Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 1.djvu/469

Rh BACCHYLUS. togpllicr with Simonides and Pindar. (Aelian, V. H. iv. 15.) Eusebius makes him flourish in B.C. 450; but as Hiero died B. c, 407, and Bacchylides obtained great fame at his court, his poetical reputation must have been established as early as B c. 470. The Scholiast on Pindar frequently states {ixd 01. ii. 154, 155, ad Pylh. ii 131, 161, Ib'O", l(i7, 171) that Bacchylides and Pindar were jealous of and opposed to one another; but whether this was the fact, or the story is to be attributed to the love of scandal which distinguishes the later Greek grammarians, it is impossible to determine. The poems of Bacchylides were numerous and of various kinds. They consisted of Epinici (songs, like Pindar's, in honour of the victors in the public games), Hymns, Paeans, Dithyrambs, Prosodiiv, Hyporchemata, Erotica, and Paroenia or Drinking-songs : but all of these have perished with the exception of a few fragments. It is, therefore, difficult to form an independent opinion of their poetical value; but as far as we can judge from what has come down to us, Bacchylides was distinguished, like Simonides, for the elegance and finish of his compositions. He was inferior to Pindar in strength and energy, as Longinus re- marks (c. 33); and in his lamentations over the inexorable character of fate, and the necessity of submitting to death, he reminds one of the Ionic elegy. Like his predecessors in Lyric poetry, he wrote in the Doric dialect, but frequently intro- duces Attic forms, so that the dialect of his poems very much resembles that of the choruses in the Attic tragedies. Besides his lyrical poems there are two epigrams in the Greek Anthology attributed to Bacchylides, one in the Doric and the other in the Ionic dialect, and there seems no reason to doubt their genuine- ness. The fragments of Bacchylides have been published by Neue, " Bacchylidis Cei Fragmenta,'' Berol. 1823, and by Bergk, " Poetae Lyrici Graeci," p. 820, &c. 2. Of Opus, a poet, whom Plato, the comic poet (about B. c. 400), attacked in his play entitled the Sopiiists. (Suidas, s. v. 2o(pi<TT')]s,) BA'CCHYLUS (written BaKxv^^os, by Eu- sebius, but given with only one I by Jerome, RufHnus, Sophronius, and Nicephorus), bishop of Corinth, flouiished in the latter half of the second century, under Commodus and Severus. He is recorded by Eusebius and Jerome as having writ- ten on the question, so early and so long disputed, as to the proper time of keeping Easter. From the language of Eusebius, Valesius is disposed to infer that this was not a Synodical letter, but one which the author wrote in his own individual capacity. But Jerome says expressly, that Bac- chylus wrote " de Pascha ex omnium qui in Achaia erant episcoporum persona." And in the ancient Greek Synodicon, published by Pnphus at Stras- burg in 1601, and inserted in both editions of Fabricius's JJMioilieca Graeca^ not only is this council registered as having been held at Corinth by Bacchylides, archbishop of that place, and eighteen bishops with him, but the celebration of Easter is mentioned as the subject of their de- liberations. (Fabric. Bibl. Graec. xii. p. 364.) Notwithstanding the slight change of the name, and the designation of Bacchylides as archbishop of Corinth, there can be no reasonable doubt that he is the same with the bishop mentioned by Euse- bius and Jerome. (Euseb. Hist. EccL v. 22, 23; BACIIIARIUS. 4.'31 Jerome, de Viiis lUustr. c. 44, and the note of 1« S. Cyprian.) [J. M. M.] BACHLVRIUS, a Latin ecclesiastical writer, respecting whom we possess little authentic infor- mation. The following account of him is given by Gennadius, de Viris li/usiriOus, c. 24 : "Bachiarius, vir Christianae philosophiae, nudus et expeditus vacare Deo disponens, etiam peregrinationem prop- ter conservandam vitae integritatem elegit. Edi- disse dicitur grata opuscula: sed ego ex illis unum tfintum de fide Ubellum legi, in quo satisfacit Ponti- fici urbis, adversus querulos et infamatores peregri- nationis suae, et indicat, se non timore hominum, sed Dei, peregrinationem suscepisse, et exiens de terra sua cohaeres ficret Abrahamae patriarchae." To this brief account some additions of doubtful authority have been made by later writers. Bishop Bale calls him Bachiarius Alaccueus, says that he was a native of Great Britain, and a disciple of St. Patrick, and assigns the cruel oppressions under which his country was then groaning as the cause of his voluntary expatriation. Joannes Pitseus (John Pits), the Roman Catholic chronicler, fol- lows the account of Bale. Aubertus Miraeua (Aubert Lemire) says that Bachiarius was an Irish- man, a disciple of St. Patrick, and contemporary with St. Augustin. These statements rest on no sufficient evidence; for Bale, the source of them all, is an inaccurate and injudicious writer. * Schonemann denies that there is any proof, that Bachiarius was a native either of Great Britain or Ireland; and, from the contents of the treatise de Fide, infers, that the author's country was at the time extensively infested with heresy, from the imputation of which he deemed it necessary to clear himself. Schonemann concurs with Muratori in thinking that this could not be the Pelagian doctrine, to which there is no reference throughout the treatise; and adopts the conclusion of Francis Florins, that the author's country was Spain, and the heresy which he was solicitous to disavow that of the Priscilluinists. This notion agrees very well with the contents of the work de Fide; but as it is not supported, so far as we are aware, by any positive evidence, we are rather surprised to see it coolly assumed by Neander (Geach. der Chiist. Jieli(/ion, &c. ii. 3, p. 1485) as indubitably true. The only surviving works of Bacliiarius are tho treatise "de Fide," mentioned above, and a letter to a certain Januarius, respecting the re-admissioi. of a monk into the church, who had been excom- municated for seducing a nun. The " Olijurgatio in Evagrium," inaccurately ascribed to Jerome, and the " Libri Duo de Deitate et Incarnatione Verbi ad Januarium," improperly classed fuiiong the works of Augustin, are regarded by Fiorius as the productions of Bachiarius. This, though not intrinsically improbable, wants the confirmation ot direct external proof. Possenin, Bale,; nd Pits attribute other works to Bachiarius, but upon no sufficient grounds. The " Epistola ad Januarium de recipiendis Lapsis," or *' De Reparatione Lapsi," was first published in the Atunumcnta S. J'alrum Orlho- doxographa of John James Grynaeus, Basle, 156i>. It was included in the Paris editions of de la author (Bale) hath without judgment stuft himself withal." Selden, Notes on Drayton's Foly-OlLion^ Song Nine. 2 g2
 * "The infinite fables and absurdities which this