Belus. (Ovid, Met., 4, 463.) BELIDES, a name applied to Palamedes, as descended from Belus. (Virg., En., 2, 82.) BELISANA, a Gallic deity, analogous to the Minerva of the Romans. (Compare Mone, Geschichte der Heidenthums im Nordlichen Europa, vol. 2, p. 419, in notis.) BELLEROPHON (Greek form BELLEROPHONTES), son of Glaucus and grandson of Sisyphus. His adventures form a pleasing episode in the Iliad (6, 144, seqq.), where they are related to Diomede by Glaucus the grandson of Bellerophon. The gods had endowed this hero with manly vigour and beauty. Antea, the wife of Protus, king of Argos, fixed her love upon him, and sought a corresponding return. But the virtuous youth rejecting all her advances, hate occupied the place of love in the bosom of the disappointed queen. She accused him to Protus of an attempt on her honour. The credulous king gave ear to her falsehood, but would not incur the reproach of putting to death a guest. He therefore sent Bellerocountry, giving him "deadly characters," written in a sealed package, which he was to present to the king of Lycia, and which were to cause his death. Beneath the potent guidance of the gods, Bellerophon came to Lycia and the flowing Xanthus. Nine days the king entertained him, and slew nine oxen; and on the tenth he asked to see the token (σñμa) which he had received from his son-in-law. When he had seen this, he resolved to comply with the desire of Prœtus; and he first sent his guest to slay the Chimæra, a monster, with the upper part a lion, the lower a serpent, the middle a goat (xíuaipa), and which breathed forth flaming fire. Depending on the aid of the gods, Bellerophon slew this monster, and then was ordered to go and fight the Solymi, and this, he said, was the severest combat he ever fought. He lastly slew the "manlike Amazons," and, as he was returning, the king laid an ambush for him, composed of the bravest men of Lycia, of whom not one returned home, for Bellerophon slew them all. The king, now perceiving him to be of the race of the gods, kept him in Lycia, giving him his daughter and half the royal dignity, and the people bestowed upon him an ample temenus (réμevoç) of arable and plantation land. Falling at length under the displeasure of all the gods, he wandered alone in "the Plain of Wandering" (ɛdiov dλýtov), “consuming his soul, shunning the path of men."-Later authorities tells us, that Bellerophon was at first named Hipponoös; but, having accidentally killed one of his relatives, some say a brother, named Bellerus, he thence derived his second name, which Slayer of Bellerus." He was purified of the meant bloodshed by Protus, whose wife is also called Sthenobæa, and the king of Lycia is named lobates. By the aid of the winged steed Pegasus, Bellerophon Sthenobæa, hearing of his success, hung gained the victory over all whom Iobates sent him to encounter. herself. Bellerophon at last attempted, by means of Pegasus, to ascend to heaven; but Jupiter, incensed at his boldness, sent an insect to sting the steed, which flung its rider to earth, where he wandered in solitude and melancholy until his death. (Apollod., 2, 3, 1, seqq.-Pind., Isthm., 7, 63, seqq.-Hygin., fab., 57.-Id., Poet. Astron., 2, 18.-Schol. ad Il., 6, 155.-Tzetz. ad Lycophr., 17.)-Though Homer makes no mention of Pegasus, this steed forms an is said of the Chimæra, that essential part of the legend of Bellerophon. In the Theogony (v. 325) she was killed by Pegasus and the "good” (¿σ0λós), BELISARIUS, one of the greatest generals of his time, to whom the Emperor Justinian chiefly owed the splendour of his reign. Sprung from an obscure family in Thrace, Belisarius first served in the body-phon to Lycia, to his father-in-law, the king of that guard of the emperor, but soon obtained the chief command of an army of 25,000 men, stationed on the Persian frontiers, and, A.D. 530, gained a complete victory over a Persian army not less than 40,000 strong. The next year, however, he lost a battle against the same enemy, wno had forced their way into Syria; the only battle which he lost during his whole career. He was recalled from the army, and In soon became, at home, the support of his master. the year 532, civil commotions, proceeding from two rival parties, who called themselves the green and the blue, and who caused great disorders in Constantinople, brought the life and reign of Justinian in the utmost peril, and Hypatius was already chosen emperor, when Belisarius, with a small body of faithful adherents, restored order. Justinian, with a view of conquering the dominions of Gelimer, king of the Vandals, sent Belisarius, with an army of 15,000 men, to Africa. After two victories, he secured the person and the treasures of the Vandal king. Gelimer was led in triumph through the streets of Constantinople, and Justinian ordered a medal to be struck, with the inscription Belisarius Gloria Romanorum, which has descended to our times. By the dissensions existing in the royal family of the Ostrogoths in Italy, Justinian was induced to attempt the reduction of Italy and Rome under his sceptre. Belisarius vanquished Vitiges, king of the Goths, made him prisoner at Ravenna (A.D. 540), and conducted him, together with many other Goths, to Constantinople. The war in Italy against the Goths continued; but Belisarius, not being sufficiently supplied with money and troops by the emperor, demanded his recall (A.D. 548). He afterward commanded in the war against the Bulgarians, whom he conquered in the year 559. Upon his return to Constantinople, he was accused of having taken part in a conspiracy. But Justinian was convinced of his innocence, and is said to have restored to him his property and dignities, of which he had been His history deprived. Belisarius died A.D. 565. has been much coloured by the poets, and particularly by Marmontel, in his otherwise admirable politico-philosophical romance. According to his narrative, the emperor caused the eyes of the hero to be struck out, and Belisarius was compelled to beg his bread in the Other writers say, that streets of Constantinople. Justinian had him thrown into a prison, which is still shown under the appellation of the tower of Belisarius. From this tower he is reported to have let 66 whose existence appears extremely doubtful. The ie, brave Bellerophon. But though all seem agreed in giving the winged steed to the hero, none tell us how he obtained him. Here, however, Pindar comes to our aid with a very remarkable legend, which counects Bellerophon with Corinth. According to this poet (Ol., 13, 85, seqq.), Bellerophon, who reigned at Corinth, being about to undertake the three adventures mentioned above, wished to possess the winged steed Pegasus, who used to come to drink at the fountain of Pirene on the Acrocorinthus. After many fruitless efforts to catch him, he applied for advice to the sooth-tal worship. A curious analogy in form is said to exist sayer Polyeidus, and was directed by him to go and sleep at the altar of Minerva. He obeyed the prophet, and, in the dead of the night, the goddess appeared to him in a dream, and, giving him a bridle, bade him sacrifice a bull to his sire Neptune-Damæus (the Tamer) and present the bridle to the steed. On awaking, Bellerophon found the bridle lying beside him. He obeyed the injunctions of the goddess, and raised an altar to herself as Hippeia (Of-the-Horse). Pegasus at once yielded his mouth to the magic bit, and the hero, mounting him, achieved his adventures.-The best explanation that has been given of the myth of Bellerophon is that which sees in this individual only one of the forms of Neptune, namely, as Hippius (Equestris). This god is his father (Pind., ut supr., 99), and he is the sire of Pegasus, and in the two combined we have a Neptune Hippius, the rider of the waves, a symbol of the navigation of the ancient Ephyra or Corinth. The adventures of the hero may have signified the real or imaginary perils to be encountered in voyages to distant countries; and, when the original sense of the myth was lost, the King (Prœtus, πрTоç), and his Foe (Antea, vra), and the common love-tale were introduced, to assign a cause for the adventure. In this myth, too, we find the mysterious connexion between Neptune and PallasMinerva and the horse more fully revealed than elsewhere. (Keightley's Mythology, p. 401, seqq) BELLERUS, a brother of Hipponous. (Vid. Bellerophon.) BELLONA, the goddess of war, daughter of Phorcys and Ceto. (Apollod., 2, 4, 2) According to some authorities, however, she was the sister of Mars. Others, again, make her his spouse. The earlier form of her Latin name, Bellona, was Duellona, from Duelium, the old form for bellum, from which last the later appellation of Bellona arose. Her Greek name was Enyo ('Evvá). The temple of Bellona at Rome was without the city, near the Carmental gate. Audience was given there by the senate to foreign ambassadors. Before stood a pillar, over which a spear was thrown on the declaration of war against any people. (Ovid, Fast., 6, 199, seqq.) The priests of Bellona used to gash their thighs in a terrific manner, and offer to her the blood which flowed from the wounds. (Juv., 4, 124.-Varro, L. L., 5.-Virg., En., 8, 703. -Stat., Theb., 2, 718.-Id. ib., 7, 73.) BELLONARII, the priests of Bellona. BELLOVACI, a numerous and powerful tribe of the Belge, adjoining the Vellocasses, Caleti, Ambiani, Veromandui, and Silvanectes. They correspond in position to the present people of Beauvais. (Cæs., Bell., 2, 4) BELLOVESUS, a king of the Celta, who, in the reign of Tarquinius Priscus, was sent at the head of a colony to Italy by his uncle Ambigatus. (Liv., 5, 34.) BELON, I. a city and river of Hispania Batica, the usual place of embarcation for Tingis in Africa. The modern name Balonia marks the spot, though now uninhabited. The name is sometimes written Balon. (Mannert, Geogr., vol. 1, p. 301.)-II. A small stream to the west of the city of Belon just named. It answers to that which flows at the present day from the Laguna de la Ianda into the sea. (Mannert, l. c.) BELUS, I. a name given to several kings of the East, BENICUS, a lake of Italy, from which the Mincius flows into the Po. Pliny (9, 22) makes this lake to be formed by the Mincius. It is stated by Strabo (209), on the authority of Polybius, to be 500 stadia long and 150 broad; that is, 62 miles by 18: but the real dimensions, according to the best maps, do not appear to exceed 30 modern Italian miles in length, and 9 in breadth; which, according to the ancient Roman scale, would be nearly 35 by 12. The modern name is Lago di Garda, and the appellation is derived from the small town of Garda on the northeast shore of the lake. The Benacus is twice noticed by Virgil. (Georg., 2, 158.—Æn., 10, 204.) Its principal promontory, Sirmium, has been commemorated by Catullus as his favourite residence. Virgil speaks of it as subject to sudden storms. (Georg., 2, 160.) In explanation of this, compare the following remarks of Eustace: "We left Sirmione (Sirmium), and, lighted by the moon, glided smoothly over the lake to Desensano, four miles distant, where, about eight, we stepped from the boat into a very good inn. So far the appearance of the Benacus was very different from the description which Virgil has given of its stormy character. Before we retired to rest, about midnight, from our windows, we observed it still calm and unruffled. About three in the morning, I was roused from sleep by the door and windows bursting open at once, and the wind roaring round the room. I started up, and, looking out, observed by the light of the moon the lake in the most dreadful agitation, and the waves dashing against the walls of the inn, and resembling the swelling of the ocean more than the petty agitation of inland waters. Shortly after, the landlord entered with a lantern, closed the outward shutters, expressed some apprehensions, but, at the same time, assured me that their house was built to resist such sudden tempests, and that I might repose with confidence under a roof which had withstood full many a storm as terrible as that which occasioned our present alarm. Next morning, the lake, so tranquil and serene the evening before, presented a surface covered with foam, and swelling into mountain-billows that burst in breakers every instant at the very door of the inn, and covered the whole house with spray. Virgil's description now seemed nature itself." (Classical Tour, vol. 1, p. 203, seqq.) BENDIS, the name of a Thracian goddess, the same with Diana or Artemis. (Compare Ruhnken, ad Tim., p. 62. Fischer, Index in Palaphat., s. v. BérSeta.) This name, and the festival of this deity, spread even to Attica and Bithynia. Bendis had a temple in the Munychium at Athens, and a festival, called Berdideta, was celebrated in honour of her at the Piraus. (Creuzer, Symbolik, vol. 2, p. 129, seqq.) BENEVENTUM, a city of Samnium, about ten miles beyond Caudium, on the Appian Way. (Strabo, 249.) Its more ancient name, as we are informed by several writers, was Maleventum. (Liv., 9, 27.—Plin., 3, 11.-Festus, s. v. Benevent.) The name of Maleven having come from Macedonia to Cyrene, she became attached to him herself. Demetrius, conducting himself insolently, was slain in a conspiracy, at the head of which was Berenice. The latter thereupon married her brother Ptolemy (Euergetes) III. A short time after the nuptials, Ptolemy was obliged to go on an expedition into Syria, and Berenice made a vow that she would consecrate her beautiful head of hair to Venus if her husband returned safe to Egypt. Upon his return she fulfilled her vow in the temple of Venus Zephyrites. On the following day, however, the hair was not to be found. As both the monarch and his queen were greatly disquieted at the loss, Conon the Samaritan, an eminent astronomer of the day, in order to conciliate the royal favour, declared that the locks of Berenice had been removed by divine interposition, and translated to the skies in the form of a constellation. Hence the cluster of stars near the tail of the Lion is called Coma Berenices ("Berenice's hair"). Callimachus wrote a piece on this subject, now lost, but a translation of which into Latin verse by Catullus has reached our time. (Catull., Carm., 66.-Compare Hygin., Poet. Astron., 2, 24. tum is said to have been given it on account of its un- | Demetrius Poliorcetes; but, on the young prince's healthy atmosphere. The more auspicious appellation of Beneventum was substituted when the Romans sent a colony thither (A.U.C. 483). Tradition ascribed the foundation of this city to Diomede (Solinus, c. 8. -Steph. Byz., s. v.), but other accounts would lead us to believe that it was first possessed by the Ausones. (Festus, s. v. Auson.) It remained in the possession of the Romans during the whole of the second Punic war, and obtained the thanks of the senate for its firm attachment to the republic at that critical period. (Liv., 27, 10.) We subsequently hear of its being a second time colonized by the veteran soldiers of Augustus, and also a third time under Nero. (Front. de Col.-Compare Tacitus, Ann., 15, 34.-Ptol, p. 66.) The account which Horace gives of the fare he there met with in his journey to Brundisium, will occur to every reader. Beneventum was situated near the junction of the Sabatus and Calor, now Sabbato and Calore. Its position was a very important one, since here the main roads intersected each other from Latium into Southern Italy, and from Samnium into Campania. Under the Lombards Beneventum became the capital of a powerful dukedom. It abounds in remains of ancient sculpture above any other town in Doering, ad Catull., l. c.-Heyne, de genio sæculi Italy. The most beautiful relic of former days, at Ptolemæorum, Opusc., vol. 1, p. 177.) Berenice was this place, is the arch of Trajan, which forms one of put to death B.C. 216, by the orders of Ptolemy Phithe entrances into the city. Near Beneventum Pyr- lopator, her son.-III. A daughter of Ptolemy Philarhus was defeated by Dentatus, A.U.C. 479. It is delphus, given by him in marriage to Antiochus Theos, now Benevento. (Cramer's Ancient Italy, vol. 2, p. king of Syria, in order to cement a peace between the 246.-Mannert, Geogr., vol. 9, pt. 1, p. 791, seqq.) two countries. After the death of her father, AntioBERECYNTIA, a surname of Cybele, from Mount chus put her aside and recalled his former wife LaodBerecyntus in Phrygia, where she was particularly wor- ice. This last, having taken off Antiochus by poison, shipped. (Stat., Theb., 4, 782.-Virg., En., 9, 82.) sought to destroy Berenice also as well as her son. BERECYNTII, a Phrygian tribe, celebrated by the This son was surprised and carried off by an emissapoets in connexion with Cybele, so often styled "Ber-ry of Laodice's, and shortly after put to death; and ecyntia Mater." Pliny places the Berecyntian district on the borders of Caria, about the Glaucus and Maander. (Plin., 5, 29.) BERECYNTUS, a mountain in Phrygia Major, on the banks of the river Sangarius. It was sacred to Cybele, who is hence styled Berecyntia Mater, "The Berecynthian mother." (Serv., ad En, 9, 82.) Berenice, in searching for him, was entrapped and slain, B.C. 246.-IV. Called by some authors Cleopatra, was the only legitimate child of Ptolemy Lathurus, and ascended the throne after the death of her father, B.C. 81. Sylla, who was at that time dictator, compelled her to marry, and share her throne with, her cousin, who took the name of Ptolemy Alexander. BERENICE (less correctly BERONICE), a name com- She was poisoned by the latter only nineteen days mon to several females of antiquity. It is of Greek after the marriage.-V. Daughter of Ptolemy Auletes. origin, and means "victory-bringing," or "bearer of The people of Alexandrea having revolted against this victory," the initial ß being written, according to Ma- prince, B.C. 58, drove him out, and placed upon the cedonian usage, for the letter o, or, in other words, throne his two daughters, Tryphena and Berenice. The Bepɛvíkη being put for Þɛpeviên, just as the Macedo- former died soon after, and Berenice was given in nians said Bios for bikinños. (Maittaire, Dial., marriage to Seleucus, surnamed Cybios actes. His p. 184, ed. Sturz.)-The most remarkable of this personal deformity, however, and vicious character, name were the following: I. the granddaughter of soon rendered him so odious to the queen, that she Cassander, brother of Antipater. She married Philip, caused him to be strangled. Berenice then married a Macedonian, probably one of the officers of Alexan- Archelaus; but, Ptolemy Auletes having been reder, and became by him the mother of many children, stored by Gabinius, the Roman commander, she was among whom were Magas, king of Cyrene, and Anti-put to death by her own father, B.C. 55.—VI. A nagone, whom she married to Pyrrhus, king of Epirus. She followed into Egypt Eurydice, daughter of Antipater, who returned to that country to rejoin her husband Ptolemy I. Berenice inspired this prince with so strong a passion that he put away Eurydice, although he had children by her, and married the former. He also gave the preference, in the succession to the throne, to her son Ptolemy, notwithstanding the better claims of his offspring by Eurydice. Berenice was remarkable for her beauty, and her portrait often appears on the medals of Ptolemy I., along with that of the latter. II. Daughter of Ptolemy Philadelphus and Arsinoë. She followed her mother into exile, and retired with her to the court of Magas, at Cyrene, who married Arsinoë, and adopted Berenice. This will serve to explain why Polybius and Justin make Berenice to have been the daughter of Magas, while Callimachus gives Ptolemy Philadelphus and Arsinoe as her parents. After the death of Magas, Arsinoë engaged her daughter in marriage to Demetrius, son of tive of Chios, and one of the wives of Mithradates of Pontus. On the overthrow of this monarch's power by Lucullus, Berenice, in obedience to an order from her husband, took poison along with his other wives; but this not proving effectual, she was strangled by the eunuch Bacchus, B.C. 71.-VII. Daughter of Agrippa I., king of Judæa, and born A.D. 28. She was at first affianced to Marcus, son of Alexander; but this young man having died, Agrippa gave her in marriage to his brother Herod, king of Chalcis, by whom she became the mother of two sons, Berenicianus and Hyrcanus. Having lost her husband when she was at the age of twenty, she went to live with her brother Agrippa, a circumstance which gave rise to reports injurious to her character. To put an end to these rumours, she made proposals to Polemo, king of Cilicia, and offered to become his wife if he would embrace Judaism. Polemo consented, but she soon left him, and returned, in all probability, to her brother, for she was with the latter when St. Paul was arrested antiquity, and is often mentioned by the early writers. Its situation, as is generally agreed, answers to that of the present Kara Veria. Some interesting circumstances respecting Berea are to be found in the Acts of the Apostles (17, 11.- Cramer's Ancient Greece, vol. 1, p. 232). at Jerusalem, A.D. 63. The commerce between the guilty pair became now so public, that the rumour even reached Rome, and we find Juvenal alluding to the affair in one of his satires (6, 155). She followed Agrippa when he went to join Vespasian, whom Nero had charged to reduce the Jews to obedience. A new scene now opened for her; she won the affec- BEROSUS, a Babylonian historian, rendered much tions of Titus, and, at a subsequent period, when Ves- more famous by the mention of others than from anypasian was established on the throne, and Titus re-thing which is known of his own performances. He was turned home after terminating the Jewish war, she priest of the temple of Belus in the time of Alexander, accompanied him to Rome along with her brother and, having learned the Greek language from the MaAgrippa. At Rome she lived openly with Titus, and cedonians, he removed to Greece, and opened a school took up her abode in the imperial palace, as we learn of astronomy and astrology in the island of Cos, where from Dio Cassius, who states also that she was then in his productions acquired him great fame with the Athethe flower of her age. Titus, it is said, intended even nians. The ancients mention three books of his, relto acknowledge her as his wife; but he was compelled ative to the history of the Chaldeans, of which Joseby the murmurs of his subjects to abandon this idea, phus and Eusebius have preserved fragments. As a and he sent her away from the city soon after his ac- priest of Belus, he possessed every advantage which cession to the throne. Such, at least, is the account the records of the temple, and the learning and tradigiven by Suetonius (Tit., 7), who appears more enti- tions of the Chaldæans, could afford, and seems to tled to belief than Dio Cassius, according to whom have composed his work with a serious regard for Titus sent Berenice away before his accession to the truth. Annius of Viterbo published a work under the throne, and refused to receive her again, when she name of Berosus, which was soon discovered to be a had returned to Rome a short time after the com- forgery. (Cory's Ancient Fragments, p. viii., Præf.) mencement of his reign. (Dio Cass., 66, 15 et 18.) BERYTUS (Berotha, Ezek., 47, 16.-Bnpwon, Jo-There is a great difficulty attending the history of seph., Ant. Jud., 5, 1.-Berothai, 2 Sam., 8, 8), an this Berenice as regards her intimacy with Titus. She ancient town of Phoenicia, about twenty-four miles must, at least, have been forty-two years of age when south of Byblus, famous in the age of Justinian for the she first became acquainted with the Roman prince, study of law, and styled by the emperor "the mother and fifty-one years old at the period of the celebrated and nurse of the laws." The civil law was taught scene which forms the subject of Racine's tragedy. there in Greek, as it was at Rome in Latin. It had Many are inclined to believe, therefore, that the Bere- also the name of Colonia Felix Julia, from Augustus nice to whom Titus was attached was the daughter Cæsar, who made it a Roman colony, and named it in of Mariamne and Archelaus, and, consequently, the honour of his daughter. (Plin., 5, 20.) The modern niece of the Berenice of whom we have been speak- appellation is Beirout. The adjacent plain is renowned ing she would be twenty-five years old when Titus as the place where St. George, the patron saint of came into Judæa. (Clavier, in Biogr. Univ., vol. 4, England, slew the dragon; in memory of which, a p. 241, seqq.)-VIII. A city of Egypt, on the coast of small chapel was built upon the spot, dedicated at first the Sinus Arabicus, from which a road was made to that Christian hero, but now changed to a mosque. across the intervening desert to Coptos on the Nile, by It was frequently captured and recaptured during the Ptolemy Philadelphus, 258 miles in length. From crusades. It is now the seat of one of the most interthis harbour the vessels of Egypt took their departure esting missionary stations in the world, and possesses for Arabia Felix and India. It was through the me- many important advantages for such a purpose. It is dium of Berenice also, and the caravan route to Cop- situated on the Mediterranean, at the foot of Mount tos, that the principal trade of the Romans with India Lebanon, within three days of Damascus, two days' was conducted. By this line of communication, it is sail of Cyprus, two from Tyre, and three from Tripoli. said that a sum not less than what would be now Its present population is about 10,000. (For interest£400,000, was remitted by the Roman traders to their ing notices of this place, consult Jewett's Researches, correspondents in the East, in payment of merchandise vols. 1 and 2.-Life of Rev. Pliny Fisk.-Missionary which ultimately sold for a hundred times as much. Herald, &c.) (Plin., 6. 23.-Id., 6, 29.-Strab., 560.-Agathemer, 2,5.) The ruins of the ancient Berenice are found at the modern port of Habest. (2 (Murray, Hist. Account, &c., vol. 2, p. 187.)-IX. A city of Cyrenaica, called also Hesperis. In its vicinity the ancients placed the gardens of the Hesperides. It is now Bengazi, a poor and filthy town. Few traces of the ancient city remain above ground, although much might be brought to light by excavation. "When we reflect," remarks Capt Beechy," that Berenice flourished under Justinian, and that its walls underwent a thorough repair in the reign of that emperor, it will be thought somewhat singular, that both the town and its walls should have disappeared so completely as they have done." Of the latter, scarcely a vestige remains above the surface of the plain. (Modern Traveller, part 49, p. 98.) BEROE, I. an old woman of Epidaurus, nurse to BESSUS, a governor of Bactriana, who, after the Semele. Juno assumed her shape, when she persuaded battle of Arbela, seized Darius, his sovereign, with Semele not to receive the visits of Jupiter if he did not the intention of carrying him off prisoner to his saappear in the majesty of a god. (Ovid, Met., 3, 278.) trapy; but, being hotly pursued by the Macedonians, II. The wife of Doryclus, whose form was assumed he left the monarch wounded and dying in the way, by Iris at the instigation of Juno, when she advised and effected his own escape. Being subsequently dethe Trojan women to burn the fleet of Eneas in Si-livered into the hands of Alexander, that monarch, accily. (Virg., Æn., 5, 620.) BERCEA OF BERRHOEA, a large and populous city of Macedonia, south of Edessa. It was a place of great BESIPPO, a seaport town of Hispania Bætica, east of Junonis Promontorium, where Mela was born. Its ruins lie in the neighbourhood of the modern Porto Barbato. (Philos. Transact., vol. 30, p. 922.) The town of Vejer de la Frontera, which many think represents the ancient Besippo (Hardouin, ad Plin., 3, 3), lies too far from the sea. (Ukert, Geog., vol. 2, p. 343.) BESSI, a people of Thrace, occupying a district called Bessica, between Mons Rhodope and the northern part of the Hebrus. The Bessi belonged to the powerful nation of the Satræ, the only Thracian tribe which had never been subjugated. (Herod., 7, 110.) According to Strabo (318), they were a very lawless and predatory race, and were not conquered finally till the reign of Augustus. (Dio Cass., 54.-Flor., 4, 12.) cording to one account (Justin, 12, 5), gave him up for punishment to the brother of Darius. (Compare Curt., 5, 12, seqq.-Id., 7, 5.) Plutarch, however, BIB states, that Alexander himself punished the offender in the following manner: he caused two straight trees to be bent, and one of his legs to be made fast to each; then suffering the trees to return to their former posture, his body was torn asunder by the violence of the recoil. (Plut., Vit. Alex.) Arrian makes Alexander to have caused his nostrils to be slit, the tips of his ears to be cut off, and the offender, after this, to have been sent to Ecbatana, and put to death in the sight of all the inhabitants of the capital of Media. (Arrian, Exp. Al., 4, 7.) BIANOR, a son of the river-god Tiber, and of Manto daughter of Tiresias. Servius makes him the founder of Mantua, and identical with Ocnus. (Serv. ad Virg., Eclog., 9, 60.-Id. ad En., 10, 198.) The allusion in Virgil's ninth Eclogue is thought to be to this same Bianor, but consult the remarks of Heyne, ad loc. BIAS, I. son of Amythaon and Idomene, was king of Argos, and brother to the famous soothsayer Melampus. (Vid. Melampus.)-II. One of the seven wise men of Greece. He was son of Teutamus, and was was born at Priene, in Ionia, about 570 B.C. Bias a practical philosopher, studied the laws of his country, and employed his knowledge in the service of his friends, defending them in the courts of justice, settling their disputes. He made a noble use of his wealth. His advice, that the Ionians should fly before the victorious Cyrus to Sardinia, was not followed, and the victory of the army of Cyrus confirmed the correctness of his opinion. The inhabitants of Priene, when besieged by Mazares, resolved to abandon the city with their property. On this occasion Bias replied to one of his fellow-citizens, who expressed his astonishment that he made no preparations for his departure, "I carHe remained in his native ry everything with me." country, where he died at a very advanced age. His countrymen buried him with splendour, and honoured his memory. Some of his apophthegms are still preserved. (Biogr. Univ., vol. 4, p. 455.—Encyclop. Americ., vol. 2, p. 89, seq.) 66 measures of the former, he retired from public affairs BILBILIS, I. a city of the Celtiberi, in Hispania Tarraconensis, southeast of Numantia, and southwest of Nertobriga. It lay on the western bank of the river Bilbilis, and was a Roman municipium. The poet Martial was born here. Bilbilis was famed for the temper of the weapons manufactured in it. The ruins of the ancient city lie not far from the modern Calatayud, at a place called Bambola. (Plin., 34, 14.Mart., 10, 103.-Id., 4, 55.)-II. A river of Hispania Tarraconensis, running by Bilbilis, in the country of the Celtiberi, and falling into the Iberus. It is now the Xalon. Its waters were famous for tempering iron. (Hieron., Paul. de Flum. Hisp.-Martial, 10, 103, et ult.-Justin, 44, 8.) BIMATER, a surname of Bacchus, which signifies that he had two mothers, because, when taken from his mother's womb, he was placed in the thigh of his father Jupiter. (Ovid, Met., 4, 12.) BINGIUM, a town of Gaul, in Germania Prima, west of Moguntiacum. It lay upon the Rhine, and is now Bingen. (Tacit., Hist., 4, 70.) BION, I. a native of Borysthenes, of low extraction. When young he was sold as a slave to an orator, who afterward gave him his freedom, and left him large possessions. Upon this he went to Athens, and apBIBACULUS (M. Furius), a Latin poet, born at Cre- plied himself to the study of philosophy. He had sevmona about 103 B.C. He appears to have composed eral preceptors; but chiefly attached himself to the a turgid poem entitled Ethiopis, on the legend, very doctrine of Theodorus, of the Cyrenaic sect, of which probably, of the Ethiopian Memnon; and also another he was a professed advocate. He flourished about the on the mouths of the Rhine. This last is thought to 120th Olympiad. (Diog. Laert., 4, 46, seqq.)—II. have formed part of an epic poem on Caesar's wars in An Athenian tragic poet, a son of Eschylus.-III. A Gaul. (Burmann, Anthol. Lat., lib. 2, ep. 238.) Greek poet, born near Smyrna, in the district of PhlosHe appears to have lived in Sicily, and to have Both works are lost, and we have only a couple of sa. fragments remaining. (Bähr, Gesch. Röm. Lit., vol. died there of poison, as his pupil Moschus informs us 1, p. 124.) Horace (Serm., 2, 5, 40) ridicules a in an elegy on his death. Some make him contempolaughable verse of his, in which Jupiter is represented rary with Theocritus, while others suppose that he Jupiter hibernas flourished a century later, about 187 B.C. He is as spitting snow upon the Alps: cana nive conspuet Alpes." This line occurred in the ranked, along with Moschus, among the bucolic poets, beginning of a poem which he had composed on the less on account of the subjects of his pieces, which Gallic war. Quintilian (10, 1, 96) enumerates Bi- are for the most part of a lyric or philosophical charbaculus among the Roman Iambic poets, and, in an-acter, than by reason of the manner in which he treats other part of his work (8, 6, 18), gives this same line, them. He is far inferior to Theocritus in simplicity citing it as an instance of harsh metaphor. It is sur- and naïveté. His productions are in general too laprising that the critic did not carry his censure farther boured; but in description he succeeds perfectly, and than this, and therefore Spalding well remarks of the his writings are not wanting in elegance, and in coromission, "Debebat autem noster sordium quoque in-rect and pleasing imagery. There are many good cusare hanc metaphoram." To render his parody more severe, Horace substitutes Furius himself for the monarch of the skies, and, to prevent all mistake, applies to the former a laughable species of designation, drawn directly from his personal appearance, "pingui tentus omaso," distended with his fat paunch." (Horat., lec.) BIBRACTE, a large town of the Edui in Gaul, upon the Arroux, one of the branches of the Ligeris or Loire. It was afterward called Augustodunum, and is now Autun. (Cas., B. G., 7, 55, &c.) BIBULUS, a son of M. Calpurnius Bibulus, by Portia, Cato's daughter. He was Cæsar's colleague in the consulship, but, finding it impossible to thwart the editions of this poet's works, generally printed with those of Moschus, the best of which is that of Valckenaer, Lugd. Bat., 1810, 8vo, reprinted at Oxford in 1816, by Gaisford, in the Poeta Minores Græci. BISALTE, a people of Macedonia, situate between the lake Bolbe and the Strymon. They were of Thracian origin. (Herodotus, 7, 115.) Theopompus, who is cited by Steph. Byz. (s. v. Bioaλria), affirmed, that (Cramer's almost all the hares in the country occupied by this people were found to have two livers. Anc. Greece, vol. 1, p. 266.) BISANTHE, a town on the Propontis, northwest of Perinthus. It was called also Rodestus, and is now Rodosto. (Herod., 7, 137.) |