which were completed by his SOD ; besides the name of the father of the Emperor Leo was written /fao-i Aeios, from which substantive, according to the genius of the ancient Greek language, the adjective /focriAiKos could not well be derived.
No perfect MS. has been preserved of the text of the Basilica, and the existence of any portion of the code seems to have been ignored by the jurists of Western Europe, until the important bear ing of it upon the study of the Roman law was brought to their attention by Viglius Zuichemus, professor of the Roman law in the university of Padua, in his preface to his edition of the Greek Paraphrase of Theophilus, published in 1533. A century, however, elapsed before an edition of the sixty books of the Basilica, as far as the 1ISS. then known to exist supplied materials, was published in seven volumes, by Carolus Annibal Fabrotus, under the patron age of Louis XIII. of France, who assigned an annual stipend of two thousand livres to the editor during its publication, and placed at his disposal the royal printing-press. This edition, although it was a great undertaking and a work of considerable merit, was a very imperfect representation of the original code. A newly restored, and far more complete text of the sixty books of the Basilica, has recently issued from the press of Johannes Ambrosius Earth at Leipsic, in six volumes, edited by Professor Charles William Ernest Heimbach of the university of Jena, assisted by his brother Gustavus Ernest Heimbach. This is one of the most important literary works of the 19th century. The learned editor lived long enough to witness the completion of the text of the Basilica by the publication of the fifth volume in 1850. He died in 1865, leaving behind him a valuable historical introduction to the code, and a manual of its contents, which are printed in the sixth and last volume, published at Leipsic in 1870. Several MSS., which contain portions of the code or of works bearing directly on the code, have been available for this edition, which were not accessible to Fabrotus when he published his edition in 1647. Amongst others may be mentioned MS. Coislin 151, of the llth century, now in the Bibliotheque Rationale in Paris, which came direct from Mount Athos into the hands of Chancellor Seguier, and which contains a general index of the contents of the sixty books of the Basilica ; MS. Coisliii 152, of the 13th century, also in the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris ; a Palimpsest MS. of the Holy Sepulchre (rov ayiov rd<pov), which was discovered in 1838 by Dr C. E. Zacharise von Lingenthal, in the palace of the patriarch of Jerusalem in Constantinople. The text of lour books of the Code has been restored by Dr C. E. Zacharite von Lingenthal from this MS., and is printed in an appendix to the third volume of Heimbach s edition. A further MS. deserves notice, being No. 853 in the Vatican Library at Rome ; it belongs to the 14th century, and is the only MS. which contains the work known as Tipucitus. This MS. has been very carefully col lated by Gustavus Ernest Heimbach, and the text of a portion of Tipucitus has been printed from this MS. in the appendix to the second volume of Heimbach s edition, the remaining portions of the work having been incorporated by Heimbach into the text of the re stored code. It may seem strange that so important a body of law as the Basilica should not have come down to us in its integrity, but a letter has been preserved, which was addressed by Mark the patriarch of Alexandria to Theodorus Balsamon, from which it appears that copies of the Basilica were in the 12th century very scarce, as the patriarch was unable to procure a copy of the work. The great bulk of the code was an obstacle to the multiplication of copies of it, whilst the necessity for them was in a great degree superseded by the publication from time to time of synopses and encheiridia of its conteuts, composed by the most eminent jurists, of which a very full account will be found in the Histoire du Droit Byzantin, by the advocate Mortreuil, published in Paris in 1846.
BASILICATA, or, as it is also called, Potenza, a province of Italy, bounded on the N. by Capitanata, N.E. by Terra di Bari, E. by Otranto and the Gulf of Taranto, S. by Calabria Citra, S.W. by the Mediterranean, W. by Principato Citra, and N.W. by Principato Ultra. It has an area of 4120 English square miles, and is divided into the four districts of Lagonegro, Matera, Melfi, Potenza. The population in 1871 was 500,543. In the N.W. of the territory the Apennines divide into two branches, the one running eastward to Terra di Bari, and the other southward to Calabria. The principal rivers are the Bradano, Basento, Salandrella, A.gri, and Siuno, all flowing into the Gulf of Taranto. The principal productions are maize, wine, linen, hemp, and tobacco; swine, goats, and sheep, are numerous ; and the produce of the silkworm forms a con siderable branch of industry. The cotton plant thrives well on low grounds near the sea. The chief towns ara Potenza, Melfi, Francavilla, Pdonero, and Tursi.
BASILIDES, one of the most celebrated of the Gnostics, flourished probably about 120 A.D. Extremely little is known of his life. He is said to have been born in Syria and to have studied at Alexandria, and this is probably correct. There is, to some extent, a corresponding uncertainty with regard to the precise doctrines held by him. Of these there are two distinct expositions, the one given chiefly by Ireuseus, which has been long before the world, the other contained in the Philosophoumena of Hippolytus, discovered in 1842. According to Irenseus, the system of Basilides strongly resembled that of Valentinus. The first principle or root of all things, was the supreme God, the unknown and unborn Father. From Him emanated in succession i/ovs, Aoyos, ^>por^crts, cro</>t a, and 8tVa/x.ts. . From the last, according to Irenams, sprang the powers who created the first heaven ; according to Clemens Alex., however, from Swa/us sprang StKcuoo-iV^ and f.ipr)VY), and these seven with the Father formed the first Ogdoad, or octave of existence. From them emanated other powers, by whom the second heaven was made, and so on in succession, each system being a more shadowy type or reflex of the original ogdoad. The number of heavens was 365, whence the whole series was called Abraxas, or Abrasax, a name frequently applied to the lower deity, or even, as by Tertullian, to the supreme God. The powers of the lowest heaven, of whom the chief was called the apx^v, created the earth. This ap^wv is the God of the Jews, and against Him the other powers were arrayed. To alleviate the misfortunes of the earth, the vovs, or first emanation, became incarnate and descended upon earth. The vovs as incorporeal could not suffer death ; accordingly, he changed forms with Simon of Cyreiie, and stood by the cross, laughing at his enemies, while Simon suffered in his place. Salvation is spiritual, pertains only to the soul ; outer actions are not in themselves good or bad. That Basilides taught this doctrine of moral indifference is not perfectly clear, but Irenasus reports that his disciples acted up to it.
According to the account he gives, Basilides started neither with a dualism of God and matter or evil, nor with a theory of emanation. His first principle was God, the unknown, incomprehensible, unspeakable, non-existent one, cf whom nothing can be predicated, for no words are adequate to express His essence. This non-existent God, by the exercise of what may be called volition, created the Tra.vo-Trepfj.La, or seed, which contained in itself the germs of all things. In this chaotic mass, which strongly resembles the bfj.oLOfji.fpf) of Anaxagoras, there is a mixture of elements, criryxio-is apiKij, and at the same time are embedded in it three degrees or kinds of divine sonship, consubstantial with the Deity. The first kind is refined and pure, the second gross, the third requiring purification. As all things naturally tend towards God, the first sonship ascended and sat beside the Father. The second also strove to ascend by means of the Spirit, which is to him as a wing, but he could not rise quite to the Deity, and occupied an inferior position, while the wing or spirit formed the firmament. The third sonship still remained immersed in matter. Then from the world seed there burst forth the great apx^v, or ruler, who ascended as far as the firmament, and, imagining that there was nothing beyond, glorified himself as the brightest and strongest of all beings. This ruler, who is sometimes called Abraxas, but whose true name is ineffable, produced a son wiser and better than himself, by whose aid he laid the foundations of the world. The seat of their rule is called ihz Ogdoad, and it extends
through all the ethereal region down to the moon s sphere,
