BON 



BON 



adjacent country produces corn and fruit, and great num. 

 bers of fmall and large cattle, but is much expofed to the 

 incurfions of the plundering Arabs. The French have a 

 faftory at Bona, where they purchafe corn, oil, leather, 

 wax, and wool, and conftantly keep a refident agent, who 

 has charge of the correfpondence between Bona, Algiers, 

 La Calle, and Marfeilles. N. lat. 57°. \V. long. 7° 50'. 



Bona Foriuna, Cape, is a cape of Ruffia, in the White 

 Sea. N. lat. 6f 35'. E. long. jS- 25' 



Bona Shoals. See Bassaws. 



Bona Dea, \}at good goddefs, in Mythology, a niyderious 

 kind of divinity, vvhofe name was unknown to men, and 

 wliofe facred rites, performed by the Veftal virgins for the 

 fafety of the Roman people, were attended only by women. 

 Some have fuppofcd that this name belonged to C) bele, or 

 the earth, as the fource of all good things. Plutarch con- 

 founds her with Flora. Varro pretends that fhe was the 

 wife of Faunas ; and that file maintained her charafter for 

 challity to fuch a degree, as never to allow herfelf to look 

 upon any man befides her hufband. Laclantius, on the 

 contrary, fays, that this wife of Faunus, having drank wine 

 in violation of the prevailing cuftom of the period in which flie 

 lived, was whipped to death by her hulband with rods of myr- 

 tle; and that he, afterwards repenting of the deed, and lament- 

 ing the lofs of his wife, placed her in the rank of divinities. 

 The feafts of the Bona Dea were annually celebrated, with 

 pecuhar folemnity, on the iirft day ot May. The houfe, in 

 •which the rites of the fellival were performed, was adorned 

 at a great expence ; and as the night was the feafon appro- 

 priated to this purpofe, the apartments ivere illuminated 

 with a great number of lights. The veftals were conveyed 

 into the houfe of the fovereign pontiff, or one of the chief 

 magiilrates ; and care was taken to exclude all males, and 

 all animals of this fpecies ; and every thing mafculine was 

 fo fcrupuloufly excluded, that even piftures of that fort 

 were covered during the ceremony. To this purpofe, Ju- 

 venal (vi. 339- ) fays : 



" ubi velari pidlura jubetur 



Quascunque alterius fexus imitata figuram eft." 



It was fuppofed, that if a man by <:hance, and without 

 any deliberate intention, became the witnefs of thcfe myite- 

 ries, he would be ftruck blind. Clodius, however, was 

 guilty of polluting tliefe myfteries. Whilft Pompeia, the 

 wife of Ca;far, with whom he had an intrigue, was, accord- 

 ing to annual cuftom, celebrating in her houfe the awful and 

 myllic facrifices of the " Bona Dea," Clodius determined to 

 gain accefs to his miftrefs, even in the feafon of her holy mi- 

 niftry. Accordingly, he drcffed himfelf in a woman's habit, 

 and by the benefit of his fmooth face, and the introduction 

 of one of the female fervants who was in the fecret, hoped 

 to pafs without difcovery. But by fome miftake between 

 him and his guide, he loll his way when he came into the 

 houfe, and unluck'ly fell in among the other female fer- 

 vants, who, detefting him by his voice, alarmed the whole 

 company by their Ihrieks, to the great amazement of the 

 matrons, who prefently threw a veil over the facred myfte- 

 ries, while Clodius found an opportunity of making his 

 efcape by the favour of fome of the damfcls. This tlory 

 was prefently fpread abroad, and raifcd a general fcandal 

 and horror through the whole city. Cifar put away his 

 wife upon it ; and perfons of all ranks were defirous of 

 a\ ailing themfelvcs ot this circumftaiice to get rid of a citi- 

 zen, who, by this, as well as other fpecimens of his auda- 

 cioufnefs, feemed born to create mucli dillurbance to the 

 frate. It had been the conftant belief of the populace, that 

 if a man (hould ever pry into thefe myfteries, he would be 

 iuftantly deprived of fight j but it was not poflible, as Ci- 



cero fays, to know the truth of it before, till Clodius ven- 

 tured upon the experiment ; though it was now found, as 

 he tells him, that the blindnefs of the eye was converted to 

 that of the mind. The aftair was foon brought before the 

 fenate, and by them referred to the college of priefts, who 

 declared it to be an abominable impiety : upon which the 

 confuls were ordered to provide a law for bringing Clodiu« 

 to a trial for it before the people. Clodius's faftion, how- 

 ever, ultimately prevailed ; and when the trial came to the 

 iffue, 1-, condemned, and 31 abfolved him. When Cxfar, 

 on this occafion, was fummoncd to give evidence, h-" de- 

 clared, that he knew nothing at all of the matter, though 

 his mother Aurelia, and fifter Julia, who were examined 

 before him, had given a punctual relation of the whole faft ; 

 and being interrogated, how he came then to part with his 

 wife ? he replied, " that all who belonged to him ought to 

 be free from fufpicion as well as guilt." Cicero, in his ora- 

 tion for Milo againft Clodius, often refers to this facrilege, 

 with a view of rendering his adverfary odious to the people. 

 Many Roman writers have exclaimed againft the licentiouf- 

 nefs and infamy of thefe myfteries, called by way of emi- 

 nence the Roman myfteries, and celebrated on the 4th of 

 December, though thofe of the goddefs Cybele were cele- 

 brated on the firft of May. Neverthelefs, this goddefs is 

 called holy in an infcription recorded by Gruter, " Bonse 

 Deas SanSd facrum, &c." Lucretius (ii. 598.) depifts the 

 good goddefs as bearing a mural crown, and drawn in a cha- 

 riot by lions. She is alfo thus reprefented on the medals of 

 the emperor Philip. The Gieeks alfo had their good god- 

 defs, whom they denominated the goddefs of women ; and 

 the Carthaginians paid divine honours to a goddefs under 

 this appellation, whom they believed to be Juno. 



Bona Fides, or Bona Fide, is ufed in fpeaking of things 



done with an honeft intention, in oppolition to thofe 



done with a deiign of fraud and deceit, faid to be mala 



fde. In this fenfe, we fay, a grant, a conveyance, bona 



fde. 



In many cafes, in the civil law, the bonajide of an action 

 excufes the want of fome of the cuftomary forms. 



Contrafts honicjide'i, among C'liiil'ians , ftand contradiftin- 

 guifhed from thote Jiridi juris ; the former being gained by 

 plain honefty and confcience, which fometimes include feve- 

 ral things not exprefsly mentioned ; whereas the latter arc 

 reftrained to the exprefs terms of the deed. A buyer bond 

 Jidei, is he who really believed the thing to belong to the 

 feller at the time when he purchafed it. A poffeffor bona 

 Jidei, is he who is in pofTcflion of a thing belonging to ano- 

 ther, but which he truly beheves his own. To be entitled 

 to the benefits of next acccffion, it is requifite the perfons 

 have poffelfed the thing bona Jide, or reaUy thought them- 

 fclves the proprietors. 



Prefcription cannot arife from z&.s done mala Jide ; fince 

 what was unjuft in its origin, can never be made juit by 

 time and continuance. See Prescription. 



B0S.E Fide: yiclions, thofe wherein for farther light, the 

 judge might take cognizance of things not mentioned be- 

 tween the parties. 



Bona Fide Judgment, that wherein the parties are obliged 

 to pay each other what is due bonajide, i.<. juftly and equi- 

 tably ; and the judge has a power of eftimatingwhat ib thus 

 due to the aftor or plaintiff ; a power given him by the for- 

 mula of the pra:tor, viz. ex Jide bona, xel quantum equius 

 melius. 



Bona Gejlura. See Good /1-bearing. 



Bona Gratia, a phrafe anciently ufed in fpeaking of 



divorces, which were brought amicably about for fome juft 



reafon, with the confent of both parties, and without any 



5 B 2 crime 



