A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology

occurs several times in the ancient authors as the name of a medical writer, sometimes without any praenomen, sometimes called Julius and sometimes Tullius. It is not possible to say exactly whether all these passages refer to more than two individuals, as it is conjectured that Julius and Tullius are the same person: it is, however, certain that the Julius Bassus said by Pliny (Ind. to H. N. xx.) to have written a Greek work, must have lived before the person to whom Galen dedicates his work De Libris Propriis, and whom he calls Κράτιστος Βάσσος. (Vol. xix. p. 8.) Bassus Tullius is said by Caelius Aurelianus (De Morb. Acut. 3.16. p.233) to have been the friend of Niger, who may perhaps have been the Sextius Niger mentioned by Pliny. (Ind. to H. N. xx.) He is mentioned by Dioscorides (De Mat. Med. i. praef.) and St. Epiphanius (Adv. Haer. 1.1.3) among the writers on botany; and several of his medical formulae are preserved by Aetius, Marcellus, Joannes Actuarius, and others. (Fabric. Biblioth. Gr. vol. xiii. p. 101, ed. vet.; C. G. Kühn, Addit. ad Elench. Medic. a Fahr. 'c. Exhib. fase. iv. p. 1, &c.)

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