in antiquity, were a kind of ancient guard attending the Greek emperors, armed with rods, wherewith they kept off the people from crowding too near the prince when on horseback. Their captain, or commander, was denominated primivergus.—The word was probably formed from the barde, or housings on their horses.

BARDA, the brother of the empress Theodora, and uncle of the famous Photius, is said to have had no other good quality besides that of loving the sciences and polite literature, which he established in the Eastern.