Demoanassa, the mother of Ægialeus.
Democēdes, a celebrated physician of Crotona, son of Calliphon, and intimate with Polycrates. He was carried as a prisoner from Samos to Darius king of Persia, where he acquired great riches and much reputation by curing the king’s foot, and the breast of Atossa. He was sent to Greece as a spy by the king, and fled away to Crotona, where he married the daughter of the wrestler Milo. Ælian, Varia Historia, bk. 8, ch. 18.—Herodotus, bk. 3, ch. 124, &c.
Dēmŏchăres, an Athenian sent with some of his countrymen with an embassy to Philip king of Macedonia. The monarch gave them audience, and when he asked them what he could do to please the people of Athens, Demochares replied, “Hang yourself.” This imprudence raised the indignation of all the hearers; but Philip mildly dismissed them, and bade them ask their countrymen, which deserved most the appellation of wise and moderate, either they who gave such ill language, or he who received it without any signs of resentment? Seneca, de Irâ, bk. 3.—Ælian, Varia Historia, bks. 3, 7, 8, 12.—Cicero, Brutus, ch. 3; On Oratory, bk. 2.——A poet of Soli, who composed a comedy on Demetrius Poliorcetes. Plutarch, Demetrius.——A statuary, who wished to make a statue to mount Athos. Vitruvius.——A general of Pompey the younger, who died B.C. 36.
Dēmŏcles, a man accused of disaffection towards Dionysius, &c. Polyænus, bk. 5.——A beautiful youth, passionately loved by Demetrius Poliorcetes. He threw himself into a cauldron of boiling water, rather than submit to the unnatural lusts of the tyrant. Plutarch, Demetrius.
Demŏcoon, a natural son of Priam, who came from his residence at Abydos to protect his country against the Greeks. He was, after a glorious defence, killed by Ulysses. Homer, Iliad, bk. 4.
Dēmŏcrătes, an architect of Alexandria.——A wrestler. Ælian, Varia Historia, bk. 4, ch. 15.——An Athenian, who fought on the side of Darius against the Macedonians. Curtius, bk. 6, ch. 5.
Dēmŏcrĭtus, a celebrated philosopher of Abdera, disciple to Leucippus. He travelled over the greatest part of Europe, Asia, and Africa, in quest of knowledge, and returned home in the greatest poverty. There was a law at Abdera, which deprived of the honour of a funeral the man who had reduced himself to indigence; and Democritus, to avoid ignominy, repeated before his countrymen one of his compositions called Diacosmus. It was received with such uncommon applause that he was presented with 500 talents; statues were erected in his honour; and a decree passed that the expenses of his funeral should be paid from the public treasury. He retired to a garden near the city, where he dedicated his time to study and solitude; and according to some authors he put out his eyes, to apply himself more closely to philosophical inquiries. He was accused of insanity, and Hippocrates was ordered to inquire into the nature of his disorder. The physician had a conference with the philosopher, and declared that not Democritus, but his enemies, were insane. He continually laughed at the follies and vanity of mankind, who distract themselves with care, and are at once a prey to hope and anxiety. He told Darius, who was inconsolable for the loss of his wife, that he would raise her from the dead, if he could find three persons who had gone through life without adversity, whose names he might engrave on the queen’s monument. The king’s inquiries to find such persons proved unavailing, and the philosopher in some manner soothed the sorrow of his sovereign. He taught his disciples that the soul died with the body; and therefore, as he gave no credit to the existence of ghosts, some youths, to try his fortitude, dressed themselves in a hideous and deformed habit, and approached his cave in the dead of night, with whatever could create terror and astonishment. The philosopher received them unmoved; and without even looking at them, he desired them to cease making themselves such objects of ridicule and folly. He died in the 109th year of his age, B.C. 361. His father was so rich, that he entertained Xerxes, with all his army, as he was marching against Greece. All the works of Democritus are lost. He was the author of the doctrine of atoms, and first taught that the milky way was occasioned by a confused light from a multitude of stars. He may be considered as the parent of experimental philosophy, in the prosecution of which he showed himself so ardent, that he declared he would prefer the discovery of one of the causes of the works of nature to the diadem of Persia. He made artificial emeralds, and tinged them with various colours; he likewise dissolved stones, and softened ivory. Eusebius, bk. 14, ch. 27.—Diogenes Laërtius, Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers.—Ælian, Varia Historia, bk. 4, ch. 20.—Cicero, de Finibus Bonorum et Malorum.—Valerius Maximus, bk. 8, ch. 7.—Strabo, bks. 1 & 15.——An Ephesian, who wrote a book on Diana’s temple, &c. Diogenes Laërtius.——A powerful man of Naxos. Herodotus, bk. 7, ch. 46.
Dēmŏdĭce, the wife of Cretheus king of Iolchos. Some call her Biadice, or Tyro. Hyginus, Poeticon Astronomicon, bk. 2, ch. 20.
Dēmŏdŏchus, a musician at the court of Alcinous, who sang, in the presence of Ulysses, the secret amours of Mars and Venus, &c. Homer, Odyssey, bk. 8, li. 44.—Plutarch, de Musica.——A Trojan chief, who came with Æneas into Italy, where he was killed. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 10, li. 413.——An historian. Plutarch, de Fluviis.
Dēmŏleon, a centaur, killed by Theseus at the [♦]nuptials of Pirithous. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 12, li. 356.——A son of Antenor, killed by Achilles. Homer, Iliad, bk. 20, li. 395.