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philosophy. The latter was at first unwilling to
receive him, driving him rudely from his door,
and threatening him with his staff. "Strike,"
said Diogenes; "you cannot find a stick so hard
as to compel me to go away, while you speak that
which I wish to hear." Diogenes soon gained a
reputation superior to that of his master for
rough and caustic wit. The anecdotes related
of him, whether they are all true or not, will help
us to form a judgment of the character of the
man. One day at Athens the citizens saw him
with a lantern in his hand, although it was
broad day, apparently searching for something.
On being asked what he was seeking, he replied:
"A man. ""
He had found children, he said, in
Sparta, and women in Athens, but men he had
never seen. At another time he called out:
Approach, all men;" and when the citizens
drew near, beat them back with a stick, saying:
"I called for men, but ye are excrements." He
used to carry a small drinking vessel with him,
but broke it on seeing a boy drink from the
hollow of his hand. He slept either under the
portico of some building, or in a tub, which
was his ordinary dwelling, and which he car-
ried about with him. The truth of this popular
statement, however, has been much disputed
both by ancient and modern critics. He taught
in the streets and public places, speaking with the
utmost plainness, often with rudeness, and was
altogether insensible to reproaches and insults.
His wit was ready and severe. Plato defined
man as a two-legged animal without feathers;
whereupon Diogenes, having stripped a fowl of
its plumage, threw it among the scholars of the
great academician, bidding them behold one of
Plato's men. Being asked which is the most
dangerous animal, he answered: Of wild ani-
mals, the slanderer; of tame, the flatterer." On
a voyage to the island of Ægina, he was cap-
tured by pirates, and afterward sold as a slave.
While in the market place, waiting for a pur-
chaser, being asked what he could do, he an-
swered that he knew how to govern men, and
bade the crier to ask: "Who wants to buy a
master?" He was purchased by Xeniades, a
Corinthian, who carried him home, and after-
ward set him at liberty, intrusting to him the
education of his children. The rest of his
days Diogenes divided between Athens and
Corinth, and it was at the latter place that his
celebrated but apocryphal interview with Alex-
ander the Great is said to have taken place. The
king of Macedon, surprised at the indifference
with which he was regarded by the ragged phi-
losopher, who was comfortably basking in the
sun before his tub, said to him: "I am Alexan-
der." "And I," was the reply, "am Diogenes."
Alexander desired him to ask a favor; but all
that the Cynic wished was, that Alexander
would not stand between him and the sun.
Struck with this extraordinary insensibility to
the usual weaknesses of humanity, the Macedo-
nian remarked: "Were I not Alexander, I would
be Diogenes." He loved to display his contempt
of the common courtesies of life. Plato was

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giving a magnificent dinner to some friends, and Diogenes entered unbidden, and, stamping with his dirty feet on the carpets, exclaimed: "Thus I trample on the pride of Plato." "But with greater pride, O Diogenes," replied Plato. Surly, independent, constantly grumbling at the vices of mankind, a voluntary outcast among his fellow-men, he lived on to a great age, and died in his 90th year. According to Diogenes Laërtius, he wrote several works, but nothing has come down to us with the exception of some sayings preserved by the above-mentioned author, and it is even doubted by some whether he ever wrote any thing. He did not teach by lectures, but uttered his philosophy in short, pithy sentences, as occasion offered.

DIOGENES OF APOLLONIA, a Greek philosopher, born at Apollonia in Crete, flourished in the 5th century B. C. Very little is known of his life. He was at Athens probably about 460, and became involved in some trouble there, perhaps in consequence of his philosophical speculations. These latter were developed in his work Пept voews, "On Nature," which was still extant in the 6th century, but of which we have at present only a few fragments, preserved in the works of Aristotle, Diogenes Laërtius, and Simplicius. His great object was to find the first principle of the world, out of which all things were evolved. Like his master Anaximenes, he came to the conclusion that this great first principle was air. Air of various degrees of condensation formed the atmosphere, fire, water, and earth, and out of these every thing else was evolved. But he went beyond his master in endowing this subtle first principle with a certain intelligence, presiding over the arrangement of the universe, the marks of which are visible in the order and beauty of creation. The brutes, he says, are inferior to man, because they inhale an air less pure, holding their heads near the ground. The world, too, he supposed to be animated, and he imagined the stars to be its organs of respiration. The fragments of Diogenes which have come down to us were published by Panzerbeiter (Leipsic, 1830).

DIOGENES LAËRTIUS, an ancient historian of philosophy, who probably lived toward the end of the 2d century, though the dates of his birth and of his death are alike unknown, and his life has been placed as early as the time of Augustus, and as late as that of Constantine the Great. He is supposed to have been born in Laërte, in Cilicia, but of his life we know absolutely nothing. He wrote a history of phi losophy in Greek, divided into 10 books, and giv"ing an account of the philosophers, anecdotes of their lives, and illustrations of their teachings. He considers Grecian philosophy not to have been derived from without, but to have been indigenous, and he divides it into two schools: the Ionic, commencing with Anaximander and ending with Clitomachus, Chrysippus, and Theophrastus, and of which the Socratic school forms a part; and the Italian, whose founder is

DIOMEDES

Pythagoras, and whose last master is Epicurus, and which includes in its comprehensive embrace Heraclitus, the Eleatics, and the Sceptics. The account of these two schools comprises the whole of the work, with the exception of the first book, which contains the history of the 7 wise men of Greece, whom he considers rather as precursors to Grecian philosophy than as properly belonging to it. The work of Diogenes is valuable for information which we could obtain from no other source; but it is illdigested, written without critical judgment, and often inaccurate. Diogenes is supposed to have written some other works, among which was a volume of epigrams, but, judging from the specimens of his talent in this sort of composition which are found interwoven with his philosophical history, we have no cause to regret their loss. A good edition of his history is that of H. G. Hübner (2 vols. 8vo., Leipsic, 1828-31). A translation into English was published (2 vols. 8vo., London, 1688). There is another translation by C. D. Yonge in Bohn's "Classical Library."

DIOMEDES. I. One of the most famous of the Grecian heroes at the siege of Troy, and, after Achilles, considered the bravest of all the Greeks. According to Homer, his father Tydeus was one of the leaders in the memorable expedition of the seven against Thebes, and was killed before the walls of that city, while Diomedes was still a boy. The latter, however, having arrived at the age of manhood, joined the second expedition against Thebes, and avenged his father's death. With 80 ships he sailed in the great Grecian armament to the siege of Troy, where, beside a multitude of victories over heroes of less note, he engaged and put to flight Hector and Æneas, and also wounded both Venus and Mars, the divine defenders of the city. He was also famed for his wisdom in council, and when Agamemnon, dispirited by adversity, proposed to abandon the siege, Diomedes declared that he with his friend Sthenelus would remain, at all events, until Troy should fall. According to later legends, he carried off with Ulysses the palladium from Troy. Of his history after the fall of Troy Homer gives us no account, but later writers tell us that, having returned to Argos and found his wife unfaithful, he abandoned his native country, and sought a home elsewhere. Traditions differ with regard to his after life. According to some accounts, he went to Ætolia, and afterward returned and gained possession of Argos. Another relates that, in attempting to return to Argos, he was driven by a storm upon the coast of Italy, where he was kindly received by King Daunus, whom he assisted in a war against a neighboring tribe, and whose daughter Euippe he received in marriage. II. A king of the Bistones in Thrace, son of Mars and Cyrene, celebrated for his mares, which he fed upon human flesh. To obtain possession of these mares was one of the 12 labors of Hercules. The hero slew Diomedes, whose body he gave to the mares, and they,

DION CASSIUS COCCEIANUS 489 though previously savage, became tame after eating their master's flesh.

DION OF SYRACUSE, a disciple of Plato, celebrated for having overthrown the power of Dionysius the Younger, tyrant of that city, born toward the close of the 5th century B. C., killed in 353. Under Dionysius the Elder, who was married to his sister Aristomache, he enjoyed the favor of the court, and amassed great wealth; but when the younger Dionysius succeeded to the throne, Dion, whose austere manners were a constant rebuke of the royal debaucheries, fell into disgrace, and at last was banished from Sicily. He found refuge and a friendly reception in Greece, where he lived for a while in affluence, his income being still allowed to reach him. Soon, however, this was cut off, and to complete his disgrace, his wife Arete was compelled to marry another man. Dion knew that the Syracusans hated their tyrannical ruler, and he now resolved to avenge himself and his country at the same time. Having assembled a body of about 800 troops, he sailed from Zacynthus, landed in Sicily, and easily obtained possession of Syracuse in the absence of Dionysius. The troops of the tyrant, however, still held the citadel on the neighboring island of Ortygia, whence they made a sally soon after the arrival of Dion, and were repulsed only after a fierce combat, during which Dion himself displayed great courage. He was at first received by the citizens with enthusiasm, and on his entry into the city he proclaimed liberty to Syracuse. But irritated by his harsh manners, suspecting his designs, and incited by the demagogue Heraclides, the people afterward expelled him and his troops. The Syracusans soon had reason to repent of their conduct, for the soldiers of Dionysius, aware of their dissensions, made a sally, regained part of the city, set fire to the houses, and began a fearful massacre. The banished philosopher was entreated to return, and marching immediately, he succeeded after a hard contest in obtaining full control of Syracuse. It is not improbable that he intended to establish an oligarchical government, though he has been suspected of an intention to retain the supreme power in his own hands. He caused his opponent Heraclides to be put to death. This act greatly injured his popularity, already damaged by his repellant and austere manners; a conspiracy was formed against him, and he was not long after assassinated.

DION CASSIUS COCCEIANUS, an ancient historian of Rome, born in Nice in Bithynia about A. D. 155, went to Rome about 180, where he was made senator. He was afterward appointed to many offices of trust by dif ferent emperors, and was twice raised to the consulship. Having become odious to the prætorian guards, because, it is said, of the severe discipline which he had imposed, he obtained permission from the emperor Alexander Severus, in 229, to retire to his native city of Nice, where he spent the remainder of his days. His great work was a history of Rome ('Pwμaïkŋ

'IσTopia), written in Greek, divided into 80 books, and containing an account of the rise and progress of the state from the landing of Eneas in Italy until A. D. 229, giving only a slight sketch of events down to the time of Julius Cæsar, but dwelling with more minuteness on the history of later times, and especially on that of the author's own age. Of this work, which is written with clearness, diligence, and general accuracy, but in a faulty style, 20 books (from the 36th to the 54th) remain entire. Fragments of the first 35 have been collected, and there are abridgments of the last 25 and of the entire work. One of the best editions of Dion Cassius is that of Sturz (9 vols. 8vo., Leipsic, 1824 '25-'43). An English translation of Xiphilin's abridgment was published in London (2 vols. 8vo., 1704).

DION CHRYSOSTOMUS (i. e., Dion the golden-mouthed), a Greek rhetorician, born in Prusa (now Broussa), in Bithynia, about the middle of the 1st century, died in Rome about A. D. 117. In the practice of his art at Rome, he incurred the hostility of the emperor Domitian, and in consequence of a decree of the senate he was obliged to flee from Italy. In the habit of a beggar, with Plato's "Phædon" and Demosthenes's "Oration on the Embassy" in his pocket, he wandered through Thrace and the countries bordering on the lower Danube, and on receiving intelligence of the death of Domitian (96) used his influence and his oratorical powers with the army stationed on that frontier in favor of Nerva. It is probable that he returned to Rome on the accession of this emperor, from whom as well as from his successor Trajan he received tokens of marked kindness. About A. D. 100 he returned to Prusa, but remained but a short time, and then went back to Rome. He was an essayist rather than an orator, and his writings are distinguished for elegance of style. Of his orations 80 have come down to

us.

There is a very good critical edition of them by Reiske (2 vols. 8vo., Leipsic, 1784).

DIONEA (D. muscipula, Ellis), Venus's fly trap, a plant inhabiting the savannas around Wilmington, N. C., and extending N. as far as Newbern, N. C. Elliott, on the authority of Gen. Pinckney, says that it grows along the lower branches of the Santee in South Carolina. Mr. Audubon informed Mr. Curtis, with the plant before him, that he had seen it in Florida of enormous size. Specific characters: calyx herbaceous; petals 5, hypogynous on the margin of the dilated receptacle, alternate with the sepals; stamens 10 to 20, hypogynous within the petals, shorter than they; filaments filiform; anthers oblong, of 2 parallel cells without connection; pollen of pretty large grains, composed of 4 united; Ovary depressed, ovoid, one-celled, 5 lobes, the lobes alternate with the petals; style columnar, pretty large, undivided; stigmas 5, corresponding with the lobes of the ovary; ovules indefinite, erect, sessile on and uniformly covering the nearly flat basilar placenta, which occupies the whole bottom of the cell; herb acaulescent,

smooth, with fibrous roots, and a cluster of spreading yellowish green leaves, traversed by a strong midrib bearing on its apex an orbicular herbaceo-coriaceous lamina, emarginate at both ends, fringed with a row of bristles, the 2 sides conduplicate, the upper surface dotted with minute glands, in which the sensitiveness of the leaf chiefly resides. The lobes or sides of the lamina are folded at night, but spread during the day, when if the glands be roughly touched, or an insect alights upon them, the sides suddenly close on the intruder. After remaining contracted for some time, the trap again opens, ready to enclose a new intruder; but by repeated irritation at short intervals its movements become languid, and its sensibility is for the time entirely exhausted. The best popular description of this singular plant is given by Curtis in his enumeration of plants growing spontaneously around Wilmington, N. C., communicated to the Boston society of natural history in 1834, and published in the proceedings of that society. "The leaf," remarks Mr. Curtis, "which is the only curious part, springs from the root, spreading upon the ground or at a little elevation above it. It is composed of a petiole or stem with broad margins like the leaf of the orange tree, 2 to 4 inches long, which at the end suddenly expands into a thick and somewhat rigid leaf, the 2 sides of which are semi-circular, about of an inch across, and fringed around the edge with somewhat rigid cilia or long hairs like eyelashes. It is very aptly compared to 2 upper eyelids joined at their bases. Each side of the leaf is a little concave on the inner side, where are placed 3 delicate hair-like organs in such an order that an insect can hardly traverse it without interfering with one of them, when the 2 sides suddenly collapse and enclose the prey with a force surpassing an insect's efforts to escape. The fringe or hairs of the opposite sides of the leaf interlace, like the fingers of the 2 hands clasped together. The sensitiveness resides only in these hair-like processes on the inside, as the leaf may be touched or pressed in any other part without sensible effects. The little prisoner is not crushed and suddenly destroyed, as is sometimes supposed, for I have often liberated captive flies or spiders, which sped away as fast as fear or joy could hasten them. At other times I have found them enveloped in a fluid of a mucilaginous consistence, which seems to act as a solvent, the insects being more or less consumed by it. This circumstance has suggested the possibility of their being made subservient to the nourishment of the plant, through an apparatus of absorbent vessels in the leaves." The discovery of this plant has led naturalists to make experiments upon plants with the view of ascertaining the possibility of their appropri ating animal matter to their own nourishment, with such success as to lead to the belief that the form and organization of the dionæa muscipula is really intended to entrap its insect prey, for the purpose of furnishing a kind of food to the plant, which, although not essential to its

DIONYSIUS (OF ALEXANDRIA)

existence, performs an important part in its economy.

DIONYSIUS OF ALEXANDRIA, saint and bishop of the church, born in Alexandria, in Egypt, in the last years of the 2d century, died in that city, A. D. 265. He was of a noble and wealthy family. His parents were pagans; but in the course of his early philosophical studies his attention was turned to the Christian sacred writings, especially the epistles of Paul, and he became a convert. He left the heathen schools, became a pupil of Origen, was ordained priest, and in 232 was chosen to succeed Heraclas as chief of the Alexandrian school of theology. In 248 he was raised to the office of bishop, made vacant by the death of Heraclas. Shortly after this, violent persecutions broke out against the Christians. The populace of Alexandria had been stirred up against them by a certain heathen false prophet, and the edict of Decius, which reached that city A. D. 250, put arms in the hands of the enraged enemies of the Christian name. Dionysius, who had taken an active part in preparing the Christians for the coming trial, was marked for a victim, was arrested, sent to be put to death, rescued by a band of peasants, and he remained concealed more than a year in the Libyan desert, sending continual messages meanwhile to his brethren in the city. In the persecution under Valerian in the year 257, Dionysius was again exiled from his see. After his restoration (A. D. 260), he was more than once called to mediate on occasions of public strife. The writings of Dionysius were numerous, but most of them have been lost. They were mainly controversial. In opposition to Nepos, bishop of Arsinoë, who preached the millennial earthly reign of the Saviour at his second coming, Dionysius wrote 2 books refuting the theory. In opposition to Sabellius, who denied the distinct personality of the members of the Trinity, he wrote several books and epistles, caused the heresy to be condemned by a council, and insisted upon the distinction between the Son and the Father so strongly, that it brought upon him the charge of denying the divinity of Christ, against which he defended himself. According to Basil, he also defended the doctrine of the divinity of the Holy Spirit. In opposition to Paul of Samosata, Dionysius maintained the consubstantial nature of the Son and the Father. The fragments of his writings were collected by Simon de Magistris (Rome, 1796) in a folio, and are also contained in the 3d volume of the Bibliotheca Patrum.

DIONYSIUS THE AREOPAGITE, an Athenian, styled by Suidas a master of Greek erudition, and who was one of the council of the Areopagus when St. Paul appeared before that tribunal. He is said to have studied first at Athens, and afterward at Heliopolis, in Egypt. There is a legend that when he observed in Egypt the darkening of the sun which occurred during the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, he exclaimed: "Either God himself is suffering, or

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is sympathizing with some one who is suffering." He was converted by the preaching of Paul, about A. D. 50; is mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles (xvii. 34), and was the first bishop of Athens, having been appointed to that office, it is said, by St. Paul himself. It is probable that he suffered death by martyrdom, but in what year is not known. It is not certain that Dionysius the Areopagite ever wrote any thing, but his name has been given to several theological treatises, inbued with the mystical doctrines of the Alexandrian Platonism. These works, 4 in number, are first mentioned in the 6th century, contain allusions to facts and quotations from authors subsequent to the apostolic age, and were probably written by some NeoPlatonic Christian of the 4th or 5th century. They exercised a great influence upon the development of Christian doctrine in the middle ages, were translated into Latin by Scotus Erigena, and gave the first impulse to that theology which the combined efforts of mystics and schoolmen maintained for centuries. The fact that this Dionysius became confounded with the patron saint of France perhaps invested these writings with an importance which they would not have acquired from their intrinsic merits.

DIONYSIUS THE ELDER, tyrant of Syracuse, son of Hermocrates, born in 430 B. C., died in 367. While a clerk in a public office, he came forward in the popular assembly as the accuser of the unsuccessful Syracusan commanders, who had suffered Agrigentum and other foremost cities of Sicily to be taken by the Carthaginians. He displayed so much vigor of character, and the condition of Syracuse was so critical, that even men like the historian Philistus saw in him the only safety for the country. He suc ceeded in obtaining a decree for deposing the obnoxious generals, and for appointing others in their stead, and was himself elected among the new officers. He then brought false accusations against his associates, and the people determined to depose them, and appointed him, 405 B. C., sole general, with full powers, and allowed him to protect himself by a body guard. He now began those measures which made him proverbial in antiquity as a tyrant; and concerning himself no longer for the deliverance of Sicily from the Carthaginians, aimed only to subdue his native city. He induced the Syracusans to double the pay of the soldiers, appointed officers who were in his own interest, and, by marrying the daughter of the patriot Hermocrates, secured the support of the partisans of that leader. He was received as commander-inchief of the Sicilians, who had concentrated their forces at Gela, and he offered battle to the Carthaginians in so unskilful a manner as to make it probable that he did not regret the defeat in which it resulted. He withdrew the inhabitants of Gela and Camarina to Leontini, and left the whole of the western coast to the Carthaginians. This reverse gave a shock to his popularity, and enabled his enemies to raise a revolt in Syracuse, where he was now looked

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upon as a manifest traitor. They gained possession of the city, but their plans being disconcerted by the sudden return of Dionysius, they were driven out, though not until his wife had fallen a victim to their cruelty. The Carthaginian generals now besieged Syracuse, but the plague having broken out in their camp, they were satisfied with the immense advantages offered them by Dionysius without storming the place. He was recognized as ruler of Syracuse, and of a district of land around the city, but was to resign all claim to dominion over the island. He availed himself of the peace to establish his tyranny on firmer foundations; and having fortified the isle of Ortygia, and excluded from it all but his immediate dependants, he built upon it a citadel which might serve as an impregnable asylum. The Carthaginians lost the advantages of the peace through negligence. Syracuse had in 6 years recovered her strength, and Dionysius undertook the recapture of the cities which he had surrendered. The immense preparations which he made form an epoch in ancient military history. His machinists invented engines for throwing missiles, and especially devised the catapult, which may be termed the artillery of the ancients. He also constructed ships having 4 or 5 banks of rowers, instead of the old triremes. He gained at first great success in the war, and conquered Motya, the ancient seat of the Carthaginian dominion. His fleet, however, was defeated by that of the Carthaginians, which then ravaged the northern coast of the island, overpowered Messana and Catana, and laid siege to Syracuse. But the plague, or some malady resembling it, breaking out in the camp of the enemy, proved the safety of the city. Nearly the whole Carthaginian army was lost by the fearful pestilence, and the remainder purchased from Dionysius the privilege of a free departure. In the treaty which followed, the restrictions which had been imposed by the last treaty upon the government of Syracuse were removed. Dionysius carried on also a 3d and 4th war with Carthage, the results of which seem to have been only to reestablish the terms of the former peace. The intervals between these wars were harassed by the revolts of his subjects, which he avenged with cruelties; and the frequent attempts upon his life made him suspicious. He dared not trust even his relatives, and his body guard was formed of foreigners. No one was admitted to his presence till after being searched, and often an innocent pleasantry of conversation was punished as a menace. His palace was surrounded by a ditch, which was crossed by a drawbridge, and when he harangued the people it was from the top of a lofty tower. He built the terrible prison of the lautumia, cut deep into the solid rock, and another of his prisons was so arranged that every word spoken within it was reechoed into his chamber; and he is said to have passed entire days listening to the complaints of his victims. Tradition, in making of Dionysius the

DIONYSIUS EXIGUUS

type of cruelty, has doubtless transmitted some unauthenticated stories concerning him; but even a legend like that of Damocles and the sword shows his mind always alarmed, and his hand always raised to defend his imperilled life. Dionysius was long engaged in ambitious projects against the Greek cities of southern Italy. He formed an alliance with the Locrians, and after suffering some_reverses besieged and conquered Rhegium. Italy was now open to him, and he sought by establishing colonies upon the Adriatic to secure for himself a way into Greece. Already his name was known in the Peloponnesus, where he had contracted an alliance with the Lacedæmonians. He was now the recog nized master of southern Italy, interfered in the affairs of the Illyrians, sent an army into Epirus, and received an offer of friendship from the Gauls, who had burned Rome. His settlements upon the Adriatic increased his wealth and strengthened his power, but they were his last great undertakings, and henceforth he disappears from history. He was so detested in Greece, that the auxiliaries which he sent to his allies the Spartans only drew upon the latter the hatred of all their countrymen. His reign lasted 38 years, and became milder toward its latter part. He left an immense military force and a powerful empire, and though he had governed as a tyrant, the old republican forms remained. Niebuhr affirms that a republic was as great an impossibility at Syracuse under Dionysius as at Rome under Cæsar, and blames him therefore for not having given to his countrymen institutions suited to them, instead of allowing the old democratic forms to exist in all their impotent absurdity, merely for the purpose of enabling him to carry out his will. Dionysius had a singular passion for literature, wrote lyrics and tragedies, and it was necessary for every one who sat at his table to praise not less the poet than the warrior. It is said, probably as a sarcastic jest, that Philoxenus, one of his guests, chose the penalty of being sent to work in the quarries rather than listen complacently to some of the tyrant's verses.

DIONYSIUS EXIGUUS (the Little), so named from his small stature, a Roman monk in the early part of the 6th century. He was originally from Scythia, but became abbot of a monastery in Rome, where he died in A. D. 540, during the reign of Justinian. He is praised by Cassiodorus, the best authority of the time, for his great erudition, writing in Greek or Latin with equal facility, and having profoundly studied theology. He gave to the western church the first regular collection of ecclesiastical laws, comprising the canons of the apostles and of several councils, and the decrees of some of the popes. But his chronological labors have given him greater celebrity. He is reputed the founder of the era which for more than 10 centuries has been observed by Christian nations. Before him the Christian era had been calculated from the death of Christ; he first fixed the year of the incarnation in the 753d year of Rome, and this,

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