or NANYBRUS, is said to have been the founder of the ancient Babylonish empire, and in conjunction with Arbaces the Mede to have put an end to the kingdom of the Assyrians by the defeat and death of Sardanapalus. This first prince is represented as a crafty and mean-spirited knave; and at the same time, as nothing less than a hero. It is said, he was safe enough to circumvent Arbaces his colleague and friend in the most shameful manner; by pretending a vow he had, in the midst of the war, made to his god Belus, That if success was the event of it, and the palace of Sardanapalus was consumed, as it was, he would be at the charge and trouble of removing the ashes that were left to Babylon; where he would heap them up into a mount near the temple of his god; there to stand as a monument to all who should navigate the Euphrates, of the subversion of the Assyrian empire. He, it seems, had been privately informed, by an eunuch, of the immense treasure which had been consumed in the conflagration at Nineveh; and knowing it to be a secret to Arbaces, his avarice suggested to him this artifice. Arbaces not only granted him his request; but appointed him king of Babylon, with an exemption from all tribute. Belefs, by this artifice, carried a prodigious treasure with him to Babylon; but when the secret was discovered, he was called to an account for it, and tried by the other chiefs who had been assistant in the war, and who, upon his confession of the crime, condemned him to lose his head. But Arbaces, a munificent and generous prince, freely forgave him, left him in possession of the treasure, and also in the independent government of Babylon, saying, The good he had done ought to serve as a veil to his crime; and thus he became at once a prince of great wealth and dominion.

In process of time, and under the successor of Arbaces, he became a man of dress, shew, and effeminacy, unworthy of the kingdom or province he held. Nanybrus, for so we must now call Belefs, understanding a certain robust Mede, called Parfondas, held him in the utmost contempt, and had solicited the emperor of the Medes to divest him of his dominions, and to confer them upon himself, offered a very great reward to the man who should take Parfondas and bring him to him. Parfondas hunting somewhere near Babylon with the king of the Medes, and straggling from the company, happened to fall in with some of the servants of the Babylonian Nanybrus, who had been tempted with the promised reward. They were purveyors to the king; and Parfondas being very thrifty, asked them for a draught of wine; which they not only granted, but prevailed upon him to take a meal with them. As he drank freely, suspecting no treachery, he was easily persuaded to pass that night in company with some beautiful women, brought on purpose to detain him. But, while he was in a profound sleep, the servants of Nanybrus rushing upon him, bound him, and carried him to their prince; who bitterly reproached him for endeavouring to estrange his master the king of the Medes from him, and by that means place himself in his room on the throne of Babylon. Parfondas did not deny the charge; but with great intrepidity owned, that he thought himself more worthy of a crown than such an indolent and effeminate prince as he was. Nanybrus, highly provoked at the liberty he took, swore by the gods Belus and Molis, or rather Mylitta, that Parfondas himself should in a short time become so effeminate as to reproach none with effeminacy. Accordingly, he ordered the eunuch who had the charge of his music-women, to shave, paint, and dress him after the manner of those women, to teach him the art, and in short to transform him by all possible means into a woman. His orders were obeyed; and the manly Parfondas soon excelled the fairest female in singing, playing, and the other arts of allurement.

In the mean time the king of the Medes, having in vain fought after his favourite servant, and in vain offered great rewards to such as should give him any information concerning him, concluded he had been destroyed by some wild beast in the chase. At length, after seven years, the Mede was informed of his state and condition by an eunuch, who, being cruelly scourged by Nanybrus's order, fled, at the instigation of Parfondas into Media; and there disclosed the whole to the king, who immediately dispatched an officer to demand him. Nanybrus pretended to know nothing of any such person; upon which another officer was sent by the Mede, with a peremptory order to seize on Nanybrus if he persisted in the denial, to bind him with his girdle, and lead him to immediate execution. This order had the desired effect: the Babylonian owned what he had before denied; promising to comply, without further delay, with the king's demand; and in the mean time invited the officer to a banquet, at which 150 women, among whom was Parfondas, made their appearance, singing and playing upon various instruments. But, of all, Parfondas appeared by far the most charming; insomuch, that Nanybrus inquiring of the Mede which he liked best, he immediately pointed at him. At this the Babylonian clapt his hands; and, falling into an immoderate fit of laughter, told him who the person was whom he thus preferred to all the rest; adding, that he could answer what he had done before the king of the Medes. The officer was no less surprised at such an astonishing change than his master was afterwards, when Parfondas appeared before him. The only favour Parfondas begged of the king, for all his past services, was, that he would avenge on the Babylonian the base and highly injurious treatment he had met with at his hands. The Mede marched accordingly at his instigation to Babylon; and, notwithstanding the remonstrances of Nanybrus, urging, that Parfondas had, without the least provocation, endeavoured to deprive him of both his life and kingdom, declared that in ten days time he would pass the sentence on him which he deserved, for presuming to act as judge in his own cause, instead of appealing to him. But Nanybrus having in the mean time gained with a large bribe Mitraphernes the Mede's favourite eunuch, the king was by him prevailed upon to sentence the Babylonian only to a fine; which made Parfondas curse the man who first found out gold, for the sake of which he was to live the sport and derision of an effeminate Babylonian.