Encyclopaedia Britannica Volume 4, Slice 1 Part 39

The historians of the day give us but imperfect records or make unsatisfactory allusions. Later chroniclers indulged in the fict.i.tious and the marvellous, and it is almost exclusively from his own books that trustworthy information can be obtained. There is considerable diversity among authorities as to his name. One editor of his _De Consolatione_, Bertius, thinks that he bore the praenomen of Flavius, but there is no authority for this supposition. His father was Flavius Manlius Boetius, and it is probable that the Flavius Boetius, the praetorian prefect who was put to death in A.D. 455 by order of Valentinian III., was his grandfather, but these facts do not prove that he also had the praenomen of Flavius. Many of the earlier editions inserted the name of Torquatus, but it is not found in any of the best ma.n.u.scripts. The last name is commonly written Boethius, from the idea that it is connected with the Greek [Greek: Boaethos]; but the best ma.n.u.scripts agree in reading Boetius.

His boyhood was spent in Rome during the reign of Odoacer. We know nothing of his early years. A pa.s.sage in a treatise falsely ascribed to him (_De Disciplina Scholarium_) and a misinterpretation of a pa.s.sage in Ca.s.siodorus led early scholars to suppose that he spent some eighteen years in Athens pursuing his studies, but there is no foundation for this opinion. His father, consul in 487, seems to have died soon after; for Boetius states that, when he was bereaved of his parent, men of the highest rank took him under their charge (_De Con_. lib. ii. c. 3), especially the senator Q. Aur. Memmius Symmachus, whose daughter Rusticiana he married. By her he had two sons, Anicius Manlius Severinus Boetius and Q. Aurelius Memmius Symmachus. He became a favourite with Theodoric, the Ostrogoth, who ruled in Rome from 500, and was one of his intimate friends. Boetius was consul in 510, and his sons, while still young, held the same honour together (522). Boetius regarded it as the height of his good fortune when he witnessed his two sons, consuls at the same time, convoyed from their home to the senate-house amid the enthusiasm of the ma.s.ses. On that day, he tells us, while his sons occupied the curule chairs in the senate-house, he himself had the honour of p.r.o.nouncing a panegyric on the monarch. But his good fortune did not last, and he attributes the calamities that came upon him to the ill-will which his bold maintenance of justice had caused, and to his opposition to every oppressive measure. Of this he mentions particular cases. A famine had begun to rage. The prefect of the praetorium was determined to satisfy the soldiers, regardless altogether of the feelings of the provincials. He accordingly issued an edict for a _coemptio_, that is, an order compelling the provincials to sell their corn to the government, whether they would or not. This edict would have utterly ruined Campania. Boetius interfered. The case was brought before the king, and Boetius succeeded in averting the _coemptio_ from the Campanians. And he gives as a crowning instance that he exposed himself to the hatred of the informer Cypria.n.u.s by preventing the punishment of Albinus, a man of consular rank. He mentions in another place that when at Verona the king was anxious to transfer the accusation of treason brought against Albinus to the whole senate, he defended the senate at great risk. In consequence of the ill-will that Boetius had thus roused, he was accused of treason towards the end of the reign of Theodoric. The charges were that he had conspired against the king, that he was anxious to maintain the integrity of the senate, and to restore Rome to liberty, and that for this purpose he had written to the emperor Justin. Justin had, no doubt, special reasons for wis.h.i.+ng to see an end to the reign of Theodoric. Justin was orthodox, Theodoric was an Arian. The orthodox subjects of Theodoric were suspicious of their ruler; and many would gladly have joined in a plot to displace him. The knowledge of this fact may have rendered Theodoric suspicious. But Boetius denied the accusation in unequivocal terms. He did indeed wish the integrity of the senate. He would fain have desired liberty, but all hope of it was gone.

The letters addressed by him to Justin were forgeries, and he had not been guilty of any conspiracy. Notwithstanding his innocence he was condemned and sent to Ticinum (Pavia) where he was thrown into prison.

It was during his confinement in this prison that he wrote his famous work _De Consolatione Philosophiae_. His goods were confiscated, and after an imprisonment of considerable duration he was put to death in 524. Procopius relates that Theodoric soon repented of his cruel deed, and that his death, which took place soon after, was hastened by remorse for the crime he had committed against his great counsellor.

Two or three centuries after the death of Boetius writers began to view his death as a martyrdom. Several Christian books were ascribed to him, and there was one especially on the Trinity (see below) which was regarded as proof that he had taken an active part against the heresy of Theodoric. It was therefore for his orthodoxy that Boetius was put to death. And these writers delight to paint with minuteness the horrible tortures to which he was exposed and the marvellous actions which the saint performed at his death. He was locally regarded as a saint, but he was not canonized. The brick tower in Pavia in which he was confined was, and still is, an object of reverence to the country people.

Finally, in the year 996, Otho III. ordered the bones of Boetius to be taken out of the place in which they had lain hid, and to be placed in the church of S. Pietro in Ciel d'Oro within a splendid tomb, for which Gerbert, afterwards Pope Silvester II., wrote an inscription. Thence they were subsequently removed to a tomb beneath the high altar of the cathedral. It should be mentioned also that some have given him a decidedly Christian wife, of the name of Elpis, who wrote hymns, two of which are still extant (Daniel, _Thes. Hymn._ i. p. 156). This is a pure supposition inconsistent with chronology, and based only on a misinterpretation of a pa.s.sage in the _De Consolatione_.

The contemporaries of Boetius regarded him as a man of profound learning. Priscian the grammarian speaks of him as having attained the summit of honesty and of all sciences. Ca.s.siodorus, _magister officiorum_ under Theodoric and the intimate acquaintance of the philosopher, employs language equally strong, and Ennodius, the bishop of Pavia, knows no bounds for his admiration. Theodoric had a profound respect for his scientific abilities. He employed him in setting right the coinage. When he visited Rome with Gunibald, king of the Burgundians, he took him to Boetius, who showed them, amongst other mechanical contrivances, a sun-dial and a water-clock. The foreign monarch was astonished, and, at the request of Theodoric, Boetius had to prepare others of a similar nature, which were sent as presents to Gunibald.

The fame of Boetius increased after his death, and his influence during the middle ages was exceedingly powerful. His circ.u.mstances peculiarly favoured this influence. He appeared at a time when contempt for intellectual pursuits had begun to pervade society. In his early years he was seized with a pa.s.sionate enthusiasm for Greek literature, and this continued through life. Even amidst the cares of the consuls.h.i.+p he found time for commenting on the _Categories_ of Aristotle. The idea laid hold of him of reviving the spirit of his countrymen by imbuing them with the thoughts of the great Greek writers. He formed the resolution to translate all the works of Aristotle and all the dialogues of Plato, and to reconcile the philosophy of Plato with that of Aristotle. He did not succeed in all that he designed; but he did a great part of his work. He translated into Latin Aristotle's _a.n.a.lytica Priora et Posteriora_, the _Topica_, and _Elenchi Sophistici_; and he wrote commentaries on Aristotle's _Categories_, on his book [Greek: peri ermaeneias], also a commentary on the _Isagoge_ of Porphyrius. These works formed to a large extent the source from which the middle ages derived their knowledge of Aristotle. (See Stahr, _Aristoteles bei den Romern_, pp. 196-234.) Boetius wrote also a commentary on the _Topica_ of Cicero; and he was also the author of independent works on logic:--_Introductio ad Categoricos Syllogismos_, in one book; _De Syllogismis Categoricis_, in two books; _De Syllogismis Hypotheticis_, in two books; _De Divisione_, in one book; _De Definitione_, in one book; _De Differentiis Topicis_, in four books.

We see from a statement of Ca.s.siodorus that he furnished manuals for the quadrivium of the schools of the middle ages (the "quattuor matheseos disciplinae," as Boetius calls them) on arithmetic, music, geometry and astronomy. The statement of Ca.s.siodorus that he translated Nicomachus is rhetorical. Boetius himself tells us in his preface addressed to his father-in-law Symmachus that he had taken liberties with the text of Nicomachus, that he had abridged the work when necessary, and that he had introduced formulae and diagrams of his own where he thought them useful for bringing out the meaning. His work on music also is not a translation from Pythagoras, who left no writing behind him. But Boetius belonged to the school of musical writers who based their science on the method of Pythagoras. They thought that it was not sufficient to trust to the ear alone, to determine the principles of music, as did practical musicians like Aristoxenus, but that along with the ear, physical experiments should be employed. The work of Boetius is in five books and is a very complete exposition of the subject. It long remained a text-book of music in the universities of Oxford and Cambridge. It is still very valuable as a help in ascertaining the principles of ancient music, and gives us the opinions of some of the best ancient writers on the art. The ma.n.u.scripts of the geometry of Boetius differ widely from each other. One editor, G.o.dofredus Friedlein, thinks that there are only two ma.n.u.scripts which can at all lay claim to contain the work of Boetius. He published the _Ars Geometriae_, in two books, as given in these ma.n.u.scripts; but critics are generally inclined to doubt the genuineness even of these. Professor Rand, Georgius Ernst and A.P.

McKinlay regard the _Ars_ as certainly inauthentic, while they accept the _Interpretatio Euclidis_ (see works quoted in bibliography).

By far the most important and most famous of the works of Boetius is his book _De Consolatione Philosophiae_. Gibbon justly describes it as "a golden volume, not unworthy of the leisure of Plato or Tully, but which claims incomparable merit from the barbarism of the times and the situation of the author." The high reputation it had in medieval times is attested by the numerous translations, commentaries and imitations of it which then appeared. Among others a.s.ser, the instructor of Alfred the Great, and Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln, commented on it.

Alfred translated it into Anglo-Saxon. Versions of it appeared in German, French, Italian, Spanish and Greek before the end of the 15th century. Chaucer translated it into English prose before the year 1382; and this translation was published by Caxton at Westminster, 1480.

Lydgate followed in the wake of Chaucer. It is said that, after the invention of printing, amongst others Queen Elizabeth translated it, and that the work was well known to Shakespeare. It was the basis of the earliest specimen of Provencal literature.

This famous work consists of five books. Its form is peculiar, and is an imitation of a similar work by Marcia.n.u.s Capella, _De Nuptiis Philologiae et Mercurii_. It is alternately in prose and verse. The verse shows great facility of metrical composition, but a considerable portion of it is transferred from the tragedies of Seneca. The first book opens with a few verses, in which Boetius describes how his sorrows had brought him to a premature old age. As he is thus lamenting, a woman appears to him of dignified mien, whom he recognizes as his guardian, Philosophy. She, resolving to apply the remedy for his grief, questions him for that purpose. She finds that he believes that G.o.d rules the world, but does not know what he himself is; and this absence of self-knowledge is the cause of his weakness. In the second book Philosophy presents to Boetius Fortune, who is made to state to him the blessings he has enjoyed, and after that proceeds to discuss with him the kind of blessings that fortune can bestow, which are shown to be unsatisfactory and uncertain. In the third book Philosophy promises to lead him to true happiness, which is to be found in G.o.d alone, for since G.o.d is the highest good, and the highest good is true happiness, G.o.d is true happiness. Nor can real evil exist, for since G.o.d is all-powerful, and since he does not wish evil, evil must be non-existent. In the fourth book Boetius raises the question, Why, if the governor of the universe is good, do evils exist, and why is virtue often punished and vice rewarded? Philosophy proceeds to show that in fact vice is never unpunished nor virtue unrewarded. From this Philosophy pa.s.ses into a discussion in regard to the nature of providence and fate, and shows that every fortune is good. The fifth and last book takes up the question of man's free will and G.o.d's foreknowledge, and, by an exposition of the nature of G.o.d, attempts to show that these doctrines are not subversive of each other; and the conclusion is drawn that G.o.d remains a foreknowing spectator of all events, and the ever-present eternity of his vision agrees with the future quality of our actions, dispensing rewards to the good and punishments to the wicked.

Several theological works have been ascribed to Boetius, as has been already mentioned. The _Consolatio_ affords conclusive proof that the author was not a practical believer in Christianity. The book contains expressions such as _daemones_, _angelica virtus_, and _purgatoria dementia_, which have been thought to be derived from the Christian faith; but they are used in a heathen sense, and are explained sufficiently by the circ.u.mstance that Boetius was on intimate terms with Christians. The writer nowhere finds consolation in any Christian belief, and Christ is never named in the work. It is not impossible, however, that Boetius may have been brought up a Christian, and that in his early years he may have written some Christian books. Peiper thinks that the first three treatises are the productions of the early years of Boetius. The first, _De Sancta Trinitate_, is addressed to Symmachus (Domino Patri Symmacho), and the result of the short discussion, which is of an abstract nature, and deals partly with the ten categories, is that unity is predicated absolutely, or, in regard to the substance of the Deity, trinity is predicated relatively. The second treatise is addressed to John the deacon ("Ad Joannem Diaconum"), and its subject is "Utrum Pater et Filius et Spiritus Sanctus de divinitate substantialiter praedicentur." This treatise is shorter than the first, occupying only two or three pages, and the conclusion of the argument is the same. The third treatise bears the t.i.tle, _Quomodo substantiae in eo quod sint bonae sint c.u.m non sint substantialia bona_. It contains nothing distinctly Christian, and it contains nothing of great value; therefore its authors.h.i.+p is a matter of little consequence. Peiper thinks that, as the best MSS. uniformly a.s.sign these treatises to Boetius, they are to be regarded as his; that it is probable that Symmachus and John (who afterwards became Pope) were the men of highest distinction who took charge of him when he lost his father; and that these treatises are the first-fruits of his studies, which he dedicates to his guardians and benefactors. He thinks that the variations in the inscriptions of the fifth treatise which is not found in the best ma.n.u.script, are so great that the name of Boetius could not have originally been in the t.i.tle. The fourth book is also not found in the best ma.n.u.script, and two ma.n.u.scripts have no inscription. He infers, from these facts, that there is no sure evidence for the authors.h.i.+p of the fourth and fifth treatises.

The fifth treatise is _Contra Eutychen et Nestorium_. Both Eutyches and Nestorius are spoken of as living. A council is mentioned, in which a letter was read, expounding the opinion of the Eutychians for the first time. The novelty of the opinion is also alluded to. All these circ.u.mstances point to the council of Chalcedon (451). The treatise was therefore written before the birth of Boetius, if it be not a forgery; but there is no reason to suppose that the treatise was not a genuine production of the time to which it professes to belong.

The fourth treatise, _De Fide Catholica_, does not contain any distinct chronological data; but the tone and opinions of the treatise produce the impression that it probably belonged to the same period as the treatise against Eutyches and Nestorius. Several inscriptions ascribe both these treatises to Boetius. It will be seen from this statement that Peiper bases his conclusions on grounds far too narrow; and on the whole it is perhaps more probable that Boetius wrote none of the four Christian treatises, particularly as they are not ascribed to him by any of his contemporaries. Three of them express in the strongest language the orthodox faith of the church in opposition to the Arian heresy, and these three put in unmistakable language the procession of the Holy Spirit from both Father and Son. The fourth argues for the orthodox belief of the two natures and one person of Christ. When the desire arose that it should be believed that Boetius perished from his opposition to the heresy of Theodoric, it was natural to ascribe to him works which were in harmony with this supposed fact. The works may really have been written by one Boetius, a bishop of Africa, as Jourdain supposes, or by some Saint Severinus, as Nitzsch conjectures, and the similarity of name may have aided the transference of them to the heathen or neutral Boetius.

Important and, if genuine, decisive evidence upon this point is afforded by a pa.s.sage in the _Anecdoton Holderi_, a fragment contained in a 10th-century MS. (ed. H. Usener, Leipzig, 1877). The fragment gives an extract from a previously unknown letter of Ca.s.siodorus, the important words being "Scripsit (i.e. Boetius) librum de sancta trinitate, et capita quaedam dogmatica, et librum contra Nestorium."

Nitzsch, however, held that this was a copyist's gloss, harmonizing with the received Boetius legend, which had been transferred to the text, and did not consider that it outweighed the opposing internal evidence from _De Cons. Phil._

EDITIONS.--The first collected edition of the works of Boetius was published at Venice in 1492 (Basel, 1570); the last in J.P. Migne's _Patrologia_, lxiii., lxiv. (Paris, 1847). Of the numerous editions of the _De Consolatione_ the best are those of Theodorus...o...b..rius (Jena, 1843) and R. Peiper (Leipzig, 1871). The first contains prolegomena on the life and writings of Boetius, on his religion and philosophy, and on the ma.n.u.scripts and editions, a critical apparatus, and notes. The text of the second was based on the fullest collation of MSS. up to that time, though a considerable number of MSS. still remained to be collated. In addition to an account of the MSS. used, it gives the Book of Lupus, "De Metris Boetii," the "Vita Boetii" contained in some MSS., "Elogia Boetii," and a short list of the commentators, translators and imitators of the _Consolatio_. It contains also an account of the metres used by Boetius in the _Consolatio_, and a list of the pa.s.sages which he has borrowed from the tragedies of Seneca.

The work also includes the five treatises, four of them Christian, of which mention has been made above. King Alfred's Anglo-Saxon version of the _De Consolatione_, with literal English translation, notes and glossary, was published by S. Fox (1835) and again by W.J. Sedgefield (1900); that of G. Colville (Colvile, Coldewel, 1556) was republished by E.B. Bax (1897); translation (mixed prose and verse) by H.R. James (1897). Queen Elizabeth's "Englis.h.i.+ngs" was reprinted in 1899; on the style, see A. Engelbrecht in _Sitzungsber. der Wiener Akad. der Wissenschaften_ (1902), pp. 15-36. The _De Inst.i.tutione Arithmetica, De Inst.i.tutione Musica_, and the doubtful _Geometria_ (for which see G. Ernst, _De Geometricis illis quae sub Boethii nomine n.o.bis tradita sunt quaestiones_, 1903; A.P. McKinlay in _Harvard Cla.s.sical Studies_, 1907; M. Cantor, _Geschichte der Mathematik_, i., Leipzig, 1894; G.

Friedlein, _Gerbert, die Geometric des Boethius, und die indischen Ziffern_, Erlangen, 1861, are edited by G. Friedlein (Leipzig, 1867); German translation of the _De Musica_, with explanatory notes, by O.

Paul (Leipzig, 1872), and on the sources W. Miekley, _De Boethii libri de musica primi fontibus_ (Jena, 1899). Commentary on Aristotle's _De Interpretatione_ [Greek: peri hermaeneias]), ed. C. Meiser (Leipzig, 1877), and on Porphyry's _Isagoge_, ed. S. Brandt (Vienna, 1906).

AUTHORITIES.--On Boetius generally, see J.G. Sutterer, _Der letzte Romer_ (Eichstadt, 1852); H. Usener, _Anecdoton Holderi_ (Leipzig, 1877); H.F. Stewart, _Boethius: an Essay_ (Edinburgh, 1891); T.

Hodgkin, _Italy and her Invaders_, iii. bk. iv. ch. xii. (1896); A.

Ebert, _Allgemeine Geschichte der Litt. des Mittelalters_, i. (1889); Teuffel-Schwabe, _Hist. of Roman Literature_ (Eng. trans., 1900), --478: on the date and order of his works, S. Brandt in _Philologus_, lxii. pp. 141-154, 234-279, and A.P. McKinlay, as above, with refs.: on his "Songs," H. Huttinger, _Studia in Boetii carmina collata_ (Regensburg, 1900): on his style, G. Bednarz, _De universo orationis colore Boethii_ (Breslau, 1883): on his theological att.i.tude and works, F.A.B. Nitzsch, _Das System des Boethius und die ihm zugeschriebenen theologischen Schriften_ (Berlin, 1860), and art. in Herzog-Hauck's _Realencyklopadie_ (1897); C. Jourdain, _De l'Origine des traditions sur le christianisme de Boece_ (1861); Gaston Boissier, "Le Christianisme de Boece," in _Journal des Savants_ (1889), pp.

449-462; A. Hildebrand, _Boethius und seine Stellung zum Christentume_ (Regensburg, 1885); G. Schepps, "Zu Pseudo-Boethius de fide catholica," in _Zeitschrift fur wissenschaftliche Theologie_, x.x.xviii.

(1895).

BOG (from Ir. and Gael, _bogach, bog_, soft), a tract of soft, spongy, water-logged ground, composed of vegetation, chiefly mosses, in various stages of decomposition. This vegetable matter when partially decomposed forms the substance known as "peat" (q.v.). When the acc.u.mulation of water is rapidly increased by excessive rainfall, there is a danger of a "bog-slide," or "bog-burst," which may obliterate the neighbouring cultivated land with a deposit of the contents of the bog. Destructive bog-slides have occurred in Ireland, such as that of the Knocknageeha Bog, Rathmore, Kerry, in 1896, at Castlerea, Roscommon, 1901, and at Kilmore, Galway, 1909.

There is a French game of cards called "bog," said to be of Italian origin, played with a piquet pack on a table with six divisions, one of which is known by the name of the game and forms the pool. It was fas.h.i.+onable during the Second Empire.

BOGATZKY, KARL HEINRICH VON (1690-1774), German hymn-writer, was born at Jankowe in Lower Silesia on the 7th of September 1690. At first a page at the ducal court of Saxe-Weissenfels, he next studied law and theology at Jena and Halle; but ill-health preventing his preferment he settled at Glancha in Silesia, where he founded an orphanage. After living for a time at Kostritz, and from 1740 to 1745 at the court of Christian Ernst, duke of Saxe-Coburg, at Saalfeld, he made his home at the Waisenhaus (orphanage) at Halle, where he engaged in spiritual work and in composing hymns and sacred songs, until his death on the 15th of June 1774. Bogatzky's chief works are _Guldenes Schatzkastlein der Kinder Gottes_ (1718), which has reached more than sixty editions; and _ubung der Gottseligkeit in allerlei geistlichen Liedern_ (1750).

See Bogatzky's autobiography--_Lebenslauf von ihm selbst geschrieben_ (Halle, 1801; new ed., Berlin, 1872); and Ledderhose, _Das Leben Bogatzky's_ (Heidelberg, 1846); also Kelly, _C.H. von Bogatzky's Life and Work_ (London, 1889).

BOGHAZ KEUI, a small village in Asia Minor, north-west of Yuzgat in the Angora vilayet, remarkable for the ruins and rock-sculptures in its vicinity. The ruins are those of a ruling city of the oriental type which flourished in the pre-Greek period; and they are generally identified with Pteria (q.v.), a place taken by Croesus after he had crossed the Halys (Herodotus i. 76).

BOGIE, a northern English dialect word of unknown origin, applied to a kind of low truck or "trolly." In railway engineering it is applied to an under-truck, most frequently with four wheels, which is often provided at one end of a locomotive or both ends of a carriage. It is pivoted or swivelled on the main frames, so that it can turn relatively to the body of the vehicle or engine, and thus it enables the wheels readily to follow the curves of the line. It has no connexion with the series of words, such as "bogey" or "bogy," "bogle," "boggle," "bogart"

(in Shakespeare "bug," "bugs and goblins"), which are probably connected with the Welsh _bwg_, a spectre; hence the verb to "boggle," properly applied to a horse which s.h.i.+es at supposed spectres, and so meaning to hesitate, bungle.

BOGNOR, a seaside resort in the Chichester parliamentary division of Suss.e.x, England, 66 m. S.S.W. from London by the London, Brighton & South Coast railway. Pop. of urban district (1901) 6180. Besides the parish church there is a Roman Catholic priory and church. The town possesses a pier and promenade, a theatre, a.s.sembly rooms, and numerous convalescent homes, including an establishment belonging to the Merchant Taylors' Company. The church of the mother parish of South Bersted is Norman and Early English, and retains a fresco of the 16th century.

BOGo, a town of the province of Cebu, island of Cebu, Philippine Islands, on Bogo Bay at the mouth of the Bulac river, in the north-east part of the island. Pop. (1903) 14,915. The climate is hot but healthy.

The surrounding country is fertile, producing sugar, Indian corn, and maguay in abundance; rice, cacao and fruits are also produced. Hats, baskets, cloths and rope are woven and are exported to a limited extent; small quant.i.ties of copra are also exported. The fisheries are of considerable local importance. The language is Cebu-Visayan.

BOG.o.dUKHOV, a town of Russia, in the government of Kharkov, 45 m. by rail N.W. of the city of that name, in 49 58' N. lat. and 36 9' E.

long., was formerly fortified. Pop. (1860) 10,522; (1897) 11,928. There seems to have been a settlement on this site as early as 1571. In 1709, at the time of the Russo-Swedish War, BoG.o.dukhov was taken by Mens.h.i.+kov and the emperor Alexius. It contains a cathedral, built in 1793. Boots, caps and furred gowns are manufactured, and gardening and tanning are carried on. The trade is princ.i.p.ally in grain, cattle and fish.

BOGOMILS, the name of an ancient religious community which had its origin in Bulgaria. It is difficult to ascertain whether the name was taken from the reputed founder of that sect, a certain pope Bogumil or Bogomil, or whether he a.s.sumed that name after it had been given to the whole sect. The word is a direct translation into Slavonic of _Ma.s.saliani_, the Syrian name of the sect corresponding to the Greek Euchites. The Bogomils are identified with the Ma.s.saliani in Slavonic doc.u.ments of the 13th century. They are also known as _Pavlikeni_, i.e.

Paulicians. It is a complicated task to determine the true character and the tenets of any ancient sect, considering that almost all the information that has reached us has come from the opponents. The heretical literature has to a great extent either perished or been completely changed; but much has also survived in a modified written form or through oral tradition. Concerning the Bogomils something can be gathered from the information collected by Euthymius Zygadenus in the 12th century, and from the polemic _Against the Heretics_ written in Slavonic by St Kozma during the 10th century. The old Slavonic lists of forbidden books of the 15th and 16th centuries also give us a clue to the discovery of this heretical literature and of the means the Bogomils employed to carry on their propaganda. Much may also be learnt from the doctrines of the numerous heretical sects which arose in Russia after the 11th century.

The Bogomils were without doubt the connecting link between the so-called heretical sects of the East and those of the West. They were, moreover, the most active agents in disseminating such teachings in Russia and among all the nations of Europe. They may have found in some places a soil already prepared by more ancient tenets which had been preserved in spite of the persecution of the official Church, and handed down from the period of primitive Christianity. In the 12th and 13th centuries the Bogomils were already known in the West as "Bulgari." In 1207 the _Bulgarornm heresis_ is mentioned. In 1223 the Albigenses are declared to be the local _Bougres_, and at the same period mention is made of the "Pope of the Albigenses who resided within the confines of Bulgaria." The Cathars and Patarenes, the Waldenses, the Anabaptists, and in Russia the Strigolniki, Molokani and Dukhobortsi, have all at different times been either identified with the Bogomils or closely connected with them.

_Doctrine._--From the imperfect and conflicting data which are alone available one positive result can be gathered, viz. that the Bogomils were both Adoptionists and Manichaeans. They had accepted the teaching of Paul of Samosata, though at a later period the name of Paul was believed to be that of the Apostle; and they were not quite free from the Dualistic principle of the Gnostics, at a later period too much identified with the teaching of Mani. They rejected the pneumatic Christianity of the orthodox churches and did not accept the docetic teaching of some of the other sects. Taking as our starting-point the teaching of the heretical sects in Russia, notably those of the 14th century, which are a direct continuation of the doctrines held by the Bogomils, we find that they denied the divine birth of Christ, the personal coexistence of the Son with the Father and Holy Ghost, and the validity of sacraments and ceremonies. The miracles performed by Jesus were interpreted in a spiritual sense, not as real material occurrences; the Church was the interior spiritual church in which all held equal share. Baptism was only to be practised on grown men and women. The Bogomils repudiated infant baptism, and considered the baptismal rite to be of a spiritual character neither by water nor by oil but by self-abnegation, prayers and chanting of hymns. Carp Strigolnik, who in the 14th century preached this doctrine in Novgorod, explained that St Paul had taught that simple-minded men should instruct one another; therefore they elected their "teachers" from among themselves to be their spiritual guides, and had no special priests. Prayers were to be said in private houses, not in separate buildings such as churches.

Ordination was conferred by the congregation and not by any specially appointed minister. The congregation were the "elect," and each member could obtain the perfection of Christ and become a Christ or "Chlist."

Marriage was not a sacrament. The Bogomils refused to fast on Mondays and Fridays. They rejected monachism. They declared Christ to be the Son of G.o.d only through grace like other prophets, and that the bread and wine of the eucharist were not transformed into flesh and blood; that the last judgment would be executed by G.o.d and not by Jesus; that the images and the cross were idols and the wors.h.i.+p of saints and relics idolatry.

These Paulician doctrines have survived in the great Russian sects, and can be traced back to the teachings and practice of the Bogomils. But in addition to these doctrines of an adoptionist origin, they held the Manichaean dualistic conception of the origin of the world. This has been partly preserved in some of their literary remains, and has taken deep root in the beliefs and traditions of the Bulgarians and other nations with whom they had come into close contact. The chief literature of all the heretical sects throughout the ages has been that of apocryphal Biblical narratives, and the popes Jeremiah or Bogumil are directly mentioned as authors of such forbidden books "which no orthodox dare read." Though these writings are mostly the same in origin as are known from the older lists of apocryphal books, they underwent in this case a certain modification at the hands of their Bogomil editors, so as to be used for the propagation of their own specific doctrines. In its most simple and attractive form--one at the same time invested with the authority of the reputed holy author--their account of the creation of the world and of man; the origin of sin and redemption, the history of the Cross, and the disputes between body and soul, right and wrong, heaven and h.e.l.l, were embodied either in "Historiated Bibles"

(Paleya[1]) or in special dialogues held between Christ and his disciples, or between renowned Fathers of the Church who expounded these views in a simple manner adapted to the understanding of the people (Lucidaria). The Bogomils taught that G.o.d had two sons, the elder Satanail and the younger Michael. The elder son rebelled against the father and became the evil spirit. After his fall he created the lower heavens and the earth and tried in vain to create man; in the end he had to appeal to G.o.d for the Spirit. After creation Adam was allowed to till the ground on condition that he sold himself and his posterity to the owner of the earth. Then Michael was sent in the form of a man; he became identified with Jesus, and was "elected" by G.o.d after the baptism in the Jordan. When the Holy Ghost (Michael) appeared in the shape of the dove, Jesus received power to break the covenant in the form of a clay tablet (_hierographon_) held by Satanail from Adam. He had now become the angel Michael in a human form; as such he vanquished Satanail, and deprived him of the termination _-il_ = G.o.d, in which his power resided. Satanail was thus transformed into Satan. Through his machinations the crucifixion took place, and Satan was the originator of the whole Orthodox community with its churches, vestments, ceremonies, sacraments and fasts, with its monks and priests. This world being the work of Satan, the perfect must eschew any and every excess of its pleasure. But the Bogomils did not go as far as to recommend asceticism.

They held the "Lord's Prayer" in high respect as the most potent weapon against Satan, and had a number of conjurations against "evil spirits."

Each community had its own twelve "apostles," and women could be raised to the rank of "elect." The Bogomils wore garments like mendicant friars and were known as keen missionaries, travelling far and wide to propagate their doctrines. Healing the sick and conjuring the evil spirit, they traversed different countries and spread their apocryphal literature along with some of the books of the Old Testament, deeply influencing the religious spirit of the nations, and preparing them for the Reformation. They sowed the seeds of a rich religious popular literature in the East as well as in the West. The Historiated Bible, the Letter from Heaven, the Wanderings through Heaven and h.e.l.l, the numerous Adam and Cross legends, the religious poems of the "Kaleki perehozhie" and other similar productions owe their dissemination to a large extent to the activity of the Bogomils of Bulgaria, and their successors in other lands.

_History._--The Bogomil propaganda follows the mountain chains of central Europe, starting from the Balkans and continuing along the Carpathian Mountains, the Alps and the Pyrenees, with ramifications north and south (Germany, England and Spain). In the middle of the 8th century the emperor Constantine Cop.r.o.nymus settled a number of Armenian Paulicians in Thracia. These were noted heretics and were persecuted by the Greek Church with fire and sword. The empress Theodora killed, drowned or hanged no fewer than 100,000. In the 10th century the emperor John Zimisces, himself of Armenian origin, transplanted no less than 200,000 Armenian Paulicians to Europe and settled them in the neighbourhood of Philippopolis, which henceforth became the centre of a far-reaching propaganda. Settled along the Balkans as a kind of bulwark against the invading Bulgars, the Armenians on the contrary soon fraternized with the newcomers, whom they converted to their own views; even a prince of the Bulgarians adopted their teaching. According to Slavonic doc.u.ments the founder of this sect was a certain priest Bogumil, who "imbibed the Manichaean teaching and flourished at the time of the Bulgarian emperor Peter" (927-968). According to another source the founder was called Jeremiah (or there was another priest a.s.sociated with him by the name of Jeremiah). The Slavonic sources are unanimous on the point that his teaching was Manichaean. A Synodikon from the year 1210 adds the names of his pupils or "apostles," Mihail, Todur, Dobri, Stefan, Vasilie and Peter, all thoroughly Slavonic names. Zealous missionaries carried their doctrines far and wide. In 1004, scarcely 15 years after the introduction of Christianity into Russia, we hear of a priest Adrian teaching the same doctrines as the Bogomils. He was imprisoned by Leontie, bishop of Kiev. In 1125 the Church in the south of Russia had to combat another heresiarch named Dmitri. The Church in Bulgaria also tried to extirpate Bogomilism. The popes in Rome whilst leading the Crusade against the Albigenses did not forget their counterpart in the Balkans and recommended the annihilation of the heretics.