Domitian, or in full Titus Flavius Domitianus Augustus, Roman emperor, son of Vespasian, and younger brother of Titus, was born A.D. 51, and in 81 succeeded to the throne. At first he ruled with a show of moderation and justice, but soon returned to the cruelty and excesses for which his youth had been notorious. He was as vain as he was cruel, and after an ineffective expedition against the Catti, carried a multitude of his slaves, dressed like Germans, in triumph to the city. He executed great numbers of the chief citizens, and assumed the titles of Lord and God. He established the most stringent laws against high treason, which enabled almost anything to be construed into this crime. At length a conspiracy, in which his wife Domitia took part, was formed against him, and he was assassinated in his bedroom A.D. 96.
Domrémy la Pucelle (don˙-rė-mi la˙ pu˙-sāl), the birth-place of Joan of Arc, a small French village, department of the Vosges, 7 miles N. of Neufchâteau. The house is still shown here in which the heroine was born, and in the neighbourhood is the monument erected to her memory.
Don (ancient Tanaïs), a river of Russia, which issues from Lake Ivan-Ozero, in the government of Tula; and flows S.E. through the governments of Riazan, Tambov, Voronej, and the Don Republic, to within 37 miles of the Volga, where a railway connects the rivers. It now turns abruptly S.W. for 236 miles, and falls into the Sea of Azov; whole course nearly 900 miles. The chief tributaries are: right bank, the Donetz and Voronej; left, the Khoper and Manych. Although not admitting vessels of much draught, the Don carries a large traffic, especially during the spring-floods, and a canal connects it with the Volga system of navigation. It has productive fisheries. The principal port is Rostov.
Don, a river, Scotland, Aberdeenshire, rising near the Banffshire border. It flows tortuously east through the whole breadth of Aberdeenshire, and falls into the North Sea a little to the north of Aberdeen, after a total course of 82 miles. Its salmon fisheries are of considerable value.—Also, a river of Yorkshire, England, which rises near Cheshire, and joins the Ouse after a course of about 70 miles. It is navigable for small craft as far as Sheffield.
Don (Lat. dominus, a lord or master), a Spanish title of honour, originally given only to the highest nobility, afterwards to all the nobles, and finally used indiscriminately as a title of courtesy. It corresponds with the Portuguese Dom. During the Spanish occupation it was introduced and became naturalized in some parts of Italy, and was particularly applied to the priests.
Donaghadee (don-ah-a-dē´), a seaport and market town, Ireland, County Down, on the Irish Channel, 16 miles east by north of Belfast. Pop. 4878.
Don´aldson, Sir James, Scottish scholar, born in 1831 at Aberdeen, died in 1915. He was educated at Aberdeen University, and also at Manchester New College, London, and Berlin University. After being rector of Stirling High School, a classical master and rector of Edinburgh High School, he was appointed in 1881 to the Chair of Humanity (Latin) in Aberdeen University. In 1886 he became principal of the United College of St. Salvator and St. Leonard in St. Andrews University, and in 1890 principal of the university. He published a Modern Greek Grammar for the use of Classical Students (1853); Lyra Græca: Specimens of Greek Lyric Poets, with Introduction and Notes (1854); History of Christian Literature and Doctrine from the Death of the Apostles to the Nicene Council (1864-6); The Ante-Nicene Christian Library (24 vols., 1867-72, edited jointly with Professor A. Roberts); The Apostolical Fathers (1874); Lectures on the History of Education in Prussia and England (1874); The Westminster Confession of Faith (1905); Woman: her Position and Influence in Ancient Greece and Rome, and among the Early Christians (1907); Addresses Delivered in the University of St. Andrews from 1886 to 1910 (1911). He was knighted in 1907.
Donaldson, John William, a distinguished English philologist, was born in London in 1811, died in 1861. He studied at London University, and at Trinity College, Cambridge, where
he was elected a fellow in 1835. His first work was The Theatre of the Greeks, a work showing much erudition. In 1839 he published The New Cratylus, which was amongst the earliest attempts to bring the philological literature of the Continent within the reach of the English student. In 1844 appeared the first edition of Varronianus, a work on Latin similar in scope to the Cratylus. Amongst his other writings are: Christian Orthodoxy (1855), History of the Literature of Ancient Greece, and grammars of the Hebrew, Greek, and Latin languages.
Donatello (properly, Donato di Betto Bardi), one of the revivers of the art of sculpture in Italy, was born at Florence between 1382 and 1387, died at Florence in 1466. His first great works in marble were statues of St. Peter and St. Mark, in the church of St. Michael in his native town, in an outside niche of which is also his famous statue of St. George. Along with his friend Brunelleschi he made a journey to Rome to study its art treasures. On his return he executed for his patrons, Cosmo and Lorenzo de' Medici, a marble monument to their father and mother, which is of high merit. Statues of St. John, St. George, Judith, David, John the Evangelist, and St. Cecilia are amongst his leading works.