]
their punishment was not his duty but that of the 4.
their punishment was not his duty but that of the 4.
William Smith - 1844 - Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities - a
)
occasion at the same time to ridicule the obese ro- BI'BULUS, a cognomen of the plebeian Cal-
tundity of person which distinguished the com- pumia gens.
poser. (Hor. Serm. ii. 5. 41, and the notes of the 1. L. CALPURNIUS BIBULUS, obtained each of
Scholiast ; comp. Quintil. viii. 6. S 17. ) The ex- the public magistracies in the same year as C.
istence of the latter depends upon our acknowledg- Julius Caesar. He was curule aedile in B. C. 65,
ing that the “turgidus Alpinus” represented in the praetor in 62, and consul in 59.
Caesar was
epistle to Julius Florus (1. 103) as “murdering anxious to obtain L. Lucceius for his colleague in
Memnon, and polluting by his turbid descriptions the consulship; but as Lucceius was a thorough
the fair fountains of the Rhine, is no other than partizan of Caesar's, while Bibulus was opposed to
Bibaculus. The evidence for this rests entirely him, the aristocratica party used every effort to
upon an emendation introduced by Bentley into secure the election of the latter, and contributed
the text of the old commentators on the above large sums of money for this purpose. (Suet. Caes.
passage, but the correction is so simple, and tallies 19. ) Bibulus, accordingly, gained his election, but
so well with the rest of the annotation, and with was able to do but very little for his party. After
the circumstances of the case, that it may be pro- an ineffectual attempt to oppose Caesar's agrarian
nounced almost certain. The whole question is law, he withdrew from the popular assemblies al-
fully and satisfactorily discussed in the disserta- together, and shut himself up in his own house for
tion of Weichert in bis Poet. Latin. Reliqu. p. 331, the remainder of the year; whence it was said in
&c. Should we think it worth our while to joke, that it was the consulship of Julius and Cae-
inquire into the cause of the enmity thus mani- He confined his opposition to publishing
fested by Horace towards a brother poet whose edicts against Caesar's measures : these were
age might have commanded forbearance if not re widely circulated among his party, and greatly ex-
spect,
it
may perhaps be plausibly ascribed tolled as pieces of composition. (Suet. Caes. 9. 49;
indisposition which had been testified on the part Cic. ad Att. ii. 19, 20; Plut. Pomp. 48 ; comp.
of the elder bard to recognise the merits of his Cic. Brut. 77. ) To vitiate Caesar's measures, he
youthful competitor, and possibly to some expres- also pretended, that he was observing the skies,
sion of indignation at the presumptuous freedom while his colleague was engaged in the comitia
with which Lucilius, the idol and model of the old (Cic. pro Dom. 15); but such kind of opposition
school, had been censured in the earlier productions was not likely to have any effect upon Caesar.
of the Venusian. An additional motive may be On the expiration of his consulship, Bibulus re-
found in the fact, which we learn from the well mained at Rome, as no province had been assigned
known oration of Cremutius Cordus as reported by him. Here he continued to oppose the measures
1. 53;
QUES
**ធ ៩
sar.
tend
E]
of
some
in Libe
merede
5 SEXT
. . $$;
## p. 488 (#508) ############################################
488
BIBULUS.
BION.
of Caesar and Pompey, and prevented the latter / nius, because it was known that their father had
in 56 from restoring in person Ptolemy Auletes to been opposed to the expedition of Gabinius, which
Egypt. When, bowever, a coolness began to arise had been undertaken at the instigation of Pompey.
between Caesar and Pompey, Bibulus supported (Caes. B. C. ii. 110; Val. Max. iv. I. $ 15 ; comp.
the latter, and it was upon his proposal, that Cic. ad Att. vi. 5, ad Fam. ii. 17. )
Pompey was elected sole consul in 52, when the 4. L. CALPURNIUS BIBULUS, the youngest son
republic was almost in a state of anarchy through of No. l, was quite a youth at his father's death
the tumults following the death of Clodius. In the (Plut. Brut. 13), after which he lived at Rome
following year, 51, Bibulus obtained a province in with M. Brutus, who married his mother Porcia.
consequence of a law of Pompey's, which provided He went to Athens in B. C. 45 to prosecute his
that no future consul or praetor should have a pro- studies (Cic. ad Att. xii. 32), and appears to have
vince till five years after the expiration of his joined his step-father Brutus after the death of Cae
magistracy. As the magistrates for the time being sar in 44, in consequence of which he was proscribed
were thus excluded, it was provided that all men by the trium virs. He was present at the battle of
of consular or praetorian rank who had not held Philippi in 42, and shortly after surrendered him-
provinces, should now draw lots for the vacant ones. self to Antony, who pardoned him and promoted
In consequence of this measure Bibulus went to him to the command of his fleet, whence we find on
Syria as proconsul about the same time as Cicero soine of the coins of Antony the inscription L.
went to Cilicia. The eastern provinces of the Ro BiBuLUS PRAEF. CLAS. (Eckhel, v. p. 161, vi.
man empire were then in the greatest alarm, as the p. 57. ) He was frequently employed by Antony
Parthians had crossed the Euphrates, but they in the negotiations between himself and Augustus,
were driven back shortly before the arrival of and was finally promoted by the former to the go-
Bibulus by C. Cassius, the proquaestor. Cicero vernment of Syria, where he died shortly before the
was very jealous of this victory which had been battle of Actium. (Appian, B. C. iv. 38, 104, 136,
gained in a neighbouring province, and took good v. 132. ) Bibulus wrote the Memorabilia of his
eare to let his friends know that Bibulus had no step-father, a small work which Plutarch made use
share in it When Bibulus obtained a thanks- of in writing the life of Brutus. (Plut. Brut. 13,
giving of twenty days consequence of the vic- 23. )
tory, Cicero complained bitterly, to his friends, C. BI'BULUS, an aedile mentioned by Tacitus
that Bibulus had made false representations to the (Ann. iii. 52) in the reign of Tiberius, A. D. 22,
senate. Although great fears were entertained, appears to be the same as the L. Publicius Bibulus,
that the invasion would be repeated, the Parthians a plebeian aedile, to whom the senate granted a
did not appear for the next year. Bibulus left the burial-place both for himself and his posterity.
province with the reputation of having administered (Orelli, Inscr. n. 4698. )
its internal affairs with integrity and zeal.
BILIENIS. [BELLIENUS. ]
On his return to the west in 49, Bibulus was BION (Blwv). 1. Of Proconnesus, a contem-
appointed by Pompey commander of his fleet in porary of Pherecydes of Syros, who consequently
the Ionian sea to prevent Caesar from crossing lived about B. c. 560. He is mentioned by Dio-
over into Greece. Caesar, however, contrived to genes Laërtius (iv. 58) as the author of two works
elude his vigilance; and Bibulus fell in with only which he does not specify; but we must infer from
thirty ships returning to Italy after landing Clemens of Alexandria (Strom. vi. p. 267), that one
some troops. Enraged at his disappointment, he of these was an abridgement of the work of the
burnt these ships with their crews. This was in ancient historian, Cadmus of Miletus.
the winter; and his own men suffered much from 2. A mathematician of Abdera, and a pupil of
cold and want of fuel and water, as Caesar was Democritus. He wrote both in the lonic and Attic
now in possession of the eastern coast and pre dialects, and was the first who said that there were
vented his crews from landing. Sickness broke some parts of the earth in which it was night for
out among his men; Bibulus himself fell ill, and six months, while the remaining six months were
died in the beginning of the year 48, near Corcyra, one uninterrupted day. (Diog. Laërt. iv. 58. ) He
before the battle of Dyrrhachium. (Caes. B. C. ii. is probably the same as the one whom Strabo (i.
5-18; Dion Cass. xli. 48; Plut. Brut. 13; Oros. p. 29) calls an astrologer.
yi. 15; Cic. Brut. 77. )
3. Of Soli, is mentioned by Diogenes Laërtius
Bibulus was not a man of much ability, and is (iv. 58) as the author of a work on Aethiopia
chiefly indebted for his celebrity to the fact of his (A1010miká), of which a few fragments are preserved
being one of Caesar's principal, though not most in Pliny (vi. 35), Athenaeus (xiii. p. 566), and in
formidable, opponents. He married Porcia, the Cramer's Anecdota (iii. p. 415). Whether he is
daughter of M. Porcius Cato Uticensis, by whom the same as the one from whom Plutarch (Thes.
he had three sons mentioned below. (Orelli, Ono 26) quotes a tradition respecting the Amazons,
mast. Tull. p. 119, &c. ; Drumann's Gesch. Roms, and from whom Agathias (il. 25; comp. Syncellus,
ii. p. 97, &c. )
p. 676, ed. Dindorf) quotes a statement respecting
2. 3. CALPURNU Bibuli, two sons of the pre- the history of Assyria, is uncertain. Varro (De
ceding, whose praenomens are unknown, were Re Rust. i. 1) mentions Bion of Soli among the
murdered in Egypt, B, C. 50, by the soldiers of writers on agriculture ; and Pliny refers to the
Gabinius. Their father bore his loss with fortitude same or similar works, in the Elenchi to several
though he deeply felt it; and when the murderers books. (Lib. 8, 10, 14, 15, 17, 18. ) Some think
of his children were subsequently delivered up to that Bion of Soli is the same as Caecilius Bion.
him by Cleopatra, he sent them back, saying that (Biox, CAECILIUS.
]
their punishment was not his duty but that of the 4. Of Smyrna, or rather of the small place of
eenate. Bibulus bad probably sent his sons into Phlossa on the river Meles, near Smyrna. " (Suid.
Egypt to solicit aid against the Parthians; and they | s. r. CÓRPITOS. ) All that we know about him is
may have been murdered by the soldiers of Gabi- | the little that can be inferred from the third Idyl
## p. 489 (#509) ############################################
BION.
489
BION.
of Moschus, who laments his untimely death. The that Diogenes by these words meant to describe a
time at which he lived can be pretty accurately poet whose works bore the character of extempore
determined by the fact, that he was older than poetry, of which the inhabitants of Tarsus were
Moschus, who calls himself the pupil of Bion. particularly fond (Strab. xiv. p. 674), and that
(Mosch. ji:. 96, &c. ) His fiourishing period must Bion lived shortly before or at the time of Strabo.
therefore bave very ncarly coincided with that of Suidas (s. v. Aloxúxos) mentions a son of Aeschylus
Theocritus, and must be fixed at about B. C. 280. of the name of Bion who was likewise a tragic
Moschus states, that Bion left his native country poet; but nothing further is known about him.
and spent the last years of his life in Sicily, culti- 6. A melic poet, about whom no particulars are
vating bucolic poetry, the natural growth of that known. (Diog. Laërt. iv. 58; Eudoc. p. 94. )
island. Whether he also visited Macedonia and 7. A Greek sophist, who is said to have censured
Thrace, as Moschus (iii. 17, &c. ) intimates, is un- Homer for not giving a true account of the events
certain, since it may be that Moschus mentions he describes. (Acron, ad Ilorat. Epist. ii. 2. ) He
those countries only because he calls Bion the Do is perhaps the same as one of the two rhetoricians
ric Orpheus. He died of poison, which had been of this name.
administered to him by several persons, who after- 8. The name of two Greek rhetoricians; the one,
wards received their well-deserved punishment for a native of Syracuse, was the author of theoretical
the crime. With respect to the relation of master works on rhetoric (Téxvas ønTopixds yeypapus);
and pupil between Bion and Moschus, we cannot the other, whose native country is unknown, was
say anything with certainty, except that the resem- said to have written a work in nine books,
blance between the productions of the two poets which bore the names of the nine Muses. (Diog.
obliges us to suppose, at least, that Moschus imi- Laërt. iv. 58. )
(L. S. ]
tated Bion; and this may, in fact, be all that is BION (Biwv), a Scythian philosopher, surnamed
meant when Moschus calls himself a disciple of BorystHENITES, from the town of Oczacoria, Ol-
the latter. The subjects of Bion's poetry, viz. bia, or Borysthenes, near the mouth of the Dnieper,
shepherds' and love-songs, are beautifully described lived about B. c. 250, but the exact dates of hịs
by Moschus (iii. 82, &c. ); but we can now form birth and death are uncertain. Strabo (i. p. 15)
only a partial judgment on the spirit and style of mentions him as a contemporary of Eratosthenes,
his poetry, on account of the fragmentary condition who was born B. c. 275. Laërtius (iv. 4fi, &c. )
in which his works have come down to us. Some has preserved an account which Bion himself gave
of his idyls, as his poems are usually called, are of his parentage to Antigonus Gonatas, king of
extant entire, but of others we have only frag- Macedonia. His father was a freedman, and his
ments. Their style is very refined, the sentiments mother, Olympia, a Lacedaemonian harlot, and the
soft and sentimental, and his versification (be uses whole family were sold as slaves, on account of
the hexameter exclusively) is very fluent and ele- some offence committed by the father. In conse-
gant. In the invention and management of his quence of this, Bion fell into the hands of a rheto
subjects he is superior to Moschus, but in strength rician, who made him his heir. Having burnt his
and depth of feeling, and in the truthfulness of his patron's library, he went to Athens, and applied
sentiments, he is much inferior to Theocritus. This himself to philosophy, in the course of which study
is particularly visible in the greatest of his extant he embraced the tenets of almost every sect in
poems, 'Enitápos 'Aduvidos. He is usually reck- succession. First he was an Academic and a dis-
oned among the bucolic poets; but it must be reciple of Crates, then a Cynic, afterwards attached
membered that this name is not confined to the to Theodorus (THEODORUS), the philosopher who
subjects it really indicates ; for in the time of Bion carried out the Cyrenaic doctrines into the atheistic
bucolic poetry also embraced that class of poems results which were their natural fruit (ARISTIPPUS),
in which the legends about gods and heroes were and finally he became a pupil of Theophrastus, the
treated from an erotic point of view. The language Peripatetic. He seems to have been a man of con-
of such poems is usually the Doric dialect mixed siderable intellectual acuteness, but utterly profii-
with Attic and Ionic forms. Rare Doric forms, gate, and a notorious unbeliever in the existence
however, occur much less frequently in the poems of God. His habits of life were indeed avowedly
of Bion than in those of Theocritus. In the first infamous, so much so, that he spoke with contempt
editions of Theocritus the poems of Bion are mixed of Socrates for abstaining from crime. Many of
with those of the former; and the first who sepa- Bion's dogmas and sharp sayings are preserved by
rated them was Adolphus Mekerch, in his edition Laërtius : they are generally trite pieces of mora-
of Bion and Moschus. (Bruges, 1565, 4to. ) In lity put in a somewhat pointed shape, though
most of the subsequent editions of Theocritus the hardly brilliant enough to justify Horace in hold-
remains of Bion and Moschus are printed at the ing him up as the type of keen satire, as he does
end, as in those of Winterton, Valckenaer, Brunck, when he speaks of persons delighting Bioneis ser-
Gaisford, and Schaefer. The text of the editions monibus et sale nigro. (Epist. ii. 2. 60. ) Examples
previous to those of Brunck and Valckenaer is that of this wit are his sayings, that “the miser did not
of Henry Stephens, and important corrections were possess wealth, but was possessed by it," that
first made by the former two scholars. The best “impiety was the companion of credulity," "avarice
among the subsequent editions are those of Fr. the unpótonis of rice," that “good slaves are
Jacobs (Gotha, 1795, 8ro. ), Gilb. Wakefield (Lon- really free, and bad freemen really slaves," with
don, 1795), and J. F. Manso (Gotha, 1784, second many others of the same kind. One is preserved
edition, Leipzig, 1807, 8vo. ), which contains an by Cicero (Tusc. iii. 26), viz. that “it is useless to
elaborate dissertation on the life and poetry of tear our hair when we are in grief, since sorrow is
Bion, a commentary, and a German translation. not cured by baldness. " He died at Chalcis in
5. A tragic poet, whom Diogenes Laërtius (iv. Euboea. We learn his mother's name and country
58) describes as hointnis Tpaygoías TÔ Tapouw from Athenaeus (xiii. p. 591,f. 592, a. ) [G. E. L. C. )
deyouévwv. Casaubon (De Sat. Poes. i. 5) remarks, BION, CAECI'LIUS, a writer whose country
64
## p. 490 (#510) ############################################
490
BITIS.
BITUITUS.
is unknown, but who is mentioned by Pliny (Ind. | hostage to Persens, king of Macedonia On the
to H. N. xxviii. ) among the “ Auctores Externi. ” conquest of the latter by Aemilius Paullus in B. c.
Of his date it can only be said, that he must have 168, Bitis fell into the hands of the Romans, and
lived some time in or before the first century after was taken to Rome, where he adorned the triumph
Christ. He wrote a work Tepi Auvánewv, “On of Paullus in 167. After the triumph, he was
the Properties of Plants and other Medicines," sent to Carseoli, but was shortly afterwards restor-
which is not now extant, but which was used by ed to his father, who sent an embassy to Rome to
Pliny. (H. N. xxviii. 57. ) (W. A. G. ) solicit his liberation. (Zonar. ix. 24 ; Liv. xlv. 42;
BIPPUS (BITTOS), an Argire, who was sent by Polyb. xxx. 12. )
the Achaean league as ambassador to Rome in B. C. BITON (BlTwv), the author of a work called
181. (Polyb. xxv. 2, 3. )
κατασκευαι πολεμικών οργάνων και καταπελτι-
BIRCENNA, the daughter of the Illyrian KWv. His history and place of birth are unknown.
Bardyllis, was one of the wives of Pyrrhus. (Plut. He is mentioned by Hesychius (s. v. Laubúkn), by
Pyrrh. 9. )
Heron Junior (de Alach. Bell. proocm), and per-
BISANTI'NUS. [BESANTINUS. ]
haps by Aelian (Tact. c. l), under the name of
BI'TALE (Bitáan), was the daughter of Damo, Biwv. The treatise consists of descriptions-1. Of
and grand-daughter of Pythagoras. (lambl. V'it. a fet pobolov, or machine for throwing stones,
Pyth. c. 28, p. 135. )
[A. G. ) made at Rhodes by Charon the Magnesian. 2. Of
BI'STHANES (Bloodvns), the son of Arta- another at Thessalonica, by Isidorus the Abidene.
xerxes Ochus, met Alexander near Ecbatana, in 3. Of a éNétodos (an apparatus used in besieging
B. C. 330, and informed him of the flight of Dareius cities, see Vitruv. x. 22, and Dict. of Ant. s. r. ),
from that city. (Arrian, Anab. iii. 19. )
made by Poseidonius of Macedon for Alexander
BI'THYAS (Budúas), the commander of a con- the Great. 4. Of a Sambuca (Dict. of Ant. s. v. ),
siderable body of Numidian cavalry, deserted Gu- made by Damius of Colophon. 5.
occasion at the same time to ridicule the obese ro- BI'BULUS, a cognomen of the plebeian Cal-
tundity of person which distinguished the com- pumia gens.
poser. (Hor. Serm. ii. 5. 41, and the notes of the 1. L. CALPURNIUS BIBULUS, obtained each of
Scholiast ; comp. Quintil. viii. 6. S 17. ) The ex- the public magistracies in the same year as C.
istence of the latter depends upon our acknowledg- Julius Caesar. He was curule aedile in B. C. 65,
ing that the “turgidus Alpinus” represented in the praetor in 62, and consul in 59.
Caesar was
epistle to Julius Florus (1. 103) as “murdering anxious to obtain L. Lucceius for his colleague in
Memnon, and polluting by his turbid descriptions the consulship; but as Lucceius was a thorough
the fair fountains of the Rhine, is no other than partizan of Caesar's, while Bibulus was opposed to
Bibaculus. The evidence for this rests entirely him, the aristocratica party used every effort to
upon an emendation introduced by Bentley into secure the election of the latter, and contributed
the text of the old commentators on the above large sums of money for this purpose. (Suet. Caes.
passage, but the correction is so simple, and tallies 19. ) Bibulus, accordingly, gained his election, but
so well with the rest of the annotation, and with was able to do but very little for his party. After
the circumstances of the case, that it may be pro- an ineffectual attempt to oppose Caesar's agrarian
nounced almost certain. The whole question is law, he withdrew from the popular assemblies al-
fully and satisfactorily discussed in the disserta- together, and shut himself up in his own house for
tion of Weichert in bis Poet. Latin. Reliqu. p. 331, the remainder of the year; whence it was said in
&c. Should we think it worth our while to joke, that it was the consulship of Julius and Cae-
inquire into the cause of the enmity thus mani- He confined his opposition to publishing
fested by Horace towards a brother poet whose edicts against Caesar's measures : these were
age might have commanded forbearance if not re widely circulated among his party, and greatly ex-
spect,
it
may perhaps be plausibly ascribed tolled as pieces of composition. (Suet. Caes. 9. 49;
indisposition which had been testified on the part Cic. ad Att. ii. 19, 20; Plut. Pomp. 48 ; comp.
of the elder bard to recognise the merits of his Cic. Brut. 77. ) To vitiate Caesar's measures, he
youthful competitor, and possibly to some expres- also pretended, that he was observing the skies,
sion of indignation at the presumptuous freedom while his colleague was engaged in the comitia
with which Lucilius, the idol and model of the old (Cic. pro Dom. 15); but such kind of opposition
school, had been censured in the earlier productions was not likely to have any effect upon Caesar.
of the Venusian. An additional motive may be On the expiration of his consulship, Bibulus re-
found in the fact, which we learn from the well mained at Rome, as no province had been assigned
known oration of Cremutius Cordus as reported by him. Here he continued to oppose the measures
1. 53;
QUES
**ធ ៩
sar.
tend
E]
of
some
in Libe
merede
5 SEXT
. . $$;
## p. 488 (#508) ############################################
488
BIBULUS.
BION.
of Caesar and Pompey, and prevented the latter / nius, because it was known that their father had
in 56 from restoring in person Ptolemy Auletes to been opposed to the expedition of Gabinius, which
Egypt. When, bowever, a coolness began to arise had been undertaken at the instigation of Pompey.
between Caesar and Pompey, Bibulus supported (Caes. B. C. ii. 110; Val. Max. iv. I. $ 15 ; comp.
the latter, and it was upon his proposal, that Cic. ad Att. vi. 5, ad Fam. ii. 17. )
Pompey was elected sole consul in 52, when the 4. L. CALPURNIUS BIBULUS, the youngest son
republic was almost in a state of anarchy through of No. l, was quite a youth at his father's death
the tumults following the death of Clodius. In the (Plut. Brut. 13), after which he lived at Rome
following year, 51, Bibulus obtained a province in with M. Brutus, who married his mother Porcia.
consequence of a law of Pompey's, which provided He went to Athens in B. C. 45 to prosecute his
that no future consul or praetor should have a pro- studies (Cic. ad Att. xii. 32), and appears to have
vince till five years after the expiration of his joined his step-father Brutus after the death of Cae
magistracy. As the magistrates for the time being sar in 44, in consequence of which he was proscribed
were thus excluded, it was provided that all men by the trium virs. He was present at the battle of
of consular or praetorian rank who had not held Philippi in 42, and shortly after surrendered him-
provinces, should now draw lots for the vacant ones. self to Antony, who pardoned him and promoted
In consequence of this measure Bibulus went to him to the command of his fleet, whence we find on
Syria as proconsul about the same time as Cicero soine of the coins of Antony the inscription L.
went to Cilicia. The eastern provinces of the Ro BiBuLUS PRAEF. CLAS. (Eckhel, v. p. 161, vi.
man empire were then in the greatest alarm, as the p. 57. ) He was frequently employed by Antony
Parthians had crossed the Euphrates, but they in the negotiations between himself and Augustus,
were driven back shortly before the arrival of and was finally promoted by the former to the go-
Bibulus by C. Cassius, the proquaestor. Cicero vernment of Syria, where he died shortly before the
was very jealous of this victory which had been battle of Actium. (Appian, B. C. iv. 38, 104, 136,
gained in a neighbouring province, and took good v. 132. ) Bibulus wrote the Memorabilia of his
eare to let his friends know that Bibulus had no step-father, a small work which Plutarch made use
share in it When Bibulus obtained a thanks- of in writing the life of Brutus. (Plut. Brut. 13,
giving of twenty days consequence of the vic- 23. )
tory, Cicero complained bitterly, to his friends, C. BI'BULUS, an aedile mentioned by Tacitus
that Bibulus had made false representations to the (Ann. iii. 52) in the reign of Tiberius, A. D. 22,
senate. Although great fears were entertained, appears to be the same as the L. Publicius Bibulus,
that the invasion would be repeated, the Parthians a plebeian aedile, to whom the senate granted a
did not appear for the next year. Bibulus left the burial-place both for himself and his posterity.
province with the reputation of having administered (Orelli, Inscr. n. 4698. )
its internal affairs with integrity and zeal.
BILIENIS. [BELLIENUS. ]
On his return to the west in 49, Bibulus was BION (Blwv). 1. Of Proconnesus, a contem-
appointed by Pompey commander of his fleet in porary of Pherecydes of Syros, who consequently
the Ionian sea to prevent Caesar from crossing lived about B. c. 560. He is mentioned by Dio-
over into Greece. Caesar, however, contrived to genes Laërtius (iv. 58) as the author of two works
elude his vigilance; and Bibulus fell in with only which he does not specify; but we must infer from
thirty ships returning to Italy after landing Clemens of Alexandria (Strom. vi. p. 267), that one
some troops. Enraged at his disappointment, he of these was an abridgement of the work of the
burnt these ships with their crews. This was in ancient historian, Cadmus of Miletus.
the winter; and his own men suffered much from 2. A mathematician of Abdera, and a pupil of
cold and want of fuel and water, as Caesar was Democritus. He wrote both in the lonic and Attic
now in possession of the eastern coast and pre dialects, and was the first who said that there were
vented his crews from landing. Sickness broke some parts of the earth in which it was night for
out among his men; Bibulus himself fell ill, and six months, while the remaining six months were
died in the beginning of the year 48, near Corcyra, one uninterrupted day. (Diog. Laërt. iv. 58. ) He
before the battle of Dyrrhachium. (Caes. B. C. ii. is probably the same as the one whom Strabo (i.
5-18; Dion Cass. xli. 48; Plut. Brut. 13; Oros. p. 29) calls an astrologer.
yi. 15; Cic. Brut. 77. )
3. Of Soli, is mentioned by Diogenes Laërtius
Bibulus was not a man of much ability, and is (iv. 58) as the author of a work on Aethiopia
chiefly indebted for his celebrity to the fact of his (A1010miká), of which a few fragments are preserved
being one of Caesar's principal, though not most in Pliny (vi. 35), Athenaeus (xiii. p. 566), and in
formidable, opponents. He married Porcia, the Cramer's Anecdota (iii. p. 415). Whether he is
daughter of M. Porcius Cato Uticensis, by whom the same as the one from whom Plutarch (Thes.
he had three sons mentioned below. (Orelli, Ono 26) quotes a tradition respecting the Amazons,
mast. Tull. p. 119, &c. ; Drumann's Gesch. Roms, and from whom Agathias (il. 25; comp. Syncellus,
ii. p. 97, &c. )
p. 676, ed. Dindorf) quotes a statement respecting
2. 3. CALPURNU Bibuli, two sons of the pre- the history of Assyria, is uncertain. Varro (De
ceding, whose praenomens are unknown, were Re Rust. i. 1) mentions Bion of Soli among the
murdered in Egypt, B, C. 50, by the soldiers of writers on agriculture ; and Pliny refers to the
Gabinius. Their father bore his loss with fortitude same or similar works, in the Elenchi to several
though he deeply felt it; and when the murderers books. (Lib. 8, 10, 14, 15, 17, 18. ) Some think
of his children were subsequently delivered up to that Bion of Soli is the same as Caecilius Bion.
him by Cleopatra, he sent them back, saying that (Biox, CAECILIUS.
]
their punishment was not his duty but that of the 4. Of Smyrna, or rather of the small place of
eenate. Bibulus bad probably sent his sons into Phlossa on the river Meles, near Smyrna. " (Suid.
Egypt to solicit aid against the Parthians; and they | s. r. CÓRPITOS. ) All that we know about him is
may have been murdered by the soldiers of Gabi- | the little that can be inferred from the third Idyl
## p. 489 (#509) ############################################
BION.
489
BION.
of Moschus, who laments his untimely death. The that Diogenes by these words meant to describe a
time at which he lived can be pretty accurately poet whose works bore the character of extempore
determined by the fact, that he was older than poetry, of which the inhabitants of Tarsus were
Moschus, who calls himself the pupil of Bion. particularly fond (Strab. xiv. p. 674), and that
(Mosch. ji:. 96, &c. ) His fiourishing period must Bion lived shortly before or at the time of Strabo.
therefore bave very ncarly coincided with that of Suidas (s. v. Aloxúxos) mentions a son of Aeschylus
Theocritus, and must be fixed at about B. C. 280. of the name of Bion who was likewise a tragic
Moschus states, that Bion left his native country poet; but nothing further is known about him.
and spent the last years of his life in Sicily, culti- 6. A melic poet, about whom no particulars are
vating bucolic poetry, the natural growth of that known. (Diog. Laërt. iv. 58; Eudoc. p. 94. )
island. Whether he also visited Macedonia and 7. A Greek sophist, who is said to have censured
Thrace, as Moschus (iii. 17, &c. ) intimates, is un- Homer for not giving a true account of the events
certain, since it may be that Moschus mentions he describes. (Acron, ad Ilorat. Epist. ii. 2. ) He
those countries only because he calls Bion the Do is perhaps the same as one of the two rhetoricians
ric Orpheus. He died of poison, which had been of this name.
administered to him by several persons, who after- 8. The name of two Greek rhetoricians; the one,
wards received their well-deserved punishment for a native of Syracuse, was the author of theoretical
the crime. With respect to the relation of master works on rhetoric (Téxvas ønTopixds yeypapus);
and pupil between Bion and Moschus, we cannot the other, whose native country is unknown, was
say anything with certainty, except that the resem- said to have written a work in nine books,
blance between the productions of the two poets which bore the names of the nine Muses. (Diog.
obliges us to suppose, at least, that Moschus imi- Laërt. iv. 58. )
(L. S. ]
tated Bion; and this may, in fact, be all that is BION (Biwv), a Scythian philosopher, surnamed
meant when Moschus calls himself a disciple of BorystHENITES, from the town of Oczacoria, Ol-
the latter. The subjects of Bion's poetry, viz. bia, or Borysthenes, near the mouth of the Dnieper,
shepherds' and love-songs, are beautifully described lived about B. c. 250, but the exact dates of hịs
by Moschus (iii. 82, &c. ); but we can now form birth and death are uncertain. Strabo (i. p. 15)
only a partial judgment on the spirit and style of mentions him as a contemporary of Eratosthenes,
his poetry, on account of the fragmentary condition who was born B. c. 275. Laërtius (iv. 4fi, &c. )
in which his works have come down to us. Some has preserved an account which Bion himself gave
of his idyls, as his poems are usually called, are of his parentage to Antigonus Gonatas, king of
extant entire, but of others we have only frag- Macedonia. His father was a freedman, and his
ments. Their style is very refined, the sentiments mother, Olympia, a Lacedaemonian harlot, and the
soft and sentimental, and his versification (be uses whole family were sold as slaves, on account of
the hexameter exclusively) is very fluent and ele- some offence committed by the father. In conse-
gant. In the invention and management of his quence of this, Bion fell into the hands of a rheto
subjects he is superior to Moschus, but in strength rician, who made him his heir. Having burnt his
and depth of feeling, and in the truthfulness of his patron's library, he went to Athens, and applied
sentiments, he is much inferior to Theocritus. This himself to philosophy, in the course of which study
is particularly visible in the greatest of his extant he embraced the tenets of almost every sect in
poems, 'Enitápos 'Aduvidos. He is usually reck- succession. First he was an Academic and a dis-
oned among the bucolic poets; but it must be reciple of Crates, then a Cynic, afterwards attached
membered that this name is not confined to the to Theodorus (THEODORUS), the philosopher who
subjects it really indicates ; for in the time of Bion carried out the Cyrenaic doctrines into the atheistic
bucolic poetry also embraced that class of poems results which were their natural fruit (ARISTIPPUS),
in which the legends about gods and heroes were and finally he became a pupil of Theophrastus, the
treated from an erotic point of view. The language Peripatetic. He seems to have been a man of con-
of such poems is usually the Doric dialect mixed siderable intellectual acuteness, but utterly profii-
with Attic and Ionic forms. Rare Doric forms, gate, and a notorious unbeliever in the existence
however, occur much less frequently in the poems of God. His habits of life were indeed avowedly
of Bion than in those of Theocritus. In the first infamous, so much so, that he spoke with contempt
editions of Theocritus the poems of Bion are mixed of Socrates for abstaining from crime. Many of
with those of the former; and the first who sepa- Bion's dogmas and sharp sayings are preserved by
rated them was Adolphus Mekerch, in his edition Laërtius : they are generally trite pieces of mora-
of Bion and Moschus. (Bruges, 1565, 4to. ) In lity put in a somewhat pointed shape, though
most of the subsequent editions of Theocritus the hardly brilliant enough to justify Horace in hold-
remains of Bion and Moschus are printed at the ing him up as the type of keen satire, as he does
end, as in those of Winterton, Valckenaer, Brunck, when he speaks of persons delighting Bioneis ser-
Gaisford, and Schaefer. The text of the editions monibus et sale nigro. (Epist. ii. 2. 60. ) Examples
previous to those of Brunck and Valckenaer is that of this wit are his sayings, that “the miser did not
of Henry Stephens, and important corrections were possess wealth, but was possessed by it," that
first made by the former two scholars. The best “impiety was the companion of credulity," "avarice
among the subsequent editions are those of Fr. the unpótonis of rice," that “good slaves are
Jacobs (Gotha, 1795, 8ro. ), Gilb. Wakefield (Lon- really free, and bad freemen really slaves," with
don, 1795), and J. F. Manso (Gotha, 1784, second many others of the same kind. One is preserved
edition, Leipzig, 1807, 8vo. ), which contains an by Cicero (Tusc. iii. 26), viz. that “it is useless to
elaborate dissertation on the life and poetry of tear our hair when we are in grief, since sorrow is
Bion, a commentary, and a German translation. not cured by baldness. " He died at Chalcis in
5. A tragic poet, whom Diogenes Laërtius (iv. Euboea. We learn his mother's name and country
58) describes as hointnis Tpaygoías TÔ Tapouw from Athenaeus (xiii. p. 591,f. 592, a. ) [G. E. L. C. )
deyouévwv. Casaubon (De Sat. Poes. i. 5) remarks, BION, CAECI'LIUS, a writer whose country
64
## p. 490 (#510) ############################################
490
BITIS.
BITUITUS.
is unknown, but who is mentioned by Pliny (Ind. | hostage to Persens, king of Macedonia On the
to H. N. xxviii. ) among the “ Auctores Externi. ” conquest of the latter by Aemilius Paullus in B. c.
Of his date it can only be said, that he must have 168, Bitis fell into the hands of the Romans, and
lived some time in or before the first century after was taken to Rome, where he adorned the triumph
Christ. He wrote a work Tepi Auvánewv, “On of Paullus in 167. After the triumph, he was
the Properties of Plants and other Medicines," sent to Carseoli, but was shortly afterwards restor-
which is not now extant, but which was used by ed to his father, who sent an embassy to Rome to
Pliny. (H. N. xxviii. 57. ) (W. A. G. ) solicit his liberation. (Zonar. ix. 24 ; Liv. xlv. 42;
BIPPUS (BITTOS), an Argire, who was sent by Polyb. xxx. 12. )
the Achaean league as ambassador to Rome in B. C. BITON (BlTwv), the author of a work called
181. (Polyb. xxv. 2, 3. )
κατασκευαι πολεμικών οργάνων και καταπελτι-
BIRCENNA, the daughter of the Illyrian KWv. His history and place of birth are unknown.
Bardyllis, was one of the wives of Pyrrhus. (Plut. He is mentioned by Hesychius (s. v. Laubúkn), by
Pyrrh. 9. )
Heron Junior (de Alach. Bell. proocm), and per-
BISANTI'NUS. [BESANTINUS. ]
haps by Aelian (Tact. c. l), under the name of
BI'TALE (Bitáan), was the daughter of Damo, Biwv. The treatise consists of descriptions-1. Of
and grand-daughter of Pythagoras. (lambl. V'it. a fet pobolov, or machine for throwing stones,
Pyth. c. 28, p. 135. )
[A. G. ) made at Rhodes by Charon the Magnesian. 2. Of
BI'STHANES (Bloodvns), the son of Arta- another at Thessalonica, by Isidorus the Abidene.
xerxes Ochus, met Alexander near Ecbatana, in 3. Of a éNétodos (an apparatus used in besieging
B. C. 330, and informed him of the flight of Dareius cities, see Vitruv. x. 22, and Dict. of Ant. s. r. ),
from that city. (Arrian, Anab. iii. 19. )
made by Poseidonius of Macedon for Alexander
BI'THYAS (Budúas), the commander of a con- the Great. 4. Of a Sambuca (Dict. of Ant. s. v. ),
siderable body of Numidian cavalry, deserted Gu- made by Damius of Colophon. 5.
