BUSTUM. It was customary among the Romans to burn the bodies of the
dead before burying them. When the spot appointed for that purpose
adjoined the place of sepulture, it was termed _bustum_; when it
was separate from it, it was called _ustrina_. From this word the
gladiators, who were hired to fight round the burning pyre of the
deceased, were called _bustuarii_.
BUXUM or BUXUS, probably means the wood of the box-tree, but was
given as a name to many things made of this wood. The tablets used
for writing on, and covered with wax (_tabulae ceratae_), were
usually made of box. In the same way the Greek πυξίον, formed from
πύξος, “box-wood,” came to be applied to any tablets, whether they
were made of this wood or any other substance. Tops and combs were
made of box-wood, and also all wind instruments, especially the flute.
BYSSUS (βύσσος), linen, and not cotton. The word byssus appears to
come from the Hebrew _butz_, and the Greeks probably got it through
the Phoenicians.
CĂBEIRĬA (καβείρια), mysteries, festivals, and orgies, solemnised
in all places in which the Pelasgian Cabeiri were worshipped, but
especially in Samothrace, Imbros, Lemnos, Thebes, Anthedon, Pergamus,
and Berytos. Little is known respecting the rites observed in these
mysteries, as no one was allowed to divulge them. The most celebrated
were those of the island of Samothrace, which, if we may judge from
those of Lemnos, were solemnised every year, and lasted for nine
days. Persons on their admission seem to have undergone a sort of
examination respecting the life they had led hitherto, and were then
purified of all their crimes, even if they had committed murder.
CĀDŪCĔUS (κηρύκειον, κηρύκιον), the staff or mace carried by heralds
and ambassadors in time of war. This name is also given to the staff
with which Hermes or Mercury is usually represented, as is shown in
the following figure of that god. From _caduceus_ was formed the
word _caduceator_, which signified a person sent to treat of peace.
The persons of the caduceatores were considered sacred.
[Illustration: Hermes bearing the Caduceus. (Museo Borbonico, vol.
vi. pl. 2.)]