Demarātus, the son and successor of Ariston on the throne of Sparta, B.C. 526. He was banished by the intrigues of Cleomenes his royal colleague, as being illegitimate. He retired into Asia, and was kindly received by Darius son of Hystaspes king of Persia. When the Persian monarch made preparations to invade Greece, Demaratus, though persecuted by the Lacedæmonians, informed them of the hostilities which hung over their head. Herodotus, bk. 5, ch. 75, &c.; bk. 6, ch. 50, &c.——A rich citizen of Corinth, of the family of the Bacchiadæ. When Cypselus had usurped the sovereign power of Corinth, Demaratus, with all his family, migrated to Italy, and settled at Tarquinii, 658 years before Christ. His son Lucumon was king of Rome, under the name of Tarquinius Priscus. Dionysius of Halicarnassus.——A Corinthian exile at the court of Philip king of Macedonia. Plutarch, Alexander.
Demarchus, a Syracusan put to death by Dionysius.
Demarēta, the wife of Gelon. Diodorus, bk. 15.
Demariste, the mother of Timoleon.
Dēmātria, a Spartan mother, who killed her son because he returned from a battle without glory. Plutarch, Instituta Laconica.
Demetria, a festival in honour of Ceres, called by the Greeks Demeter. It was then customary for the votaries of the goddess to lash themselves with whips made with the bark of trees. The Athenians had a solemnity of the same name, in honour of Demetrius Poliorcetes.
Dēmētrias, a town of Thessaly. The name was common to other places.
Dēmētrius, a son of Antigonus and Stratonice, surnamed Poliorcetes, destroyer of towns. At the age of 22, he was sent by his father against Ptolemy, who had invaded Syria. He was defeated near Gaza, but he soon repaired his loss by a victory over one of the generals of the enemy. He afterwards sailed with a fleet of 250 ships to Athens, and restored the Athenians to liberty, by freeing them from the power of Cassander and Ptolemy, and expelling the garrison, which was stationed there under Demetrius Phalereus. After this successful expedition, he besieged and took Munychia, and defeated Cassander at Thermopylæ. His reception at Athens, after these victories, was attended with the greatest servility; and the Athenians were not ashamed to raise altars to him as to a god, and to consult his oracles. This uncommon success raised the jealousy of the successors of Alexander; and Seleucus, Cassander, and Lysimachus united to destroy Antigonus and his son. Their hostile armies met at Ipsus, B.C. 301. Antigonus was killed in the battle; and Demetrius, after a severe loss, retired to Ephesus. His ill success raised him many enemies; and the Athenians, who lately adored him as a god, refused to admit him into their city. He soon after ravaged the territories of Lysimachus, and reconciled himself to Seleucus, to whom he gave his daughter Stratonice in marriage. Athens now laboured under tyranny; and Demetrius relieved it, and pardoned the inhabitants. The loss of his possessions in Asia recalled him from Greece, and he established himself on the throne of Macedonia, by the murder of Alexander the son of Cassander. Here he was continually at war with the neighbouring states; and the superior power of his adversaries obliged him to leave Macedonia, after he had sat on the throne for seven years. He passed into Asia, and attacked some of the provinces of Lysimachus with various success; but famine and pestilence destroyed the greatest part of his army, and he retired to the court of Seleucus for support and assistance. He met with a kind reception, but hostilities were soon begun; and after he had gained some advantages over his son-in-law, Demetrius was totally forsaken by his troops in the field of battle, and became an easy prey to the enemy. Though he was kept in confinement by his son-in-law, yet he maintained himself like a prince, and passed his time in hunting and in every laborious exercise. His son Antigonus offered Seleucus all his possessions and even his person, to procure his father’s liberty; but all proved unavailing, and Demetrius died in the 54th year of his age, after a confinement of three years, 286 B.C. His remains were given to Antigonus, and honoured with a [♦]splendid funeral pomp at Corinth, and thence conveyed to Demetrias. His posterity remained in possession of the Macedonian throne till the age of Perseus, who was conquered by the Romans. Demetrius has rendered himself famous for his fondness of dissipation when among the dissolute, and his love of virtue and military glory in the field of battle. He has been commended as a great warrior, and his ingenious inventions, his warlike engines, and stupendous machines in his war with the Rhodians, justify his claims to that perfect character. He has been blamed for his voluptuous indulgencies; and his biographer observes, that no Grecian prince had more wives and concubines than Poliorcetes. His obedience and reverence to his father have been justly admired; and it has been observed, that Antigonus ordered the ambassadors of a foreign prince particularly to remark the cordiality and friendship which subsisted between him and his son. Plutarch, Parallel Lives.—Diodorus, bk. 17.—Justin, bk. 1, ch. 17, &c.——A prince who succeeded his father Antigonus on the throne of Macedonia. He reigned 11 years, and was succeeded by Antigonus Doson. Justin, bk. 26, ch. 2.—Polybius, bk. 2.——A son of Philip king of Macedonia, given up as a hostage to the Romans. His modesty delivered his father from a heavy accusation laid before the Roman senate. When he returned to Macedonia, he was falsely accused by his brother Perseus, who was jealous of his popularity, and his father too credulously consented to his death, B.C. 180. Livy, bk. 40, ch. 20.—Justin, bk. 32, ch. 2.——A Magnesian.——A servant of Cassius.——A son of Demetrius of Cyrene.——A freedman of Pompey.——A son of Demetrius, surnamed Slender.——A prince surnamed Soter, was son of Seleucus Philopater, the son of Antiochus the Great king of Syria. His father gave him as a hostage to the Romans. After the death of Seleucus, Antiochus Epiphanes, the deceased monarch’s brother, usurped the kingdom of Syria, and was succeeded by his son Antiochus Eupator. This usurpation displeased Demetrius, who was detained at Rome; he procured his liberty on pretence of going to hunt, and fled to Syria, where the troops received him as their lawful sovereign, B.C. 162. He put to death Eupator and Lysias, and established himself on his throne by cruelty and oppression. Alexander Bala the son of Antiochus Epiphanes laid claim to the crown of Syria, and defeated Demetrius in a battle, in the 12th year of his reign. Strabo, bk. 16.—Appian.—Justin, bk. 34, ch. 3.——[The] Second, surnamed Nicanor, or Conqueror, was son of Soter, to whom he succeeded by the assistance of Ptolemy Philometer, after he had driven out the usurper Alexander Bala, B.C. 146. He married Cleopatra daughter of Ptolemy; who was, before, the wife of the expelled monarch. Demetrius gave himself up to luxury and voluptuousness, and suffered his kingdom to be governed by his favourites. At that time a pretended son of Bala, called Diodorus Tryphon, seized a part of Syria; and Demetrius, to oppose his antagonist, made an alliance with the Jews, and marched into the east, where he was taken by the Parthians. Phraates king of Parthia gave him his daughter Rhodogyne in marriage; and Cleopatra was so incensed at this new connection, that she gave herself up to Antiochus Sidetes her brother-in-law, and married him. Sidetes was killed in a battle against the Parthians, and Demetrius regained the possession of his kingdom. His pride and oppression rendered him odious, and his subjects asked a king of the house of Seleucus, from Ptolemy Physcon king of Egypt; and Demetrius, unable to resist the power of his enemies, fled to Ptolemais, which was then in the hands of his wife Cleopatra. The gates were shut up against his approach by Cleopatra; and he was killed by order of the governor of Tyre, whither he had fled for protection. He was succeeded by Alexander Zebina, whom Ptolemy had raised to the throne, B.C. 127. Justin, bk. 36, &c.—Appian, Syrian Wars.—Josephus.——The Third, surnamed Eucerus, was son of Antiochus Gryphus. After the example of his brother Philip, who had seized Syria, he made himself master of Damascus, B.C. 93, and soon after obtained a victory over his brother. He was taken in a battle against the Parthians, and died in captivity. Josephus, bk. 1.——Phalereus, a disciple of Theophrastus, who gained such an influence over the Athenians, by his eloquence, and the purity of his manners, that he was elected decennial archon, B.C. 317. He so embellished the city, and rendered himself so popular by his munificence, that the Athenians raised 360 brazen statues to his honour. Yet in the midst of all this popularity, his enemies raised a sedition against him, and he was condemned to death, and all his statues thrown down, after obtaining the sovereign power for 10 years. He fled without concern or mortification to the court of Ptolemy Lagus, where he met with kindness and cordiality. The Egyptian monarch consulted him concerning the succession of his children; and Demetrius advised him to raise to the throne the children of Eurydice, in preference to the offspring of Berenice. This counsel so irritated Philadelphus the son of Berenice, that after his father’s death he sent the philosopher into Upper Egypt, and there detained him in strict confinement. Demetrius, tired with his situation, put an end to his life by the bite of an asp, 284 B.C. According to some, Demetrius enjoyed the confidence of Philadelphus, and enriched his library at Alexandria with 200,000 volumes. All the works of Demetrius, on rhetoric, history, and eloquence are lost; and the treatise on rhetoric, falsely attributed to him, is by some supposed to be the composition of Halicarnassus. The last edition of this treatise is that of Glasgow, 8vo, 1743. Diogenes Laërtius, Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers.—Cicero, Brutus & de Officiis, bk. 1.—Plutarch, De Exilio.——A Cynic philosopher, disciple of Apollonius Thyaneus, in the age of Caligula. The emperor wished to gain the philosopher to his interest by a large present; but Demetrius refused it with indignation, and said, “If Caligula wishes to bribe me, let him send me his crown.” Vespasian was displeased with his insolence, and banished him to an island. The Cynic derided the punishment, and bitterly inveighed against the emperor. He died in a great old age; and Seneca observes, that nature had brought him forth, to show mankind that an exalted genius can live securely without being corrupted by the vices of the surrounding world. Seneca.—Philostratus, Apollonius.——One of Alexander’s flatterers.——A native of Byzantium, who wrote on the Greek poets.——An Athenian killed at Mantinea, when fighting against the Thebans. Polyænus.——A writer who published a history of the irruptions of the Gauls into Asia.——A philological writer in the age of Cicero. Cicero, Letters to Atticus, bk. 8, ltr. 11.——A stage player. Juvenal, satire 3, li. 99.——Syrus, a rhetorician at Athens. Cicero, Brutus, ch. 174.——A geographer surnamed the Calatian. Strabo, bk. 1.
[♦] ‘splended’ replaced with ‘splendid’
Demo, a sibyl of Cumæ.