665 



BASAITI, MARCO. 



BASILIUS. 



people, and also before the princes. Having heard the commencement 

 of the roll, Jehoiakim cut it in pieces, and cast it into the fire. Jehoi- 

 akira commanded his servants to apprehend both the prophet and the 

 scribe, bat they were already concealed (B.C. 606). After the destruc- 

 tion of Jerusalem, when Nebuchadnezzar led the Jews captive to 

 Babylon, Baruch and his master Jeremiah obtained permission to 

 remain in Palestine; but both were afterwards carried into Egypt by 

 Jochanan-Ben-Kareach, B.C. 588. (Comp. Jer. xxxii. 12-16; xxxvi. 4, 

 17, 27, 32 ; xliii. 3-6 ; xlv. 1,2: ' Josephi Antiquitates,' x. 9, 1.) From 

 some of these passages we learn that Baruch was present at the destruc- 

 tion of Jerusalem. Concerning the close of Baruch's life there exists a 

 diversity of opinion. According to one tradition, Baruch died in Egypt; 

 another asserts that he went from Egypt to Babylon, and died there 

 twelve years after the destruction of Jerusalem, leaving a celebrated 

 disciple in the person of Ezra, the scribe, and subsequent leader of 

 the Jews. 



The most ancient copies of the boot of Barueh still extant are written 

 in Greek ; but, on account of supposed Hebraisms in the style, some 

 learned men are of opinion that it was originally written in Hebrew. 

 It has been published, with the rest of the Apocrypha, in a Hebrew 

 translation, by Seckel Isaac Frsenkel, Leipzig, 1830. The authenticity 

 of the bock of Baruch was not recognised either by the ancient Jews 

 or the fathers of the Christian Church ; bnt the Council of Trent 

 anathematises those who exclude it from the canon of the Old Testa- 

 ment. Further information concerning the book of Baruch may be 

 found in the 'Introductions' to the Old Testament by Eichhorn, Jahn, 

 Berthold, De Wette, and others. 



(Griineberg, Exercitatio de Libra Saruchi XpocrypAo,Gbtt.l796, 8vo.) 



BASAITI, MARCO, one of the beet of the early Italian painters, 

 was born of a Greek family in the Friuli, probably about the middle 

 of the 15th ceiitury. He lived chiefly in Venice, where he was the 

 rival of Gian Bellini, to whom he was superior in some respects, espe- 

 cially in composition, in accessory groups, and in the management of 

 the landscape or scene. Some of Basaiti's works are still, for colour, 

 among the most brilliant paintings extant. There are several of hia 

 works in Venice, upon one of which, in the church of San Pietro di 

 Castello, in the date of MDXX ; and in the church of San Giobbe there 

 is an excellent picture of Christ praying in the Garden, with the date 

 1510. Among his other best known paintings are an Ascension of the 

 Virgin, in the church of Santa Maria degli Angioli, and an Assumption, 

 in that of St. Peter and St. Paul ; but his masterpiece is the Calling 

 of St. Peter and St. Andrew, in the Academy of Venice, formerly in 

 the old church Delia Certoaa ; it ia marked MDXI. M. BAXIT. There is 

 a repetition of it on wood in the Gallery of Vienna, marked, according 

 to Mechel, 'Marcus Baxaiti f. 1515.' There is a beautiful Deposition 

 from the Crow, by Basaiti, in the Gallery of Munich, cabinet xviii. 

 (Moschini, Guido, per la CitlA di Venezia, 1815 ; Vasan ; Lanzi, &e.) 



BASEVI, GEORGE, an eminent architect, was born at Brighton in 

 1794. He was placed as a pupil with Sir John Soane, R.A., hi whose 

 office he remained for six years. He then made a professional tour 

 through Italy and Greece for three years. He commenced practice as 

 an architect in 1819. During his comparatively short career Mr. Basevi 

 was employed in the construction of various descriptions of buildings, 

 scarcely any one of which is without manifest evidence of careful study 

 and well-cultivated taste. Among the more extensive of his works 

 may be mentioned Belgrave-square, which was erected entirely from 

 his designs. The churches at Brompton, Twickenham, Hove, &c., 

 show his acquaintance with the requirements of ecclesiastical archi- 

 tecture. St Mary's Hall at Brighton may also be mentioned among 

 hia more successful efforts. But his great work is the Fitzwilliam 

 Museum at Cambridge, one of the most ornate yet chaste and effective 

 classical edifices erected in England during the present century. It 

 was not quite finished at his death, and, like the Conservative Club- 

 House, St. James Vstreet, another of his latest works, executed by him 

 in conjunction with Mr. Sidney Smirke, it shows that he was rapidly 

 throwing off the trammels of precedent, and giving his fine taste and 

 attainments fuller and freer play. But his career was suddenly cut 

 short by a lamentable accident. Whilst examining, in company with 

 the Dean of Ely, the works in the Bell Tower of Ely Cathedral, the 

 restoration of which was being conducted under his direction, hia foot 

 caught against a nail in a beam from which the flooring had been 

 removed, and he fell through an aperture on to the top of the arch 

 under the tower, a distance of 40 feet. He died almost instantly, 

 October 16, 1845, aged 51. The Fitzwilliam Museum was finished 

 under the direction of Mr. Cockerel). 



(Builder, 1845 ; Qentlcman'i Magazine, 1845.) 



BASIL, or BASILI'US, bishop of Ancyra, A.D. 836, was ordained to 

 that office by the bishops of the Eusebian party in the room of 

 Marcellns, whom they had deposed ; but Basil was himself excom- 

 municated and his ordination annulled in the Council of Sardica in 

 347, though ho still retained the see. In 351 he attended the Second 

 Council of Sirmium, where he disputed successfully against Photinus. 

 He was one of the greatest enemies to the Arians, but was still con- 

 sidered as the head of the Semi-Ariaus, who maintained that the Son 

 was similar to the Father in his essence, not by nature, but by a pecu- 

 liar privilege. This opinion Basil procured to be established by a 

 council held at Ancyra in the year 358, and subsequently defended it 

 both at Seleuceia and Constantinople against the Eudoxians and 



Acacians, by whom he was deposed in 360. St. Jerome informs us 

 that Basil wrote a book against Marcellus, his predecessor, a ' Treatise 

 on Virginity,' and some other smaller pieces, of which no remains are 

 extant. 



BASIL, or BASILI'US, commonly called ST. BASIL, and, on 

 account of his learning and piety, aurnamed the Great, was born at 

 Cseaarea in Cappadocia, in the year A.D. 326 ; Lardner says in the year 

 328 or 329. His father was named Basilius, and hia mother Emmeleia. 

 In his earlier years he received instruction from his father, but went 

 afterwards and studied at Antioch, at Constantinople, at Ciesarea, and 

 at Athens. At Athens Basil formed a close intimacy with Gregory of 

 Nazianzus. He returned to his native country about the year 355, 

 and taught rhetoric. Some time after this he travelled into Syria, 

 Egypt, and Libya, to visit tho monasteries of those countries. Upon 

 his return home he instituted an order of monastic life in the province 

 of Pontus. Eusebius, who had succeeded to the bishopric of Csesarea 

 in 362, conferred the order of priesthood upon Basil, who some time 

 after, upon some difference with the biahop, retired to the solitude of 

 his monastery, but was reconciled to him about three years after. 

 Upon Eusebius's death in the year 370, Basil was chosen his successor. 

 It was with some reluctance that he accepted this dignity ; but no 

 sooner was he raised to it than the emperor Valeus began to persecute 

 him because he refused to embrace the doctrine of the Arians, of 

 which he and Gregory of Nazianzus were strenuous opponents. 

 Valens ceased however at length to molest Basil, who now endea- 

 voured to bring about a re-union between the eastern and western 

 churches, which had been divided upon some points of faith, and in 

 regard to Meletius and Paulinus, two bishops of Antioch. The western 

 churches acknowledged Paulinus for the legal bishop ; Meletius was 

 supported by the eastern churches. But all his efforts were ineffectual, 

 this dispute not being terminated till nine months after his death. 

 Basil was also engaged in some contests relating to the division which 

 the emperor had made of Cappadocia into two provinces. St. Basil 

 had likewise some disputes with Eustathius and ApolUnaris, against 

 both of whom he wrote ; and in fact he took a part in most of the 

 controversies of his age. He died January 1, 379, his constitution 

 being much impaired by the austerities of a monastic life. 



Cave has given a list of St Basil's works. Lardner says that many 

 writings have been ascribed to him without ground. Several of his 

 detached pieces were printed before the year 1500 ; but the first 

 edition of the whole works, in Greek, issued from the press of Fro- 

 benius, fol., Basel, 1532, with a preface by Erasmus. The best edition 

 is that which was published by the Benedictines of the Congregation 

 of St Maur, Greek and Latin, 3 vols., folio, Paris, 1721-30 ; the two 

 first under the care of Piire Gamier ; the third, after Garnier's death, 

 by Pere Maran. Gamier took great pains in distinguishing the spu- 

 rious from the genuine works of St Basil. M. Herman, a doctor of 

 the Sorbonne, published a Life of St. Basil,' 2 vols., 4to, Paris, 1764. 



Syncellua (' Chronog.,' p. 203) ascribes to Basil a new recension of 

 the ' Septuagint,' which he says was done with great care. The 

 correspondence of Libianus and Basilius is printed in the edition of 

 the ' Epistles of Libianus,' by J. C. Wolf, Amst., 1738, 1 vol. folio. 

 Though Libianus was not a Christian, this does not appear to have 

 disturbed the good understanding between Basil and the schoolmaster 

 of Antioch. 



BASILI'US, the Macedonian, emperor of Constantinople,^ born 

 of poor parents in a village of Macedonia, about A.D. 826. When 

 25 years of age he proceeded to Constantinople to seek for 1-jtter 

 fortune. He there found a friend in the superior of a monastery, who 

 introduced him to the service of an officer of the court of the emperor 

 Michael III. Having become known to that sovereign by vanquishing 

 a giant Bulgarian in single combat, he quickly gained tho emperor's 

 favour, and became his chamberlain in 861. He soon after took a wife, 

 who was a concubine of Michael. The patrician Bardas, a relation of 

 the emperor, and upon whom the title of Cfesar had been conferred, 

 became jealous of Basilius, and the Macedonian adventurer, fearing 

 his machinations, anticipated him by accusing him of conspiring 

 against the emperor. Although exculpated, Bardas was soon after 

 assassinated in the emperor's tent by Basilius, who was made by 

 Michael his colleague in the empire in 866. Michael rendering himself 

 odious by his cruelty and debauchery, Basilius remonstrated with him 

 in vain; and when the emperor attempted to depose him, Basilius, 

 with some officers of the palace, when the emperor one evening 

 retired to his room in a state of intoxication, murdered him in his 

 bed (867). 



Basilius was now proclaimed emperor; and his conduct on the 

 throne, which he had obtained through crime, was wise and equitable. 

 He re-established order in the empire, enforced the strict administration 

 of justice, corrected the abuses that had crept into every branch of the 

 administration under the profligate reign of Michael, and began the 

 compilation of a code of laws, which was completed by his son and 

 successor Leo, but has retained tho name of Basilica. He assembled 

 a general council at Constantinople in 869, to which Pope Adrian II. 

 sent his legates, in which a temporary reconciliation between the 

 eastern and the western churches was effected. Basilius carried on 

 the war in Apulia against the Saracens, at first as an ally of the 

 emperor Ludovicus II., but afterwards quarrelled with him and with- 

 drew hia troops. He was more successful against the Saracens in 



