Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 02.djvu/477

BALATKA. where he organized the Liederkranz Society and the Mozart Club, and in 1888 became conductor of the Chicago Symphony Society. His compositions are chiefly songs and choruses.

BALATON,, (Hung. for Ger. Plattensee). A lake, the largest in Hungary, about 55 miles southwest of Budapest (Map: ../Hungary/, E 3). Its extreme length is 48 miles, with a breadth of from 3 to 10 miles, and an estimated area, including its frequently submerged marshes, of 420 square miles. Its greatest depth is 40 feet. It is fed by numerous streams and springs, and discharges its superfluous waters through the Sió, the Kapos River, and the Kapos Canal into the Danube. The southern bank is low, while the northern is bounded by vine-clad hills. The lake abounds in fish.

BALAUANG, b;l'lou-ang'. A town of Luzon, Pliilippines. in the Province of La Union, sit- uated 22 miles north of San Fernando. Popula- tion, in 1898, 12,242.

BALAUS'TIONS ADVEN'TURES. A dramatic nKiniilogue by Itoliert Browning. The author's own fondness for Euripides is reflected in Balaustion's enthusiastic devotion to the hu- manest of the Greek tragedians. The Rhodian girl is one of the loveliest creations in English poetry. The poem was published in 1871, and was afterwards continued in Aristophanes' s Apologii. See Browning, Robert.

BALAWAT, ba'la-wilt'. A ruined city of Turkey in Asia, 10 miles northwest of Nimrud. The ancient colony of Baal in the kingdom of Assyria; its Arabic designation is Jaqut Bala- badh. It is the site of a palace of King Asur- nazirpal, and of his son, Shahnaneser II. Among the most interesting relics recovered from the ruins are the splendid bronze gates that opened into the vestibule. They are now in the British Museum. Consult Birch, The Bronze Orna- ments of the Paluee dates of Balaicat (Lon- don, lSSO-81).

BALAYAN, ba-lii'yan. A seaport town of Luzon, Philippines, in the Province of Batangas (Map: Luzon, D II). It is situated at the northwestern end of the Gulf of Balayan. 30 miles nortliwest of Batangas. Popvilation, in isns, 24,747.

BALBI, bal'be, Adriano (1782-1848). An Italian geographer. He published numerous works on geography and on statistics, most of which have been translated into the principal Eurojiean languages. Among his works may be mentioned: Prospettn politico-geoyrafieo dello state attuale del gloho (1808); Atlas ethno- f/rnphifiue du. globe (1826) ; and Abr(^gd de geo- 'yriiphie (1838).

BALBI, GaspaCo. A Venetian merchant of the Sixteenth Century, the first traveler who left an account of India beyond the Ganges. He made a ten-years' visit to India. .fter his return he published, in 1500, the results of his travels in a volume entitled Viaggio all' Indie Orienldli. A Latin translation was printed in De Bry's Collcelion of Voyages and Travels to the East Indies, published at Frankfort in 1590-94. Balbi appears to have set down, without exaggeration, all that he himself saw, and is particularly minute and exact con- cerning commercial matters ; but there is scarce- ly any limit to his credulity with regard to what he heard from others. Having visited Goa and Cochin, and other Portuguese settlements, he sailed for Pegu, then an independent empire, where he remained two years. His account of this last country is the most interesting of his narratives.

BALBI’NUS, Decimus Celius. One of the two emperors of Rome whom the Senate elected, on hearing of the death in .Africa of the elder Gordianus and his son, in o|)position to Maxi- rainus, who had the support of the legions in Germany. He was celebrated as an orator and a poet, and was a man of mild disposition. His coadjutor, Marcus Clodius Pupienus Maximus (see PuMENUS), was a bold and resolute sol- dier, who had risen from the people. They had reigned only a few months, during which time Maximinus had been killed by his own soldiers, who afterwards submitted to ilaximus, when they were both killed in A.D. 238 by the Pre- torians, who at that time were animated by bit- ter hostility toward civilians, and extended it to the rulers who had been elected by them.

BALBO, bal'bo, Cesare, Count (1789-1853). An Italian statesman and historian, born at Turin. At the age of 18 he was appointed by Napoleon auditor of the Council of State at Paris; in the following year he became secretary to the commission sent to organize the Province of Tuscany, and continued for several years in similar service luitil the downfall of Napoleon. Thereafter he cast in his fortunes with the HouSe of Savoy, and entered upon a military career; but this also was soon interrupted by his being unjustly implicated in the Revolution of 1821. After three j'ears of exile in France, he returned home and gave himself up to historical studies. In 1843 appeared his Delle speranze d'ltalia, whose chief contention was that national inde- pendence must precede the enjoyment of consti- tutional liberty. After freedom of the press was secured in 1847, he founded the Risorginienlo, in conjunction with Cavour. In 1848 he became president of the first constitutional ministry of Piedmont, and from that time until his death, in 1853, retained a seat in the Chamber as one of the representatives of Turin. His ideal was Italian unity and independence, so far as was consistent with the maintenance of the Papal power, and this idea dominates all his writings. The more important of these include: Sloria d'ltalia sotto ai Barbari (1830) ; Vita di Dante (1839); Mcditazioni Hloriehe (1842); and the posthumous works, Delia monarchia rappresenta- tiim in Italia (1857); Hommario delta Storia d'ltalia (1862). The best Life of Balbo is by Rieotti (Florence, 1856).

BALBOA, b:U-bo'a, Vasco Nunez de (1475-1517). A Spanish explorer, the first European to see the Pacific Ocean from American shores. He was born of a noble but reduced family at Xeres de los Caballeros. After leading a rather dissolute life in his youth, he took part in the great mercantile expedition of Rodrigo de Bastidas to the New Vorld. He establislied himself in Santo Domingo, and began to cultivate the soil ; but fortune proved adverse, and in order to escape from his creditors, he had himself smuggled in a cask on board a ship, and joined the expedition to Darien in 1510, commanded by Martin Fernandez de Enciso. An insurrection which