Gutsmuths, Salzmann, and others, Basedow soon attracted general attention by the results of his method, and gathered a host of followers (philanthropists) around him. On the other hand, Basedow and his system cannot be entirely freed from the reproach of shallowness, free-thinking, and want of real learning. The Philanthropinum itself prospered only for a short period, and there is no doubt that the restlessness of its founder, and his haughty, unruly, and quarrelsome temper, were amongst the chief causes of its speedy decay. After having given rise to many similar institutions, of which, however, only that founded by Salzmann at Schnepfenthal, near Gotha, is still flourishing, it was dissolved in 1793. Basedow had left it already in 1778, and after several changes of residence, had died at Magdeburg, 25th July, 1790. Amongst Basedow's numerous writings may be quoted, "Praktische Philosophie für alle Stände;" "Philalethie, Neue Aussichten in die Wahrheiten und Religion der Vernunft;" "Theoretisches System der gesunden Vernunft;" "Examen in der allernatürlichsten Religion;" "Einer Philadelphischen Gesellschaft Gesangbuch für Christen und für philosophische Christgenossen;" and "Jesus Christus die grosse Christenwelt und die kleine Auswahl," &c.—K. E.
BASELLI, Benedetto, an Italian physician and surgeon, born at San-Pellegrino, in the middle of the sixteenth century, and died May 17, 1621. He studied medicine at Padua under Jerome Massuria, Fabricius d'Aquapendente, and Campo-Longo. In 1594 he applied for admission to the college of physicians of his own country; but they refused him, on account of his practising surgery. The old physicians regarded this art as beneath them. It was in order to combat this prejudice that Baselli wrote the work: "Apologiæ, qua pro chirurgiæ Nobilitate Chirurgi strenue Pugnantur, Libri Tres," Bergamo, 1604, 4to.—E. L.
BASHAW, Edward, an English nonconformist of the 17th century, held a living at Exeter. He died in Newgate in 1671, having been imprisoned for refusing to take the oath of allegiance and supremacy. His principal performance was a "Dissertation against the Socinians."
BASHKIN, Matvaei Semenov, a heretic of the middle of the sixteenth century, who promulgated at Moscow, in the reign of Ivan the Terrible, a system of doctrine compounded in about equal parts of Arianism and Socinianism. He was imprisoned by Ivan, but gave up the names of his associates, and escaped with a short term of confinement.
BASIL, called also ASCHOLIUS or ACHOLIUS, bishop of Thessalonica in the reign of Theodosius, whom he baptized in 300. St. Ambrose honoured him with a particular friendship. He was present at the council of Constantinople in 381, and at that of Rome in the year following.
BASIL I., surnamed the Macedonian, emperor of the East, born at the town of Macedonia, near Adrianople, in 813; died in 886. He embraced the profession of arms, but, as his parents were very poor, it is probable that he entered the army as a common soldier. He was made prisoner by the Bulgarians; but having made his escape, he came to Constantinople, with nothing but his wallet and his staff. Here he had the good fortune to attract the notice of the Emperor Michael, who made him first his equerry, then his grand chamberlain, and finally, his partner in the empire. Basil laboured to persuade Michael to renounce certain excesses to which he was addicted; but Michael, indignant at finding a censor in the man whom he had raised to the purple, resolved to put him to death. In this, however, he was anticipated by Basil; who thus, from 867, was sole occupant of the throne. After a reign of nineteen years, he was killed in the chase by a stag.—G. M.
BASIL II., emperor of the East, born in 956; died in 1025. He succeeded John Zimisces in 976. His brother Constantine, who was associated with him in the empire, was a person destitute of talents and virtue, and enjoyed no authority; while Basil, on the other hand, was a man of active bravery, though no friend to letters. During his reign several revolts occurred, which he promptly suppressed. In 1014 he turned his arms against the Bulgarians, whom he defeated; having slain, in one day, five thousand men, and taken fifteen thousand prisoners. He subsequently vanquished the Saracens, who had made inroads upon his territory. In all his expeditions he was equally successful, and he reigned longer than any of his predecessors.—G. M.
BASIL, prince of Moldavia in the seventeenth century. He was deposed by his subjects, with the assistance of Stephen XII., surnamed the Fat.
BASIL, surnamed the Hawk, lived in the tenth century. His origin is obscure; but in 959 he was engaged in a plot against the life of Romain the Young, who had succeeded his father Constantine in the empire. The plot was discovered, and Basil, who was found to be labouring under mental aberration, was consigned to the isle of Proconnesus.
BASIL, Saint, the Great, was born at Cæsarea in Cappadocia, a.d. 329. Many of the circumstances connected with his parentage, the place of his birth, and his education, have given rise to considerable discussion. The Magdeburg centuriators, who wrote in the sixteenth century, assert that his father was a bishop; other writers say that he was a priest. Whatever weight is due to these several statements, these assertions show that the doctrine of the celibacy of the clergy was very far from being generally received in the fourth century. In early youth Basil received a pious education under the care of his mother Emmelia, and his grandmother Macrina. The latter had been under the instruction of Gregory Thaumaturgus, bishop of Neocæsarea, and. had suffered for the truth's sake in the days of persecution. On leaving his parental roof, he went to Cæsarea in Palestine, where he became acquainted with Gregory Nazianzen, after which he removed to Constantinople. Thence he proceeded to Athens, where, on meeting again with Gregory, the two friends became united in one heart and one soul. Upon his father's decease, Basil practised at Cæsarea with considerable success in forensic causes. So little, however, was the satisfaction he felt from the study of rhetoric, and so ensnaring his celebrity was considered to be, that he resolved to withdraw from the secular profession, and to give himself up to the study of the holy scriptures. At this period (357), when he arrived at manhood, he was baptized by Dianius, bishop of Cæsarea, who afterwards admitted him to the office of a deacon. Among his instructors was Libanius, the most celebrated sophist and eloquent orator of the age; who gave lessons in the art of rhetoric and declamation at Constantinople, Athens, and during the remainder of his life at Antioch. The friendship which was thus formed between the teacher and the pupil was maintained to the end of life, though Libanius never professed the principles of the christian faith.
Saint Basil now resolved to retire, as much as possible, from the world; to this he was instigated by the sudden death of his brother Naucratius, at the age of twenty-one. With the view of perfecting himself in ascetic discipline, Basil travelled over Egypt, Palestine, Syria, Mesopotamia, and at length he settled in Pontus, near Ibora, where his mother and sister had formed a convent of nuns. Here he was joined by Gregory Nazianzen; the two friends took Origen as their guide in the interpretation of scripture, and extracted from his writings replies to the more difficult questions in theology; some of which are extant under the title of "Philocalia." At this time the Ascetica were written, or rather such of these treatises as had been correctly ascribed to him. Saint Basil was not happy in these solitudes. His peace was disturbed by the discovery that his friend Eustathius of Sebaste, had espoused the doctrines of Arius. In other respects, he seems to have been far from realizing the objects he desired, for he candidly admitted that, while he had fled from many evils, he had not been able to fly from himself, so that he enjoyed no great advantage from his solitude. On his return from his travels he was made reader in the church of Cæsarea; we have no certain account of his admission to the ministry, except that while he was still a deacon, he attended Basil of Ancyra to the synod of Constantinople in 359, when he took part against the Anomœans or Heterousians, who maintained that the Son was not of the same essence with the Father. Dianius, the bishop of Cæsarea, who was noted as an Arian, sought for Basil's spiritual advice and comfort on the bed of death. When, however, the see became vacant, the popular party, as at Milan in the case of Ambrose, raised to the office of bishop, Eusebius, an unbaptized layman; and the prelates yielding to the violence of the people, confirmed the election. This appointment gave rise to considerable disturbances, for Eusebius, who had previously occupied the civil tribunal, was but little versed in the controversies of the age. To prevent an open rupture Basil, with the monks over whom he presided, withdrew to the wilder parts of Pontus, until the church at Cæsarea, with the consent of the bishop, called for his return, after some negotiations in which Gregory Nazianzen acted as mediator. Eusebius, it is said, governed the people, but Basil,
