BENDER, a town of Russia, the capital of a district in the province of Bessarabia, situated on the right bank of the Dniester, 35 miles from Kisheneff, in 46 49 N. lat. and 29 29 E. long. It possesses three Greek churches, a Roman Catholic church, a dissenting place of worship, four synagogues, and a mosque. Its industrial establish ments include a tobacco-factory, candle-works, and brick kilns. An important trade is carried on by means of its harbour on the Dniester and the road that leads to Odessa, the greater part of the ships discharging their cargoes here to be conveyed by land to Odessa and Jassy. The prin cipal articles of trade are corn, wine, wool, cattle, tallow, and especially timber, which is floated down the Dniester. The citadel is separated from the town by an eminence, which bears the name of the Suwaroff mound ; in its eastern part is a wooden castle with towers. There are also four suburbs to the town, which in 18G7 had a population of 24,443, the greater proportion of them being Jews. As early as the 1 2th century the Genoese had a settlement on the site of Bender. The Moldavians called the place Teegeen, and the name of Bender was only bestowed by the Turks in the end of the 14th century. In 1709 Charles XII., after the defeat of Poltava, collected his forces here in a camp which they called New Stockholm, and continued there till 1711. Bender was thrice taken by the Russians, by Paniin in 1770, Potemkin in 1789, and Meyendorf in 1806, but it was not held permanently by Russia till the Bucharest peace of 1812.
BENDER-ABBASI, a town of Persia in the province of Kirmaii, on the northern shore of the Persian Gulf, in 27 3 13 N. lat. and 5G 3 7 E. long., about 12 miles N.W. of the island of Ormuz. It is surrounded with walls, but the houses are of a very poor description. The old Dutch factory is still standing, and serves as the occasional resi dence of the Imam of Mascat, to whose domain the town belongs. There is a comparatively small trade in the export of tobacco and fruits and the import of cotton-cloth and pottery. The port is shallow and inconvenient ; and it is evident that changes of the coast line by silting tip and denudation have considerably altered the character of the place since the time when, under the name of Gombrcon, it ranked as one of the first seaports of Persia. In 1612 the Portuguese had established Fort Komoran here, but it was destroyed in 1614, and they were expelled by Shah Abbas I. The English, however, were permitted to build a factory, and about 1620 the Dutch obtained the same privilege. On the capture of the island of Ormuzin 1622 by the English and Persians, a large portion of its trade was diverted to the town, which derived its name of Bender- Abbasi, or Harbour of Abbas, from the shah. During the rest of the 1 7th century the traffic was very great, all the neighbouring nationalities and merchants from the principal countries of Europe frequenting its markets ; but in the 18th century this prosperity declined, and most of the trade was removed to Bushire. In 1759 the English factory was destroyed by the French ; and though it was afterwards re-established, it has long been abandoned. The ruins of the factory and other buildings lie to the west of the present town. Population about 9000.
BENEDICT, St, the founder of the celebrated Benedictine order, is the most illustrious name in the early history of Western monasticism. To him more than to any other the monastic system, which was destined to exercise such an influence for centuries, owes its extension and organization. Benedict was born at Nursia in Umbria about the year 480. He belonged to an old Italian family, and was early sent to Rome to be educated. But the disorder and vices of the capital drove him into solitude while still a youth. It was a time of public peril and social ruin. The Pvoman empire was crumbling to pieces, shaken by the successive inroads of barbarians, and a prey to every species of violence and corruption. Young Bene dict fled from the wickedness around him. He gave up his literary studies and preferred to be wisely ignorant (scienter nesciens). This is the statement of his biographer Gregory the Great, from whom come all the details that we know of Benedict s life. It is needless to say that many of these details are of such a character that it is impossible for modern historical criticism to accept them in their literal meaning. It is of no use, however, trying to disentangle the truth from the falsehood. The reader can easily make allowance for the imaginative exaggerations of the story.
When Benedict fled from Rome he took refuge in a solitary gorge formed by the Anio, in its picturesque course, about 40 miles from the city. There, in a dark inacces sible grotto near Subiaco, he found seclusion and shelter. A neighbouring monk supplied him with food let down by a rope, with a small bell attached, which gave notice of the approach of the food. Once the devil broke the rope, but his malice was foiled by the pious ingenuity of the monk. Other and graver dangers assailed him. The Evil One took the shape of a beautiful woman, with whose image the youthful recluse had been familiar in Rome, and so worked upon his senses that he was on the point of abandoning his solitude in search of the beauty which haunted him. But summoning all his fortitude he stripped himself of the vestment of skins which was his only covering, rushed naked amongst the thorns and briars which grew around his retreat, and rolled himself amongst them till he had extinguished the impure flame which devoured him. No impulses of sensual passion ever revisited him. But trials of a different kind assailed him. After spending about three years in retirement a neighbour ing convent of monks insisted upon choosing him as their head. He warned them of the severity of the rule he would be bound to exercise, but they would not be dissuaded from their purpose. He had hardly commenced his office, however, when they broke out into fierce resent ment against him, and attempted to poison him. The cup containing the poison was no sooner taken into the hands of Benedict than it burst asunder ; and, calmly reproving them for their ingratitude, he left them and withdrew once more into his solitude.
and it was impossible for him to remain inactive. Multi tudes gathered around him, and no fewer than twelve select cloisters were planted in the lonely valley of the Anio and on the adjacent heights. Young patricians from Rome and elsewhere were attracted to these fraternities ; and amongst them one of the name of Maurus (St Maur), who began to share in popular esteem something of the sanctity and miraculous endowments of Benedict, and who was destined to be his successor. But with increasing fame came also jealousy of his position and duties. A renewed attempt was made by an envious priest to administer poison to the saint ; and, miraculous interposi tions having again csme to his rescue, the same priest, by name Florentius, had recourse to the diabolical device of sending seven lewd girls within the precincts of the monastery, to seduce the monks by their gestures and sports. Benedict determined to depart from a neighbour hood so full of danger, notwithstanding the long period of thirty years during which he had laboured to consecrate it and spread abroad the blessings of an ascetic Christianity. He journeyed southwards, and at length settled at Monte Cassino, an isolated and picturesque hill near the sourcp of the Liris. There at this time an ancient temple of Apollo still stood, to which the ignorant peasants brought
their offerings. Benedict, in his holy enthusiasm, proceeded
