Bias, one of the seven sages of Greece; a native of Priene, in Ionia; celebrated for his practical knowledge and strict regard to justice. He flourished about 550 B.C., and died at a very advanced age.


Entry from Everybody's Cyclopedia, 1912.

Βιας

The son of Amythaon and Idomene, the daughter of Pheres. His brother was Melampus, the seer, who is closely associated with his adventures (Table 1 and Table 21). When Bias wanted to marry Pero, the daughter of Neleus, he had to perform a task imposed by her father, namely, to steal the herds of Phylacus. The oxen were well guarded by a fierce dog but Melampus agreed to steal them on behalf of his brother and, when he bad been granted the hand of Pero by Neleus, he gave her up to Bias.

Subsequently, after Melampus had cured the daughters of King Proetus of their madness, he secured a third of the latter's kingdom for Bias, who set himself up in it (see Anaxagoras). When married to Pero, Bias fathered Talaus, the father of Adrastus (Table 1), Perialces, Laodocus, Areius and Alphesiboea. Later, when he was settled in Argos in the kingdom of Proetus, he married the latter's daughter, Lysippe. She was certainly the mother of his daughter Anaxibia who, according to some accounts, later married Pelias.

{E2 DICTIONARY OF CLASSICAL MYTHOLOGY}

Table of Sources:
- Hom. Od. 15, 242ff.
- schol. on Hom. Od. 11, 287
- Eustath. on Hom. p. 1685, 8ff.
- schol. on Pind. Nem. 9, 30
- schol. on Aeschylus, Suppl. 569
- schol. on Euripides, Phoen. 173
- Hdt. 9, 34
- schol. on Theocr. 3, 45
- schol. on Apoll. Rhod. Arg. 1, 18
- Prop. 2, 3, 51ff.
- Paus. 2, 18, 4; 2, 21, 2; 4, 34, 4; 4, 36, 3
- Apollod. Bibl. 1, 9, 10ff.; 2, 2, 2
- See also Melampus.

Bi"as (?), n.; pl. Biases (#). [F. biasis, perh. fr. LL. bifax two-faced; L. bis + facies face. See Bi-, and cf. Face.]

1.

A weight on the side of the ball used in the game of bowls, or a tendency imparted to the ball, which turns it from a straight line.

Being ignorant that there is a concealed bias within the spheroid, which will . . . swerve away. Sir W. Scott.

2.

A learning of the mind; propensity or prepossession toward an object or view, not leaving the mind indifferent; bent inclination.

Strong love is a bias upon the thoughts. South.

Morality influences men's lives, and gives a bias to all their actions. Locke.

3.

A wedge-shaped piece of cloth taken out of a garment (as the waist of a dress) to diminish its circumference.

4.

A slant; a diagonal; as, to cut cloth on the bias.

Syn. -- Prepossession; prejudice; partiality; inclination. See Bent.

 

© Webster 1913.


Bi"as, a.

1.

Inclined to one side; swelled on one side.

[Obs.]

Shak.

2.

Cut slanting or diagonally, as cloth.

 

© Webster 1913.


Bi"as, adv.

In a slanting manner; crosswise; obliquely; diagonally; as, to cut cloth bias.

 

© Webster 1913.


Bi"as, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Biased (#); p. pr. & vb. n. Biasing.]

To incline to one side; to give a particular direction to; to influence; to prejudice; to prepossess.

Me it had not biased in the one direction, nor should it have biased any just critic in the counter direction. De. Quincey.

 

© Webster 1913.

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