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of loadstone, to make her image all of iron hang in the middle of it, as if it were in the air. Dinocrates probably deserves great credit as an architect, but such foolish stories as this last must be placed to the account of the credulity of the times in which Pliny wrote, and of which he largely partook.

- DIÑOSTRATES was an ancient geometrician, whom some authors have erroneously represented as a disciple of Pythagoras, but who, according to Proclus, lived in the time of Plato, about 360 B. C. and was a disciple of the latter in philosophy. He was chiefly distinguished for his knowledge of geometry, and was the brother of Menechmus, who amplified the theory of the conic sections. Dinostrates also is said to have made many geometrical discoveries; but he is particularly distinguished as the inventor of the quadratrix, by which the quadrature of the circle is effected, though not geometrically, but only mechanically. Montucla, however, observes that there is some reason for ascribing the original invention of this curve to Hippias of Elæa, an ingenious philosopher and geometer, contemporary with Socrates.

DINOUART (ANTHONY JOSEPH TOUSSAINT), canon of the chapter of St. Bennet at Paris, and member of the academy of the Arcades at Rome, was born of a reputable family at Amiens, Nov. 1, 1715, and died at Paris April 23, 1786. After exercising the ministerial functions in the place of his nativity, he repaired to the capital to engage in literary pursuits. M. Joly le Fleuri, at that time avocat-général, gave him his esteem, his confidence, and his patronage. He was first employed on the "Journal Chretien,' " under the abbé Joannet; and the zeal with which he attacked certain authors, and especially M. de SaintFoix, involved him in some unpleasant controversy. He had represented this latter as an infidel seeking every occasion for mixing pestilential notions in whatever he wrote. SaintFoix took up the affair with warmth, and brought an action against both him and abbé Joannet, which terminated in a sort of reparation made him by the two journalists, in their periodical publication. After this the abbé Dinouart began to write on his own account, and in October 1760, set up his "Journal Ecclesiastique," or, Library of ecclesiastical knowledge, which he continued till his death. He

1 Moreri.-Vitruvius, lib. II.-Pliny, lib. XXXIV.

? Moreri.-Hutton's Math. Dict. in art. Quadratrix.-Rees's Cyclopædia.

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established a very extensive correspondence with the provincial clergy, who consulted him on the difficulties of their ministration. This correspondence contributed greatly to the recommendation of his journal, which contained instructions in all matters of church discipline, morality, and ecclesiastical history. The editor indeed made no scruple of drawing almost all his materials from well-known books, i without altering a word; he inserted, for example, in his. journal, all the ecclesiastical part of Hardion's Universal › History; but it was useful to the inferior provincial› clergy, who were deficient in libraries, and not sorry to/ have their loss in some shape made up by the periodical compilation of abbé Dinouart. Other critics censured him for giving an incoherent assortment of articles; for advertising, for instance, in the same leaf, "Balm of Genevieve," and "Sermons to be sold" for the use of young orators who would not take the trouble to compose them; imi-. tating in this a quack of our own nation, who used to advertise sermons, marmalade, and rules for carving... Dinouart, however, bears a reputable personal character. He was naturally of a kind disposition and a sensible heart. The great vivacity of his temper, which hurried him sometimes into transient extravagancies, which he was the first to condemn in himself, prompted also his activity to oblige, for which he never let any opportunities escape him. › He generally wrote in a loose, negligent, and incorrect i manner, both in verse and prose, and even aspired to be thought a French and Latin poet; but still the usefulness of the greater part of his works recommended them. Among them, we find, 1. "Embriologie sacrée, traduite du Latin de Cangiamila," 12mo. 2. "Hymnes Latines." 3." Manuel des pasteurs," 3 vols. 12mo.

1

4. La Rhe

torique du predicateur, ou Traité de l'eloquence du corps," 12mo. 5. A new edition of the "Abregé chronologique. de l'histoire ecclesiastique de l'abbé Macquer," Paris, 1768, 3 vols. 8vo. 6, "Anecdotes ecclesiastiques," ibid. 1772, 2 vols. 8vo, in which he was assisted by the abbé Jaubert.'

DINUS, or DINO, a native of Mugello in Tuscany, was a very learned lawyer and professor of law at Bologna, in the thirteenth century, and indeed accounted the first man of his time for knowledge, eloquence, and style both

1 Dict. Hist.

of speaking and writing. Pope Boniface VIII. employed him in compiling the fourth book of the Decretals, I called the Sextus. He died at Bologna in 1303, as it is said, of chagrin. He had entered into the church, and been disappointed of rising according to what he thought his deserts. Of his works, his "Commentarium in regulas juris Pontificii," 8vo, was so valuable that Alciat reckoned it one of those books which a student ought to get by heart, a character which it ceased to support when Charles du Moulin pointed out a great many errors in it. His other publication is entitled "De glossis contrariis," 2 vols. fol. !

DIO or DION CASSIUS, an ancient historian, known also by the surnames of Cocceius or Cocceianus, was born at Nicæa, a city of Bithynia, and flourished in the third century. His father Apronianus, a man of consular dignity, was governor of Dalmatia, and some time after proconsul of Cilicia, under the emperors Trajan and Adrian. Dio was with his father in Cilicia; and from thence went to Rome, where he distinguished himself by public pleadings. From the reign of Commodus he was a senator of Rome; was made prætor of the city under Pertinax; and raised at length to the consulship, which he held twice, and exercised the second time, jointly with the emperor Alexander Severus. He had passed through several great employments under the preceding emperors. Macrinus had made him governor of Pergamus and Smyrna; he commanded some time in Africa; and afterwards had the administration of Austria and Hungary, then called Pannonia, committed to him. He undertook the task of writing history, as he informs us himself, because he was admonished and commanded to do it by a vision from heaven; and he tells us also, that he spent ten years in collecting materials for it, and twelve more in composing it. His history began from the building of Rome, and proceeded to the reign of Alexander Severus. It was divided into 80 books, or eight decades; many of which are not now extant. The first 34 books are lost, with part of the 35th. The 25 following are preserved intire; but instead of the last 20, of which nothing more than fragments remain, we have only the epitome, which Xiphilinus, a monk of Con

Moreri.-Tiraboschi.-Dict. Hist. Dupin.-Freheri Theatrum.-Fabric.

Bibl. Lat. Med.

stantinople, has given of them. Photius observes, that he wrote his Roman history, as others had also done, not from the foundation of Rome only, but from the descent of Æneas into Italy; which he continued to the year of Rome 982, and of Christ 228, when, as we have observed, he was consul a second time with the emperor Alexander Severus. What we now have of it, begins with the expedition of Lucullus against Mithridates king of Pontus, about the year of Rome 684, and ends with the death of the emperor Claudius about the year 806.

Though all that is lost of this historian is much to be regretted, yet that is most so which contains the history of the forty last years; for within this period he was an eyewitness of all that passed, and a principal actor in a great part. Before the reign of Commodus, he could relate nothing but what he had from the testimony of others; after that, every thing fell under his own cognizance; and a man of his quality, who had spent his life in the management of great affairs, and had read men as well as books, must have had many advantages in delineating the history of his own times; and it is even now allowed, that no man has revealed more of those state-secrets, which Tacitus styles arcana imperii, and of which he makes so high a mystery. He is also very exact and full in his descriptions, in describing the order of the comitia, the establishing of magistrates, &c, and, as to what relates to the apotheosis, or consecration of emperors, perhaps he is the only writer who has given us a good account of it, if we except Herodian, who yet seems to have been greatly indebted to him. Besides his descriptions, there are several of his speeches, which have been highly admired; those particularly of Mæcenas and Agrippa, upon the question, whether Augustus should resign the empire or no. Yet he has been exceedingly blamed for his partiality, which to some has appeared so great, as almost to invalidate the credit of his whole history; of those parts at least, where he can be supposed to have been the least interested. The instances alleged are his partiality for Cæsar against Pompey, for Antony against Cicero, and his strong prejudices against Seneca, "The obvious cause of the prejudice which Dio had conceived against Cicero," Dr, Middleton supposes "to have been his envy to a man who for arts and eloquence was thought to eclipse the fame of Greece;" but he adds another reason, not less probable, deducible from

Dio's character and principles, which were wholly opposite to those of Cicero. "For Dio," as he says, "flourished under the most tyrannical of the emperors, by whom he was advanced to great dignity; and, being the creature of despotic power, thought it a proper compliment to it, to depreciate a name so highly revered for its patriotism, and whose writings tended to revive that ancient zeal and spirit of liberty for which the people of Rome were once so celebrated for we find him taking all occasions in his history, to prefer an absolute and monarchical government to a free and democratical one, as the most beneficial to the Roman state."

Dio obtained leave of the emperor Severus to retire to Nicæa, where he spent the latter part of his life. He is supposed to have been about seventy years old when he died; although the year of his death is not certainly known. His History was first printed at Paris, 1548, fol. by Robert Stephens, with only the Greek; but has been reprinted since with a Latin translation by Leunclavius, Hanov. 1592, fol. The best edition, however, is that of Reimarus, Hamburgh, 1750, 2 vols. fol. which was begun by Fabricius. Photius ranks the style of Dio Cassius amongst the most elevated. Dio seems, he says, to have imitated Thucydides, whom he follows, especially in his narratives and orations; but he has this advantage over him, that he cannot be reproached with obscurity. Besides his History, Suidas ascribes to him some other compositions; as, 1. "The Life of the Philosopher Arrianus. " 2. "The Actions of Trajan ;" and 3. certain "Itineraries." Raphael Volaterranus makes him also the author of three books, entitled "De Principe," and some small treatises of morality. His History, as abridged by Xiphilinus, was translated into English by Manning, and published at London, 1704, 2 vols. 8vo.

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DIO CHRYSOSTOM, the son of Pasicrates, was born at Prusa in Bithynia. We have just seen that Dio Cassius had the name of Cocceius or Cocceianus, and according to Mr. Wakefield, Dio Chrysostom had the same name from his patron Cocceius; but as an entire century intervened between these two Dio's, it is impossible that Cassius could have derived that name from the same cause.

1 Fabric. Bibl. Græc.-Vossius Hist. Græc.-Middleton's preface to the Life of Cicero.-Blount's Censura.-Saxii Onomast.