1. A Carthaginian general, who, in conjunction with Hamilcar and Hasdrubal, the son of
Hanno, commanded the Carthaginian forces sent against M. Atilius Regulus when he invaded
Africa in B. C. 256. Bostar and his colleagues were, however, quite
incompetent for their office. Instead of keeping to the plains, where their cavalry and
elephants would have been formidable to the Romans, they retired to the mountains, where these
forces were of no use; and they were defeated, in consequence, near the town of Adis, with
great slaughter. The generals, we are told, were taken prisoners; and we learn from Diodorus,
that Bostar and Hamilcar were, after the death of Regulus, delivered up to his family, who
behaved to them with such barbarity, that Bostar died of the treatment he received. The
cruelty of the family, however, excited so much odium at Rome, that the sons of Regulus
thought it advisable to burn the body of Bostar, and send his ashes to Carthage. This account
of Diodorus, which, Niebuhr remarks, is probably taken from Philinus, must be regarded as of
doubtful authority. (Plb. 1.30; Oros.
4.8; Eutrop. 2.21; Flor. 2.2;
Diod. Exc. xxxiv.; Niebuhr, Hist. of Rome, iii. p.
600.)