inter they were
compelled to march naked round the market-place, singing a song composed
against themselves and expressing the justice of their punishment. The
usual respect of the young to the old was not paid to bachelors (Plut.
_Lyc._ 15). At Athens there was no definite legislation on this matter; but
certain minor laws are evidently dictated by a spirit akin to the Spartan
doctrine (see Schoemann, _Gr. Alterth._ i. 548). At Rome, though there
appear traces of some earlier legislation in the matter, the first clearly
known law is that called the Lex Julia, passed about 18 B.C. It does not
appear to have ever come into full operation; and in A.D. 9 it was
incorporated with the Lex Papia et Poppaea, the two laws being frequently
cited as one, Lex Julia et Papia Poppaea. This law, while restricting
marriages between the several classes of the people, laid heavy penalties
on unmarried persons, gave certain privileges to those citizens who had
several children, and finally imposed lighter penalties on married persons
who were childless. Isolated instances of such penalties occur during the
middle ages, _e.g._ by a charter of liberties granted by Matilda I.,
countess of Nevers, to Auxerre in 1223, an annual tax of five _solidi_ is
imposed on any man _qui non habet uxorem et est bachelarius_. In Britain
there has been no direct legislation bearing on bachelors; but,
occasionally, taxes have been made to bear more heavily on them than on
others. Instances of this are the act (6 and 7 Will. III.) passed in 1695;
the tax on servants, 1785; and the income tax, 1798.

BACHIAN (Dutch _Batjan_), one of the Molucca Islands, in the residency of
Ternate, Dutch East Indies, in the Molucca Sea, in 0deg13'-0deg55' S. and
127deg22'-128deg E. With its subordinate islands, Mandioli, Tawali and
others, it lies west of the southern peninsula of the island of Halmahera
or Jilolo, and has an area of 914 sq. m. It is of irregular form,
consisting of two distinct mountainous parts, united by a low isthmus,
which a slight subsidence would submerge. The island is in part of volcanic
formation, and the existence of hot springs points to volcanic activity.
There are, however, especially in the southern portion, ancient and
non-volcanic rocks. The highest elevation occurs at the south of the
island, the mountain of Labua reaching 6950 ft. Coal and other minerals
have been discovered. A large portion of the island is richly wooded, and
sago, cocoa-nut