149) mentions the
portions of the work, by Maximus Planudes (first eleventh book.
portions of the work, by Maximus Planudes (first eleventh book.
William Smith - 1844 - Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities - a
3, 4.
) lib.
i.
c.
4.
)
He naturally rose into public notice, became patri- With the facts stated above have been mixed
cian before the usual age (Consol. Phil. ii. 3), consulup various stories, more or less disputed, which
in A. D. 510, as appears from the diptychon of his seem to have grown with the growth of his post-
consulship still preserved in Brescia (See Fabric. humous reputation.
Bill. Lat. iii. 15), and princeps senatus. (Procop. 1. The story of his eighteen years' stay at
Goth. i. 1. ) He also attracted the attention of Athens, and attendance on the lectures of Proclus,
Theodoric, king of the Ostrogoths, was appointed rests only on the authority of the spurious treatise
(Anonym. Valos. p. 36) magister officiorum in his “ De Disciplina Scholarium," proved by Thoniasius
court, and was applied to by him for a mathemati- to have been written by Thomas Brabantinus, or
cal regulation of the coinage to prevent forgery Cantipratinus. The sentence of Cassiodorus (i. 45)
## p. 496 (#516) ############################################
496
BOETHIUS.
BOETHIUS.
socer-
inaccurately quoted by Gibbon (" Atheniensium | the opposite hypothesis, viz. that Boëthius was not
scholas (not Athenas] longè positus (not positas) a Christian at all, and that the theological works
introisti") as a proof of his visit to Athens, is ascribed to himn were written by another Boethius,
really a statement of the reverse, being a rhetorical who was afterwards confounded with him ; and
assertion of the fact, that though living at Rome, hence the origin or confirmation of the mistake.
he was well acquainted with the philosophy of In favour of this theory may be mentioned, over
Greece. Compare the similar expressions in the and above the general argument arising from the
same letter : “ Plato . . . Aristoteles . . . Quirinali Consolatio Philosophiae, (1. ) The number of per-
voce discrptant. ”
sons of the name of Boëthius in or about that
2. The three consulships sometimes ascribed to time. See Fabric. Bill. Lat. iii. 15. (2. ) The
him are made up from that of his father in 487, tendency of that age to confound persons of in-
and that of his sons in 522.
ferior note with their more famous namesakes, as
3. Besides his wife, Rusticiana, later and espe- well as to publish anonymous works under cele-
cially Sicilian writers have supposed, that he was brated names ; as, for example, the ascription
previously the husband of a Sicilian lady, Elpis, to St. Athanasius of the hymn “ Quicunqne vult,"
authoress of two hymns used in the Breviary or to St. Dionysius the Areopagite, of the works
(“ Decora lux," and “ Beate Pastor," or according which go under his name. (3. ) The evidently
to others, “ Aurea luce," and "Felix per omnes"), fabulous character of all the events in his life
and by her to have had two sons, Patricius and alleged to prove his Christianity. (4. ) The ten-
Hypatius, Greek consuls in A. D. 500. But this dency which appears increasingly onwards through
has no ground in history : the expression the middle ages to Christianize eininent beathens ;
orum," in Consol. Phil. ii. 3, refers not to two as, for example, the embodiment of such traditions
fathers-in-law, but to the parents of Rusticiana ; with regard to Trajan, Virgil, and Statius, in the
and the epitaph of Elpis, which is the only authen. Divina Comedia of Dante. Still sufficient difficul-
tic record of her life, contradicts the story altoge- ties remain to prevent an implicit acquiescence in
ther, by implying that she followed her husband this hypothesis. Though no author quotes the
(who is not named) into exile, which would of theological works of Boëthius before llincmar (A. D.
course leave no time for luis second marriage and 850), yet there is no trace of any doubt as to their
children. (See Tiraboschi, vol. iii. lib. i. c. 4. ) genuineness ; and also, though the general tone of
4. Paulus Diaconus (book vii. ), Anastasius (Vit. the Consolatio is heathen, a few phrases seem to
Pontif. in Joanne I. ), and later writers, have savour of a belief in Christianity, e. g. angelica
connected his death with the embassy of pope virtute (ir. 5), patriam for “ heaven" (v. 1, iv. 1),
John I. to Constantinople for the protection of the veri praevia luminis (iv. 1).
Catholics, in which he is alleged to have been im- After all, however the critical question be
plicated. But this story, not being alluded to in settled, the character of Boëthius is not much
the earlier accounts, appears to have arisen, like affected by it. For as it must be determined al-
the last-mentioned one, from the desire to connect most entirely from the “ Consolatio," in which be
his name more distinctly with Christianity, which speaks with his whole heart, and not from the
leads to the last and most signal variation in his abstract statements of doctrine in the theological
history.
treatises, which, even if genuine, are chiefly com-
5. He was long considered as a Catholic saint piled with hardly an expression of personal feel-
and martyr, and in later times stories were current ing, from the works of St. Augustin, on the one
of his having been a friend of St. Benedict, and hand the general silence on the subject of Chris-
having supped at Monte Cassino (Trithemius, ap. tianity in such a book at such a period of his life,
Fabric. Bibl. Lat. ii. 15), and again of miracles at proves that, if he was a Christian, its doctrines
his death, as carrying his head in his hand (Life could hardly have been a part of his living belief ;
of him by Martianus, ap. Baron. Annal. A. D. 526, on the other hand, the incidental phrases above
No. 17, 18), which last indeed probably arose quoted, the strong religious theism which perrades
from the fact of this being the symbolical represen- the whole work, the real belief which it indicates
tation of martyrdom by decapitation; as the parti- in prayer and Providence, and the unusually high
cular day of his death (Oct. 23) was probably tone of his public life, prove that, if a heathen, his
fixed by its being the day of two other saints of general character must have been deeply tinged
the same name of Severinus.
by the contemporaneous influence of Christianity.
Whatever may be thought of these details, the He would thus seem to have been one of a pro-
question of his Christianity itself is beset with bably large class of men, such as will always be
difficulties in whichever way it may be determined. found in epochs between the fall of one system of
On the one hand, if the works on dogmatical theo belief and the rise of another, and who by hovering
logy ascribed to him be really his, the question is on the confines of each can hardly be assigned ex-
settled in the affirmative. But, in that case, the clusively to either, one who, like Epictetus and
total omission of all mention of Christianity in the the Antonines, and, nearer his own time, the poet
“ Consolatio Philosophiae,” in passages and under Claudian and the historian Zosimus, was by his
circumstances where its mention seemed to be im- deep attachment to the institutions and literature
peratively demanded, becomes so great a perplexity of Greece and Rome led to look for practical sup-
that various expedients have been adopted to solve it. port to a heathen or half-heathen philosophy ;
Bertius conjectured, that there was to have been whilst like them, but in a greater degree, his
a sixth book, which was interrupted by his death. religious and moral views received an elevation
Glareanus, though partly on other grounds, with the from their contact with the now established faith
independent judgment for which he is commended of Christianity.
by Niebuhr, rejected the work itself as spurious. The middle position which he thus occupied by
Finally, Professor Hand, in Ersch and Gruber's his personal character and belief, he also occupies
Encyclopädie, bas with much ingenuity maintained | in the general history and literature of the world.
## p. 497 (#517) ############################################
BOETHIUS.
497
BOETHUS.
I
Being the last Roman of any note who understood | literary point of view, it is a dialogue between
the language and studied the literature of Greece, himself and Philosophy, much in the style of the
and living on the boundary of the ancient and Pastor of Hermas,- a work which it resembles in
modern world, he is one of the most important links the liveliness of personification, though inferior to
between them. As it had been the great object of it in variety and superior in diction. The alter-
his public life to protect the declining fortunes of nation of prose and verse is thought to have been
Rome against the oppression of the barbarian in- suggested by the nearly contemporary work of
vaders, so it was the great object of his literary Marcianus Capella on the nuptials of Mercury and
life to keep alive the expiring light of Greck | Philology. The verses are almost entirely bor-
literature amidst the growing ignorance of the age. rowed from Seneca.
The complete ruin of the ancient world, which fol- 2. De Unitate et Uno, and De Arithmetica libri
lowed almost immediately on his death, imparted ii. ; 3. De Musica libri v. ; 4. De Geometria libri
to this object an importance and to himself a ii. ; 5. In Porphyrii Phoenicis Isagogen de Praedi-
celebrity far beyond what he could ever have cabilibus a Victorino translatam Diologi ii. ; 6. In
anticipated. In the total ignorance of Greek eandem a se Latine versam Expositio secunda libris
writers which prevailed from the 6th to the 14th totidem ; 7. In Categorias Aristotelis libri ii. ; 8.
century, he was looked upon as the head and type In librum Aristotelis de Interpretatione Minorum
of all philosophers, as Augustin was of all theology Commentariorum libri ii. , and a second ed. called
and Virgil of all literature, and hence the tendency Comment. Majora, in 6 books; 9. Analyticorum
throughout the middle ages to invest him with a Aristotelis priorum et posteriorum libri iv. ; 10. In-
distinctly Christian and almost miraculous charac- troductio ad Categoricos Syllogismos ; 11. De Syllo-
ter. In Dante, e. g. he is thus described (Parad. x. gismo Categorico libri ii. , and De Hypothetico libri
124):
ii. ; 12. De Divisione, and De Definitione ; 13. To-
Per veder ogni ben dentro vi gode
picorum Aristotelis libri viii. ; 14. Elenchorum So-
L'anima santa, che 'l mondo fallaco
phisticorum libri ii. ; 15. In Topica Ciceronis libri
Fa manifesto a chi di lei ben ode;
vi. ; 16. De Differentiis Topicis libri iv. The first
Lo corpo, ond 'ella fu cacciata, giace
collected edition of his works was published at
Giuso in Cieldauro, ed essa da martiro Venet, fol. , 1491 (or 1492); the best and most
E da esiglio venne a questa pace.
complete at Basel, 1570, fol.
After the introduction of the works of Aristotle into The chief ancient authorities for his life are the
Furope in the 13th century, Boëthius's fame gradu- Epistles of Ennodius and Cassiodorus, and the
ally died away, and he affords a remarkable instance History of Procopius. The chief modern autho-
of an author, who having served a great purpose for rities are Fabric. Bibl. Lat. iii. 15; Tiraboschi,
nearly 1000 years, now that that purpose has been vol. iii
. lib. 1. cap. 4 ; Hand, in Ersch and Gruber's
accomplished, will sink into obscurity as general as Encyclopädie ; Barberini, Crit. storica Exposizione
was once his celebrity. The first author who della Vita di Sev. Boezio, Pavia, 1783 ; Heyne,
quotes his works is Hincmar (i. 211, 460, 474, Censura ingenii, &c. Boethii, Gottin. 1806. [A. P. S. )
521), A. D. 850, and in the subsequent literature BOE'THUS (Bondos). 1. A Stoic philosopher
of the middle ages the Consolatio gave birth to who perhaps lived even before the time of Chrysippus,
imitations, translations, and commentaries, in- and was the author of several works. One of them
numerable. (Warton's Eng. Poet. ii. 342, 343. ) was entitled nepl púoews, from which Diogenes
Of four classics in the Paris library in A. D. 1306 Laërtius (vii. 148) quotes his opinion about the
this was one. (lb. i. p. cxii. ) Of translations the essence of God; another was called Tepl eiuapuémns,
most famous were one into Greek, of the poetical of which the same writer (vii.
149) mentions the
portions of the work, by Maximus Planudes (first eleventh book. This latter work is, in all proba-
published by Weber, Darmstadt, 1833), into bility the one to which Cicero refers in his treatise
Hebrew by Ben Banschet (Wolf. Bibl. Heb. i. on Divination (i. 8, ii. 21). Philo (ue Mund.
229, 1092, 243, 354, 369; Fabric. Bibl. Lat. ii. incorrupt. i. p. 497, ed. Mangey) mentions him
15), into old High German at the beginning of the together with Posidonius, and it is not improbable
llih century, by St. Gallen ; into French by J. that this Boëthus is the one mentioned by Plu-
Meun, in 1300, at the order of Philip the Fair ; tarch. (De Placit. Philos. iii. 2. )
but above all, that into Anglo-Saxon by Alfred 2. An Epicurean philosopher and geometrician,
the Great, which is doubly interesting, (1. ) as one who is mentioned by Plutarch (de Pyth. Orac. p.
of the earliest specimens of Anglo-Saxon literature; 396, d. ), and is introduced by the same writer in
(2. ) as the chief literary relic of Alfred himself, the Symposiaca (v. 1, p. 673, c. ); but nothing fur-
whose own mind appears not only in the freedom ther is known about him.
of the translation, but also in large original inser- 3. A Platonic philosopher and grammarian, who
tions relative to the kingly office, or to Christian wrote a Lexicon to Plato's works (ouvaywyd
history, which last fact strikingly illustrates the aétewr MatwVIK@v), dedicated to Melanthus,
total absence of any such in Boëthius's own work. which Photius (Cod. 154) preferred to the similar
(Of this the best edition is by J. S. Cardale, with work of Timaeus still extant. Another work on
notes and translation, 1828. )
the ambiguous words of Plato (περί των παρα Πλα-
Of imitations may be mentioned (1), Chaucer's Twvi atopoumevwv détewv) was dedicated to Athe-
Testament of Love. (Warion's Eng. Poct
. ii. 295. ) nagoras. (Phot. Cod. 155. ) Whether he is the
2. Consolatio Monachorum, by Echard, 1130. 3. same as the Boëthus who wrote an exegesis to the
Consolatio Theologiae, by Gerson. 4. The King's Phaenomena of Aratus (Geminus, Introd. ad Phaen.
Complaint, by James I. 5. An Imitation, by 14) is uncertain, and also whether he is the one
Charles, Duke of Orleans, in the 15th century. against whom Porphyrius wrote his work repl
Boëthius's own works are as follow :---1. De tuxñs. (Euseb. Pruep. Evang. xiv. 10, xv. 11, 16 ;
Consolatione Philosophiae. Of its moral and comp. Hesych. s. v. Ola návtwv spotńs; Aenens,
religious character no more need be said. In a Gaz. Theophr. p. 16. )
(L. S. ]
2 к
## p. 498 (#518) ############################################
498
BOGUD.
BOLUS.
BOE'THUS (Bóndos), surnamed SIDONIUS, was find Bogud zealously lending his aid to Cassius
born at Sidon in Phoenicia. As he is called a dis- Longinus, Caesar's pro-praetor in further Spain, to
ciple of the Peripatetic Andronicus of Rhodes qucll the sedition in that province. (Hirt. Bell.
(Ammon. Herm. Comment. in Aristot. Categ. p. 8, Aler. 62. ) Again, during Caesar's campaign in
ed. Ald. 1546), he must have travelled at an early Africa, B. c. 46, Mauretania was invaded unsuccess-
age to Rome and Athens, in which cities Andro- fully by the young Cn. Pompey; and when Juba,
nicus is known to have taught. Strabo (xvi. p. the Numidian, was hastening to join his forces to
757), who mentions him and his brother Diodotus those of Q. Metellus Scipio, Bogud attacked his
among the celebrated persons of Sidon, speaks of dominions at the instigation of the Roman exile
him at the same time as his own teacher in the P. Sitius, and obliged him to return for their de-
Peripatetic philosophy: Among his works, all of fence. (Hirt. Bell. Afric. 23, 25, comp. c. 95 ;
which are now lost, there was one on the nature Dion Cass. xliii. 3. ) In Caesar's war in Spain
of the soul, and also a commentary on Aristotle's against Pompey's sons, B. C. 45, Bogud joined the
Categories, which is mentioned by Ammonius in former in person ; and it was indeed by his attack
his commentary on the same work of Aristotle.
on the camp of Cn. Pompey at the battle of Munda
Ammonius quotes also an opinion of Boëthus con- that Labienus was drawn from his post in the field
cerning the study of the works of Aristotle, viz. to cover it, and the scale was thus turned in Cae-
that the student should begin with the Physics sar's favour. (Dion Cass. xliii. 38. ) After the
(åró tñs quoinñs), whereas Andronicus had main murder of Caesar, Bogud espoused the side of
trined, that the beginning should be made and Antony, and it was perbaps for the furtherance of
της λογικής, ήτις περί την απόδειξιν γίνεται. | these interests that he crossed over to Spain in
(Fabric. Bibl. Graec iii. p. 480; Schneider, Epi- B. c. 38, and so lost his kingdom through a revolt of
metrum III. ad Aristot. Hist. Anim. p. xcv. ; his subjects, fomented in his absence by Bocchus.
Buhle, Aristot. Opera, i. p. 297; Stahr, Aristotelia, This prince's usurpation was confirmed by Octa-
ii. p. 129, &c. )
[A. S. ] vius, and seems to have been accompanied with the
BOE'THUS (Bondós), the author of an epigram gift of a freer constitution to the Tingitanians.
in the Greek Anthology in praise of Pylades, a (Dion Cass. xlviii. 45. ) Upon this, Bogud betook
pantomime in the time of Augustus, was a native himself into Greece to Antony, for whom we after-
of Tarsus. Strabo (xiv. p. 674) describes him as wards find him holding the town of Methone, at
a bad citizen and a bad poet, who gained the the capture of which by Agrippa he lost his life
favour of Antony by some verses on the battle of about the end of B. C. 32 or the beginning of 31.
Philippi, and was set by him over the gymnasium (Dion Cass. I. 11. )
[E. E. )
and public games in Tarsus. In this office he was BOIOCALUS, the leader of the Ansibarii, a
guilty of peculation, but escaped punishment br German people, was a man of great renown, and
flattering Antony. He was afterwards expelled had long been faithful to the Romans, but made
from Tarsus by Athenodorus, with the approbation war against them in A. D. 59. (Tac. Ann. xiii.
of Augustus.
[P. S. ] 55, 56. )
BOE'THUS (Bondós), a sculptor and embosser BOIORIX, a chieftain of the the Boii, who in
or chaser of Carthage (Paus. v. 17. S 1) of uncer- B. C. 194, together with his two brothers, excitrd
tain age. Pliny (H. N. xxxiii. 12. s. 55) praises his countrymen to revolt from the Romans, and
his excellence in embossing and (xxxiv. 8. 6. 19) fought an indecisive battle with Tib. Sempronius,
in sculpture. Muller (Handb. d. Arch. § 159. 1) the consul, who had advanced into his territory.
suspects, and not without good reason, that the read- The Boii continued to give the Romans trouble for
ing Kapxndóvios is corrupted out of Kan xudovios. several successive years, till their reduction by
The artist would then not be an inhabitant or even Scipio in B. c. 191; but of Boiorix himself we find
a native of the barbarian Carthage, but of the no further mention in Livy. (Liv. xxxiv. 46, 47,
Greek town of Chalcedon in Asia Minor. [ACRA- 56, xxxv.
He naturally rose into public notice, became patri- With the facts stated above have been mixed
cian before the usual age (Consol. Phil. ii. 3), consulup various stories, more or less disputed, which
in A. D. 510, as appears from the diptychon of his seem to have grown with the growth of his post-
consulship still preserved in Brescia (See Fabric. humous reputation.
Bill. Lat. iii. 15), and princeps senatus. (Procop. 1. The story of his eighteen years' stay at
Goth. i. 1. ) He also attracted the attention of Athens, and attendance on the lectures of Proclus,
Theodoric, king of the Ostrogoths, was appointed rests only on the authority of the spurious treatise
(Anonym. Valos. p. 36) magister officiorum in his “ De Disciplina Scholarium," proved by Thoniasius
court, and was applied to by him for a mathemati- to have been written by Thomas Brabantinus, or
cal regulation of the coinage to prevent forgery Cantipratinus. The sentence of Cassiodorus (i. 45)
## p. 496 (#516) ############################################
496
BOETHIUS.
BOETHIUS.
socer-
inaccurately quoted by Gibbon (" Atheniensium | the opposite hypothesis, viz. that Boëthius was not
scholas (not Athenas] longè positus (not positas) a Christian at all, and that the theological works
introisti") as a proof of his visit to Athens, is ascribed to himn were written by another Boethius,
really a statement of the reverse, being a rhetorical who was afterwards confounded with him ; and
assertion of the fact, that though living at Rome, hence the origin or confirmation of the mistake.
he was well acquainted with the philosophy of In favour of this theory may be mentioned, over
Greece. Compare the similar expressions in the and above the general argument arising from the
same letter : “ Plato . . . Aristoteles . . . Quirinali Consolatio Philosophiae, (1. ) The number of per-
voce discrptant. ”
sons of the name of Boëthius in or about that
2. The three consulships sometimes ascribed to time. See Fabric. Bill. Lat. iii. 15. (2. ) The
him are made up from that of his father in 487, tendency of that age to confound persons of in-
and that of his sons in 522.
ferior note with their more famous namesakes, as
3. Besides his wife, Rusticiana, later and espe- well as to publish anonymous works under cele-
cially Sicilian writers have supposed, that he was brated names ; as, for example, the ascription
previously the husband of a Sicilian lady, Elpis, to St. Athanasius of the hymn “ Quicunqne vult,"
authoress of two hymns used in the Breviary or to St. Dionysius the Areopagite, of the works
(“ Decora lux," and “ Beate Pastor," or according which go under his name. (3. ) The evidently
to others, “ Aurea luce," and "Felix per omnes"), fabulous character of all the events in his life
and by her to have had two sons, Patricius and alleged to prove his Christianity. (4. ) The ten-
Hypatius, Greek consuls in A. D. 500. But this dency which appears increasingly onwards through
has no ground in history : the expression the middle ages to Christianize eininent beathens ;
orum," in Consol. Phil. ii. 3, refers not to two as, for example, the embodiment of such traditions
fathers-in-law, but to the parents of Rusticiana ; with regard to Trajan, Virgil, and Statius, in the
and the epitaph of Elpis, which is the only authen. Divina Comedia of Dante. Still sufficient difficul-
tic record of her life, contradicts the story altoge- ties remain to prevent an implicit acquiescence in
ther, by implying that she followed her husband this hypothesis. Though no author quotes the
(who is not named) into exile, which would of theological works of Boëthius before llincmar (A. D.
course leave no time for luis second marriage and 850), yet there is no trace of any doubt as to their
children. (See Tiraboschi, vol. iii. lib. i. c. 4. ) genuineness ; and also, though the general tone of
4. Paulus Diaconus (book vii. ), Anastasius (Vit. the Consolatio is heathen, a few phrases seem to
Pontif. in Joanne I. ), and later writers, have savour of a belief in Christianity, e. g. angelica
connected his death with the embassy of pope virtute (ir. 5), patriam for “ heaven" (v. 1, iv. 1),
John I. to Constantinople for the protection of the veri praevia luminis (iv. 1).
Catholics, in which he is alleged to have been im- After all, however the critical question be
plicated. But this story, not being alluded to in settled, the character of Boëthius is not much
the earlier accounts, appears to have arisen, like affected by it. For as it must be determined al-
the last-mentioned one, from the desire to connect most entirely from the “ Consolatio," in which be
his name more distinctly with Christianity, which speaks with his whole heart, and not from the
leads to the last and most signal variation in his abstract statements of doctrine in the theological
history.
treatises, which, even if genuine, are chiefly com-
5. He was long considered as a Catholic saint piled with hardly an expression of personal feel-
and martyr, and in later times stories were current ing, from the works of St. Augustin, on the one
of his having been a friend of St. Benedict, and hand the general silence on the subject of Chris-
having supped at Monte Cassino (Trithemius, ap. tianity in such a book at such a period of his life,
Fabric. Bibl. Lat. ii. 15), and again of miracles at proves that, if he was a Christian, its doctrines
his death, as carrying his head in his hand (Life could hardly have been a part of his living belief ;
of him by Martianus, ap. Baron. Annal. A. D. 526, on the other hand, the incidental phrases above
No. 17, 18), which last indeed probably arose quoted, the strong religious theism which perrades
from the fact of this being the symbolical represen- the whole work, the real belief which it indicates
tation of martyrdom by decapitation; as the parti- in prayer and Providence, and the unusually high
cular day of his death (Oct. 23) was probably tone of his public life, prove that, if a heathen, his
fixed by its being the day of two other saints of general character must have been deeply tinged
the same name of Severinus.
by the contemporaneous influence of Christianity.
Whatever may be thought of these details, the He would thus seem to have been one of a pro-
question of his Christianity itself is beset with bably large class of men, such as will always be
difficulties in whichever way it may be determined. found in epochs between the fall of one system of
On the one hand, if the works on dogmatical theo belief and the rise of another, and who by hovering
logy ascribed to him be really his, the question is on the confines of each can hardly be assigned ex-
settled in the affirmative. But, in that case, the clusively to either, one who, like Epictetus and
total omission of all mention of Christianity in the the Antonines, and, nearer his own time, the poet
“ Consolatio Philosophiae,” in passages and under Claudian and the historian Zosimus, was by his
circumstances where its mention seemed to be im- deep attachment to the institutions and literature
peratively demanded, becomes so great a perplexity of Greece and Rome led to look for practical sup-
that various expedients have been adopted to solve it. port to a heathen or half-heathen philosophy ;
Bertius conjectured, that there was to have been whilst like them, but in a greater degree, his
a sixth book, which was interrupted by his death. religious and moral views received an elevation
Glareanus, though partly on other grounds, with the from their contact with the now established faith
independent judgment for which he is commended of Christianity.
by Niebuhr, rejected the work itself as spurious. The middle position which he thus occupied by
Finally, Professor Hand, in Ersch and Gruber's his personal character and belief, he also occupies
Encyclopädie, bas with much ingenuity maintained | in the general history and literature of the world.
## p. 497 (#517) ############################################
BOETHIUS.
497
BOETHUS.
I
Being the last Roman of any note who understood | literary point of view, it is a dialogue between
the language and studied the literature of Greece, himself and Philosophy, much in the style of the
and living on the boundary of the ancient and Pastor of Hermas,- a work which it resembles in
modern world, he is one of the most important links the liveliness of personification, though inferior to
between them. As it had been the great object of it in variety and superior in diction. The alter-
his public life to protect the declining fortunes of nation of prose and verse is thought to have been
Rome against the oppression of the barbarian in- suggested by the nearly contemporary work of
vaders, so it was the great object of his literary Marcianus Capella on the nuptials of Mercury and
life to keep alive the expiring light of Greck | Philology. The verses are almost entirely bor-
literature amidst the growing ignorance of the age. rowed from Seneca.
The complete ruin of the ancient world, which fol- 2. De Unitate et Uno, and De Arithmetica libri
lowed almost immediately on his death, imparted ii. ; 3. De Musica libri v. ; 4. De Geometria libri
to this object an importance and to himself a ii. ; 5. In Porphyrii Phoenicis Isagogen de Praedi-
celebrity far beyond what he could ever have cabilibus a Victorino translatam Diologi ii. ; 6. In
anticipated. In the total ignorance of Greek eandem a se Latine versam Expositio secunda libris
writers which prevailed from the 6th to the 14th totidem ; 7. In Categorias Aristotelis libri ii. ; 8.
century, he was looked upon as the head and type In librum Aristotelis de Interpretatione Minorum
of all philosophers, as Augustin was of all theology Commentariorum libri ii. , and a second ed. called
and Virgil of all literature, and hence the tendency Comment. Majora, in 6 books; 9. Analyticorum
throughout the middle ages to invest him with a Aristotelis priorum et posteriorum libri iv. ; 10. In-
distinctly Christian and almost miraculous charac- troductio ad Categoricos Syllogismos ; 11. De Syllo-
ter. In Dante, e. g. he is thus described (Parad. x. gismo Categorico libri ii. , and De Hypothetico libri
124):
ii. ; 12. De Divisione, and De Definitione ; 13. To-
Per veder ogni ben dentro vi gode
picorum Aristotelis libri viii. ; 14. Elenchorum So-
L'anima santa, che 'l mondo fallaco
phisticorum libri ii. ; 15. In Topica Ciceronis libri
Fa manifesto a chi di lei ben ode;
vi. ; 16. De Differentiis Topicis libri iv. The first
Lo corpo, ond 'ella fu cacciata, giace
collected edition of his works was published at
Giuso in Cieldauro, ed essa da martiro Venet, fol. , 1491 (or 1492); the best and most
E da esiglio venne a questa pace.
complete at Basel, 1570, fol.
After the introduction of the works of Aristotle into The chief ancient authorities for his life are the
Furope in the 13th century, Boëthius's fame gradu- Epistles of Ennodius and Cassiodorus, and the
ally died away, and he affords a remarkable instance History of Procopius. The chief modern autho-
of an author, who having served a great purpose for rities are Fabric. Bibl. Lat. iii. 15; Tiraboschi,
nearly 1000 years, now that that purpose has been vol. iii
. lib. 1. cap. 4 ; Hand, in Ersch and Gruber's
accomplished, will sink into obscurity as general as Encyclopädie ; Barberini, Crit. storica Exposizione
was once his celebrity. The first author who della Vita di Sev. Boezio, Pavia, 1783 ; Heyne,
quotes his works is Hincmar (i. 211, 460, 474, Censura ingenii, &c. Boethii, Gottin. 1806. [A. P. S. )
521), A. D. 850, and in the subsequent literature BOE'THUS (Bondos). 1. A Stoic philosopher
of the middle ages the Consolatio gave birth to who perhaps lived even before the time of Chrysippus,
imitations, translations, and commentaries, in- and was the author of several works. One of them
numerable. (Warton's Eng. Poet. ii. 342, 343. ) was entitled nepl púoews, from which Diogenes
Of four classics in the Paris library in A. D. 1306 Laërtius (vii. 148) quotes his opinion about the
this was one. (lb. i. p. cxii. ) Of translations the essence of God; another was called Tepl eiuapuémns,
most famous were one into Greek, of the poetical of which the same writer (vii.
149) mentions the
portions of the work, by Maximus Planudes (first eleventh book. This latter work is, in all proba-
published by Weber, Darmstadt, 1833), into bility the one to which Cicero refers in his treatise
Hebrew by Ben Banschet (Wolf. Bibl. Heb. i. on Divination (i. 8, ii. 21). Philo (ue Mund.
229, 1092, 243, 354, 369; Fabric. Bibl. Lat. ii. incorrupt. i. p. 497, ed. Mangey) mentions him
15), into old High German at the beginning of the together with Posidonius, and it is not improbable
llih century, by St. Gallen ; into French by J. that this Boëthus is the one mentioned by Plu-
Meun, in 1300, at the order of Philip the Fair ; tarch. (De Placit. Philos. iii. 2. )
but above all, that into Anglo-Saxon by Alfred 2. An Epicurean philosopher and geometrician,
the Great, which is doubly interesting, (1. ) as one who is mentioned by Plutarch (de Pyth. Orac. p.
of the earliest specimens of Anglo-Saxon literature; 396, d. ), and is introduced by the same writer in
(2. ) as the chief literary relic of Alfred himself, the Symposiaca (v. 1, p. 673, c. ); but nothing fur-
whose own mind appears not only in the freedom ther is known about him.
of the translation, but also in large original inser- 3. A Platonic philosopher and grammarian, who
tions relative to the kingly office, or to Christian wrote a Lexicon to Plato's works (ouvaywyd
history, which last fact strikingly illustrates the aétewr MatwVIK@v), dedicated to Melanthus,
total absence of any such in Boëthius's own work. which Photius (Cod. 154) preferred to the similar
(Of this the best edition is by J. S. Cardale, with work of Timaeus still extant. Another work on
notes and translation, 1828. )
the ambiguous words of Plato (περί των παρα Πλα-
Of imitations may be mentioned (1), Chaucer's Twvi atopoumevwv détewv) was dedicated to Athe-
Testament of Love. (Warion's Eng. Poct
. ii. 295. ) nagoras. (Phot. Cod. 155. ) Whether he is the
2. Consolatio Monachorum, by Echard, 1130. 3. same as the Boëthus who wrote an exegesis to the
Consolatio Theologiae, by Gerson. 4. The King's Phaenomena of Aratus (Geminus, Introd. ad Phaen.
Complaint, by James I. 5. An Imitation, by 14) is uncertain, and also whether he is the one
Charles, Duke of Orleans, in the 15th century. against whom Porphyrius wrote his work repl
Boëthius's own works are as follow :---1. De tuxñs. (Euseb. Pruep. Evang. xiv. 10, xv. 11, 16 ;
Consolatione Philosophiae. Of its moral and comp. Hesych. s. v. Ola návtwv spotńs; Aenens,
religious character no more need be said. In a Gaz. Theophr. p. 16. )
(L. S. ]
2 к
## p. 498 (#518) ############################################
498
BOGUD.
BOLUS.
BOE'THUS (Bóndos), surnamed SIDONIUS, was find Bogud zealously lending his aid to Cassius
born at Sidon in Phoenicia. As he is called a dis- Longinus, Caesar's pro-praetor in further Spain, to
ciple of the Peripatetic Andronicus of Rhodes qucll the sedition in that province. (Hirt. Bell.
(Ammon. Herm. Comment. in Aristot. Categ. p. 8, Aler. 62. ) Again, during Caesar's campaign in
ed. Ald. 1546), he must have travelled at an early Africa, B. c. 46, Mauretania was invaded unsuccess-
age to Rome and Athens, in which cities Andro- fully by the young Cn. Pompey; and when Juba,
nicus is known to have taught. Strabo (xvi. p. the Numidian, was hastening to join his forces to
757), who mentions him and his brother Diodotus those of Q. Metellus Scipio, Bogud attacked his
among the celebrated persons of Sidon, speaks of dominions at the instigation of the Roman exile
him at the same time as his own teacher in the P. Sitius, and obliged him to return for their de-
Peripatetic philosophy: Among his works, all of fence. (Hirt. Bell. Afric. 23, 25, comp. c. 95 ;
which are now lost, there was one on the nature Dion Cass. xliii. 3. ) In Caesar's war in Spain
of the soul, and also a commentary on Aristotle's against Pompey's sons, B. C. 45, Bogud joined the
Categories, which is mentioned by Ammonius in former in person ; and it was indeed by his attack
his commentary on the same work of Aristotle.
on the camp of Cn. Pompey at the battle of Munda
Ammonius quotes also an opinion of Boëthus con- that Labienus was drawn from his post in the field
cerning the study of the works of Aristotle, viz. to cover it, and the scale was thus turned in Cae-
that the student should begin with the Physics sar's favour. (Dion Cass. xliii. 38. ) After the
(åró tñs quoinñs), whereas Andronicus had main murder of Caesar, Bogud espoused the side of
trined, that the beginning should be made and Antony, and it was perbaps for the furtherance of
της λογικής, ήτις περί την απόδειξιν γίνεται. | these interests that he crossed over to Spain in
(Fabric. Bibl. Graec iii. p. 480; Schneider, Epi- B. c. 38, and so lost his kingdom through a revolt of
metrum III. ad Aristot. Hist. Anim. p. xcv. ; his subjects, fomented in his absence by Bocchus.
Buhle, Aristot. Opera, i. p. 297; Stahr, Aristotelia, This prince's usurpation was confirmed by Octa-
ii. p. 129, &c. )
[A. S. ] vius, and seems to have been accompanied with the
BOE'THUS (Bondós), the author of an epigram gift of a freer constitution to the Tingitanians.
in the Greek Anthology in praise of Pylades, a (Dion Cass. xlviii. 45. ) Upon this, Bogud betook
pantomime in the time of Augustus, was a native himself into Greece to Antony, for whom we after-
of Tarsus. Strabo (xiv. p. 674) describes him as wards find him holding the town of Methone, at
a bad citizen and a bad poet, who gained the the capture of which by Agrippa he lost his life
favour of Antony by some verses on the battle of about the end of B. C. 32 or the beginning of 31.
Philippi, and was set by him over the gymnasium (Dion Cass. I. 11. )
[E. E. )
and public games in Tarsus. In this office he was BOIOCALUS, the leader of the Ansibarii, a
guilty of peculation, but escaped punishment br German people, was a man of great renown, and
flattering Antony. He was afterwards expelled had long been faithful to the Romans, but made
from Tarsus by Athenodorus, with the approbation war against them in A. D. 59. (Tac. Ann. xiii.
of Augustus.
[P. S. ] 55, 56. )
BOE'THUS (Bondós), a sculptor and embosser BOIORIX, a chieftain of the the Boii, who in
or chaser of Carthage (Paus. v. 17. S 1) of uncer- B. C. 194, together with his two brothers, excitrd
tain age. Pliny (H. N. xxxiii. 12. s. 55) praises his countrymen to revolt from the Romans, and
his excellence in embossing and (xxxiv. 8. 6. 19) fought an indecisive battle with Tib. Sempronius,
in sculpture. Muller (Handb. d. Arch. § 159. 1) the consul, who had advanced into his territory.
suspects, and not without good reason, that the read- The Boii continued to give the Romans trouble for
ing Kapxndóvios is corrupted out of Kan xudovios. several successive years, till their reduction by
The artist would then not be an inhabitant or even Scipio in B. c. 191; but of Boiorix himself we find
a native of the barbarian Carthage, but of the no further mention in Livy. (Liv. xxxiv. 46, 47,
Greek town of Chalcedon in Asia Minor. [ACRA- 56, xxxv.
