Dilatris in merely for delay; and there may be a demurrer to །། a dilatory plea, or the defendant fhall be ordered to Dimiffory, plead better, &c. The truth of dilatory pleas is to be made out by affidavit of the fact, &c. by ftat. 4 and 5 Anne. See PLEA.

DILATRIS, in botany: A genus of the monogynia order, belonging to the triandria clafs of plants. There is no calyx; the corolla has fix petals, and is fhaggy; the ftigma fimple.

DILEMMA, in logic, an argument equally conclufive by contrary fuppofitions. See LOGIC.

DILIGENCE, in Scots law, fignifies either that care and attention which parties are bound to give, in implementing certain contracts or trufts, and which varies according to the nature of the contract; as to which, fee LAW, N° clxi. 12, 13. clxxiii. 8. & clxxxi. 18. Or it fignifies certain forms of law, whereby the creditor endeavours to operate his payment, either by affecting the perfon or eftate of the debtor; ibid. No clxxi. clxxii.

DILL, in botany. See ANETHUM.

DILLEMBURG, a town of Germany, in Wetteravia, and capital of a county of the fame name It is fubject to a prince of the houfe of Naffau, and is fituated in E. Long. 8. 24. N. Lat. 50. 45.

DILLENGEN, a town of Germany, in the circle of Suabia, with an univerfity, and where the bishop of Augsburg refides. It is feated near the Danube, in E. Long. 11. 35. N. Lat. 48. 38.

DILLENIA, in botany, a genus of the polygynia belonging to the polyandria clafs of plants. The calyx is pentaphyllous; the petals five; the capfules numerous, polyfpermous, coalited, and full of pulp.

DILUTE. To dilute a body is to render it liquid; or, if it were liquid before, to render it more fo, by the addition of a thinner thereto. These things thus added are called diluents, or dilutors.

DIMACHE, (from si, double, and μax I fight,) in antiquity, a kind of horsemen, firft inftituted by Alexander. Their armour was lighter than that of the infantry, and at the fame time heavier than that ufed by horfemen, so that they could act as horfe or foot as occafion required.

DIMENSION, in geometry, is either length, breadth, or thickness; hence, a line hath one dimenfion, viz. length; a fuperficies two, viz. length and breadth; and a body, or folid, has three, viz. length, breadth, and thicknefs.

DIMINUTION, in architecture, a contraction of the upper part of a column, by which its diameter is • See Arcbi- made lefs than that of the lower part*. tecture, n° 38.

DIMINUTIVE, in grammar, a word formed from fome other, to soften or diminish the force of it, or to fignify a thing is little in its kind. Thus, cellule is a diminutive of cell, globule of globe, hillock of hill.

DIMISSORY LETTERS, Litera Dimifforia, in the canon law, a letter given by a bishop to a candidate for holy orders, having a title in his diocefe, directed to fome other bishop, and giving leave for the bearer to be ordained by him.

When a perfon produces letters of ordination or tonfure, conferred by any other than his own diocefan, he muft at the fame time produce the letters dimiffory given by his own bishop, on pain of nullity.

Letters dimiffory cannot be given by the chapter, Dimærita fede vacante; this being deemed an act of voluntary ju- ติ rifdiction, which ought to be referved to the fucceffor. Dinocrates. DIMERITÆ, a name given to the Apollinarists, who at first held, that the word only affumed a human body, without taking a reasonable foul like ours; but being at length convinced by formal texts of fcripture, they allowed, that he did affume a foul, but without understanding; the word fupplying the want of that faculty. From this way of feparating the understanding from the foul, they became denominated dimarives, q. d. dividers, feparaters, of in and porpaw, I divide. DINDYMA-ORUM, (Virgil,) from Dindymus-i; a mountain allotted by many to Phrygia. Strabo has two mountains of this name; one in Myfia near Cyzicus; the other in Gallograecia near Peffinus; and none in Phrygia. Ptolemy extends this ridge from the borders of Troas, through Phrygia to Gallograecia: though therefore there were two mountains called Dindymus in particular, both facred to the mother of the gods, and none of them in Phrygia Major; yet there might be feveral hills and eminences in it, on which this goddefs was worshipped, and therefore called Dindyma in general. Hence Cybele is furnamed Dindymane, (Horace.)

DINGWAL, a parliament-town of Scotland in the fhire of Rofs, feated on the frith of Cromarty, 15 miles welt of the town of Cromarty. Near it runs the river Conel, famous for producing pearls. W. Long. 4. 15. N. Lat. 57. 45. Dingwal was a Scotch barony in the perfon of the duke of Ormond in right of his lady, but forfeited in 1715.

DINNER, the meal taken about the middle of the day.-The word is derived from the French difner, which Du Cange derives from the barbarous Latin difnare. Henry Stephens derives it from the Greek Sever; and will have it wrote dipner. Menage deduces it from the Italian definare, "to dine"; and that from the Latin definere," to leave off work."

It is generally agreed to be the moft falutary to make a plentiful dinner, and to eat fparingly at fupper. This is the general practice among us. The French, however, in imitation of the ancient Romans, defer their good cheer to the evening; and Bernardinus Paternus, an eminent Italian physician, maintains it to be the moft wholefome method, in a treatise expressly on the subject.

The grand Tartar emperor of China, after he has dined, makes publication by his heralds, that he gives leave for all the other kings and potentates of the earth to go to dinner; as if they waited for his leave.

DINOCRATES, a celebrated architect of Macedonia, who rebuilt the temple of Ephefus, when burnt by Eroftratus, with much more magnificence than before. Vitruvius informs us that Dinocrates propofed to Alexander the Great to convert mount Athos into the figure of a man, whofe left hand should contain a walled city, and all the rivers of the mount flow into his right, and from thence into the fea! He also conceived a scheme for building the dome of the temple of Arfinoe at Alexandria, of loadstone; that fhould by its attraction uphold her iron image in the centre, fuf-, pended in the air! Projects which at lealt fhowed a vaft extent of imagination.

D 2

DIO

DIO CHRYSOSTOM that is, Golden Mouth, a celebrated orator and philofopher of Greece, in the first century, was born at Prufa in Bithynia. He attempted to perfuade Vefpafian to quit the empire; was hated by Domitian; but acquired the esteem of Trajan This last prince took pleasure in converfing with him, and made him ride with him in his triumphal chariot. There are ftill extant, 80 of Dio's orations, and fome other of his works the best edition of which is that of Hermand Samuel Raimarus, in 1750, in folio..

:

DIOCESE, or DIOCESS, the circuit or extent of the jurifdiétion of a BISHOP.--The word is formed from the Greek Siointis, government, administration; formed of it, which the ancient gloflaries render adminiftro, moderor, ordino: hence diciendis the woxes, the adminiftration or government of a city.

DIOCESE is alfo ufed in ancient authors, &c. for the province of a METROPOLITAN.

Diocefis, Sonnois, was originally a civil government, or prefecture, compofed of divers provinces.

The firft divifion of the empire into diocefes is ordinarily afcribed to Conftantine; who diftributed the whole Roman ftate into four, viz. the diocefe of Italy, the diocefe of Illyria, that of the eaft, and that of Africa. And yet, long before Conftantine, Strabo, who wrote under Tiberius, takes notice, lib. xiii. p. 432. that the Romans had divided Afia into diocefes; and complains of the confufion fuch a divifion occafioned in geography, Afia being no longer divided by people, but by diocefes, each whereof had a tribunal or court, where juftice was administered. Conftantine, then, was only the inftitutor of thofe large diocefes, which comprehended several metropoles and governments; the former diocefes only comprehending one jurifdiction or district, or the country that had refort to one judge, as appears from this paffage in Strabo, and (before Strabo) from Cicero himfelf, lib. iii. epift. ad famil. 9. and lib. xiii. ep. 67.

Thus, at firft a province included divers diocefes; and afterwards a diocefe came to comprise divers pro. vinces. In after times the Roman empire became divided into 13 diocefes or prefectures; though, including Rome, and the fuburbicary regions, there were 14. Thefe 14 diocefes comprehended 120 provinces: each province had a proconful, who refided in the capital or metropolis; and each diocefe of the empire had a conful, who refided in the principal city of the district.

On this civil conftitution, the ecclefiaftical one was afterwards regulated: each diocefe had an ecclefiaftical vicar or primate, who judged finally of all the concerns of the church within his territory.

At prefent there is fome further alteration for diocefe does not now fignify an affemblage of divers provinces; but is limited to a fingle province under a metropolitan, or more commonly to the fingle jurifdiction of a bishop.

Gul. Brito affirms diocefe to be properly the territory and extent of a baptifmal or parochial church; whence divers authors ufe the word to fignify a fimple parish. See PARISH.

DIOCLEIA, Ana, in antiquity, a folemnity kept in the fpring at Megara, in memory of the Athenian hero, who died in the defence of the youth he loved.

anus

Diodon.

DIOCLESIANUS (Caius Valerius Jovius), a ce- Dioclefi lebrated Roman emperor born of an obfcure family in Dalmatia in 245. He was firft a common foldier, and by merit and fuccefs he gradually rose to the office of a general; and at the death of Numerian in 284 he was invefted with imperial power. In this high ftation he rewarded the virtues and fidelity of Maximian, who had fhared with him all the fubordinate offices in the army, by making him his colleague on the throne. He created two fubordinate emperors Conftantius and Galerius, whom he called Cæfars, whilft he claimed for himfelf and his colleague the fuperior title of Auguftus. Dioclefian has been celebrated for his military virtues; and though he was naturally unpolifhed by education and study, yet he was the friend and patron of learning and true genius. He was bld and refolute, active and diligent, and well acquainted with the arts, which will endear a fovereign to his people, and make him refpectable even in the eyes of his enemies. His cruelty, however, against the followers of Chriftianity, has been defervedly branded with infamy. After he had reigned 22 years in the greatest profperity, he publicly abdicated the crown at Nicomedia in 305, and retired to a private ftation at Salona. Maximian his colleague followed his example, but not from voluntary choice; and when he fome time after endeavoured to roufe the ambition of Dioclefian, and perfuade him to re-affume the imperial purple, he received for anfwer, that Dioclefian took now more delight in cultivating his little garden than he formerly enjoyed in a palace, when his power was extended over all the earth. He lived nine years after his abdication in the greateft fecurity and enjoyment at Salona, and died in 314, in the 68th year of his age. Dioclefian is the firft fovereign who voluntarily refigned his power. His bloody perfecu tion of the Chriftians forms a chronological era, called. the era of Dioclefian, or of the martyrs. It was for a long time in ufe in theological writings, and is ftill fol lowed by the Copts and Abyffinians. It commenced Auguft 29. 284.

DIOCTAHEDRIA, in natural history, a genus of pellucid and cryftalliform fpars, compofed of two octan gular pyramids, joined bafe to bafe, without any intermediate column. Of thefe fome have long pyramids, others fhort and fharp-pointed ones, and others fhort and obtufe-pointed ones; the two former species being found in the Hartz-foreft, and the laft in the mines of Cornwall.

DIODATI (John), a famous minifter, and profef for of theology at Geneva, was born at Lucca in 1579, and died at Geneva in 1652. He is diftinguished by tranflations, . of the Bible into Italian, with notes,. Geneva 1607, 4to. The best edition at Geneva in 1641, folio. This is faid to be more a paraphrase than a tranflation, and the notes rather divine meditations than critical reflections. 2. Of the Bible into French, Geneva, 1644. 3. Of Father Paul's Hittory of the: Council of Trent into French.

DIODIA, in botany: A genus of the monogynia order, belonging to the tetrandria clafs of plants; and in the natural method ranking under the 47th order,. Stellata. The corolla is monopetalous and funnelfhaped; the capfule bilocular and difpermous.

DIODON, or SUN-FISH, in ichthyology, a genus belonging to the order of amphibia nantes.

There

Dindon, Diodorus.

See Plate

in the age of J. Cæfar and Auguftus; and fpent much Dioecia, time at Rome to procure information, and authenticate Diogenes. his hiftorical narrations. This important work, which he compofed in Greek, contained 40 books, of which there are only 15 remaining. The ftyle is clear and neat, and very suitable to history. The best edition is that of Amfterdam, 1743, in 2 vols folio.

There are three species. 1. The oblong fun-fifh grows to a great bulk: one examined by Sylvianus was above 100 pounds in weight; and Dr Borlafe mentions another taken at Plymouth in 1734, that weighed 500. In form it resembles a bream or fome deep fish cut off in the middle. The mouth is very fmall, and contains in each jaw two broad teeth, with fharp edges. The eyes are little; before each is a fmall femilunar aperture; the pectoral fins are very fmall, and placed behind them. The colour of the back is dufky, and dappled; the belly filvery: between the eyes and the pectoral fins are certain ftreaks pointing downwards.

The fkin is free from fcales.

When boiled, it has been obferved to turn into a glutinous jelly, refembling boiled ftarch when cold, and ferved the purposes of glue on being tried on paper and leather. The meat of this fifh is uncommonly rank it feeds on shell-fish.

There feems to be no fatisfactory reason for the old English name. Care must be taken not to confound it with the fun-fifth of the Irish (fee SQUALUS), which differs in all refpects from this.

2. The mola, or fhort fun-fifh, differs from the former, in being much fhorter and deeper. The back and the anal fins are higher, and the aperture to the gills not femilunar, but oval. The fituation of the fins are the fame in both.

Both kinds are taken on the western coafts of this kingdom, but in much greater numbers in the warmer parts of Europe.-Mr Brunnich informs us, that between Antibes and Genoa he faw one of this fpecies lie afleep on the surface of the water: a failor jumped overboard and caught it.

3. The levigatus, or globe, is common to Europe CLXIV. and South Carolina. As yet only a single fpecimen has been discovered in our feas; taken at Penzance in Cornwall. The length was one foot feven: the length of the belly, when diftended, one foot; the whole circumference in that fituation two feet fix. The form of the body is ufually oblong; but when alarmed, it has the power of inflating the belly to a globular shape of great fize. This seems defigned as a means of defence against fish of prey as they have lefs means of laying hold of it; and are befides terrified by the numbers of fpines with which that part is armed, and which are capable of being erected on every part. The mouth is fmall the irides white, tinged with red: the back from head to tail almoft straight, or at leaft very flightly elevated; of a rich deep blue colour. It has the pectoral, but wants the ventral fins: the tail is almost even, divided by an angular projection in the middle; tail and fins brown. The belly and fides are white, fhagreened or wrinkled; and befet with innumerable small fharp fpines, adhering to the fkin by four proceffes.

DIODORUS, an hiftorian, furnamed Siculus, because he was born at Argyra in Sicily. He wrote an hiftory of Egypt, Perfia, Syria, Media, Greece, Rome, and Carthage; and it is faid that he vifited all the places of which he has made mention in his hiftory. It was the labour of 30 years. He is, however, too credulous in fome of his narrations; and often wanders far from the truth. He often dwells too long upon fabulous reports and trifling incidents; while events of the greateft importance to history are treated with brevity, and fometimes paffed over in filence. He lived

5

DIOECIA, (from dis twice, and oixia a house or habitation) two houses. The name of the 22d class in Linnæus's fexual method, confifting of plants, which having no hermaphrodite flowers, produce male and female flowers on feparate roots. These latter only ripen feeds; but require for that purpofe, according to the fexualifts, the vicinity of a male plant; or the afperfion, that is, fprinkling, of the male duft. From the feeds of the female flowers are raised both male and female plants. The plants then in the class dioecia are all male and female; not hermaphrodite, as in the greater number of claffes; nor with male and female flowers upon one root, as in the class monacia of the fame author. See BOTANY, p. 430.

DIOGENES of Apollonia, in the island of Crete, held a confiderable rank among the philofophers who taught in Ionia before Socrates appeared at Athens. He was the scholar and fucceffor of Anaximenes, and in fome measure rectified his master's opinion concerning air being the caufe of all things. It is faid, that he was the firft who obferved that air was capable of con. denfation and rarefaction. He paffed for an excellent philofopher, and died about the 450th year before the Chriftian era.

DIOGENES the Cynic, a famous philofopher, was the fon of a banker of Sinope in Pentus. Being banifhed with his father for coining falfe money, he retired to Athens, where he ftudied philofophy under Antif thenes. He added new degrees of aufterity to the feet of the Cynics, and never did any philofopher carry fo far a contempt for the conveniences of life. He was one of thofe extraordinary men who run every thing to extremity, without excepting even reafon itself; and who confirm the faying, that "there is no great genius without a tincture of madness." He lodged in a tub; and had no other moveables befides his staff, wallet, and wooden bowl, which last he threw away on feeing a boy drink out of the hollow of his hand. He ufed to call himself a vagabond, who had neither houfe nor country; was obliged to beg, was ill clothed, and lived from hand to mouth: and yet, fays Elian, he took as much pride in these things as Alexander could in the conqueft of the world. He was not indeed a jot more humble than those who are clothed in rich apparel, and fare fumptuoufly every day. He looked down on all the world with fcorn; he magisterially cenfured all mankind, and thought himself unquestionably fuperior to all other philofophers. Alexander one day paid him a vifit, and made him an offer of riches or any thing elfe: but all that the philofopher requested of him was, to ftand from betwixt the fun and him. As if he had faid, "Do not deprive me of the benefits of nature, and I leave to you thofe of fortune." The conqueror was fo affected with the vigour and elevation of his foul, as to declare, that " if he was not Alexander, he would choofe to be Diogenes:" that is, if he was not in poffeffion of all that was pompous and fplendid in life, he would, like Diogenes, heroically defpife it..

Diogenes

phers; and if he had been as exact in the writing part, Dingenes, as he was judicious in the choice of his fubject, we had Diomedia. been more obliged to him ftill. Bishop Burnet, in the preface to his Life of Sir Matthew Hale, fpeaks of him in the following proper manner: "There is no book the ancients have left us (fays he), which might have informed us more than Diogenes Laertius's Lives of the Philofophers, if he had had the art of writing equal to that great fubject which he undertook: for if he had given the world fuch an account of them as Gaffendus has done of Peirefc, how great a ftock of knowledge might we have had, which by his unskilfulnefs is in a great meafure loft? fince we must now depend only on him, because we have no other and better author who has written on that argument." There have been feveral editions of his Lives of the Philofophers; but the beft is that printed in two volumes 4to, at Amfterdam, 1693. This contains the advantages of all the former, befides fome peculiar to itself: the Greek text and the Latin version corrected and amended by Meibomius; the entire notes of Henry Stephens, both the Cafaubons, and of Menage; 24 copper-plates of philofophers elegantly engraved: to which is added, The Hiftory of the Female Philofophers, written by Menage, and dedicated to Madam Dacier. Befides this, Laertius wrote a book of Epigrams upon illuftrious Men, called Pammetrus, from its various kinds of metre: but this is not extant.

Diogenes. Diogenes had great prefence of mind, as appears from his fmart fayings and quick repartees; and Plato feems to have hit off his true character when he called him a Socrates run mad. He spent a great part of his life at Corinth, and the reafon of his living there was as follows: As he was going over to the island of Ægina, he was taken by pirates, who carried him into Crete, and there expofed him to fale. He anfwered the crier, who asked him what he could do, that " he knew how to command men :" and perceiving a Corinthian who was going by, he fhowed him to the crier, and faid, "Sell me to that gentleman, for he wants a mafter." Xeniades, for that was the Corinthian's name, bought Diogenes, and carried him with him to Corinth. He appointed him tutor to his children, and entrusted him alfo with the management of his houfe. Diogenes's friends being defirous of redeeming him, "You are fools, (faid he); the lions are not the flaves of thofe who feed them, but they are the fervants of the lions." He therefore plainly told Xeniades, that he ought to obey him, as people obey their governors and phyficians. Some fay, that Diogenes fpent the remainder of his life in Xeniades's family; but Dion Chryfoftom afferts that he paffed the winter at Athens, and the fummer at Corinth. He died at Corinth when he was about 90 years old but authors are not agreed either as to the time or manner of his death. The following account, Jerom fays, is the true one. As he was going to the Olympic games, a fever feized him in the way; upon which he lay down under a tree, and refufed the affiftance of those who accompanied him, and who offered him either a horfe or a chariot. "Go you to the games, (fays he), and leave me to contend with my illness. If I conquer, I will follow you: If I am conquered, I fhall go to the fhades below." He dispatch ed himself that very night; faying, that "he did not fo properly die, as get rid of his fever." He had for his difciples Oneficrites, Phocion, Stilpo of Megara, and feveral other great men. His works are loft.

DIOGENES Laertius, fo called from Laerta in Cilicia where he was born, an ancient Greek author, who wrote ten books of the Lives of the Philofophers, ftill extant. In what age he flourished, is not eafy to determine. The oldelt writers who mention him are Sopater Alexandrinus, who lived in the time of Conftantine the Great, and Hefychius Milefius, who lived under Juftinian. Diogenes often fpeaks in terms of approbation of Plutarch and Phavorinus; and therefore, as Plutarch lived under Trajan, and Phavorinus under Hadrian, it is certain that he could not flourish before the reigns of thofe emperors. Menage has fixed him to the time of Severus; that is, about the year of Chrift 200. From certain expreffions in him fome have fancied him to have been a Chriftian; but, as Menage obferves, the immoderate praises he beflows upon Epicurus will not fuffer us to believe this, but incline us rather to fuppofe that he was an Epicurean. He divided his Lives into books, and infcribed them to a learned lady of the Platonic fchool, as he himself intimates in his life of Plato. Montaigne was fo fond of this author, that inftead of one Laertius he wishes we had a dozen; and Voffius fays, that his work is as precious as gold. Without doubt we are greatly obliged to him for what we know of the ancient philofo

DIOMEDIA, in ornithology, a genus belonging to the order of anferes. The bill is ftrait; the fuperior mandible is crooked at the point, and the lower one is truncated; the noftrils are oval, open, a little prominent, and placed on the fides. There are two fpecies, viz. 1. The exulans, has pennated wings, and three toes on each foot. It is the albatrofs of Edwards; and is about the fize of a pelican. Thefe birds are found in the ocean betwixt the tropics and at the Cape of Good Hope. They are also often seen in vast flocks in Kamtfchatka, and adjacent islands, about the end of June, where they are called Great Gulls; but it is chiefly in the bay of Penfchinenfi, the whole inner fea of Kamtfchatka, the Kurile ifles, and that of Bering; for on the eastern coasts of the first they are scarce, a single straggler only appearing now and then. Their chief motive for frequenting thefe places feems to be plenty of food; and their arrival is a fure prefage of fhoals of fish following. At their firft coming they are very lean, but foon grow immenfely fat. Are very voracious birds, and will often fwallow a falmon of four or five pounds weight; but as they cannot take the whole of it into their ftomach at once, part of the tail end will often remain out of the mouth; and the natives, finding the bird in this fituation, make no difficult matter of knocking it on the head on the fpot. Before the middle of Auguft they migrate elfewhere. They are often taken by means of a hook baited with a fish; but it is not for the fake of their flesh that they are valued, it being hard and unfavoury, but on account of the inteftines, a particular part of which they blow up as a bladder, to ferve as floats to buoy up their nets in fishing. Of the bones they make tobacco-pipes, needle-cafes, and other ufeful things. When caught they defend themfelves toutly with the bill. Their cry is harsh and dilagreeable, not unlike the braying of an afs. The

breeding

Diomedia, breeding places of the albatrofs, if at all in the north Diomedes. ern hemisphere, have not yet been pointed out; but we are certain of their multiplying in the fouthern, viz. Patagonia and Falkland iflands: to this laft place they come about the end of September or beginning of October, among other birds, in great abundance. The nefts are made on the ground with earth, are round in fhape, a foot in height, indented at top. The egg larger than that of a goofe, four inches and a half long, white, marked with dull fpots at the bigger end; and is thought to be good food, the white never growing hard with boiling. While the female is fitting, the male is conftantly on the wing, and fupplies her with food: during this time they are fo tame as to fuffer themfelves to be hoved off the neft while their eggs are taken from them; but their chief deftruction arifes from the hawk, which, the moment the female gets off the neft, darts thereon, and flies away with the egg. The albatrofs itfelf likewife has its enemy, being greatly perfecuted while on the wing by the dark grey gull called kua.

This bird attacks it on all fides, but particularly endeavours to get beneath, which is only prevented by the first fettling on the water; and indeed they do not frequently fly at a great diftance from the furface, except obliged fo to do by high winds or other caufes. As foon as the young are able to remove from the neft, the penguins take poffeffion, and hatch their young in turn. It is probable that they pafs from one part of the globe to another according to the feafon; being now and then met with by different voyagers at vari ous times in intermediate places. The food is fuppo. fed to be chiefly finall marine animals, efpecially of the mollufcæ or blubber class, as well as flying fifh. 2. The demerfa, has no quill-feathers on the wings; and the feet have four toes, connected together by a membrane. It is the black penguin of Edwards, about the fize of a goose, and is found at the Cape of Good Hope. It is an excellent fwimmer and diver; but hops and flutters in a strange aukward manner on the land, and, if hurried, ftumbles perpetually, and frequently runs for fome diftance like a quadruped, making ufe of the wings inftead of legs, till it can recover its upright posture; crying out at the fame time like a goofe, but in a much hoarfer voice. It is faid to clamber fome way up the rocks in order to make the neft; in doing which, has been obferved to affift with the bill. The eggs are two in number, white, as large as thofe of a duck, and reckoned delicious eating, at leaf are thought fo at the Cape, where they are brought in great numbers for that purpofe. At this place the birds are often feen kept tame; but in general they do not furvive the confinement many months.

DIOMEDES, fon of Tydeus and Deiphyle, was king of Ætolia, and one of the bravelt of the Grecian chiefs in the Trojan war. He often engaged Hector and Eneas, and obtained much military glory. He went with Ulyffes to iteal the Palladium from the temple of Minerva in Troy; and aflitted in murdering Rhetus king of Thrace, and carrying away his horfes. At his return from the fiege of Troy, he loft his way in the darkness of night, and landed in Attica, where his companions plundered the country and loft the Trojan Palladium. During his long abfence, his wife giale

Dion.

forgot her marriage vows, and proftituted herself to Diomedes Cometes one of her fervants. This lafciviousness of the queen was attributed by fome to the refentment of Venus, whom Diomedes had feverely wounded in a battle before Troy. The infidelity of Ægiale was highly difpleafing to Diomedes. He refolved to abandon his native country which was the feat of his difgrace; and the attempts of his wife to take away his life, according to fome accounts, did not a little contribute to haften his departure. He came to that part of Italy which has been called Magna Gracia, where he built a city, which he called Argyrippa, and married the daughter of Daunus the king of the country. He died there in extreme old age; or, according to a certain tradition, he perished by the hand of his fatherin-law. His death was greatly lamented by his companions, who in the excefs of their grief were changed into birds refembling fwans. Thefe birds took flight into a neighbouring island in the Adriatic, and became remarkable for the tamenefs with which they approached the Greeks, and for the horror with which they fhunned all other nations. They are called the birds of Diomedes. Altars were raised to Diomedes, as to a god, one of which Strabo mentions at Timavus.

DION, a Syracufan, fon of Hipparinus, famous for his power and abilities. He was related to Dionyfius, and often advised him together with the philofopher Plato, who at his request had come to refide at the tyrant's court, to lay afide the fupreme power. His great popularity rendered him odious in the eyes of the tyrants, who banished him to Greece. There he collected a numerous force, and refolved to free his country from tyranny. This he easily effected on account of his uncommon popularity. He entered the port of Syracufe only in two fhips; and in three days reduced under his power an empire which had already fubfifted for 50 years, and which was guarded by 500 fhips of war, and above 100,000 troops. The tyrant fled to Corinth, and Dion kept the power in his own hands, fearful of the afpiring ambition of some of the friends of Dionyfius: but he was fhamefully betrayed and murdered by one of his familiar friends called Callicrates, or Callippus, 354 years before the Chriftian era.

DION CASSIUS, a native of Nicea in Bithynia. His father's name was Apronianus. He was raifed to the greatest offices of flate in the Roman empire by Pertinax, and his three fucceffors. He was naturally fond of ftudy, and he improved himself by unwearicd application. He was ten years in collecting materials for an history of Rome, which he made public in 80 books, after a laborious employment of 12 years in compofing it. This valuable hiftory began with the arrival of Eneas in Italy, down to the reign of the emperor Alexander Severus. The 34 first books are totally loft, the 20 following, that is from the 35th to the 54th, remain entire, the fix following are mutilated, and fragments is all that we poffefs of the laft 20. In the compilation of this extenlivé hiftory, Dion propofed himfelf Thucydides for a model, but he is not perfectly happy in his imitation. His ftyle is pure and elegant, and his narrations are judiciously managed, and his reflections learned; but upon the whole, he is credulous,