493 



BALBOA, VASCO NUNEZ DE. 



BALBOA, VASCO NUNEZ DE. 



491 



usurper Maximinus, who was supported by the legions in Germany. 

 Maximinus himself, hearing that the senate had outlawed him, was 

 preparing to march from Illyricum into Italy. Borne was in great 

 consternation. News had reached Rome that the elder Gordianua and 

 his son, who had beeu proclaimed shortly before in Africa with the ap- 

 probation of the senate, had both perished there. The senate in this 

 emergency elected two emperors ClodiusPupienusMaxiinus, an expe- 

 rienced officer who had risen from a low station to the highest ranks, 

 and Balbinus, a man of fortune and connections, and of a mild con- 

 ciliatory character : but at the demand of the people and the soldiers, 

 who were attached to the memory of Gordianus, a third emperor, 

 Marcus Antonius Gordianus, a boy of twelve years of age, was also 

 appointed; after which Maximus set off for North Italy tp oppose 

 Maximinua, and Balbinus remained at Rome. A serious tumult broke 

 out shortly after in the city, in consequence of two praetorian soldiers, 

 who entered unarmed the senate-house to listen to the discussions, 

 having been stabbed to death by some of the senators, who pretended 

 that they were spies of Maximinus. The praetorian guards rose to 

 avenge the death of their comrades ; and the people, on the other side, 

 excited by the senators, ran to attack the praetorians, who defended 

 themselves in their camp, and killed many of the citizens, fhe people 

 next cut off the conduits that supplied the camp with water; but the 

 praetorians sallied out, repulsed the besiegers, and set fire to a district 

 of the city. The greatest disorder prevailed, when Balbinus, who at 

 first had remained inactive, came out to endeavour to part the com- 

 batanU , but he was assailed with stones, and wounded. As a last 

 expedient the senators thought of exhibiting to the multitude the boy 

 Gordianus, who was clad in the imperial purple, and lifted upon the 

 shoulders of a tall man. The veneration which both the people and 

 the eoldiers felt for the name of Gordianus produced the desired effect, 

 and the tumult was appeased. Meantime Maximinus had laid siege to 

 Aquileia, where he was killed in a mutiny by his own soldiers, who 

 afterwards made their submission to Maximus; and the latter returned 

 to Rome to enjoy a triumph for having, though without much exertion 

 on his part, ended the civil war, A.D. 241. The people of Rome were 

 overwhelmed with joy, but the soldiers were dissatisfied, seeing their 

 influence on the decline ; they remembered that Maximinua was an 

 emperor of their own choice, while Maximus and Balbiuus were the 

 choice of the senate. A conspiracy was soon organised, and the two 

 emperors, jealous of each other's ascendancy, took no measures for 

 their mutual safety. Choosing the occasion of a public festival, when 

 most of the citizens had gone to witness the celebration of the Capi- 

 toline games, the praetorians sallied out to attack the palace of the 

 emperors. Maximus, being informed of this, sent for his trusty Ger- 

 mans; but Balbinus, through some suspicion of the designs of Maximus, 

 opposed the order. The praetorians forced their way into the palace, 

 seized both emperors, whom they dragged ignominiously towards their 

 camp, insulting and tormenting them by the way, and finally put them 

 both to death. They then took the boy Gordianus to their camp, and 

 proclaimed him emperor, A.D. 242. The two murdered emperors were 

 oo more talked of, and no punishment was inflicted on the assassins. 

 Balbinus and Maximus reigned little more than one year, during which 

 time they had shown assiduity in their duties, attention to justice and 

 public security, and respect for the authority of the laws. Balbinus 

 was a man of elegant manners and cultivated taste, fond of luxury and 

 refinement, and also a lover of literature : he appears to have beeu a 

 poet of no mean reputation in his time. His house, inhabited by his 

 posterity, was still existing in the time of Diocletian. (Julius Capita- 

 linus, ' HLstoria Augusta.') 



Brass. British Museum. Actual size. 



BALBO'A, VA'SCO NU'NEZ DE, was born in Xerez de los Cabal- 

 leros, in Estremadura, about the year 1475. His family, though 

 belonging to the class of hidalgos (or gentlemen), was not in very 

 affluent circumstances. Vasco in his youth held some office in the 

 house of Don Pedro Portocarrero, lord of Huelva; and in 1501 he 

 accompanied Rodrigo de Bastidas in his voyage of discovery to the New 

 World. It is not known whether Balboa remained with the expedition 

 till the time of the death of Bastidas, or whether he left it before, to 

 settle in Hispaniola (St. Domingo); but in 1510 Balboa was at Salva- 

 tierra, oaf of the settlements in that island, and he was go reduced in 

 circumstances, that he had got considerably in debt About that time, 

 Alonno de Ojeda and Diego de Nicuesa projected a voyage of discovery, 

 the king having granted them the privilege of colonising and governing 

 all those territories which they might discover from Cape Vela (or do 



la Vela), in 12 5' N. lat., 72 9' W. long, to Cape Gracias-a-Dios iu 

 15 N. lat., 82 45' W. long. One of Ojeda's coadjutors, Bachiller 

 Euciso, remained at Hispauiola to load two ships with men and 

 provisions. The governor of Hispaniola had made a law in that 

 island, that no one should quit it before he had paid all his creditors. 

 Balboa, who was anxious to get away from the island, hid himself in 

 a CHsk in Enciso's ship, and when the vessel was far from land presented 

 himself to Enciso, who, though much irritated at the trick, was at last 

 reconciled by the entreaties of Balboa and his friends. 



Euciso, on reaching Cartagena, where Ojeda's party had originally 

 proposed to settle, found that Ojeda had changed his plans in conse- 

 quence of the hostility of the natives, and had removed to the Gulf of 

 Darien; also that he had sailed thence to Hispaniola in quest of 

 Enciso. In Ojeda's absence, Euciso claimed the chief command; and 

 his men, after some resistance, submitted. He ordered them to proceed 

 to the gulf of Darien ; on entering which a violent storm overtook 

 them, and the vessel of Enciso was violently driven against a rock ou 

 the coast The men, 150 in number, saved themselves by swimming, 

 but on reaching the settlement, they found it reduced to ashes. They 

 next attempted to penetrate the country, but met with such resist- 

 ance from the natives that they were obliged to retire to the coast. 

 In this state of despair Balboa said, ' I remember to have seen, when 

 I was on these coasts some years ago, a town situated by the side of a 

 large river on the west side of the gulf : the inhabitants were of a 

 mild character, and did uot use poisoned arrows." The party eagerly 

 embraced Balboa's suggestion, that they should proceed iu quest of 

 the place and take possession of it. After a very obstinate combat 

 with the Indians, the Spaniards put them to flight, entered the town, 

 and founded a settlement, which they called, in fulfilment of a vow, 

 Santa Maria de la Antigua del Darien, in 8 20' N. lat. The Spaniards! 

 after their establishment there, began to exchange with the natives 

 goods and trinkets for gold, and had already received to the amount 

 of 12,000 dollars, when Enciso, uuder pain of death, forbade the 

 exchange of anything for gold. On this his men deposed him, and 

 some of them elected Balboa and Zamudio for their leaders ; some 

 were for Enciso ; and others, again, were desirous to place themselves 

 uuder Nicuesa. In the midst of these disputes a ship arrived from 

 Spain with men and provisions for Nicuesa. The captain distri- 

 buted part of hia stores among the settlers; and this circumstance 

 determined the parties in favour of Nicuesa. They accordingly 

 dispatched the vessel in quest of that chief, and found him near Porto- 

 bello in great distress; he accepted the invitation, but when he caiue 

 to the settlement ho was refused permission to land. He however 

 went on shore secretly iu spite of the advice of Balboa, but was seized 

 by order of his adversaries, and placed in a miserable vessel, with 

 seventeen men who chose to follow him. The vessel sailed for Spain 

 and it is supposed to have beeu lost at sea. 



The parties of Enciso and Balboa now resumed their dispute, and 

 Balboa gained the victory. Enciso was tried, and condemned to 

 imprisonment and the loss of all his property, for having usurped the 

 command of Ojeda, but Balboa was persuaded to grant him his liberty, 

 ou condition of his leaving Darieu. Balboa now dispatched Zaiuudio 

 to Spain to give an account of what had taken place, and having sent 

 for the men whom Nicuesa had left at Portobello, he made a successful 

 expedition into the country. On that occasion Balboa became ac- 

 quainted with a very powerful cacique, who gave him much useful 

 information about his own country, and also about a very powerful 

 and rich state, which, as he said, waa six suns, or days, to the south 

 of his own country. This was the first information the Spaniards had 

 of Peru. Balboa and his men returned to Darien, where he found a 

 reinforcement, which Columbus had sent from Hispaniola. The pro- 

 visions brought by that vessel were soon consumed, and scarcity 

 ensued in consequence of the loss of their harvest. Balboa now sent 

 to Colunbus for a fresh supply of provisions and 1000 rneu, that he 

 might be ble to remain in the country without being obliged to 

 destroy the natives, and also to undertake the conquest of the country 

 of which he had received intelligence. 



In the beginning of September 1513, Balboa embarked on an explo- 

 ratory expedition, sailing direct to Coiba, an island near the coast of 

 Veragua, where he left the vessels, and proceeded into the interior. 

 By his prudent policy he won the good will of several tribes of Indians, 

 and after a painful journey of about a month, he arrived on the 29th 

 of September at a mountain, from the summit of which the immense 

 expanse of the Pacific Ocean burst upon his view. Affected at the 

 sight, and falling upon his knees, he thanked the Almighty for having 

 granted him the favour of discovering those immense regions, and 

 then addressed hia companions in congratulatory and encouraging 

 terms. They all embraced him, and promised to be faithful to the 

 last moment. He then cut down a large tree, and depriving it of its 

 branches, erected a cross upon a heap of stones, and wrote the names 

 of Fernando and Isabel on the trunks of several trees round about. 

 Descending with his companions to the sea-shore, Balboa, in full 

 armour, having in one hand his sword and the standard of Castile in 

 the other, stood upon the sand until, the tide ascending, the water 

 reached his knees, and then, in the hearing of his companions, declared 

 that he took possession of those seas and regions in the names of the 

 king and queen of Castile. Tho procedure was formally registered 

 by a notary, in order to insure the validity of the act of possession. 



