The Law, in the rabbinical sense, was reverenced by Baḥya, and he converted it into part and parcel of the Jew’s inner life. The book is divided into ten parts:—the Unity of God; Contemplation; Worship; Trust; Consecration; Humility; Repentance; Self-Examination; the Ascetic Life; the Love of God. Some selections from Baḥya’s work have been rendered into English by E. Collins. (I. A.)
BAIAE, an ancient city of Campania, Italy, 10 m. W. of Neapolis, on the Sinus Baianus, a bay on the W. coast of the Gulf of Puteoli. It is said to derive its name from Βαῖος, the helmsman of Ulysses, whose grave was shown there; it was originally, perhaps, the harbour of Cumae. It was principally famous, however, for its warm sulphur springs, remarkable for their variety and curative properties (Pliny, Hist. Nat. xxxi. 4), its mild climate, and its luxuriant vegetation (though in summer there was some malaria in the low ground). It was already frequented, especially by the rich, at the end of the republican period; and in Strabo’s day it was as large as Puteoli. Julius Caesar possessed a villa here, the remains of which are probably to be recognized in some large substructures on the ridge above the 16th-century castle. Baiae was a favourite residence of the emperors. Nero built a huge villa probably on the site now occupied by the castle. Hadrian died in Caesar’s villa in A.D. 138, and Alexander Severus erected large buildings for his mother. Baiae never became, however, an independent town, but formed part of the territory of Cumae. Three glass vases with views of the coast and its buildings were published by H. Jordan in Archäologische Zeitung (1868, 91). The luxury and immorality of the life of Baiae under both the republic and the empire are frequently spoken of by ancient writers.
Near Baiae was the villa resort of Bauli, so called from the Βοαύλια (stalls) in which the oxen of Geryon were concealed by Hercules. By some it is identified with the modern village of Bacoli (owing to a presumed similarity to the ancient name), 2 m. S.S.E. of Baiae; by others with the Punta dell' Epitaffio, 1 m. N.E. of Baiae (see G. B. de Rossi in Notizie degli scavi, 1888, 709). At Bauli, Pompey and Hortensius possessed villas, the former on the hills, while that of the latter, on the shores of the Lacus Lucrinus, was remarkable for its tame lampreys and as the scene of the dialogue in the second book of Cicero’s Academica Priora; it afterwards became imperial property and was the scene of Agrippina’s murder by Nero. It was from Bauli to Puteoli that Caligula built his bridge of boats.
Of the once splendid villas and baths of Baiae and its district, the foundations of which were often thrown far out into the sea, considerable, though fragmentary, remains exist. It is not, as a rule, possible to identify the various buildings, and the names which have been applied to the ruins are not authenticated. At Baiae itself there exist three large and lofty domed buildings, two octagonal, one circular, and all circular in the interior, of opus reticulatum and brick, which, though popularly called temples, are remains of baths or nymphaea. The Punta dell' Epitaffio also is covered with remains, while at Bacoli are several ruins—to the north of the village a small theatre, called the tomb of Agrippina; under the village the remains of a large villa; to the E. the remains of a large water reservoir, the so-called Cento Camerelle; to the S. another with a vaulted ceiling, known as the piscina mirabilis, measuring 230 by 85 ft. The villa of Marius, which was bought by Lucullus, and afterwards came into the possession of the imperial house, was the scene of the death of Tiberius. It is sometimes spoken of as Baiana, sometimes as Misenensis, and is perhaps to be sought at Bacoli (Th. Mommsen in Corp. Inscrip. Latin., x., Berlin, 1883, 1748), though Beloch inclines to place it on the promontory S. of Misenum, and this perhaps agrees better with the description given by Phaedrus.
Baiae was devastated by the Saracens in the 8th century and entirely deserted on account of malaria in 1500.
See J. Beloch, Campanien (2nd ed., Breslau, 1890), 180 seq.
(T. As.)
BAIBURT, a town of Asiatic Turkey, on the direct carriage road from Trebizond to Erzerum, situated on both banks of the Churuk river, which here traverses an open cultivated plateau (altitude, 5100 ft.), before turning east. It is the chief place of a kaza under Erzerum; the bazaar is poor, and there is no special industry in the town. The houses run up the hillsides on both banks of the river to a considerable height. On an isolated mass of rock, on the left bank, is the old castle, with extensive walls partly ruined, built originally by the Armenians and restored by the Seljuks. The principal gate with some Arabic inscriptions stands at the S.W. corner. There are remains of a vaulted chamber, a Christian church, a mosque and two covered staircases to the river. A fine view is seen from the summit over the plain and the Pontic ranges to the north. The population numbers 10,000, mostly Turkish with some Armenians. The place was occupied by the Russians under General Paskevich during their invasion of 1829, and was the farthest point westward then reached by them. (F. R. M.)
BAIḌĀWĪ (‛Abdallāh ibn ‛Umar al-Baiḍāwī), Mahommedan critic, was born in Fars, where his father was chief judge, in the time of the Atabek ruler Abu Bakr ibn Sa‛d (1226–1260). He himself became judge in Shiraz, and died in Tabriz about 1286. His chief work is the commentary on the Koran entitled The Secrets of Revelation and The Secrets of Interpretation (Asrār ut-tanzīl wa Asrār ut-ta' wīl). This work is in the main a digest of the great Mu‛tazalite commentary (al-Kashshāf) of Zamakhsharī (q.v.) with omissions and additional notes. By the orthodox Moslems it is considered the standard commentary and almost holy, though it is not complete in its treatment of any branch of theological or linguistic knowledge of which it treats, and is not always accurate (cf. Th. Nöldeke’s Geschichte des Qorans, Göttingen, 1860, p. 29). It has been edited by H. O. Fleischer (2 vols., Leipzig, 1846–1848; indices ed. W. Fell, Leipzig, 1878). There are many editions published in the East. A selection with numerous notes was edited by D. S. Margoliouth as Chrestomathia Beidawiana (London, 1894). Many supercommentaries have been written on Baiḍāwī’s work. He was also the author of several theological treatises.
See C. Brockelmann’s Geschichte der arabischen Litteratur (Weimar, 1898), vol. i. pp. 416-418.
(G. W. T.)
BAÏF, JEAN ANTOINE DE (1532–1589), French poet and member of the Pléiade, was born at Venice in 1532. He was the natural son of the scholar Lazare de Baïf, who was at that time French ambassador at Venice. Thanks, perhaps, to the surroundings of his childhood, he grew up an enthusiast for the fine arts, and surpassed in zeal all the leaders of the Renaissance in France. His father spared no pains to secure the best possible education for his son. The boy was taught Latin by Charles Estienne, and Greek by Ange Vergèce, the Cretan scholar and calligraphist who designed Greek types for Francis I. When he was eleven years old he was put under the care of the famous Jean Daurat (q.v.). Ronsard, who was eight years his senior, now began to share his studies. Claude Binet tells how young Baïf, bred on Latin and Greek, smoothed out the tiresome beginnings of the Greek language for Ronsard, who in return initiated his companion into the mysteries of French versification. Baïf possessed an extraordinary facility, and the mass of his work has injured his reputation. Besides a number of volumes of short poems of an amorous or congratulatory kind, he translated or paraphrased various pieces from Bion, Moschus, Theocritus, Anacreon, Catullus and Martial. He resided in Paris, and enjoyed the continued favour of the court. He founded in 1567 an académie de musique et de poésie,[1] with the idea of establishing a closer union between music and poetry; his house became famous for the charming concerts which he gave, entertainments at which Charles IX. and Henry III. frequently flattered him with their presence. Baïf elaborated a system for regulating French versification by quantity. In this he was not a pioneer. Jacques de la Taille had written in 1562 the Manière de faire des vers en français comme en grec et en latin (printed 1573), and other poets had made experiments in the same direction. The 16th-century poets did not realize the
- ↑ For an account of this academy see Edouard Frémy, Les Origines de l'Académie Française (1887).
