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    "source_title": "Encyclopaedia Britannica (1911)",
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    "chunk_id": "1911:belhaven and stenton:690336821727",
    "title": "BELHAVEN AND STENTON",
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    "verified_text": "belhaven and stenton, john hamilton, 2nd baron (1656-1708), was the eldest son of robert hamilton, lord presmennan (d. 1696), and was born on the 5th of july 1656. having married margaret, granddaughter of john hamilton, 1st baron belhaven and stenton, who had been made a peer by charles i. in 1647, he succeeded to this title in 1679. in 1681 he was imprisoned for opposing the government and for speaking slightingly of james, duke of york, afterwards james ii., in parliament, and in 1689 he was among those who asked william of orange to undertake the government of scotland. belhaven was at the battle of killiecrankie; he was a member of the scottish privy council, and he was a director of the scottish trading company, which was formed in 1695 and was responsible for the darien expedition. he favoured the agitation for securing greater liberty for his country, an agitation which culminated in the passing of the act of security in 1705, and he greatly disliked the union of the parliaments, a speech which he delivered against this proposal in november 1706 attracting much notice and a certain amount of ridicule. later he was imprisoned, ostensibly for favouring a projected french invasion, and he died in london on the 21st of june 1708. belhaven is chiefly famous as an orator, and two of his speeches, one of them the famous one of november 1706, were printed by d. defoe in an appendix to his _history of the union_ (1786). belhaven's son, john, who fought on the english side at sheriffmuir, became the 3rd baron on his father's death. he was drowned in november 1721, whilst proceeding to take up his duties as governor of barbados, and was succeeded by his son john (d. 1764). after the death of john's brother james in 1777 the title was for a time dormant; then in 1799 the house of lords declared that william hamilton (1765-1814), a descendant of john hamilton, the paternal great-grandfather of the 2nd baron, was entitled to the dignity. william, who became the 7th baron, was succeeded by his son robert (1793-1868), who was created a peer of the united kingdom as baron hamilton of wishaw in 1831. he died without issue in december 1868, when the barony of hamilton became extinct; in 1875 the house of lords declared that his cousin, james hamilton (1822-1893) was rightfully baron belhaven and stenton, and the title descended to his kinsman, alexander charles (b. 1840), the 10th baron. belisarius (c. 505-565), one of the most famous generals of the later roman empire, was born about a.d. 505, in \"germania,\" a district on the borders of thrace and macedonia. his name is supposed to be slavonic. as a youth he served in the bodyguard of justinian, who appointed him commander of the eastern army. he won a signal victory over the persians in 530, and successfully conducted a campaign against them, until forced, by the rashness of his soldiers, to join battle and suffer defeat in the following year. recalled to constantinople, he married antonina, a clever, intriguing woman, and a favourite of the empress theodora. during the sedition of the \"green\" and \"blue\" parties of the circus (known as the nika sedition, 532) he did justinian good service, effectually crushing the rebels who had proclaimed hypatius emperor. in 533 the command of the expedition against the vandal kingdom in africa, a perilous office, which the rest of the imperial generals shunned, was conferred on belisarius. with 15,000 mercenaries, whom he had to train into roman discipline, he took carthage, defeated gelimer the vandal king, and carried him captive, in 534, to grace the first triumph witnessed in constantinople. in reward for these services belisarius was invested with the consular dignity, and medals were struck in his honour. at this time the ostrogothic kingdom, founded in italy by theodoric the great, was shaken by internal dissensions, of which justinian resolved to avail himself. accordingly, belisarius invaded sicily; and, after storming naples and defending rome for a year against almost the entire strength of the goths in italy, he concluded the war by the capture of ravenna, and with it of the gothic king vitiges. so conspicuous were belisarius's heroism and military skill that the ostrogoths offered to acknowledge him emperor of the west. but his loyalty did not waver; he rejected the proposal and returned to constantinople in 540. next year he was sent to check the persian king chosroes (anushirvan); but, thwarted by the turbulence of his troops, he achieved no decisive result. on his return to constantinople he lived under a cloud for some time, but was pardoned through the influence of antonina with the empress. the goths having meanwhile reconquered italy, belisarius was despatched with utterly inadequate forces to oppose them. nevertheless, during five campaigns he held his enemies at bay, until he was removed from the command, and the conclusion of the war was entrusted to the eunuch narses. belisarius remained at constantinople in tranquil retirement until 559, when an incursion of bulgarian savages spread a panic through the metropolis, and men's eyes were once more turned towards the neglected veteran, who placed himself at the head of a mixed multitude of peasants and soldiers, and repelled the barbarians with his wonted courage and adroitness. but this, like his former victories, stimulated justinian's envy. the saviour of his country was coldly received and left unrewarded by his suspicious sovereign. shortly afterwards belisarius was accused of complicity in a conspiracy against the emperor (562); his fortune was confiscated, and he was confined as a prisoner in his palace. he was liberated and restored to favour in 563, and died in 565. the fiction of belisarius wandering as a blind beggar through the streets of constantinople, which has been adopted by marmontel in his _belisaire_, and by various painters and poets, is first heard of in the 10th century. gibbon justly calls belisarius the africanus of new rome. he was merciful as a conqueror, stern as a disciplinarian, enterprising and wary as a general; while his courage, loyalty and forbearance seem to have been almost unsullied. he was the idol of his soldiers, a good tactician, but not a great strategist. authorities.--procopius, _de bellis_ and _historia arcana_ (best edition by j. haury, 1905, 1907); see gibbon, _decline and fall_ (ed. bury, vol. 4); t. hodgkin, _italy and her invaders_ (vol. 4); j.b. bury, _later roman empire_, vol. i.; diehl, _justinien_ (paris, 1901). (j. b. b.) belit (signifying the \"lady,\" _par excellence_), in the babylonian religion, the designation of the consort of bel (q.v.). her real name was nin-lil, i.e. the \"lady of power,\" if the explanation suggested in bel for the second element is correct. she is also designated as nin-khar-sag, \"lady of the mountain,\" which name stands in some relationship to im-khar-sag, \"storm mountain\"--the name of the staged tower or sacred edifice to bel at nippur. as the consort of en-lil, the goddess nin-lil or belit belongs to nippur and her titles as \"ruler of heaven and earth,\" and \"mother of the gods\" are all due to her position as the wife of bel. while recognized by a temple of her own in nippur and honoured by rulers at various times by having votive offerings made in her honour and fortresses dedicated in her name, she, as all other goddesses in babylonia and assyria with the single exception of ishtar, is overshadowed by her male consort. the title belit was naturally transferred to the great mother-goddess ishtar after the decline of the cult at nippur, and we also find the consort of marduk, known as sarpanit, designated as belit, for the sufficient reason that marduk, after the rise of the city of babylon as the seat of his cult, becomes the bel or \"lord\" of later days. (m. ja.)",
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