A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

BACCIIY LIS.
together with Simonides and Pindar. (Aclian, V.
I/. iv. 15.) Eusebius makes him flourish in B. c.
450; but as Hiero died B. c. 467, and Bacchylides
obtained great fame at his court, his poetical
reputation must have been established as early as
u. c. 470. The Scholiast on Pindar frequently
states (ad 01. ii. 154, 155, ad Pyth. ii, 131, 161,
166, 167, 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,
Prosodia, 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 remarks (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 introduces 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 genuineness. The fragments of Bacchylides have been
published by Neue, " Bacchylidis Cei Fragmenta,"
Berol. 1823, and by Bergk, " Po'tae 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 Sophists. (Suidas, s. v. o0<ptrmjis.)
BA'CCHYLUS (written BatcXymAos, by Eusebius, but given with only one I by Jerome,
Ruffinus, Sophronius, and Nicephorus), bishop of
Corinth, flourished in the latter half of the second
century, under Commodus and Severus. He is
recorded by Eusebius and Jerome as having written 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 Bacchylus wrote " de Pascha ex omnium qui in Achaia
erant episcoporum persona." And in the ancient
Greek Synodicon, published by Paphus at Strasburg in 1601, and inserted in both editions of
Fabricius's Bibliotheca 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 deliberations. (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 Eusebius and Jerome. (Euseb. Iist. Eccl. v. 22, 23;

BACIIARIUS. 451
Jerome, de Viris Illustr. c. 44, and the note of E.
S. Cyprian.) [J. M. M.]
BACHIA'RIUS, a Latin ecclesiastical writer,
respecting whom we possess little authentic information. The following account of him is given by
Gennadius, de Viris Illustribius, c. 24: "Bachiarius,
vir Christianae philosophiae, nudus et expeditus
vacare Deo disponens, etiam peregrinationem propter conservandam vitae integritatem elegit. Edidisse dicitur grata opuscula: sed ego ex illis unum
tantum de fide libellun legi, in quo satisfacit Pontifici urbis, adversus querulos et infamatores peregrinationis suae, et indicat, se non timore hominmn,
sed Dei, peregrinationem suscepisse, et exiens de
terra sua cohaeres fieret Abrahamae patriarchae."
To this brief account some additions of doubtful
authority have been made by later writers. Bishop
Bale calls him Bachiarius HMaccaeus, 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, follows the account of Bale. Aubertus Miraeus
(Aubert Lemire) says that Bachiarius was an Irishman, 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.*
Schinemann 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. Schenemann 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
Florius, that the author's country was Spain, and
the heresy which he was solicitous to disavow that
of the Priscillianists. 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 (Gesch. der Christ.
Religion, &c. ii. 3, p. 1485) as indubitably true.
The only surviving works of Bachiarius are the
treatise "de Fide," mentioned above, and a letter
to a certain Januarius, respecting the re-admission
of a monk into the church, who had been excommunicated for seducing a nun. The " Objurgatio
in Evagrium," inaccurately ascribed to Jerome, and
the " Libri Duo de Deitate et Incarnatione Verbi
ad Januarium," improperly classed among the
works of Augustin, are regarded by Florius as
the productions of Bachiarius. This, though not
intrinsically improbable, wants the confirmation of
direct external proof. Possenin, Bale, and 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 lMonumenta S. Patrum Orthodoxographa of John James Grynaeus, Basle, 1569.
It was included in the Paris editions of de la
"M "The infinite fables and absurdities which this
author (Bale) hath without judgment stuft himself
withal." Selden, Notes on Drayton's IPol-Olbions
Song Nine.
20G2