DĒMŎCRĂTĬA (δημοκρατία), that form of constitution in which the sovereign political power is in the hands of the demus (δῆμος) or commonalty. In a passage of Herodotus (iii. 80), the characteristics of a democracy are specified to be—1. Equality of legal rights (ἰσονομίη). 2. The appointment of magistrates by lot. 3. The accountability of all magistrates and officers. 4. The reference of all public matters to the decision of the community at large. Aristotle remarks—“The following points are characteristic of a democracy; that all magistrates should be chosen out of the whole body of citizens; that all should rule each, and each in turn rule all; that either all magistracies, or those not requiring experience and professional knowledge, should be assigned by lot; that there should be no property qualification, or but a very small one, for filling any magistracy; that the same man should not fill the same office twice, or should fill offices but few times, and but few offices, except in the case of military commands; that all, or as many as possible of the magistracies, should be of brief duration; that all citizens should be qualified to serve as dicasts; that the supreme power in everything should reside in the public assembly, and that no magistrate should be entrusted with irresponsible power except in very small matters.” It is somewhat curious that neither in practice nor in theory did the representative system attract any attention among the Greeks. That diseased form of a democracy, in which from the practice of giving pay to the poorer citizens for their attendance in the public assembly, and from other causes, the predominant party in the state came to be in fact the lowest class of the citizens, was by later writers termed an Ochlocracy (ὀχλοκρατία—the dominion of the mob).
DĒMŎSĬI (δημόσιοι), public slaves at Athens, who were purchased by the state. The public slaves, most frequently mentioned, formed the city guard; it was their duty to preserve order in the public assembly, and to remove any person whom the prytaneis might order. They are generally called bowmen (τοξόται); or from the native country of the majority, Scythians (Σκύθαι); and also Speusinians, from the name of the person who first established the force. They originally lived in tents in the market-place, and afterwards upon the Areiopagus. Their officers had the name of toxarchs (τόξαρχοι). Their number was at first 300, purchased soon after the battle of Salamis, but was afterwards increased to 1200.
DĒMUS (δῆμος), originally indicated a district or tract of land; and in this meaning of a country district, inhabited and under cultivation, it is contrasted with πόλις. When Cleisthenes, at Athens, broke up the four tribes of the old constitution, he substituted in their place ten local tribes (φυλαὶ τοπικαί), each of which he subdivided into ten demi or country parishes, possessing each its principal town; and in some one of these demi were enrolled all the Athenian citizens resident in Attica, with the exception, perhaps, of those who were natives of Athens itself. These subdivisions corresponded in some degree to the naucrariae (ναυκραρίαι) of the old tribes, and were originally one hundred in number. These demi formed independent corporations, and had each their several magistrates, landed and other property, with a common treasury. They had likewise their respective convocations or “parish meetings,” convened by the demarchi, in which was transacted the public business of the demus, such as the leasing of its estates, the elections of officers, the revision of the registers or lists of δημόται, and the admission of new members. Independent of these bonds of union, each demus seems to have had its peculiar temples and religious worship. There were likewise judges, called δικασταὶ κατα δημους, who decided cases where the matter in dispute was of less value than ten drachmae. Admission into a demus was necessary before any individual could enter upon his full rights and privileges as an Attic citizen. The register of enrolment was called ληξιαρχικὸν γραμματεῖον.
DĒNĀRĬUS, the principal silver coin among the Romans, was so called because it was originally equal to ten asses; but on the reduction of the weight of the as [[As]], it was made equal to sixteen asses, except in military pay, in which it was still reckoned as equal to ten asses. The denarius was first coined five years before the first Punic war, B.C. 269. [[Argentum].] The average value of the denarii coined at the end of the commonwealth is about 8½d., and those under the empire about 7½d. If the denarius be reckoned in value 8½d., the other Roman coins of silver will be of the following value:
| Pence. | Farth. | |
| Teruncius | — | ·53125 |
| Sembella | — | 1·0625 |
| Libella | — | 2·125 |
| Sestertius | 2 | ·5 |
| Quinarius or Victoriatus | 4 | 1 |
| Denarius | 8 | 2 |
Denarius. (British Museum.)
Some denarii were called serrati, because their edges were notched like a saw, which appears to have been done to prove that they were solid silver, and not plated; and others bigati and quadrigati, because on their reverse were represented chariots drawn by two and four horses respectively.
DĒSIGNĀTOR. [[Funus].]
DĒSULTOR, a rider in the Roman games, who generally rode two horses at the same time, sitting on them without a saddle, and vaulting upon either of them at his pleasure.