B A C 



187 



BAC 







Bactria. 



eculptore whom England has produced: There is an 

 invention, a variety, and appropriate distribution of 

 his characters, which proves that his conceptions 

 were no less j. t than his execution. It was consi- 

 dered surprising, that one who had never studied 

 abroad should be able to produce what the best stile 

 of sculpture has seldom excelled ; a fact which shews, 

 that real genius, if duly fostered, will always soar 

 paramount to mere imitation. In competitions with 

 rival artists Bacon was remarkably successful : He 

 failed only once in sixteen trials. Besides statuary, 

 he is saia to have turned his attention to poetical 

 composition, and to have written on subjects con- 

 nected with the arts. He also afforded materials and 

 observations for treatises on sculpture. Simplicity 

 of manners in domestic life, and piety, eminently cha- 

 racterised him. Though he had sculptured many 

 splendid monuments for others, he ordered his own 

 grave to be covered only with a plain stone, inscri- 

 bed, What I was as an artist seemed to me of some 

 importance while 1 lived ; but what I really was as a 

 believer in Christ Jesus is the only thing qf import- 

 ance to me noxv. See Cecil's Life qf Bacon. Gen- 

 tleman's Magazine 1799. Dallaway's Anecdotes qf 

 the Arts in England, (c) 



BACOPA, a genus of plants of the class Pentan- 

 dria, and order Monogynia. See Botany, (iv) 



BACTRIA was a kingdom of Asia, which, in 

 ancient times, appears to have been distinguished by 

 the extent of its territories, the number of its inha- 

 bitants, and the magnitude of its exploits. But the 

 glory which the Bactrians merited, by the wisdom 

 of their councils, and the valour of their arms, has 

 been obscured in the depths of remote antiquity ; 

 and the exalted station which their sages and heroes 

 might hope to obtain on the page of history, has 

 been occupied by the more fortunate candidates for 

 fame which future ages have produced. Acquaint- 

 ed, as we are, with the uncertainty and contradiction 

 of ancient annalists, it is with some hesitation that 

 we attempt to mark the limits of this dynasty, which, 

 Its bonnda- being nearly the same with modern Chorasan, ap- 

 nes. pears to have been separated, on the south, from In- 



dia, bj the lofty summits of the Paropamisus ; on 

 the west, from Margiana, by the hills which surround 

 that province ; on the north, from Sogdiana, by the 

 river Oxus ; and, on the east, from Asiatic Scythia, 

 by a chain of mountains which rises as a barrier be- 

 tween the two countries. After employing some in- 

 vestigation, we imagine there are reasons for conclu- 

 How peo- duig, that this country was first peopled by the des- 

 pled. cendants of Gomar, the grandson of Noah, and that, 



for some time, they were called Chomarians, and their 

 metropolis Chomara, appellations derived, with very 



little corruption, from the name of that patriarch. 

 Afterwards Bactria became the capital of the king- 

 dom ; and, if we believe Q. Curtius, both the king- 

 dom and its capital were denominated from the river 

 Bactrus, which fertilized the fields through which it 

 rolled, and washed the walls of that famous and al- 

 most impregnable city. But though we are inclined 

 to follow Curtius, yet we are not ignorant, that the 

 name of the river upon which Bactria was built, ac- 

 cording to Pliny, was Zariaspa, and, according to 

 Ptolemy, Dargidus. It will not, however, be im- 

 possible to reconcile the accounts of Curtius and 

 Pliny, if what the latter affirms be allowed, that the 

 ancient name of Bactria was Zariaspe, which is also 

 affirmed by Strabo. In the same manner the river, 

 upon which the city was built, may have also chan- 

 ged its name, or borne different names in different 

 countries. Ptolemy's account, however, is inconsist- 

 ent with both ; for he places the city in the interior 

 of the kingdom, while they assert, that it was situa- 

 ted at the foot of the Paropamisus, the southern 

 boundary of the country. Bactria, in latter ages, 

 was called Balk, a n3me which it bears at the present 

 day. 



At what time Bactria assumed the name and the 

 glory of an independent kingdom, it is impossible to 

 determine. If we admit the authority of Ctesias, 

 which we have more than questioned in our account 

 of Assyria, it must have been at a very early period. 

 According to him, Oxyartes filled the throne of 

 Bactria when Ninus and his Assyrians endeavoured 

 to reduce all Asia under their power *. But though 

 the progress of that monarch, to the universal empire 

 of the East, was long checked by the wisdom and 

 valour of the Bactrians, yet the walls of this capital, 

 and the spirit of its inhabitants, yielded at last to the 

 repeated attacks of their numerous foes, and that 

 kingdom became a province of the Assyrian empire. 

 It is inconsistent with our plan to relate the various 

 wars in which the Bactrians, as auxiliaries, engaged, 

 while their governors were appointed by their con- 

 querors. In this state of degrading dependency, 

 Bactria remained, till the Assyrian empire was itself 

 overturned by the aspiring spirit and the fortunate 

 arms of Cyrus the Great. To conduct that con- 

 summate warrior at the head of the confederate forces 

 of Media and Persia, till the ascendency of his ge- 

 nius extinguished the glories of the Lydian and the 

 Assyrian empires on the field of battle, and levelled 

 the walls of Babylon with the ground, belongs to 

 the historian of these nations. But though the Bac- 

 trians might rejoice, that the kingdom which reduced, 

 them to bondage was thus reduced to the same hu- 

 miliating dependency, yet, under the yoke of the 



Bactrim 



Name and 

 situation 

 of its capi- 

 tal. 



Subdued 

 by Ninus,- 



and by Cy- 

 rus the 

 Great. 

 B. C. 539. 



Justin, in the first book of his History, informs us, that Zoroaster was king of Bactria, when Ninus invaded that 

 kint/dnm, (illi (Nino) bellum cum Zoroa.tfre rege Bactrianurnm fuit.) Before this assertion cau be admitted, all the land-mark9 

 of ancient history must he removed. Yet such is the discernment ot some writers, that this assertion has been believed. 

 Eui-b. in Chron. Uiog. t.acrt. m Protrmiu. The truth is, Zoroaster did not live till many ages after, as all the oriental 

 write. ..s-ert, such as \bulfaragius, Ishmacl, Ahulfeda, Shara~tani, &c. Ligerius, however, informs us, that in some ancient 

 manuscript of Justin, Oiyartes is found instead of Zoroaster, which, in all probability, was the true reading. Some 

 ignorant transcriber may have changed the name, because he found in the text, that the king mentioned was said to 

 have been the first inventor of magir arts, Qirimus dirilur anes magical invenisse,) and as the invention of this science has 

 been commonly attributed to Zoroaster, he might imag.ne that he was restoring or correcting the text of Justin, when 

 he was corrupting it. We may easily perceive, thai Oxyartes, if he ever existed, might have been addicted to these arts 

 long before Zoroaster was born; for Zoroaster, though the great restorer of magic, was by no means its founder. 



