book 3, chapter 138-139.

_Philip de Commines, Memoirs, book 2, chapter 1._

DINWIDDIE COURT HOUSE, Action at.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1865 (MARCH-APRIL: VIRGINIA).

DIOBOLY, The.

Pericles "was the proposer of the law [at Athens] which instituted the 'Dioboly,' or free gift of two obols to each poor citizen, to enable him to pay the entrance-money at the theatre during the Dionysia."

_C. W. C. Oman, History of Greece, page 271._

See ATHENS: B. C. 435-431.

DIOCESES OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE.

"The civil government of the empire was distributed [under Constantine and his successors] into thirteen great dioceses, each of which equalled the just measure of a powerful kingdom. The first of these dioceses was subject to the jurisdiction of the Count of the East. The place of Augustal Præfect of Egypt was no longer filled by a Roman knight, but the name was retained. ... The eleven remaining dioceses--of Asiana, Pontica, and Thrace; of Macedonia, Dacia and Pannonia, or Western Illyricum; of Italy and Africa; of Gaul, Spain, and Britain--were governed by twelve vicars or vice-præfects."

_E. Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, chapter 17. https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/25717_

See PUÆTORIAN PRÆFECTS.

DIOCLETIAN, Roman Emperor.

See ROME: A. D. 284-305..

DIOCLETIAN: Abdication.

"The ceremony of his abdication was performed in a spacious plain about three miles from Nicomedia [May 1, A. D. 305]. The Emperor ascended a lofty throne, and, in a speech full of reason and dignity, declared his intention, both to the people and to the soldiers who were assembled on this extraordinary occasion. As soon as lie had divested himself of the purple, he withdrew from the gazing multitude, and, traversing the city in a covered chariot, proceeded without delay to the favourite retirement [Salona] which he had chosen in his native country of Dalmatia."

_E. Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, chapter 13. https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/25717_

See, also, SALONA.

DIOKLÉS, Laws of.

A code of laws framed at Syracuse, immediately after the Athenian siege, by a commission of ten citizens the chief of whom was one Dioklês. These laws were extinguished in a few years by the Dyonisian tyranny, but revived after a lapse of sixty years. The code is "also said to have been copied in various other Sicilian cities, and to have remained in force until the absorption of all Sicily under the dominion of the Romans."

_G. Grote, History of Greece, part 2, chapter 81._

DIONYSIA AT ATHENS.

"The four principal Attik Dionysiak festivals were (1) the Dionysia Mikra, the Lesser or Rural Dionysia; (2) the Dionysia Lenaia; (3) the Anthesteria; and (4) the Dionysia Megala, the Greater or City Dionysia. The Rural Dionysia, celebrated yearly in the month Posideon (Dec.-January) throughout the various townships of Attike, was presided over by the demarch or mayor. The celebration occasioned a kind of rustic carnival, distinguished like almost all Bakchik festivals, by gross intemperance and licentiousness, and during which slaves enjoyed a temporary freedom, with licence to insult their superiors and behave in a boisterous and disorderly manner. It is brought vividly before us in the 'Acharnes' of Aristophanes. ... The Anthesteria, or Feast of Flowers, celebrated yearly in the month Anthesterion (February-March), ... lasted for three days, the first of which was called Pithoigia, or Tap-barrel-day, on which they opened the casks and tried the wine of the previous year. ... The Dionysia Megala, the Greater or City Dionysia, celebrated yearly in the month Elaphebolion (March-April) was presided over by the Archon Eponymos, so-called because the year was registered in his name, and who was first of the nine. The order of the solemnities was as follows: I. The great public procession. II. The chorus of Youths. III. The Komos, or band of Dionysiak revellers, whose ritual is best illustrated in Milton's exquisite poem. IV. The representation of Comedy and Tragedy; for at Athenai the stage was religion and the theatre a temple. At the time of this great festival the capital was filled with rustics from the country townships, and strangers from all parts of Hellas and the outer world."

_R. Brown, The Great Dionysiak Myth, chapter 6._

DIONYSIAN TYRANNY AT SYRACUSE, The.

See SYRACUSE: B. C. 397-396, and 344.

DIPLAX, The.

See PEPLUM.

DIPYLUM, The.

See CERAMICUS OF ATHENS.

DIRECTORY, The French.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1795 (JUNE-SEPTEMBER); (OCTOBER-DECEMBER); 1797 (SEPTEMBER).

{663}

DISINHERITED BARONS, The.

See SCOTLAND: A. D. 1332-1333.

DISRAELI-DERBY AND BEACONSFIELD MINISTRIES.

See ENGLAND: A. D. 1851-1852: 1858-1859; 1868-1870: and 1873-1880.

DISRUPTION OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND.

See SCOTLAND: A. D. 1843.

DISSENTERS, OR NONCONFORMISTS, English: First bodies organized. Persecutions under Charles II. and Anne. Removal of Disabilities.

See ENGLAND: A. D. 1559-1566; 1662-1665: 1672-1673: 1711-1714; 1827-1828.

DISTRIBUTION OF THE SURPLUS, The.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1835-1837.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, The.

See WASHINGTON (CITY): A. D. 1791.

DIVAN, The.

See SUBLIME PORTE.

DIVODURUM.

The Gallic name of the city afterwards called Mediomatrici--now Metz.

DIVONA. Modern Cahors.

See CADURCI.

DIWANI.

See INDIA: A. D. 1757-1772.

DIX, General John A.: Message to New Orleans.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1860-1861 (DECEMBER-FEBRUARY).

DJEM, OR JEM, Prince, The Story of.

See TURKS: A. D. 1481-1520.

DOAB, The English acquisition of the.

See INDIA: A. D. 1798-1805.

DOBRIN, Knights of the Order of the Brethren of.

See PRUSSIA: 13TH CENTURY.

DOBRUDJA, The.

The peninsula formed between the Danube, near its mouth, and the Black Sea.

DOBUNI, The. A tribe of ancient Britons who held a region between the two Avons.

See BRITAIN, CELTIC TRIBES.

DOCETISM.

"We note another phase of gnosticism in the doctrine so directly and warmly combated in the epistles of John: we refer to docetism--that is, the theory which refused to recognize the reality of the human body of Christ."

_E. Reuss, History of Christian Theology in the Apostolic Age, page 323._

DODONA.

See HELLAS.

DOGE.

See VENICE: A. D. 697-810.

DOGGER BANKS, Naval Battle of the (1781).

See NETHERLANDS (HOLLAND): A. D. 1746-1787.

DOKIMASIA.

"All magistrates [in ancient Athens] whether elected by cheirotonia or by lot, were compelled, before entering upon their office, to subject themselves to a Dokimasia, or scrutiny into their fitness for the post."

_G. F. Schöman, Antiquity of Greece: The State, part 3, chapter 3._

DÖLICHOCEPHALIC MEN.

A term used in ethnology, signifying "long-headed," as distinguishing one class of skulls among the remains of primitive men, from another class called brachycephalic, or "broad-headed."

DOLLINGER, Doctor, and the dogma of Papal Infallibility.

See PAPACY: A. D. 1869-1870.

DOLMENS.

See CROMLECHS.

DOMESDAY, OR DOOMSDAY BOOK.

See ENGLAND: A. D. 1085-1086.

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC, The.

See HAYTI: A. D. 1804-1880.

DOMINICANS.

See MENDICANT ORDERS: also, INQUISITION: A. D. 1203-1525.

DOMINION OF CANADA.-DOMINION DAY.

See CANADA: A. D. 1867.

DOMINUS.

See IMPERATOR, FINAL SIGNIFICATION OF THE ROMAN TITLE.

DOMITIAN, Roman Emperor, A. D. 81-96.

DOMITZ, Battle of (1635).

See GERMANY: A. D. 1634-1639.

DON JOHN OF AUSTRIA.

See JOHN (DON) OF AUSTRIA.

DON PACIFICO AFFAIR, The.

See ENGLAND: A. D. 1849-1850; and GREECE: A. D. 1846-1850.

DONALD BANE, King of Scotland, A. D. 1093-1098 (expelled during part of the period by Duncan II.)

DONATI, The.

See FLORENCE: A. D. 1295-1300, and 1301-1313.

DONATION OF CONSTANTINE.

See PAPACY: A. D. 774 (?).

DONATION OF THE COUNTESS MATILDA.

See PAPACY: A. D. 1077-1102.

DONATIONS OF PEPIN AND CHARLEMAGNE.

See PAPACY: A. D. 755-774.

DONATISTS, The.

"The Donatist controversy was not one of doctrine, but of ecclesiastical discipline; the contested election for the archbishopric of Carthage. Two competitors, Cecilius and Donatus, had been concurrently elected while the church was yet in a depressed state, and Africa subject to the tyrant Maxentius [A. D. 306-312]. Scarcely had Constantine subdued that province, when the two rivals referred their dispute to him. Constantine, who still publicly professed paganism, but had shown himself very favourable to the Christians, instituted a careful examination of their respective claims, which lasted from the year 312 to 315, and finally decided in favour of Cecilius. Four hundred African bishops protested against this decision; from that time they were designated by the name of Donatists. ... In compliance with an order of the emperor, solicited by Cecilius, the property of the Donatists was seized and transferred to the antagonist body of the clergy. They revenged themselves by pronouncing sentence of excommunication against all the rest of the Christian world. ... Persecution on one side and fanaticism on the other were perpetuated through three centuries, up to the period of the extinction of Christianity in Africa. The wandering preachers of the Donatist faction had no other means of living than the alms of their flocks. ... As might be expected, they outdid each other in extravagance, and soon gave in to the most frantic ravings: thousands of peasants, drunk with the effect of these exhortations, forsook their ploughs and fled to the deserts of Getulia. Their bishops, assuming the title of captains of the saints, put themselves at their head, and they rushed onward, carrying death and desolation into the adjacent provinces: they were distinguished by the name of Circumcelliones: Africa was devastated by their ravages."

_J. C. L. de Sismondi, Fall of the Roman Empire, chapter 4._

ALSO IN: _P. Schaff, History of the Christian Church,