B O E 



Bote* Of the latter, indeed, his productions arc a sufllcicnt- 

 -""v - ly honourable testimony. They consist of his Lives 

 of the Bishops of Aberdeen, three parts of which are 

 given to Elphinston, the founder of his college. This 

 work does not appear to have been publicly com- 

 mented upon, with much either of praise or of ani- 

 madversion. But his great production, the history ot 

 Scotland, Scotorum Historia ab il/ins Gentis origine, 

 1526, has been the subject of dispute, strongly sea- 

 soned with that bitterness, which is thought to re- 

 lieve the insipidity of learned disputation. Lloyd, 

 bishop of Worcester, described Boethius as a late ro- 

 mancer. Sir Robert Gordon of Stratogh, with greater 

 decorum of language, condemned lnm as severely. 

 " To confess the truth," he says, " I dislike Boe- 

 thius's history. Ignorant of the laws of historical 

 writing, and living in a rude age, he has written what 

 we cannot read without shame." He then notices 

 his stories of Caractacus, the Silures, whom he places 

 in the north, Camelodunum, and the threatening let- 

 ter of their king to Julius Cassar ; and then asks, 

 " Is not this solemn doating i" Stillingfleet, bishop 

 of Worcester, pronounces, that if Hector Boethius 

 did not forge all the names of the pretended first 

 race of Scottish kings, from Fergus I. to Fergus II., 

 he did insert many things contrary to the ancient 

 mythology in John de Fordon, and filled up the 

 story of those kings, not out of their own annals 

 :is far as yet appears, but in a great measure out 

 of his own invention. Boethius, however, has not 

 wanted advocates ; of whom the most distinguished 

 were, Sir George Mackenzie, in an answer to Bishop 

 Lloyd, entitled, A Defence of the Royal Line of 

 Scotland, and Archbishop Spotiswood. The arch- 

 bishop does not scruple to say, that " Boethius is tra- 

 duced by some of the English writers for a fabulous 

 and partial historian ; but they who like to peruse 

 his history will perceive, that this is spoken out of 

 passion and malice, and not upon any just cause." 

 The truth, however, as in most cases of opposing 

 prejudices, probably lies between both. The mind 

 of Boethius was certainly strongly tinctured with the 

 credulity of his day ; and he has admitted into his 

 history narratives of idle miracles, pretended to have 

 lent their art to signalize every public revolution. 

 He has also brought its authenticity into some sus- 

 picion, by the frequent and detailed specimens of 

 oratory which he has thrown into his history. Hence 

 when his friend and panegyrist Erasmus declares, 

 that " he knew not to lie ;" if the phrase allowed it, 

 it would be difficult not to suspect the lively reformer 

 of a sly equivoque, admitting only his want of dexte- 

 rity. Vo3sius may seem an impartial judge ; and he 

 confessed, in his time, that Boethius had mingled many 

 fables with authentic history : and Buchanan owned, 

 that he was not to be excused. 



The history is written in a style which has gained 

 it the highest commendations. Erasmus describes 

 the author as a man of extraordinary felicity of ta- 

 lents, and natural eloquence. As a proof that he 

 gave this opinion honestly, (for he sometimes flatter- 

 ed princes,) he gave a catalogue of his own works 

 then published, 1530, in a letter to Boethius; and 

 in another he sent him some poetical trifles, which he 

 lid not wish to see the light, with this confidential 

 I 



626 B OS O 



caution, Si quid Erasmum amas, cave illius ntigus ns- 

 quam efferas. 



Boethius is thought to have died about the year 

 1550. Before his death, he added an eighteenth and 

 part of a nineteenth book to his history, which war. 

 afterwards brought down to the reign of James III. 

 by Ferrerius, a Piedmontcse. Ferrerius, speaking of 

 the eighteenth book, declares, that he has treated of 

 things there in 6o comprehensive a manner, that he 

 believes no one could have executed the design with 

 more fidelity and life than he has done. 



An epigram was written upon Boethius by Hum- 

 phrey Lloyd, the English antiquarian, which fur 

 dulness might be given for his epitaph : 



Hectoris hUtortci tot quot mendncia tjutrris 



Si l'/.v lit B u m e r ew , lector amice, tiki, 

 J Jem me jitbcusjlurtus mimcrare marilios, 

 Et liquidi Stellas dinumeriire poli. 



This is no more to be accused of wit than that which 

 was written upon his friend and correspondent Eras- 

 mus, though its prosody is better. See Erasmus, 

 (j. M.) 



BOEHMERIA, a genus of plants of the class 

 Monoecia, and order Tetrandria. See Botany. (u>) 



BCEOTIA, was an ancient kingdom of Greece ; 

 bounded on the east by Mount Citheron, which se- 

 parated it from Attica ; on the south by the gulf of 

 Corinth ; on the west by Phocis ; and on the north 

 by the strait Euripus, now called the Negropont. 

 This region is now denominated Stramn/ippa ; and 

 Thebes, its ancient capital, is known by the modem 

 appellation Stives. Adorned by the Copais, a lake 

 fourteen miles in length and eight in breadth, and 

 intersected by the rivers Ismencs and Asopus, as- 

 well as by many lesser streams, the valleys of Bceotia 

 were remarkably fertile ; and the hills, which wen. 

 most numerous in the district of Aonia, properly < 

 called, afforded excellent pasturage for flocks. Wash- 

 ed by the sea on three sides, and indented with mam 

 convenient harbours, no country was more adapted 

 for the cultivation of an extensive commerce, and foi 

 adding to its natural productions the comforts and 

 luxuries of the various quarters of the globe. The 

 following places, rendered famous cither by the poetic 

 or historic muse, were situated in this region. Aulis, 

 a sea-port on the Euripus, celebrated as the place 

 where the Grecian heroes assembled to form that con- 

 federacy which terminated in the destruction of Troy. 

 Thespia, a city built upon the river of the same 

 name, and Mount Helicon, which rises behind it ; 

 places consecrated to the muses, and from which that 

 harmonious choir were called Thcspiades and Heli- 

 coniades. The cave of Trophonius, who, being con- 

 sulted as a soothsayer by the credulous neighbour- 

 hood, gave rise to the fable that Jupiter there utter- 

 ed his responses, and that the persons who entered 

 the cave to consult the oracle, were never afterwards 

 seen to laugh. The straits of Thermopylae, situa- 

 ted at the foot of Mount Oeta, where Leonidas and 

 the 300 Spartans opposed the vast army of Xerxes, 

 and gloriously perished to save their country from 

 Persian slavery. 



When we attempt to form an acquaintance with 

 the first inhabitants of this region, we find them so 

 involved in the darkness of antiquity, that it is im.- 



