646 B A L 
rime. It is not many years fince a finall coffer was found 
at Hebron full of gold and (liver medals, with an ancient 
Arabic book on medicine. In the country of the Drufes 
an individual difcovered, fome time fince, a jar with gold 
coin in the form of a crefcent ; but as the chiefs and go¬ 
vernors claim a right to thefe difcoveries, and ruin thofe 
who have made them, under pretext of obliging them to 
make reftoration, thofe who find any thing endeavour care¬ 
fully to conceal it; they fecretly melt the antique coins, 
nay, frequently bury them again in the fame place where 
they found them, from the fame fears which caufed their 
firft: concealment, and which prove the fame tyranny to 
have formerly exifted in thefe countries. 
When we confider the extraordinary magnificence of the 
temple of Balbec, we cannot but be afionifhed at the fi- 
lence of the Greek and Roman authors. Mr. Wood, who 
has carefully examined all the ancient writers, has found 
■no mention of it except in a fragment of John of Antioch, 
who attributes the conftruCtion of this edifice to Antoninus 
Pius. The infcriptions that remain corroborate this.opi¬ 
nion, which perfectly accounts for the conftant ufe of the 
Corinthian order, fince that order was not in general ufe 
before the third age of Rome ; but we ought by no means 
to allege as an additional proof the bird fculptured over 
the gate ; for if his crooked beak, large claws, and the 
caduceus he bears, give him the appearance of an eagle, 
the tuft of feathers on his head, like that of certain pigeons, 
proves that he is not the Roman eagle : befides that, the 
fame bird is found in the temple of Palmyra; and is there¬ 
fore evidently an oriental eagle, confecrated to the fun, 
who was the divinity adored in both thefe temples. His 
worfliip exifted at Balbec in the mod remote antiquity. 
His ftatue, which refembled that of Ofiris, had been tran- 
i'ported there from the Heliopolis of Egypt; and the cere¬ 
monies with w'hich he was worfhipped have been defcrib- 
ed by Macrobius, in his Saturnalia. Mr. Wood fup- 
pofes with reafon, that the name of Balbec, which in Sy¬ 
riac lignifi.es ‘ City of Bal,’ or of the fun, originated in 
this worfliip. The Greeks, by naming it Heliopolis, have 
in this inltance only given a literal tranflation of the ori¬ 
ental word : a practice to which they have not always ad¬ 
hered. We are ignorant of the ftate of this city in remote 
antiquity ; but it is to be prefumed, that its fituation, on 
the road from Tyre to Palmyra, gave it fome part of the 
commerce of thefe opulent capitals. Under the Romans, 
in the time of Auguftus, it is mentioned as a garrifon 
town ; and there is ftill remaining, on tire wall of the 
fouthern gate, on the right as we enter, an infcription 
which proves the truth of this, the words kenturia 
prima in Greek characters very legible. One hundred 
and forty years after, Antoninus built the prefent temple, 
inftead of the ancient one, which was doubtlefs falling 
into ruins : but, Chriftianity having gained the afcendancy 
under Conftantine, the modern temple was negleCted, and 
afterwards converted into a church ; a wall of which is 
now remaining, that hid the faniftuary of the idols. It 
continued thus until the invafion of the Arabs, when it is 
probable they envied the Chriftians fo beautiful a building. 
The church being lefs frequented fell to decay ; wars fuc- 
ceeded ; and it was converted into a place of defence ; 
battlements were built on the wall which furrounded it, 
on the pavilions, and at the angles, which ftill fublift ; and, 
from that time, the temple, expofed to the fate of war, 
fell rapidly to ruin. The ftate of the city is not lefs de¬ 
plorable. The wretched government of the emirs of the 
houfe of Harfouftie had already greatly impaired it, and 
the earthquake of 1759 completed its deftruCtion. The 
wars of the Emir Youfef and Djezzar have rendered it 
(till more deferted and ruinous. Of 5000 inhabitants, at 
which number they were eftimated in 1751, not 1200 are 
now remaining ; and thefe moftly poor, without induftry 
or commerce, and cultivating nothing hut a little cotton, 
fome maize, and water-melons, for their fubfiftence. 
B ALBIL'LUS, a learned and benevolent man, governor 
®f Egypt, of which he wrote the hiftory, under Nero..- 
BAL 
BALBI'NUS (Decimus Ccelius), the Roman emperor, . 
being chofen by the fenate in 237, was maffacred by the 
foldiers, who had a dillike to fuch emperors as were elect¬ 
ed only by the fenators. This prince was eloquent, and 
wrote good verfes. 
BALBO'A (Vafco Nugnes de), a Caftilian; a celebrat¬ 
ed navigator, and one of the firft difcoverers of South 
America. He was beheaded by the Spaniih governor of 
St. Mary, through jealoufy of his growing reputation,. in 
15 1 7, aged torty-tvvo. 
To B ALBU'CINATE, v. n. [from balbutio , Lat.J To 
ftammer in (peaking. 
BAL'BUS (Lucius Cornelius Theophanes), was born 
at Cadiz, and diftinguifhed himfelf by his valour in the 
war carried on by the Romans in Spain againfr Sertorius 
and the Lufitanians, on which account Pompey gave him 
the privileges of a Roman citizen. He was conful in the 
714th year of Rome, and was the firft foreigner on whom 
that dignity was conferred. He was the friend of Pom¬ 
pey, Caefar, Craffus, and Cicero. There were many other 
illuftrious Romans of the name of Balbus. 
Balbus, a mountain of Africa, famous for the retreat 
of Mafliniffa, after he had fought a battle againft Syphax. 
To BALBU'TIATE, v. n. The fame with Balbuci- 
NATE. 
BALBU'TlES,yi [from £u£ct£a } Gr. to ftammer, or 
rather from baSs Heb. to babble.] A defeCt of pronun¬ 
ciation : a Hammering. 
BALCAR'RY, a village of Scotland, on the fouth 
coaft of the county of Kircudbright, declared by at! of 
parliament a free port, ten miles eaft-fouth-eaft of Kircud¬ 
bright. 
BALCH, a river of Germany, which runs into the 
Rhine at Cologne. 
BAL'CHEN (John), a celebrated Englifh admiral, 
(hipwrecked on the coaft of Scilly, in the Victory, a firft- 
rate, when upwards of 1100 perfons perifhed with him, m 
the year 1744. 
BALCHIKAN'SKOI, a town of Siberia, 140 miles 
fouth-weft of Doroninfk. 
BALCHUY'SEN, a town of Germany, in the circle of 
Weftphalia, and duchy of Juliers, nine miles weft of Co¬ 
logne. 
BAL'C'ONY, f. [from balcon, Fr.] In architecture, a 
kind of open gallery, without the walls of buildings, con¬ 
trived chiefly for the convenience of looking around, fee¬ 
ing proceflions, cavalcades, &c. Where there is but one, 
it is ufually in the middle of the front of the edifice, and 
level with the firft floor: fomctimes they are made of wood, 
fometimes of caft-iron ; the former furrounded with a rail, 
or balluftrade, the latter wrought in various figures in de- 
mi-relievo. Some are alfo made of bar-iron, fafhioned in 
crail-work, or fiourifhes of divers fancies. They are lately 
become faftiionable, particularly in the metropolis, where 
few newly-ereCted houfes of any degree of elegance are 
without them. Balconies to houfes in Londonare regu¬ 
lated by the building aft, laGeo. III. c. 78. 
Balcony, in a (hip, denotes a gallery either covered 
or open, made abaft, either for ornament, or convenience 
of the captain’s cabin. 
BALD, adj. \_bal, Welfti.] Wanting hair; defpoiled of 
hair by time or ficknefs.—Neither (hall men make them- 
felves bald for them. Jeremiah .—I find it remarked by 
Marchetti, that the caufe of baldnefs in men is. the dry- 
nefs of the brain, and its (blinking from the (kull; he 
having obferved, that in bald perfons, under the bald part, 
there was a vacuity between the (kull and the brain. Ray. 
•—We ftiould imitate C'aqfar, who, becaufe his head was 
bald, covered that defeCt with laurels. Addifon .—Without 
natural covering : 
Under an oak, whofe bougie are mofs’d with age, 
And high top bald with dry antiquity. Shakefpcare. 
Without the ufual covering.—He is fet at the upper end 
o? th’ table but they (land bald before him. Shahejpeare. 
■—Unadorned; inelegant; 
An4 
