Batrachomyomachia, a poem, describing the fight between frogs and mice, written by Homer, which has been printed sometimes separately from the Iliad or Odyssey. The best edition of it is Maittaire’s, 8vo, London, 1721.
Battiădes, a patronymic of Callimachus, from his father Battus. Ovid, Ibis, li. 53.——A name given to the people of Cyrene from king Battus. Silius Italicus, bk. 3, li. 253.
Battis, a girl, celebrated by Philetus the elegiac poet. Ovid, Tristia, bk. 1, poem 5.
Battus I., a Lacedæmonian who built the town of Cyrene, B.C. 630, with a colony from the island of Thera. He was son of Polymnestus and Phronime, and reigned in the town he had founded, and after death received divine honours. The difficulty with which he spoke first procured him the name of Battus. Herodotus, bk. 4, ch. 155, &c.—Pausanias, bk. 10, ch. 15.——The second of that name was grandson to Battus I. by Arcesilaus. He succeeded his father on the throne of Cyrene, and was surnamed Felix, and died 554 B.C. Herodotus, bk. 4, ch. 159, &c.——A shepherd of Pylos, who promised Mercury that he would not discover his having stolen the flocks of Admetus, which Apollo tended. He violated his promise, and was turned into a pumice stone. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 2, li. 702.——A general of Corinth against Athens. Thucydides, bk. 4, ch. 43.——A buffoon of Caesar’s. Plutarch, Convivium Septem Sapientium, ch. 6.
Batŭlum, a town of Campania, whose inhabitants assisted Turnus against Æneas. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 7, li. 739.
Batŭlus, a surname of Demosthenes, from his effeminacy when young. Plutarch, Demosthenes.
Batyllus, a celebrated dancer in Domitian’s reign. Juvenal, satire 6, li. 63.
Baubo, a woman who received Ceres when she sought her daughter all over the world, and gave her some water to quench her thirst. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 5, fable 7.
Baucis, an old woman of Phrygia, who, with her husband Philemon, lived in a small cottage, in a penurious manner, when Jupiter and Mercury travelled in disguise over Asia. The gods came to the cottage, where they received the best things it afforded; and Jupiter was so pleased with their hospitality, that he metamorphosed their dwelling into a magnificent temple, of which Baucis and her husband were made priests. After they had lived happy to an extreme old age, they died both at the same hour, according to their request to Jupiter, that one might not have the sorrow of following the other to the grave. Their bodies were changed into trees before the doors of the temple. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 8, li. 631, &c.
Bavius and Mævius, two stupid and malevolent poets in the age of Augustus, who attacked the superior talents of the contemporary writers. Virgil, Eclogues, poem 3.