Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 1.djvu/498

Rh 48') BELISARIUS. restored to his honours eight months before his death ; whilst Lord Mahon in his recent life of Belisarius, on the authority of an anonymous writer of the eleventh centurj', and of Tzetzes in the twelfth century, has endeavoured to revive the story which he conceives to have been handed down by tradition in Constantinople, — which was then transferred in the fifteenth century to Italy, —and which has become so famous through the French romance of Marmontel, that his eyes were p»it out, and tftat he passed the remainder of his life sitting in the streets of Constantinople and begging in the words preserved in the metrical narrative of Tzetzes. The statue in the Villa Borghese, in a sitting posture with an open hand, formerly supposed to be Belisarius, has since the time of Winkelmann been generally conjectured to represent Augustus in the act of propitiating Nemesis. In person, Belisarius was tall and handsome. (Procop. Goth. iii. 1.) As a general, he was distin- guished as well by his personal prowess and his unconquerable presence of mind, as by the rapidity and comprehensiveness of his movements, and also as never having sustained defeat without good reason, and as having effected the greatest conquests with the smallest resources. His campaigns form an era vn military history, as being the first conducted by a really great soldier under the influence of Chris- tianity (for that he conformed to Christianity, even if he was not himself a Christian, is evident from his mention in connexion with the baptism of Theodosius, Procop. Hint. Arcan. 1.) ; and it is re- markable to trace the union of his rigorous discip- line over his army (Procop. Goth. i. 28, Vand. i. 12, IG) with his considerate humanity towards the conquered, and (especially in contrast with the earlier spirit of Roman generals) his forbearance towards his enemies. (Procop. Vand, i. 16, 17, Goth. i. 10.) In a vvivate capacity, he was temperate, chaste, and brave ; but his characteristic virtue, which ap- peared to Gibbon " either below or above the cha- racter of a man," was the patience with which he endured his rivals' insults, and the loj'alty to Jus- tinian — in itself remarkable as one of the earliest instances in European history of loyalty to the person of the sovereign — which caused him at the height of his success and power to return, at the emperor's order, from Africa, Persia, and Italy. Sir W. Temple {Works., vol. ii. p. 286) places him among the seven generals in the history of the world who have deserved a crown without wearing it. In his two vices — the avarice of his later life (Procop. Hist. Arcan. 5), and his uxoriousness — he has been well compared to Marlborough, except so far as the great Sarah was superior to the infamous Antonina, To her influence over him are to be ascribed the only great blots of his life — the exe- cution of his ofiicer, Constantine (Procop. ibid. 1), A. D. 535, the persecution of his step-son, Photius {Ibid. 1-3), A. D. 540, and the deposition of the pope Sylverius and the corrupt election of Vigilius, A. D, 537. {Goth. i. 25.) He had by Antonina an only daughter, Joannina. (Procop. Hist. Arcan. i. 5, Goth. iii. 30.) The effects of his career are — 1. The preserva- tion of the Byzantine empire, and, with it, of the mass of ancient literature afterwards bequeathed by il to the West ; both of which, but for his ap- BELLEROPHON. pearance, must, humanly speaking, have perished in the inroad of the barbarians. 2. The timely support given to the cause of the orthodox faith in the Western empire at the crisis of its greatest oppression by the Arian kingdoms of the Goths and Vandals in all the western provinces. 3. The temporary infusion of Byzantine art and of the Greek language into Italy by the estal)lishment of the exarchate of Rav'enna on the ruins of the Ostro- gothic kingdom. 4. The substitution of the By- zantine for the Vandal dominion in Africa and Sicily, and the consequent preparation for their future submission to the Mohammedan conquerors, and their permanent desolation, from the fact of his haviiig made them the provinces of a distant and declining empire, instead of leaving them to become the homes of a warlike and vigorous na- tion. The authorities for the life of Belisarius are the works of Procopius ; for the Bulgarian war, Aga- thias (v. 1 5, 20) and Theophanes (pp. 1 98. 1 99); and for his death, those mentioned above. In modern times, the chief authority is Gibbon (cc. 41 and 43); Lord Mahon's Life of Belisarius, in which several inaccuracies in Gibbon's account are pointed out ; and a review of this last-mentioned work in the Wiener Jahrbuclier, by Von Hammer. [A. P. S.] BELLE'ROPHON or BELLEROPHONTES {BeWfpocjxJiu or Beepo({>6vTris), properl}' called Hipponous, was a son of the Corinthian king Glau- cus and Eurymede, and a grandson of Sis^'phus. (ApoUod. i. 9. § 3 ; Hom. //. vi. 155.) According to Hyginus {Fab. 157; comp. Pind. 01. xiii. 6G), he was a son of Poseidon and Eurymede. He is said to have received the name Bellerophon or Bellerophontes from having slain the noble Corin- thian, Bellerus. {Tzetz. ad Li/coph. ; Eustath. Hom. p. 632.) Others related, that he had slain his own brother, Deliades, Peiren, or Alcimenes. (Apollod. ii. 3. § 1, &c.) In order to be purified from the murder, whichever it maj' have been, he fled to Proetus, whose wife Anteia fell in love with the young hero ; but her offers being rejected by him, she accused him to her hus- band of having made improper proposals to her, and insisted upon his being put to death. Proe- tus, unwilling to kill him Avith his own hands, sent him to his father-in-law, lobates, king in Lycia, with a sealed letter in which the latter was requested to put the young man to death. lobates accordingly sent hira to kill the monster Chimaera, thinking that he was sure to perish in the contest. Bellerophon mounted the winged horse, Pegasus, and rising up with him into the air, killed the Chimaera from on high with his arrows. lobates, being thus disappointed, sent Bellerophon out again, first against the Solymi and next against the Amazons. In these contests too he was vic- torious ; and when, on his return to Lj'cia, he was attacked bj' the bravest Lycians, whom lobates had placed in ambush for the purpose, Bellerophon slew them all. lobates, now seeing that it was hopeless to attempt to kill the hero, shewed him the letter he had received from Proetus, gave him his daughter (Philonoe, Anticleia, or Cassandra) for his wife, and made him his successor on the throne. Bellerophon became the father of Isander, Hippolochus, and Laodameia. Here Apollodorus breaks off the story ; and Homer, whose account (vi. 155 — 202) differs in some points from that of Apollodorus, describes the later period of Bellero-