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

BESSUS.
thesis, for Justin may have confounded the wellknown historian vith some earlier Babylonian of
the name of Berosus; or, what is more probable,
the Sibyl whom he mentions is a recent one, and
may really have been the daughter of the historian.
(Paus.l.c.) [SIBYLLAE.] Other writers again have
been inclined to assume, that Berosus the historian
was a different person from the astrologer; but this
opinion too is not supported by satisfactory evidence.
The work entitled Berosi Autiquiatlum libri
quinque cum Comimentariis Joannis A znii, which
appeared at Rome in 1498, fol., and was afterwards
often reprinted and even translated into Italian, is
one of the many fabrications of Giovanni Nanni, a
Dominican monk of Viterbo, better known under
the name of Annius of Viterbo, who died in 1502.
(Fabric. Bibl. Graec. iv. p. 163, &c.; Vossius, De
Hist. Graec. p. 120, &c., ed. Westermann; and
Richter's Introduction to his edition of the Fragments.) [L. S.]
BERYLLUS (BepvXAds), bishop of Bostra in
Arabia, A. D. 230, maintained that the Son of God
had no distinct personal existence before the birth
of Christ, and that Christ was only divine as having the divinity of the Father residing in him,
communicated to him at his birth as a ray or
emanation from the Father. At a council held at
Bostra (A. D. 244) he was convinced by Origen of
the error of his doctrine, and returned to the
Catholic faith. He wrote Hymns, Poems, and
Letters, several of the latter to Origen, thanking
him for having reclaimed him. A work was extant in the time of Eusebius and of Jerome, in
which was an account of the questions discussed
between Beryllus and Origen. None of his works
are extant. (Euseb. H. E. vi. 20, 33; Hieron. de
Vir. fllustr. c. 60; Socrates, H. E. iii. 7.) [P. S.]
BERY'TIUS, a surname given to several writers
from their being natives of Berytus. See ANATOLIUS, fHERMIPPUS, LUPERCUS, TAURUS.
BESANTI'NUS (Bo-av'rThos). The Vatican
MS. of the Greek Anthology attributes to an author
of this name two epigrams, of which one is also
ascribed to Pallas (Anal. ii. p. 435, No. 134; Jacobs, iii. p. 142), and the other (Jacobs, Paral. ex
Cod. Vat. 42, xiii. p. 651) is included among the
epigrams of Theognis. (Vv. 527, 528, Bekk.) This
latter epigram is quoted by Stobaeus as of "Theognis or Besantinus." (Tit. cxvi. 11.) The " Egg"
of Simmias (Anal. i. p. 207, Jacobs, i. p. 140) bears
the following title in the Vatican MS.: BarravrTivov
"Polov cWdv Awo'eida aip Zy/l.ov, adpporepot 7ydp
'PSiLoi. Hence we may infer that Besantinus was
a Rhodian.
An author of this name is repeatedly quoted in
the Etymologicum Magnum (pp. 608, 1. 57, 685,
1. 56, Sylb.), whom Fabricius (Bibl. Graec. x. 772)
rightly identifies with the Helladius Besantinus
of Photius. [HELLADIUS.] The name is also spelt
Bisantinus. (BmcravrTvos, Etym. Mag. p. 212. 49;
Fabric. Bibl. Graec. iv. p. 467.) [P. S.]
BESSUS (BiroTos), was satrap of Bactria in
Ihe time of Dareius III. (Codomannus), who saw
reason to suspect him of treachery soon after the
battle of Issus, and summoned him accordingly
from his satrapy to Babylon, where he was collecting forces for the continuance of the war.
(Curt. iv. 6. ~ 1.) At the battle of Arbela, B. c.
B31, Bessus commanded the left wing of the Persian army, and was thus directly opposed to Alex

BESTIA. 485
ander himself. (Curt. iv. 12. ~ 6; Arr. Anab.
iii. p. 59, e.) After this battle, when the fortunes
of Dareius seemed hopelessly ruined, Bessus
formed a plot with Nabarzanes and others to seize
the king, and either to put him to death and make
themselves masters of the empire, or to deliver
him up to Alexander, according to circumstances.
Soon after the flight of Dareius from Ecbatana
(where, after the battle of Arbela, he had taken
refuge), the conspirators, who had the Bactrian
troops at their command, succeeded in possessing
themselves of the king's person, and placed him in
chains. But, being closely pressed in pursuit by
Alexander, and having in vain urged Dareius to
mount a horse and continue his flight with them,
they filled up by his murder the measure of their
treason, B. c. 330. (Curt. v. 9-13; Arr. Anab.
iii. pp. 68, 69; Diod. xvii. 73"; Plut. Alex. 42.)
After this deed Bessus fled into Bactria, where lie
collected a considerable force, and assumed the
name and insignia of royalty, with the title of
Artaxerxes. (Curt. vi. 6. ~ 13; Arr. Anab. iii.
p. 71, d.) On the approach of Alexander, he fled
from him beyond the Oxus, but was at length betrayed by two of his followers, and fell into the
hands of Ptolemy, whom Alexander had sent forward to receive him. (Curt. vii. 5; Arr. Anab. iii.
p. 75; comp. Strab. xi. p. 513.) He was brought
naked before the conqueror, and, having been
scourged, was sent to Zariaspa, the capital of
Bactria (Strab. xi. p. 514): here, a council being
afterwards held upon him, he was sentenced to
suffer mutilation of his nose and ears, and was delivered for execution to Oxathres, the brother of
Dareius, who put him to a cruel death. The mode
of it is variously related, and Plutarch even makes
Alexander himself the author of the shocking
barbarity which he describes. (Curt. vii. 5, 10;
Arr. Anab. iv. p. 82, d.; Ptolem. and Aristobul.
ap. Arr. Anab. iii. ad fin.; Diod. xvii. 83; Plut.
Alex. 43; Just. xii. 5.) [E. E.]
BESTES (BeTo-Ts), perhaps Vestes, surnamed
Conostaulus, a Greek interpreter of the Novells,
filled the office of judex veli, and probably lived
soon after the age of Justinian. He is cited by
Harmenopulus (Promptuarium, p. 426, ed. 1587),
and mentioned by Nic. Comnenus Papadopoli.
(Praenotat. Mystagog. p. 372.) [J. T. G.]
BE'STIA, the name of a family of the plebeian
Calpurnia gens.
1. L. CALPURNIUS BESTIA, tribune of the
plebs, B. c. 121, obtained in his tribuneship the
recall of P. Popillius Laenas, who had been
banished through the efforts of C. Gracchus in 123.
(Cic. Brut. 34; comp. Vell. Pat. ii. 7; Plut. C.
Gracch. 4.) This made him popular with the
aristocratical party, who then had the chief power
in the state; and it was through their influence
doubtless that he obtained the consulship in 111.
The war against Jugurtha was assigned to him.
He prosecuted it at first with the greatest vigour;
but when Jugurtha offered him and his legate, M.
Scaurus, large sums of money, he concluded a
peace with the Numidian without consulting the
senate, and returned to Rome to hold the comitia.
His conduct excited the greatest indignation at
Rome, and the aristocracy was obliged to yield to
the wishes of the people, and allow an investigation
into the whole matter. A bill was introduced for
the purpose by C. Mamilius LimetanIus, and three
commissioners or judges (quaesitores) appointed, one