Bomilcar

• A Carthaginian general, contemporary with Agathocles, Just. 22, 7, 8.—
• II One of Hannibal’s generals, Liv. 23, 41, 10; 24, 36, 7 al.—
• III A companion of Jugurtha, afterwards guilty of rebellion, and put to death by him, Sall. J. 35; 61; 62; 70 sqq.

2. Father of the Hanno who commanded a portion of Hannibal's army at the passage of the Rhone, B. C. 218. This Bomilcar seems to have been one of the Carthaginian Suffetes (rex, not praetor; see Göttling, Excurs. iii. ad Arist. Polit. p. 484), and to have presided in that assembly of the senate in which the second Punic war was resolved on. (Plb. 3.33, 42; Liv. 21.18, 27, 28.)

3. Commander of the Carthaginian supplies which were voted to Hannibal after the battle of Cannae, B. C. 216, and with which he arrived in Italy in the ensuing year. (Liv. 23.13, 41.) In B. C. 214, he was sent with fifty-five ships to the aid of Syracuse, then besieged by the Romans; but, finding himself unable to cope with the superior fleet of the enemy, he withdrew to Africa. (Liv. 24.36.) Two years after, we again find him at Syracuse; for we hear of his making his escape out of the harbour, carrying to Carthage intelligence of the perilous state of the city (all of which, except Achradina, was in the possession of Marcellus), and returning within a few days with 100 ships. (Liv. 25.25.) In the same year, on the destruction by pestilence of the Carthaginian land-forces under Hippocrates and Himilco, Bomilcar again sailed to Carthage with the news, and returned with 130 ships, but was prevented by Marcellus from reaching Syracuse. He then proceeded to Tarentum, apparently with the view of cutting off the supplies of the Roman garrison in that town; but, as the presence of his force only increased the scarcity under which the Tarentines themselves suffered, they were obliged to dismiss him. (Liv. 25.27, 26.20; comp. Polyb. Spicil. Rel. 9.1; Schweig. ad loc.)

4. A Numidian, deep in the confidence of Jugurtha, by whom he was employed on many secret services. In particular, when Jugurtha was at Rome, in B. C. 108, Bomilcar undertook and effected for him the assassination of Massiva, who happened to be at Rome at the same time, and who, as well as Jugurtha himself, was a grandson of Masinissa, and a rival claimant to the throne of Numidia. The murder was discovered and traced to Bomilcar, who was obliged to enter into large recognizances to appear and stand his trial; but, before the trial came on, his master privately sent him back to Africa. (Sal. Jug. 35; comp. Liv. Epit. 64.) In the ensuing year, we find him commanding a portion of Jugurtha's army, with which he was defeated in a skirmish at the river Muthul by Rutilius, lieutenant of Metellus. (Sal. Jug. 49, 52, 53.) In the winter of the same year Metellus, after his unsuccessful attempt on Zama, engaged Bomilcar by promises of Roman favour to deliver Jugurtha to him alive or dead; and it was accordingly at his instigation that the king sent ambassadors to make offers of unconditional submission to Metellus. (Sal. Jug. 61, 62.) In consequence of this advice Bomilcar seems to have become an object of suspicion to his master, which urged him the more towards the execution of his treachery. Accordingly he formed a plot with Nabdalsa, a Numidian nobleman, for the seizure or assassination of the king; but the design was discovered to Jugurtha by Nabdalsa's agent or secretary, and Bomilcar was put to death. (Sal. Jug. 70, 71.) [E.E]

A Numidian, deep in the confidence of Iugurtha. When Iugurtha was at Rome, in B.C. 109, Bomilcar effected for him the assassination of Massiva. In B.C. 107, he plotted against Iugurtha. See Iugurtha.