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

488 BIBULUS.
of Caesar and Pompey, and prevented the latter
in 56 from restoring in person Ptolemy Auletes to
Egypt. When, however, a coolness began to arise
between Caesar and Pompey, Bibulus supported
the latter, and it was upon his proposal, that
Pompey was elected sole consul in 52, when the
republic was almost in a state of anarchy through
the tumults following the death of Clodius. In the
following year, 51, Bibulus obtained a province in
consequence of a law of Pompey's, which provided
that no future consul or praetor should have a province till five years after the expiration of his
magistracy. As the magistrates for the time being
were thus excluded, it was provided that all men
of consular or praetorian rank who had not held
provinces, should now draw lots for the vacant ones.
In consequence of this measure Bibulus went to
Syria as proconsul about the same time as Cicero
went to Cilicia. The eastern provinces of the Roman empire were then in the greatest alarm, as the
Parthians had crossed the Euphrates, but they
were driven back shortly before the arrival of
Bibulus by C. Cassius, the proquaestor. Cicero
was very jealous of this victory which had been
gained in a neighbouring province, and took good
care to let his friends know that Bibulus had no
share in it. When Bibulus obtained a thanksgiving of twenty 'days in consequence of the victory, Cicero complained bitterly, to- his friends,
that Bibulus had made false representations to the
senate. Although great fears were entertained,
that the invasion would be repeated, the Parthiansu
did not appear for the next year. Bibulus left the
province with the reputation of having administered
its internal affairs with integrity and zeal.
On his return to the west in 49, Bibulus was
appointed by Pompey commander of his fleet in
the Ionian sea to prevent Caesar from crossing
over into Greece. Caesar, however, contrived to
elude his vigilance; and Bibulus fell in with only
thirty ships returning to Italy after landing
some troops. Enraged at his disappointment, lie
burnt these ships with their crews. This was in
the winter; and his own men suffered much from
cold and want of fuel and water, as Caesar was
now in possession of the eastern coast and prevented his crews from landing. Sickness broke
out among his men; Bibulus himself fell ill, and
died in the beginning of the year 48, near Corcyra,
before the battle of Dyrrhachium. (Caes. B. C. iii.
5-18; Dion Cass. xli. 48; Plut. Brut. 13; Oros.
vi. 15; Cic. Brut. 77.)
Bibulus was not a man of much ability, and is
chiefly indebted for his celebrity to the fact of his
being one of Caesar's principal, though not most
formidable, opponents. He married Porcia, the
daughter of M. Porcius Cato Uticensis, by whom
lie had three sons mentioned below. (Orelli, Onomast. Tul l p. 119, &c.; Drumann's Gesch. Romins,
ii. p. 97, &c.)
2. 3. CALPURNII BIBULI, two sons of the preceding, whose praenomens are unknown, were
murdered in Egypt, B. c. 50, by the soldiers of
Cabinius. Their father bore his loss with fortitude
though he deeply felt it; and when the murderers
of hiis children were subsequently delivered up to
him by Cleopatra, lie sent them back, saying that
their punishment was not his duty but that of the
senate. Bibulus had probably sent his sons into
Egypt to solicit aid against the Parthians; and they
may have been murdered by the soldiers of Gabi

BION.
nius, because it was known that their father had
been opposed to the expedition of Gabinius, which
had been undertaken at the instigation of Pompey.
(Caes. B. C. iii. 110; Val. Max. iv. 1. ~ 15; comp.
Cic. ad Ait. vi. 5, ad Fam. ii. 17.)
4. L. CALPURNIUS BIBULIUS, the youngest son
of No. 1, was quite a youth at his father's death
(Plut. Brut. 13), after which he lived at Rome
with M. Brutus, who married his mother Porcia.
He went to Athens in B. c. 45 to prosecute his
studies (Cic. ad Att. xii. 32), and appears to have
joined his step-father Brutus after the death of Caesar in 44, in consequence of which he was proscribed
by the triumvirs. He was present at the battle of
Philippi in 42, and shortly after surrendered himself to Antony, who pardoned him and promoted
him to the command of his fleet, whence we find on
some of the coins of Antony the inscription L.
BIBULUs PRAEF. CLAS. (Eckhel, v. p. 161, vi.
p. 57.) He was frequently employed by Antony
in the negotiations between himself and Augustus,
and was finally promoted by the former to the go"vernment of Syria, where he died shortly before the
battle of Actium. (Appian, B. C. iv. 38, 104, 136,
v. 132.) Bibulus wrote the Memorabilia of his
step-father, a small work which Plutarch made use
of in writing the life of Brutus. (Plut. Brut. 13,
23.)
C. BI'BULUS, an aedile mentioned by Tacitus
(Ann. iii. 52) in the reign of Tiberius, A. D. 22,
appears to be the same as the L. Publicius Bibulus,
a plebeian aedile, to whom the senate granted a
burial-place both for himself and his posterity.
(Orelli, Inscr. n. 4698.)
BILIENIS. [BELLIENUS.]
BION (Bfic). 1. Of Proconnesus, a contemporary of Pherecydes of Syros, who consequently
lived about B. c. 560. He is mentioned by Diogenes Laertius (iv. 58) as the author of two works
which he does not specify; but we must infer from
Clemens of Alexandria (Strom. vi. p. 267), that one
of these was an abridgement of the work of the
ancient historian, Cadmus of Miletus.
2. A mathematician of Abdera, and a pupil of
Democritus. He wrote both in the Ionic and Attic
dialects, and was the first who said that there were
some parts of the earth in which it was night for
six months, while the remaining six months were
one uninterrupted day. (Diog. Labrt. iv. 58.) HIe
is probably the same as the one whom Strabo (i.
p. 29) calls an astrologer.
3. Of Soli, is mentioned by Diogenes Laertius
(iv. 58) as the author of a work on Aethiopia
(AZOLoTrucd), of which a few fragments are preserved
in Pliny (vi. 35), Athenaeus (xiii. p. 566), and in
Cramer's Anecdota (iii. p. 415). Whether he is
the same as the one from whom Plutarch (Thes.
26) quotes a tradition respecting the Amazons,
and from whom Agathias (ii. 25; comp. Syncellus,
p. 676, ed. Dindorf) quotes a statement respecting
the history of Assyria, is uncertain. Varro (De
Re Rust. i. 1) mentions Bion of Soli among the
writers on agriculture; and Pliny refers to the
same or similar works, in the Elenchi to several
books. (Lib. 8, 10, 14, 15, 17, 18.) Some think
that Bion of Soli is the same as Caecilius Bion.
[BION, CAECILIUS.]
4. Of Smyrna, or rather of the small place of
Phlossa on the river Meles, near Smyrna. (Suid.
s. v. (Gediperos.) All that we know about him is
the little that can be inferred from the third Idyl