BEL 
caufe of its refemblance to the point of an arrow.] Ar¬ 
rowhead, or finger-done; of a whitifh and fomelimes a 
gold colour, vulgarly called thunder-bolts or thunder-Jlones. 
They are compoied of feveral crufts of done encircling 
each other, of a conical form, and various iizes; ufually 
a little hollow, and fomevvhat tranfparent, formed of fe¬ 
veral Arias radiating from the axis to the furface of the 
done ; and, when burnt or rubbed againft one another, or 
fcraped with a knife, yield an odour like ratped horn. 
Their fize is various, from a quarter of an inch to eight 
inches; and their colour and lhape differ. They are fup- 
pofed to be originally either a part of fome fea-produftion, 
or a ftone formed in the cavity of fome worm-fhell, which, 
being of a tender and brittle nature, has perifired, after 
giving its form to the ftone. They are found in many 
parts of England ; and the common people have a notion, 
that they are always to be met with after a thunder-ftorm. 
They are often inclofed in, or adhere to, other ftones; and 
are moft frequent amongft gravel, or in clay : they abound 
in Gloucefterfhire, and are found near Deddington in Ox¬ 
ford (hire, where they fome times contain the tilver marcalite. 
BELEMNOI'DES, f. [from ffiXEfxvcv, a dart, and ev 5 o?, 
form.] The proce.Tus llyloides, anti the procefs at the 
.lower end of the ulna, are fo named, from their dart-like 
fnape. 
BELE'RIUM, the promontory of the Dumnonii, or 
Damnonii, the weftmoft Britons. Now called the Land's 
End, in Cornwall. 
BELE'SIS, furnamed Nanybrus, is faid to have been the 
founder of the ancient Babylonifh empire, and in conjunc¬ 
tion with Arbaces the Mede to have put an end to the 
kingdom-of the Aftyrians by the defeat and death of Sar- 
danapa-lus. This prince is reprefented to have been crafty 
and mean-fpirited, though a hero. It is faid, he was bafe 
enough to circumvent Arbaces, his colleague and friend, 
in the moft fbameful manner, by pretending a vow he had, 
in the mi dll of the war, made to his god Belus, “ That, 
if fuccefs was the event of it, and the palace of Sardana- 
palus fhould be confumed, which it was, he would be at 
the charge of removing the afhes to Babylon ; where he 
would heap them up into a mount near the temple of his 
god ; there to (land as a monument to all who fhould na¬ 
vigate the Euphrates, of the fubverfion of the Aftyrian 
empire.” He, it fecnis, had been privately informed of 
the immenfe treafure which had been confumed in the 
conflagration at Nineveh ; and, knowing it to be a fecret 
to Arbaces, his avarice fuggefted to him this expedient. 
Arbaces not only granted him his requeft, but appointed 
him king of Babylon, with an exemption from all tribute. 
Belefis, by this artifice, carried a prodigious treafure with 
him to Babylon ; but, when the fecret was difeovered, lie 
was called to account for it, and tried by the other chiefs 
who had aftifled in the war, and who, upon his confelfion 
of the crime, condemned him to lofe his head. But Ar¬ 
baces, a magnificent and generous prince, not only for¬ 
gave him, but left him in the poffeffion of the treafure, 
and in the independent government of Babylon, faying, 
“That the good he had done ought to ferve as a veil to 
his crime and thus he became at once poffefled of great 
wealth and dominion. In procefs of time, and under the 
fucceffor of Arbaces, he became a man of (how and effe¬ 
minacy, unworthy of the kingdom he held. Nanybrus, 
for fo he was from this time furnamed, underftanding a 
certain Mede, called Parfondas, held him in the utmoft 
contempt, and had Solicited the emperor of the Medes to 
divert him of his dominions, and to confer them upon him- 
felf, he offered a great reward to the man who fhould take 
Parfondas, and bring him to him. Parfondas hunting 
fomewhere near Babylon with the king of the Medes, and 
draggling from the company, chanced to fall in with fome 
of the fervants of Nanybrus, who were tempted with the 
promifed reward. They were purveyors to the king; and 
Parfondas, being thirfty, afked them for a draught of 
wine; which they not only granted, but prevailed upon 
him to take a meal with them. Drinking freely, and iuf- 
3 
BEL 863 
pefling no treachery, he was eafily perfuaded to pnfs that 
night in company with fome beautiful women, brought 
on purpofe to inveigle him. But, while he was in a pro¬ 
found fleep, the fervants of Nanybrus, ruftiingupon him, 
bound him, and carried him to their prince ; who re¬ 
proached him for endeavouring to eftrange his mafter the 
king of the Medes from him, and by that means to place 
himfelf in his room on the throne of Babylon. Parfondas 
did not deny the charge; but with great intrepidity own¬ 
ed, that he thought himfelf more worthy of a crown than 
fuch an indolent and effeminate prince as he was. Nany¬ 
brus, highly provoked, fwore by the gods that Parfoni- 
das himfelf fhould in a fhort time become fo effeminate as 
to reproach none with effeminacy. Accordingly, he or¬ 
dered the eunuch who had the charge of his lmilic wo¬ 
men, to (have, paint, and drefs, him after the manner of 
thofe women, to teach him the art, and in fhort to trans¬ 
form him by all pollible means into a woman. His orders 
were obeyed ; and the manly Parfondas foon exceeded the 
faireft female in (inging, playing, and the other arts of ex¬ 
ternal allurements. In the mean time the king of the 
Medes, having in vain fought after his favourite fervanr, 
and offered great rewards to fuch as fhould give him any 
information concerning him, concluded he had been de- 
ftroyed by fome wild beaft in the chace, At length, after 
feven years, the Mede was informed of his ftate and con- 
condition by an eunuch, who, being cruelly fcourged by 
Nanybrus’s order, fled, at the inftigation of Parfondas, in¬ 
to Media; and there difclofed the whole to the king, who 
immediately difpatched an officer to demand him. Nany¬ 
brus pretended to know nothing of any fuch perfon; up¬ 
on which another officer was fent by the Mede, with a pe¬ 
remptory order to feize on Nanybrus. if he perfifted in the 
denial, to bind him with his girdle, and lead him to im¬ 
mediate execution. This had the defired effeit : the Ba¬ 
bylonian owned what he had before denied, promifing to 
comply with the king’s demand ; and in the mean time in¬ 
vited the officer to a banquet, at which 150 women, among 
whom was Parfondas, made their appearance, finging and 
playing upon various inftruments. But, of all, Parfondas 
appeared by far the moft charming; infomucb that, Nanv-- 
brtts inquiring of the Mede which he liked beft, he imme¬ 
diately pointed at.him. At this the Babylonian, falling 
into an immoderate fit of laughter, told him who the per¬ 
fon was whom he thus preferred to all the women ; add¬ 
ing, that he could anfwer what he had done before the 
king of the Medes. The officer was no lefs furprifed at 
fuch an aftonifhing change than his mafter was afterwards* 
when Parfondas appeared before him. _The only favour 
Parfondas begged of the king, for all his part fervicesj 
was, that he would avenge on Nanybrus the bafe and high¬ 
ly injurious treatment he had met with at his hands. The 
Mede marched at his inftigation to Babylon; and, not- 
withftanding the remonftrances of Nanybrus, urging, that 
Parfondas had, w ithout the lead provocation, endeavoured 
to deprive him both of his life and kingdom, declared, 
that in ten days time he would pafs fentence on him, for 
prefuming to aft as judge in his own caufe, inftead of ap¬ 
pealing to him. But Nanybrus having in the mean time 
bribed Mitaphernes, the Mede’s favourite eunuch, the 
king was by him prevailed upon to fentence the Babylo¬ 
nian only to a fine; which made Parfondas curfe the man 
who firft difeovered gold, for the fake of which he was to 
live unrevenged the fport and deriiion of an effeminate 
Babylonian. 
BELES'TA, or Belestat', a town of France, in the 
department of the Aude, and chief place of a canton, in 
the diftriil of Quillan, fourteen miles fouth-weft of Li- 
moux, and ten weft of Qnillan. 
BE'I.EZ, a town of South America, in. Terra Firma, 
and province of New Granada, 
Bei.ez, a river of Spain, which runs into the Mediter¬ 
ranean, between Barcelona and Tarragona. 
BELF AST', a town in the country of Antrim, and chief 
fea-port in the north of Ireland, on the river Lagon, which; 
opens.. 
