Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 1.djvu/517

BOMILCAR. sopher of Mende, to whom they ascribe several works, which are otherwise entirely unknown. From this Pythagorean, Suidas distinguishes a Bolus who was a philosopher of the school of De- mocritus, who wrote on medicine and also an his- toricil work. But, from a passage of Columella (vii, 5 ; conip. Stob.ieus, Si-nn. 51), it appears that Bolus of Mende and the follower of Democritus were one and the same person ; and he seems to have lived subsequently to the time of Theophrastus, whose work on plants he appears to have known. (Steph. Byz. s. v. "A^vudos ; Schol. ad Nkand. Tfieriac. 764.) [L. S.] BOMILCAR (BoMtAKoy, Boa/tfA/fos). 1. A commander of the Carthaginians against Aga- thocles, when the latter invaded Africa, B. c. 310. In the first battle with the invaders, Borailcar, his colleague Hanno having fallen, betrayed the fortune of the day to the enemy, with the view, according to Diodorus, of humbling the spirit of his country- men, and so making himself tyrant of Carthage. (Diod. XX. 10,12; comp. Arist. Polit. v. 11, ed. Bekk.) Two years after this, B. c. 308, after many delays and misgivings, he attempted to seize the government with the aid of 500 citizens and a number of mercenaries ; but his followers were in- duced to desert him by promises of pardon, and he himself was taken and crucified. (Diod. xx. 43, 44 ; Justin, xxii. 7.) 2. Father of the Hanno who commanded a portion of Hannibal's army at the passage of the Rhone, B. c. 21 M. This Bomilcar seems to have been one of the Carthaginian SutFetes (rea-, not praetor ; see Gottling, Eacurs. iii. cul Arist. Polit. p. 484), and to have presided in that assembly of the senate in which the second Punic war was resolved on. (Polyb. iii. 33, 42; Liv. xxi. 18, 27, 28.) 3. Commander of the Carthaginian supplies which were voted to Hannibal after the battle of Cannae, B. c. 216, and with which he arrived in Italy in the ensuing year. (Liv. xxiii. 13, 41.) In B.C. 214, he was sent with fifty-five ships to the aid of Syracuse, then besieged by the Romans; but, finding himself unable to cope with the supe- rior fleet of the enemj', he withdrew to Africa. (Liv. xxiv. 36.) Two years after, we again find him at Syracuse ; for we hear of his making his escape out of the harbour, carrying to Carthage intelligence of the perilous state of the city (all of ■which, except Achradina, was in the possession of Marcellus), and returning within a few daj J with loo ships. (Liv. XXV. 25.) In the same year, on the destruction by pestilence of the Carthaginian land-forces under Hippocrates and Hirailco, Bo- milcar again sailed to Carthage with the news, and returned with 130 ships, but was prevented by Marcellus from reaching Syracuse. He then proceeded to Tarentum, apparently with the view ol cutting oflf the supplies of the Roman garrison in that town ; but, as the presence of his force only increased the scarcity under which the Taren- tines themselves suffered, they were obliged to dismiss him. (Liv. xxv. 27, xxvi. 20 ; comp. Po- lyb. Spicil. Rel. ix. 1 ; Schweig. ad loc.) 4. A Numidian, deep in the confidence of Ju- gurtha, by whom he was employed on many secret services. In particular, when Jugurtha was at Rome, in b. c. 108, Bomilcar undertook and ef- fected for him the assassination of Massiva, who happened to be at Rome at the same time, and who, as well as Jugurtha himself, was a grandson BONA DEA. 499 of Masinissa, and a rival claimant to the throne of Numidia. The murder was discovered and traced to Bomilcar, who was obliged to enter into large recognizances to appear and stand his trial ; but, before the trial came on, his master privately sent him back to Africa. (Sail. Jug. 35 ; comp. Liv. Epit. 64.) In the ensuing year, we find him com- manding a portion of Jugurtha's army, with which he was defeated in a skirmish at the river Mu- thul by Rutilius, lieutenant of Metellus. (Sail. Ju^. 49,52,53.) In the winter of the same year Metellus, after his unsuccessful attempt on Zama, engaged Bomilcar by promises of Roman favour to deliver Jugurtha to him alive or dead ; and it was accordingly at his instigation that the king sent ambassadors to make offers of unconditional sub- mission to Metellus. (Sail. Ju<j. 61, 62.) In con- sequence of this advice Bomilcar seems to have become an object of suspicion to his master, which urged him the more towards the execution of his treachery. Accordingly he formed a plot with Nabdalsa, a Numidian nobleman, for the seizure or assassination of the king ; but the design was dis- covered to Jugurtha by Nabdalsa's agent or secretary, and Bomilcar was put to death. (&ill. Jug. 70, 7 1.) [E.E.] BONA DEA, a Roman divinity, who is de- scribed as the sister, wife, or daughter of Faunus, and was herself called Fauna, Fatua, or Oma. (Serv. arf Jen. viii. 314; Macrob. Sut. i. 12.) She was worshipped at Rome from the earliest times as a chaste and prophetic divinity ; and her worship was so exclusively confined to women, that men were not even allowed to know her name. Faunus himself had not been able to over- come her aversion to men, except by changing her into a serpent. (Cic. de Harusp. resp. 17 ; Varr. ap. Lactant. i. 22 ; Serv. /. c.) She revealed her oracles only to females, as Faunus did only to males. Her sanctuary was a grotto in the Aven- tine, which had been consecrated to her by Claudia, a pure maiden. (Macrob. /. c. ; ,0v. Fast. v. 148, &c.) In the time of Cicero, however, she had also a sanctuary between Aricia and Bovillae. (Cic. pro Mil. 31 ; Ascon. ad Milon. p. 32.) Her festi- val, which was celebrated every year on the 1st of May, was held in the house of the consul or prae- tor, as the sacrifices on that occasion were olfered on behalf of the whole Roman people. The solem- nities were conducted by the Vestals, and only women, usually of the higher orders, were allowed to take part in them. (Cic. ad Att. i. 13, de Ha- rusp. resp. I. c. ; Dion Cass, xxxvii. 45.) During the solemnity, no male person was allowed to be in the house, and portraits of men were tolerated only when they were covered over. It is a well- known fact, that P. Clodius profaned the sacred ceremonies on such an occasion by entering the house of Caesar in the disguise of a woman. (Juv. vi. 429 ; Senec. Epist. 97 ; Plut. Caes. 9, Quae^t. Rom.'20; Ck.Paradoo'. 4, adAtt.n.4.) The women who celebrated the festival of Fauna had to pre- pare themselves for it by abstaining from various things, especially from intercourse with men. The house of the consul or praetor was decorated by the Vestals as a temple, with ilowers and foliage of every kind except myrtle, on account of its sym- bolic meaning. The head of the goddess's statue was adorned with a garland of vine-leaves, and a serpent surrounded its feet. The women were de- corated in a similar manner. Although no one wa» 2 k -2