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

470 BASILIUS.
the war, which lasted, with a few interruptions,
till 1018, with a successful campaign in 987; and,
during the following years, he made conquest after
conquest in the south-western part of that kingdom, to which Epeirus and a considerable part of
Macedonia belonged. In 996, however, Samuel,
the king of the Bulgarians, overran all Macedonia,
laid siege to Thessalonica, conquered Thessaly,
and penetrated into the Peloponnesus. Having
marched back into Thessaly, in order to meet with
the Greeks, who advanced in his rear, he was
routed on the banks of the Sperchius, and hardly
escaped death or captivity; his army was destroyed. In 999, the lieutenant of Basil, Nicephorus
Xiphias, took the towns of Pliscova and Parasthlava in Bulgaria Proper. But as early as 1002,
Samuel again invaded Thrace and took Adrianople.
He was, however, driven back; and during the
twelve following years the war seems to have been
carried on with but little energy by either party.
It broke out again in 1014, and was signalized by
an extraordinary success of the Greeks, who were
commanded by their emperor and Nicephorus Xiphias. The Bulgarians were routed at Zetunium.
Being incumbered on his march by a band of
15,000 prisoners, Basil gave the cruel order to put
their eyes out, sparing one in a hundred, who was
to lead one hundred of his blind companions to
their native country. When Samuel beheld his
unhappy warriors, thus mutilated and filling his
camp with their cries, he fell senseless on the
ground, and died two days afterwards. Bulgaria
was not entirely subdued till 1017 and 1018, when
it was degraded into a Greek thema, and governed
by dukes. This conquest continued a province of
the Eastern empire till the reign of Isaac Angelus.
(1185-1195.)
Among the other events by which the reign of
Basil was signalised, the most remarkable were, a
new revolt of Sclerus in 987, who was made prisoner by Phocas, but persuaded his victor to make
common cause with him against the emperor, which
Phocas did, whereupon they were both attacked
by Basil, who killed Phocas in a battle, and granted
a full pardon to the cunning Sclerus; the cession
of Southern Iberia to the Greeks by its king David
in 991; a glorious expedition against the Arabs in
Syria and Phoenicia; a successful campaign of
Basil in 1022 against the king of Northern Iberia,
who was supported by the Arabs; and a dangerous
mutiny of Sclerus and Phocas, the son of Nicephorus Phocas mentioned above, who rebelled during
the absence of Basil in Iberia, but who were speedily brought to obedience. Notwithstanding his
advanced age, Basil meditated the conquest of
Sicily from the Arabs, and had almost terminated
his preparations, when he died in the month of
December, 1025, without leaving issue. His successor was his brother and co-regent; Constantine
IX., who died in 1028. It is said, and it cannot
be doubted, that Basil, in order to expiate the
sins of his youth, promised to become a monk, that
he bore the frock of a monk under his imperial
dress, and that he took a vow of abstinence.
He was of course much praised by the clergy; but
he impoverished his subjects by his continual wars,
which could not be carried on without heavy taxes;
he was besides very rapacious in accumulating treasures for himself; and it is said that he left the
enormous sum of 200,000 pounds of gold, or nearly
eight million pounds sterling. Zonaras (vol. ii. p. 225)

BASSAREUS.
multiplies the sum by changing pounds into talentsa
but this is either an enormous exaggeration, or the
error of a copyist. Basil, though great as a general, was an unlettered, ignorant man, and during
his long reign the arts and literature yielded to the
power of the sword. (Cedren. p. 645, &c. ed. Paris;
Glycas, p. 305, &c. ed. Paris; Zonar. vol. ii. p.
197, &c. ed. Paris; Theophan. p. 458, &c. ed.
Paris.) [W. P.]
BA'SILUS, the name of a family of the Minucia
gens. Persons of this name occur only in the first
century B. c. It is frequently written Basilius,
but the best MSS. have Basilus, which is also
shewn to be the correct form by the line of Lucan
(iv. 416),
" Et Basilum videre ducem," &c.
1. (MINUCIUS) BASILUS, a tribune of the soldiers, served under Sulla in Greece in his campaign
against Archelaus, the general of Mithridates, B. c.
86. (Appian, Mithr. 50.)
2. M. MINucIus BASILUS. (Cic. pro Cluent.
38.)
3. MINUCIUS BASILUS, of whom we know nothing, except that his tomb was on the Appian
way, and was a spot infamous for robberies. (Cic.
ad Att. vii. 9; Ascon. in Milon, p. 50, ed. Orelli.)
4. L. MINUCIUS BASILUS, the uncle of M.
Satrius, the son of his sister, whom he adopted in
his will. (Cic. de Off. iii. 18.)
5. L. MINUCIUS BAsILUs, whose original name
was M. Satrius, took the name of his uncle, by
whom he was adopted. [No. 4.] He served under
Caesar in Gaul, and is mentioned in the war against
Ambiorix, B. c. 54, and again in 52, at the end of
which campaign he was stationed among the Remi
for the winter with the command of two legions.
(Caes. B. G. vi. 29, 30, vii. 92.) He probably
continued in Gaul till the breaking out of the civil
war in 49, in which he commanded part of Caesar's
fleet. (Flor. iv. 2. ~ 32; Lucan, iv. 416.) He was
one of Caesar's assassins in B. c. 44, although, like
Brutus and others, he was a personal friend of
the dictator. In the following year he was
himself murdered by his own slaves, because
he had punished some of them in a barbarous
manner. (Appian, B. C. ii. 113, iii. 98; Oros. vi.
18.) There is a letter of Cicero's to Basilus, congratulating him on the murder of Caesar. (Cic. ad
Famr. vi. 15.)
6. (MINucIUs) BASILUS, is attacked by Cicero
in the second Philippic (c. 41) as a friend of Antony. He would therefore seem to be a different
person from No. 5.
BA'SSAREUS (Baoeoapeds), a surname of Dionysus (Hor. Carm. i. 18. 11; Macrob. Sat. i. 18),
which, according to the explanations of the Greeks,
is derived from aa'3odpa or pao''apis, the long robe
which the god himself and the Maenads used to
wear in Thrace, and whence the Maenads themselves are often called bassarae or bassarides. The
name of this garment again seems to be connected
with, or rather the same as, paoaaapis, a fox (Hesych. s. v. Saoeodpat), probably because it was originally made of fox-skins. Others derive the name
Bassareus from a Hebrew word, according to which
its meaning would be the same as the Greek TrpaTpd y7?s, that is, the precursor of the vintage. On
some of the vases discovered in southern Italy
Dionysus is represented in a long garment which
is commonly considered to be the Thracian hassara, [L. S.]