Bassus

• I A poet, a friend of Martial, Mart. 3, 76, 1 al.—
• II Q. Caecilius Bassus, quaestor A. U. C. 695, Cic. Phil. 11, 13, 32; id. Att. 2, 9, 1; 14, 9, 3; id. Fam. 11, 1, 4; 12, 18, 1.—
• III Lucilius Bassus, Cic. Att. 12, 5, 2.

We find consuls of this name under Valerian for the years A. D. 258 and 259. One of these is probably the Pomponius Bassus who under Claudius came forward as a national sacrifice, because the Sibylline books had declared that the Goths could not be vanquished unless the chief senator of Rome should devote his life for his country; but the emperor would not allow him to execute this design, generously insisting, that the person pointed out by the Fates must be himself. The whole story, however, is very problematical. (Aurel. Vict. Epit. 100.34; comp. Julian, Caes. p. 11, and Tillemont on Claudius II.) [W.R]

1. Is named by Ovid as having formed one of the select circle of his poetical associates, and as celebrated for his iambic lays, " Ponticus heroo, Bassus quoque clarus iambo," but is not noticed by Quintilian nor by any other Roman writer, unless he be the Bassus familiarly addressed by Propertius. (Eleg. 1.4.) Ience is is probable that friendship may have exaggerated his fame and merits. Osann argues from a passage in Apuleius the grammarian (De Orthograph. § 43), that Battus, and not Bassus, is the true reading in the above line from the Tristia, but his reasonings have been successfully combated by Weichert. (De L. Vario Poeta, Excurs. ii. De Bassis quibusdam, 'c.)

2. A dramatic poet, contemporary with Martial, and the subject of a witty epigram, in which he is recommended to abandon such themes as Medea, Thyestes, Niobe, and the fate of Troy, and to devote his compositions to Phaethon or Deucalion, i. e. to fire or water. (Martial. 5.53.) The name occurs frequently in other epigrams by the same author, but the persons spoken of are utterly unknown. [W.R]

occurs several times in the ancient authors as the name of a medical writer, sometimes without any praenomen, sometimes called Julius and sometimes Tullius. It is not possible to say exactly whether all these passages refer to more than two individuals, as it is conjectured that Julius and Tullius are the same person: it is, however, certain that the Julius Bassus said by Pliny (Ind. to H. N. xx.) to have written a Greek work, must have lived before the person to whom Galen dedicates his work De Libris Propriis, and whom he calls Κράτιστος Βάσσος. (Vol. xix. p. 8.) Bassus Tullius is said by Caelius Aurelianus (De Morb. Acut. 3.16. p.233) to have been the friend of Niger, who may perhaps have been the Sextius Niger mentioned by Pliny. (Ind. to H. N. xx.) He is mentioned by Dioscorides (De Mat. Med. i. praef.) and St. Epiphanius (Adv. Haer. 1.1.3) among the writers on botany; and several of his medical formulae are preserved by Aetius, Marcellus, Joannes Actuarius, and others. (Fabric. Biblioth. Gr. vol. xiii. p. 101, ed. vet.; C. G. Kühn, Addit. ad Elench. Medic. a Fahr. 'c. Exhib. fase. iv. p. 1, &c.) [W.A.G]

commander of a legion under Antonius Primus, A. D. 70. (Tac. Hist. 3.50.)

an orator and historian, who lived under Augustus and Tiberius. He drew up an account of the Roman wars in Germany, and also wrote a work upon Roman history of a more general character, which was continued, in thirty-one books, by the elder Pliny. No fragment of his compositions has been preserved. (Dialog. de Orat. 23; Quint. Inst. 10.1, 102, &c.; Senec. Suasor. 6, Ep. xxx., which perhaps refers to a son of this individual; Plin. H. N. Praef., Ep. 3.5, 9. ed. Titze.) It will be clearly perceived, upon comparing the two passages last referred to, that Pliny wrote a continuation of the general history of Bassus, and not of his history of the German wars, as Bahr and others have asserted. His praenomen is uncertain. Orelli (ad Dialog. de Orat. 100.23) rejects Titus, and shews from Priscian (lib. viii. p. 371, ed. Krehl), that Publius is more likely to be correct. [W.R]

occurs on a coin, from which we learn that he was a triumvir monetalis in the reign of Augustus. (Eckhel, v. p. 150.) Seneca speaks (de Ira, 3.18) of a Betilienus Bassus who was put to death in the reign of Caligula ; and it is supposed that he may be the same as the Betillinus Cassius, who, Dio Cassius says (59.25), was executed by command of Caligula, A. D. 40.

a Roman knight, and probably quaestor in B. C. 59 (Cic. Att. 2.9), espoused Pompey's party in the civil war, and after the loss of the battle of Pharsalia (48) fled to Tyre. Here he remained concealed for some time ; but being joined by several of his party, he endeavoured to gain over some of the soldiers of Sex. Julius Caesar, who was at that time governor of Syria. In this attempt he was successful; but his designs were discovered by Sextus, who, however, forgave him on his alleging that he wanted to collect troops in order to assist Mithridates of Pergamus. Soon afterwards, however, Bassus spread a report that Caesar had been defeated and killed in Africa, and that he himself had been appointed governor of Syria. He forthwith seized upon Tyre, and marched against Sextus; but being defeated by the latter, he corrupted the soldiers of his opponent, who was accordingly put to death by his own troops.

On the death of Sextus, his whole army went over to Bassus, with the exception of some troops which were wintering in Apameia and which fled to Cilicia. Bassus followed them, but was unable to gain them over to his side. On his return he took the title of praetor, B. C. 46, and settled down in the strongly fortified town of Apameia, where he maintained himself for three years. He was first besieged by C. Antistius Vetus, who was, however, compelled to retire with loss, as the Arabian Alchaudonius and the Parthians came to the assistance of Bassus. It was one of the charges brought against Cicero's client, Deitoraus, that he had intended to send forces to Bassus. After the retreat of Antistius, Statius Murcus was sent against Bassus with three legions, but he too received a repulse, and was obliged to call to his assistance Marcius Crispus, the governor of Bithynia, who brought three legions more. With these six legions Murcus and Crispus kept Bassus besieged in Apameia till the arrival of Cassius in Syria in the year after Caesar's death, B. C. 43. The troops of Bassus, as well as those of Murcus and Crispus, immediately went over to Cassius, and Bassus, who was unwilling to join Cassius, was dismissed uninjured. (D. C. 47.26_28; Appian, App. BC 3.77, 78, 4.58, 59; Cic. pro Deiot. 8, 9, ad Att. 14.9, 15.13, ad Fam. 11.1, Philip. 11.13, ad Fam. 12.11, 12; Liv. Epit. 114, 121; Vell. 2.69; Strab. xvi. p.752; J. AJ 14.11, B. J. 1.10.10.)

Appian gives (l.c.) a different account of the origin of the revolt in Syria under Bassus. According to Appian's statement, Bassus was appointed by Caesar commander of the legion under the governor Sex. Julius. But as Sextus gave himself up to pleasure and carried the legion about with him everywhere, Bassus represented to him the impropriety of his conduct, but his reproofs were received with contempt; and shortly afterwards Sextus ordered him to be dragged into his presence, because he did not immediately come when he was ordered. Hereupon the soldiers rose against Sextus, who was killed in the tumult. Fearing the anger of Caesar, the soldiers resolved to rebel, and compelled Bassus to join them.

1. A Roman lyric poet, who flourished about the middle of the first century. Quintilian (10.1.95) observes, " At Lyricorum idem Horatius fere solus legi dignus.... Si quemdam adjicere velis, is erit Caesius Bassus, quem nuper vidimus : sed eum longe praecedunt ingenia viventium." Two lines only of his compositions have been preserved, one of these, a dactylic hexameter from the second book of his Lyrics, is to be found in Priscian (x. p. 897, ed. Putsch); the other is quoted by Diomedes (iii. p. 513, ed. Putsch.) as an example of Molossian verse. The sixth satire of Persius is evidently addressed to this Bassus ; and the old scholiast informs us, that he was destroyed along with his villa in A. D. 79 by the eruption of Vesuvius which overwhelmed Herculaneum and Pompeii. He must not be confounded with

2. Caesius Bassus, a Roman Grammarian of uncertain date. Works

The author of a short tract entitled Ars Caesii Bassi de Metris, Editions

The Ars Caesii Bassi de Metris is given in the Grammaticae Latinae Auctores Antiqui of Putschius (Hanov. 1605), pp. 2663-2671. [W.R]

surnamed Scholasticus, was in all probability the compiler of the Geoponica (Γεωπονικά), or work on Agriculture, which is usually ascribed to the emperor Constantine Porphyrogeneta. (A. D. 911-959.) Cassianus Bassus appears to have compiled it by the command of this emperor, who has thus obtained the honour of the work. Of Bassus we know nothing, save that he lived at Constantinople, and was born at Maratonymum, probably a place in Bithynia. (Geopon. 5.6, comp. 5.36.) Works Geoponica

The work itself, which is still extant, consists of twenty books, and is compiled from various authors, whose names are always given, and of whom the following is an alphabetical list:- Sex. Julius Africanus Anatolicus of Berytus [p. 161b.] Appuleius Aratus of Soli Aristoteles, the philosopher Damogeron Democritus Didymus of Alexandria Cassius Dionysius of Utica Diophanes of Nicaea Florentinus Fronto Hierocles, governor of Bithynia under Diocletian Hippocrates, of Cos, a veterinary surgeon, at the time of Constantine the Great Leontinus or Leontius Nestor, a poet in the time of Alexander Severus Pamphilus of Alexandria Paramus Pelagonius Ptolemaeus of Alexandria the brothers Quintilius (Gordianus and Maximus) Tarentinus Theomnestus Varro Zoroaster

Cassianus Bassus has contributed only two short extracts of his own, namely, cc. 5 and 36 of the fifth book.

The various subjects treated of in the Geoponica will best appear from the contents of the different books, which are as follow: 1. Of the atmosphere and the rising and setting of the stars. 2. Of general matters appertaining to agriculture, and of the different kinds of corn. 3. Of the various agricultural duties suitable to each month. 4 and 5. Of the cultivation of the vine. 6-8. Of the making of wine. 9. Of the cultivation of the olive and the making of oil. 10-12. Of horticulture. 13. Of the animals and insects injurious to plants. 14. Of pigeons and other birds. 15. Of natural sympathies and antipathies, and of the management of bees. 16. Of horses, asses, and camels. 17. Of the breeding of cattle. 18. Of the breeding of sheep. 19. Of dogs, hares, deer, pigs, and of salting meat. 20. Of fishes. Editions

The Geoponica was first published at Venice in 1538, 8vo., in a Latin translation made by Janus Cornarius. The Greek text appeared in the following year, 1539, 8vo., at Basel, edited by J. Alex. Brassicanus from a manuscript in the imperial library in Vienna. The next edition was published at Cambridge, 1704, 8vo., edited by Needham, and the last at Leipzig, 1781, 4 vols. 8vo., edited by Niclas.

a Roman knight, and a Carthaginian by birth, on the faith of a dream promised to discover for Nero immense treasures, which had been hidden by Dido when she fled to Africa. Nero gave full credit to this tale, and despatched vessels to carry the treasures to Rome; but Bassus, after digging about in every direction, was unable to find them, and in despair put an end to his life, A. D. 66. (Tac. Ann. 16.1-3; Suet. Nero 31.)

or Ga'bius, a learned grammarian, whose Commentarii and treatise De Origine Verborum et Vocabulorum are cited by Gellius (2.4, 3.9,19, 5.7, 11.17). He is probably the same with the writer of the work De Diis, spoken of by Macrobius (Macr. 1.19, 3.6, compare 3.18), and perhaps to him belong the Satirae also from which Fulgentius Planciades quotes a line. (Serm. Antiq. Explic.) We hear of a Gavius Bassus who was praefectus of the Pontic coast under Trajan (Plin. Ep. 10.18, 32, 33), but those who would identify him with the person mentioned above have overlooked the circumstance that the author of the commentaries declares, that he beheld with his own eyes at Argos the famous equus Seianus, which was said to have belonged in succession to Dolabella, Cassius, and M. Antonius ; and hence it is clear that, unless in addition to its peculiar property of entailing inevitable destruction upon its possessor, it had likewise received the gift of longer life than ever steed enjoyed before, it could hardly have been seen by a contemporary of the younger Pliny. The praenomen Gavius or Gabius has in many MSS. been corrupted into Gaius or Caius, and then abbreviated into C., which has given rise to considerable confusion ; but, for anything we can prove to the contrary, each of the above-mentioned books may be from the pen of a distinct individual. [W.R]

[Bassus, p. 471b.]

a Roman orator, frequently mentioned by the elder Seneca in his Controversiae, seems to be the same as the Junius Bassus who was called Asinus albus when Quintilian was a boy, and who was distinguished by his abusive wit. (Quint. Inst. 6.3. §§ 27, 57, 74.)

(Λόλλιος Βάσσος), the author of ten epigrams in the Greek Anthology, is called, in the title of the second epigram, a native of Smyrna. His time is fixed by the tenth epigram, on the death of Germanicus, who died A. D. 19. (Tac. Ann. 2.71.) [P.S]

a name used by Cicero as proverbial for a vain and worthless author. In a letter to Atticus (12.5), speaking of his panegyric upon Cato, he says, " I am well pleased with my work, but so is Bassus Lucilius with his." Some MSS. here have Caecilius. [W.R]

was promoted by Vitellius from the command of a squadron of cavalry to be admiral of the fleet at Ravenna and Misenum, B. C. 70; but disappointed at not obtaining the command of the praetorian troops, he betrayed the fleet to Vespasian. After the death of Vitellius, Bassus was sent to put down some disturbances in Campania. (Tac. Hist. 2.100, 3.12, 36, 40, 4.3.) His name occurs in an inscription. (Gruter, p. 573.)

was consul A. D. 211, under Septimius Severus, and at a subsequent period fell a victim to the licentious cruelty of Elagabalus, who having become enamoured of his fair and high-born wife, Annia Faustina, a descendant (ἀπόγονος, probably great-grandaughter) of M. Aurelius, caused Bassus to be put to death by the senate under some frivolous pretext, and then married the widow with indecent haste. This event took place in 221.

The Bassus who was governor of Mysia under Caracalla may have been the father or the son of the above. (D. C. 78.21, 79.5 Herodian, 5.6, 5.) [W.R]

a Roman epic poet, contemporary with Statius.

Quintilian thus characterises his genius: vehemens et poeticum fuit nec ipsum senectute maturum. The last words are somewhat obscure, but probably signify that he died young, before his powers were ripened by years. He is the tenuis Saleius of Juvenal, one of the numerous band of literary men whose poverty and sufferings the satirist so feelingly deplores ; but at a later period his wants were relieved by the liberality of Vespasian, as we learn from the dialogue on the decline of eloquence, where warm praise is lavished on his abilities and moral worth. Works Panegyric on Piso

We have not even a fragment acknowledged as the production of this Bassus. A panegyric, indeed, in 261 heroic hexameters, on a certain Calpurnius Piso, has been preserved, the object and the author of which are equally uncertain; and hence we find it attributed to Virgil, to Ovid, to Statius, and very frequently to Lucan, whose name is said to be prefixed in some MSS., while Wernsdorf, rejecting all these suppositions, labours hard to prove that it ought to be ascribed to Saleius Bassus, and that the Piso who is the hero of the piece must be the well-known leader of the great conspiracy against Nero. The strong points in the position are the allusions (1. 180) to the game of draughts in which this Piso is known to have been an adept (Vet. Schol. ad Juv. 5.109), and the references by the writer to his own humble origin and narrow means, a description altogether inapplicable to the well-born and wealthy bard of Corduba. Granting, however, that Wernsdorf is right so far as Piso and Lucan are concerned, it by no means follows, from the simple fact that the author in question was poor and neglected, that we are entitled, in the absence of all other evidence direct or circumstantial, to identify him with Saleius Bassus, for it is certain that the same conditions would hold good of Statius, Serranus, and a long list of versifiers belonging to the same period. Further Information

Quint. 10.1, 90; Dialog. de Oratt. cc. 5, 9; Juv. 7.80; Wernsdorf, Poett. Latt. Minn. vol. iv. r. i. pp. 36, 72, 75, 236 [W.R]

a Roman orator, frequently mentioned by the elder Seneca. (Controv. 3.16, 17, 20-22.)

a Roman orator, mentioned by the elder Seneca. (Controv. 1.6, 7.)

A Roman historian of the time of Tiberius, who treated of the expiration of the Republic and the founding of the Empire. Quintilian (x. 1. 103) speaks of his libri belli Germanici, which may, however, have been a part of the other work. His narrative was continued by Pliny the Elder, and appears to have been used by Dio Cassius and Suetonius. Quotations from it are to be found in Seneca, Suasoriae, vi. 18 and 23. See H. Peter, Hist. Fragm. 308.