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, bŏ'lŏ-tṓn, Lake (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
