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more credible, that the whole doctrine of demons was only transplanted into Greece. We ought to look for their real origin in the East. The Hindoos reckon, besides the highest being, Parama, 33,000 gods, to which they add an infinite number of servants of the gods. The highest rank among these gods was ascribed to the trinity, Brama, Vishnu, and Seeva, who, in eternal change, create, preserve and destroy. When the adorers of the destroyer die, he sends his servants to convey them to his presence, that he may make them participators in his happiness. The demons there are the Devetas. We find this doctrine systematically set forth in the religion of Zoroaster, or the Chaldaic-Persian magic, or doctrine of the magi, which is to be looked upon as a chief source of demonology. In order to explain the origin of evil, Zoroaster adopted, besides a good principle, a bad one also, and made the two the sources of all good and evil, explaining his ideas thus: There is a kingdom of light, and a kingdom of darkness. Ormuzd, the author of all good, resides in the first; in the other, Ahriman, the source of all evil, moral as well as physical. Around the throne of Ormuzd stand the seven Amshaspands (archangels), the princes of light. The Izeds, the genii of all that is good, of whatever kind, are subordinate to them; and to these the Feruers. In the same way the kingdom of darkness under Ahriman is arranged. His throne is surrounded by the seven superior Dives, the princes of evil, and an innumerable multitude of inferior Dives stand under them, like the Izeds under the Amshaspands. The two kingdoms carry on an everlasting war; but Ahriman will eventually be conquered, and the kingdom of darkness will be entirely destroyed. Heeren endeavored to show, that these systems are formed according to the constitutions of the Asiatic monarchies, but all evidently modified according to the place where, and the circumstances of the time at which, the lawgiver and founder of religion appeared. Zoroaster carried his general idea of the division between the kingdoms of good and evil into detail. All rational and irrational, living and dead beings, he classed under one or the other of these kingdoms; the pure men, animals and plants belonged to Ormuzd's, the impure (poisonous, pernicious), to Ahriman's kingdom. In this manner demonology, in the Parsee system, had attained an extent, and a systematical connexion, such as it had not elsewhere. The opinion of Horn (Biblische Gnosis), that the

Egyptians borrowed their notion of demons from the Parsees, deserves a closer investigation. We find, indeed, with the Egyptians, the moon, water, earth and air filled with demons, superintending the elements and bodies. Stones, metals and plants are under their influence, and human souls in their power-surely a very extensive kingdom of demons, but not presenting the striking dualism and parallelism of the system of Zoroaster. But supposing that the Egyptian and PersicoChaldee demonologies are not derived from the same source; they afterwards combined to form together a new one. Though the doctrine of demons came in different ways through Western Asia into Greece, yet Egypt was the chief source of the higher demonology of the Greeks, among whom it was spread by the Orphic hymns and the mysteries, and was cultivated by the philosophers until the birth of Christ. The rationalists, as they are called, who explain every thing in the Sacred Scriptures in a historical or natural way, say that, while it came in this way to the Greeks, the Hebrews received it in two other ways. At the time of the Babylonish captivity, they derived it from the source of the Chaldaic-Persian magic; and, even supposing that they were previously acquainted with the Elohim, or angels (it) markable that the latter are first mentioned in the history of the Chaldee Abraham, and that the earlier prophets do not speak at all of them, while Daniel, on the contrary, mentions them frequently), yet the doctrine of these was first systematically developed during and after the Babylonish captivity. The same dualism, which we find in the system of Zoroaster, is here, also, perceived: there are good and bad demons: they are classified, and receive proper names. There are also seven good demons, composing the council of Jehovah, and standing continually before his throne. (Job xii. 15.) As for the second source of the demonology of the Hebrews, this nation had, during the reigns of the Seleucides and Ptolemies, a more active intercourse with Egypt and the Greeks, chiefly in Alexandria; and to the notions adopted from the system of the magi, or the Parsces, they united Egyptico-Greek ones; which connexion is chiefly perceivable in the New Testament. It was impossible to prevent the intermingling of Greck speculations. The voice of the prophets was already silent under Ezra and Nehemiah. Study and inquiries commenced; the popular belief and philosophy separated, and even the philoso

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DEMON-DEMOSTHENES.

phers divided themselves into several sects. Opposed to the ancient Pharisees we perceive the Sadducees and Essens, and no high priest nor sanhedrim could prevent the nation (which was already opposed by the Samaritans) from dividing itself into parties. This was the state of things when Christ appeared. Pythagorean and Platonic notions, intermingled with Oriental doctrines, had already unfolded the germ which produced the Hellenistic philosophy of the Jews, and a cabalism existed (cherished by the finest minds of the nation), in addition to the philosophy of the rabbins.-It may be observed, in reference to the doctrine of spirits, that the expressions of demon and demoniacal are more especially used to indicate bad, tormenting spirits. This is the origin of those ideas of demons as spirits which enter into the bodies of wicked men, and torment them, and of the means to be used against them, for instance, miraculous herbs, by means of which we are able to expel the demons. Thus the demons appear as inferior spirits of a (Persian) Satan, a passionate, malicious, tormenting spirit. The Christian authors made this bad meaning of demons the ruling one, so that the demons were opposite to the angels. By this opposition, the doctrine of spirits was transformed into angelology, that is, the doctrine of good angels, and demonology, the doctrine of bad angels; and the Jewish and Greek notions on the subject have been often blended together in Christianity. As Plato's mythology was an inexhaustible source of doctrines for the new Platonist, so demonology became an endless source of ingenious speculation among many of the early sects. (See Swedenborg, Angel, Genii, and Gabalis.

DEMONA, VAL DI; a province of Sicily, occupying the N. E. part of the country, extending from the straits of Messina to Catania; about 112 miles long, and from 60 to 70 broad in its widest part; population, as lately stated, 521,000. The Liparian islands are considered to belong to this part of the country. Silk is one of the chief productions of this valley, which yields, likewise, hemp, flax, olives, lemons, oranges, figs, currants and pistachio nuts. Sulphur is found in considerable quantity towards mount Etna. Messina, the capital of Sicily, is situated in this province.

* A book of much interest, as showing the firm belief in demons at a comparatively recent period, is doctor Cotton Mather's Magnalia Christi Americana (London, 1702). Doctor Mather was a minister of Boston, Mass.

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The other principal towns on the coast are Melazzo, Cefalu and Taormina.

DEMONSTRATION, in military language; a movement towards any place for the purpose of deceiving the enemy, and concealing the true design.

DEMOSTHENES, the most famous orator of antiquity, was the son of a sword-cutler at Athens, where he was born in 381 (according to some, in 375) B. C. His father left him a considerable fortune, of which his guardians attempted to defraud him: Demosthenes, at the age of 17 years, conducted a suit against them himself, and gained his cause. He studied rhetoric and philosophy in the schools of Callistratus, Isæus, Isocrates and Plato. But nature had placed great obstacles in his way, and his first attempts to speak in public were attended with derision. He not only had very weak lungs and a shrill voice, but was unable to pronounce the letter r. These natural defects he endeavored to remedy by the greatest exertions. He succeeded by the advice of the actor Satyrus, who advised him to recite with pebbles in his mouth, on the roughest and steepest places. To strengthen his voice, he exercised himself in speaking aloud on the sea-shore, amidst the noise of the waves. At other times, he shut himself up for months in a subterranean room, with his head half shaved, that he might not be tempted to go out, and endeavored to acquire dignity of manner by practising before a mirror, and transcribed the history of Thucydides eight times, for the purpose of forming his style. After such a laborious preparation, he composed and delivered his masterly speeches, of which his enemies said that they smelt of the lamp, but to which posterity has assigned the first rank among the models of eloquencespeeches in which he openly opposed the foolish wishes of the multitude, censured their faults, and inflamed their courage, their sense of honor, and their patriotism. He thundered against Philip of Macedon, and instilled into his fellow-citizens the hatred which animated his own bosom. The first of those orations, so famous under the name of Philippics, was delivered when Philip took possession of the pass of Thermopyle. The orator insisted on the necessity of immediately preparing a fleet and an army; urging the Athenians to begin the war themselves; to make Maceby an advantageous treaty or a decisive donia the theatre, and to terminate it only battle. They admired and approved his plans, but did not execute them. The celebrated Phocion, who knew the weak

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DEMOSTHENES-DEMURRAGE.

ness of Athens, unceasingly advised peace. Demosthenes went twice to the court of Philip to negotiate, but without success. On his return, he recommended war, and endeavored to arın not only Athens, but all Greece. When Philip had finally penetrated into Phocis, through the pass of Thermopyla, and had taken possession of the city of Elatea, to the terror of Athens, Demosthenes obtained a decree of the people for fitting out a fleet of 200 vessels, marching an army to Eleusis, and sending ambassadors to all the cities of Greece, for the purpose of forming a universal confederacy against Philip. He was himself among the ambassadors, and prevailed on the Thebans to receive an Athenian army within their walls. He also exerted himself actively throughout Boeotia, and, by his efforts, a numerous army was collected to act against Philip. A battle was fought near Cheronea, and the Greeks were vanquished. Demosthenes was among the first who fled. Nevertheless, he was desirous of delivering a funeral oration over those who had fallen in battle. Eschines, his rival, did not fail to attack him on this account. The hostility between the two orators was the occasion of the speech pro corona (for the crown), which resulted in the triumph of Demosthenes and the exile of his adversary. Philip having been, soon after, assassinated, Demosthenes thought that Athens would be better able to maintain its liberty; but Alexander's dreadful chastisement of Thebes filled the Athenians with such terror that they sued for mercy. It was with difficulty that Alexander could be persuaded to desist from his demand of the surrender of Demosthenes and some other orators; for the Macedonians feared Demosthenes more than they did the armies of Athens. He was afterward fined 50 talents for bribery, and, neglecting the payment of it, was thrown into prison, from which he escaped, and fled to Egina, where he remained till the death of Alexander.

Then followed the war with Antipater. Demosthenes again appeared in public, and endeavored to persuade the small Grecian states to unite against Macedonia. The Athenians received him with honor; but the war was unsuccessful, and Antipater insisted upon his being surrendered to him. Demosthenes fled to the temple of Neptune, in the island of Calauria, on the coast of Argolis; but finding himself not secure, he took poison, which he always carried about with him. He died 319 B. C. (according to some, 322 B. C.), at the age of 60 or 62 years. His

character was not entirely free from vanity, ambition and avarice. Cicero pronounces him to be the most perfect of all orators. He always spoke as circumstances required, and was, by turns, calm, vehement or elevated. He carried the Greek language to a degree of perfection which it never before had reached. In energy and power of persuasion, in penetration and power of reasoning, in the adaptation of the parts to the whole, in beauty and vigor of expression, in strong and melodious language, he surpassed all his predecessors. Every thing in his speeches is natural, vigorous, concise, symmetrical. This alone can explain his great influence over his contemporaries. We have under his name 61 orations, 65 exordiums, and 6 letters, some of which are not genuine. Among the oldest editions of the orations, the best is that of Paris, 1570, in folio, with the commentaries of Ulpian. The first edition of his complete works, Greek and Latin, was edited by Hieronymus Wolf (Basil, 1549; reprinted 1572; and Frankfort, 1604, in folio). His orations are also contained in Reiske's edition of the Greek ora

tors.

DEMOTIC OF ENCHORIAL ALPHABET, from duos (the people), is the name given by antiquarians to that alphabet which is used by the people, in contradistinction to an alphabet used by a certain class or caste; as, for instance, among the Egyptians. Thus we find on the famous Rosetta stone, which seems to have become, by the exertions of Young, Ackerblad, Zoega, De Sacy and Champollion, the key to all the hieroglyphical documents handed down to us by the Egyptians, a Greck and two Egyptian inscriptions, one of which is written in the hieroglyphical, the other in the demotic alphabet.

DEMOUSTIER, Charles Albert, a French poet, born at Villers-Cotterets, in 1760, was, at first, a successful lawyer. He wrote comedies, operas and poems. They are full of affected wit and false brilliancy. His Letters to Emilie on mythology have made him known in Europe. It may be justly objected to them, that they are superficial, affected, and written in what the French call style de madrigal; yet they are, at the same time, distinguished for spirit, delicacy and ease. Of his plays, Le Conciliateur, Les Femmes and Le Tolérant have maintained a place on the stage. He died March 2, 1801.

DEMURRAGE, in law, is the detention of a ship; and is also, and more frequently, used to signify the amount to be paid,

DEMURRAGE-ZODIAC OF DENDERAH.

by the charterer to the owner of a ship, for voluntary delay beyond a specified time. If the captain chooses to wait a longer time than that agreed upon for a cargo, the owner can claim demurrage only until the cargo is taken on board and the ship ready to sail, and not for the subsequent detention from other causes, although this would not have happened but for the detention for a cargo. Thus when a vessel was to be loaded at St. Petersburg for Leith, by the 1st of September, but the master waited until October 29 for a cargo, when he sailed from Cronstadt, but was soon driven back by unfavorable winds, and the frost, setting in, detained him there until the 11th of May following; after much litigation in Scotland, it was decided by the house of lords of Great Britain, that demurrage could be claimed only to October 29. It is to be observed, however, in this case, that the captain was at liberty to sail on the 1st of September, the time limited in the charter-party. The time of delay in port for a cargo, for convoy, &c., is usually stipulated in the charter-party, and also the allowance to be made in case of longer delay for those objects; and this time is sometimes specified in working-days or lay-days, as distinguished from holydays, when no cargo can be put on board. When a charterparty, made in England, relates to a delay in the river Thames, for a certain number of days, it will, in pursuance of a particular custom, be construed to mean workingdays. But if the charter-party be made elsewhere, or, if made in England, relating to demurrage at any other place, if the intention is that it should allow a certain number of working-days, it ought to be ought to be so expressed.

DEMURRER; a pause or stop put to the proceedings of an action upon a point of difficulty, which must be determined by the court before any further proceedings can be had therein. He that demurs in law confesses the facts to be true, as stated by the opposite party, but denies that, by the law arising upon those facts, any injury is done to the party, or that

he has made out a lawful excuse.

DEN (Saxon, valley, or woody ground), when added to the names of places, denotes that they are in a valley, or near woods.

DENARIUS; 1. a a Romau silver coin, equal, at first, to 10 asses, whence its name; 2. a weight. The libra, or Roman pound, contained 96, the ounce 8, denarii; and the denarius 3 scruples. In modern governments, the denarius has also been intro

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duced as a weight. A French denare contained 63 grains.*

DENDERAH, ZODIAC OF. Near Denderah, a village of the Thebais, surrounded with palms, and lying about a league west of the Nile, the traveller from Cairo to Upper Egypt first acquires a distinct notion of an architecture such as no other country can show. Denderah lies under the 26th degree of north latitude, on the borders of the desert, upon the last tableland of the Lybian mountains, to which the inundation of the Nile extends. Its name is derived from the ancient Tentyra or Tentyris, the magnificent remains of which, called by the Arabians Berbé (the ruins), are a mile or two distant from it. We are indebted, for our knowledge of them, to the memorable campaign of the French in Egypt, whose enthusiastic descriptions and accurate investigations have drawn general attention to them. Through a portal half buried by rubbish, covered with hieroglyphics, and constructed of

*The value of the denarius is given incorrectly by several modern German writers, as by Schleusner, in his Lexicon of the New Testament; by Rosenmüller, in his Scholia on the New Testament; and by Kuinol, in his Commentary on the Historical Books of the New Testament. It of a reichsthaler (rix dollar) or 3 groschen, that is, is reckoned by them as equal to the eighth part about 9 cents, American money. The mistake may be thus accounted for: The writers mentioned refer to Eisenschmidius, De Ponderibus et Mensuris veterum necnon de Valore Pecuniæ veteris, published in 1708, reprinted 1737. The author of this work (p. 136) estimates 7 denarii as equal to an imperial or rix dollar, meaning the old rix dollar of the empire, a coin which, by proclamation of queen Anne, in 1704, was declared equal to 4s. 6d. sterling. He thus makes the value of the denarius 133 cents-as near an approximation as, perhaps, was to be expected from his imperfect modes of computation. But the writers above referred to, in following him, have substituted the present rix dollar of account, equal to about 72 cents, for the coin intended, and then of a rix dollar, have thus estimated its value at reckoning the denarius loosely as the eighth part

about 9 cents. Winer, in his Biblisches Realwörterbuch, and Wahl, in his Lexicon of the New Testament, estimate its value at about 4 groschen, or 12 cents; Jahn, in his Archeologia dollar, consequently at about 194 cents. Biblica, at 243 creutzers, of which 90 make a rix For

these mistakes it is not easy to account. There being no considerable difference, in the estimate of the average weight of silver in the consular denarius, all these different estimates of its value are unfounded. That given in Arbuthnot's Tables, namely, 7d. sterling, about 144 cents, is sufficiently correct, and commonly adopted by English writers. In Robinson's translation of Wahl's Lexicon, the erroneous estimate of 93 cents is given, in addition to the correct, or nearly correct one of 14 cents. Both estimates are also given in the valuable Greck Lexicon of Mr. Pickering.

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ZODIAC OF DENDERAH.

huge blocks of sandstone, you come in sight of a temple, which forms the back ground of this splendid picture. All that you see here, say the French writers, from the colossal figures of Isis, which support the entablature of the vestibule, to the smallest hieroglyphic, appears to have come from fairy land. Neither Greece nor Rome, nor the rest of Europe, has produced any thing similar. So universal was this impression, that the meanest soldiers of the army paused to examine these sacred relics, and declared with one voice, that this sight alone was enough to indemnify them for the fatigues of the campaign. The monuments of Thebes, with which they afterward became acquainted, could not efface this first impression; and the magnificent temple of Isis still appeared to them the most perfect monument of Egyptian art. Of the ancient Tentyrah, which may have existed in the times of Strabo and Theodosius, a Typhæum, similar to that of Edfuh, but larger, is yet standing. It is west of the northern gate, so buried under rubbish that the different sides are scarcely to be distinguished. But the admiration of the French was chiefly excited by the great temple, the whole of which is nearly in the shape of a T. The view is obstructed by ruins only on the eastern side. On account of the figures of Isis, of every size, which it contains, it is thought to have been an Isæum. Without the aid of drawings, any description of its vestibules, halls and cells, which are all covered with hieroglyphics, would be unintelligible. On the ceiling of the portico of this Isaum, astronomical figures and emblems were found nailed on the soffits: on the two extreme soffits were the 12 signs of the zodiac. This representation was repeated on the ceiling of an apartment in the upper story, on the left side of the vestibule. Like the others, this room was covered with hieroglyphics, and the planisphere, on the left side as you enter, occupied only half of the ceiling. It was first observed by general Desaix, who directed the attention of his companions to it. This is the planisphere of which so much has been written. Behind this large building, towards the south, is another temple, which was, perhaps, dedicated to Isis and Horus. Its exterior reminds us less forcibly than the Isaum, how many generations must have existed, before a nation could flourish possessed of sufficient courage, knowledge and elevation of mind for the invention of such works; and how many centuries must have

elapsed, before all this could have been forgotten, and men have sunk back to the rudeness of the present Arab inhabitants of these ruins. But the figures on the planispheres particularly attracted the attention of the learned Europeans, on account of their supposed connexion with the precession of the equinoxes. (See Precession.) In both, it was observed that the lion was represented as the first sign. This order it was supposed must have been adopted by design; for in the larger planisphere, on the ceiling of the portico, the signs are represented on two stripes, one of which runs in a direction toward the interior of the temple, the other toward the exterior; on the smaller (that of the upper apartment, now in Paris), the signs are represented in a spiral line, in the order in which we now place them: Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces, Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer. Leo appeared, consequently, to be placed, intentionally, after the point of intersection of the ecliptic and equator. On the situation of those points of intersection, however, depends the place of the solstice, which must be half way between them. In the planisphere of Denderah, it is drawn in Câncer. If this is the winter solstice, as some suppose, the vernal equinox was then in Libra. At present, however, it is in Pisces, and consequently 7 signs, or 210°, farther back. As it is known that 2152 years of uniform motion are necessary for the recession of one sign, it follows that, to recede from Libra to Pisces, 7 times 2152, or about 15,000 years are necessary. This would be, accordingly, the minimum of the age of this zodiac, if we suppose that it is founded on real astronomical observations, and is not to be considered a mere astronomical problem. (See Rhode, Versuch über das Alter des Thierkreises und den Ursprung der Sternbilder, Berlin, 1809, 4to.) Other astronomers, in particular Littrow (Wiener Zeitschrift, 1822, No. 53, 54), and, yet earlier, the authors of the great description of Egypt, thought the solstice on the zodiac of Tentyra to be the summer solstice. The vernal equinox would then fall between Taurus and Aries, consequently 45° farther forward than at present. From this it would follow, that the zodiac would be as old as 45 times 713 years, or 3228 years. This last supposition would be justified if the constellation which is the first in the zodiac were that which the sun must enter first after the heliacal rise of Sirius. There are many reasons which induce us to believe this. The appear

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