ba, "son
of deceit," which perhaps reflects the later verdict of condemnation
recorded after his failure (root [Hebrew: KZB] "to be false"). Cochab is,
therefore, the name either of his father or of his home. But it is recorded
that the Rabbi 'Aq[=i]ba (_q.v._), who recognized him as Messiah, applied
Num. xxiv. 17 to him, reading not _Cochab_ ("a star"), but _Cosiba_ ("goes
forth from Jacob"); thus Bar-cochab is a Messianic title of the "man of
Cozeba" (_cf._ Chron. iv. 22) whose original name was recalled by later
Rabbis with sinister intention. At first the Romans paid little attention
to the insurgents, who were able to strike coins in the name of Simeon,
prince of Israel, and Eleazar the priest, and to persecute the Christians,
who refused to join the revolt. But troops were collected and the various
fortresses occupied by the Jews were successively reduced. The end came
with the fall of Beth-thar (Bethar). Extraordinary stories were told of the
prowess of Barcochebas and of the ordeals to which he subjected his
soldiers in the way of training.

See Eusebius _H.E._ iv. 6; Dio Cassius xix. 12-14; Schuerer, _Gesch. d.
jued. Volkes_, 3rd ed. i. 682 ff.; Derenbourg, _Hist. de la Palest._ 423
ff. (distinguishes Barcochebas from Simeon); Schlattler, _Gesch. Israels_,
2nd ed. 303 ff.; articles JEWS and PALESTINE, _History_; also art. s.v.
"Bar Kokba" in _Jewish Encyc._ (S. Krauss).

BARD, a word of Celtic derivation (Gaelic _baird_, Cymric _bardh_, Irish
_bard_) applied to the ancient Celtic poets, though the name is sometimes
loosely used as synonymous with poet in general. So far as can be
ascertained, the title _bards_, and some of the privileges peculiar to that
class of poets, are to be found only among Celtic peoples. The name itself
is not used by Caesar in his account of the manners and customs of Gaul and
Britain, but he appears to ascribe the functions of the bards to a section
of the Druids, with which class they seem to have been closely connected.
Later Latin authors, such as Lucan (_Phar._ p. 447), Festus (_De Verb.
Sign._ s.v.), and Ammianus Marcellinus (bk. xv.), used the term _Bardi_ as
the recognized title of the national poets or minstrels among the peoples
of Gaul and Britain. In Gaul, however, the institution soon disappeared;
the purely Celtic peoples were swept back by the waves of Latin and
Teutonic conquest, and finally settled in Wales, Ireland, Brittany and the
north of Scotland. There is clear e