DIO

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DIO

meat of this fish is uncommonly rank ,1 lends on sliell-iish. The»un-hsh of the Irish . (See Sci'ualus,) differs, in ail respects hornthis.

DIODORUS , stirnamed Siculus, or Sicilian, an ancienthistorian, horn at Argyra in Sicily, lie wrote a lihf.r; of Egypt ,Persia, Syria, Media, Greece, Rome, end Carthage ; and it issaid that he visited all the places which he has menl.oned in hishistoiy. It was the labour of 30 years. He L, however, toocredulous in some of his narrations ; and often wanders lur from thetruth. lie often dwells too long upon tabulous reports, and tri-fling incidents; whiie events cf the greatest importance to historyare treated with brevity, anti sometimes passed over in silence,lie lived in the age of Ciesar and Augustus ; and spent much timeat Rome to procure information, and authenticate his history.'Plus important work, which he composed in Greek, contained 40books, of which there are only 15 lemaining. The style is clear,and very suitable to history. The best edition is that of Amster-dam , 1743, in 2 vols. folio.

‘DIOKC1A, \i. c. two houses, from lit, txvice, and oixi«, ahouse,'] the 22d class in Linnaeus ’s sexual system, consisting ofplants, which have no hermaphrodite flowers, but produce maleand iemale flowers on separate roots. These last only ripen theseeds; but require for that purpose the vicinity of a male plant;for the aspersion or sprinkling of the male dust. From the seedsof the female flowers thus impregnated, are raised, both male andfemale plants. See Botany .

DIOGENES of Apollonia, in the island of Crete , held a con-siderable rank among the philosophers who taught in Ionia beforeSocrates appeared at Athens. He was the scholar and successorof Anaximenes , and in some measure rectified his master’s opinioncono ruing air being the cause of all things. It is said, that hewas the first who observed that air was capable of condensationand rarefaction. lie passed for an excellent philosopher, and diet!about A. C. 430.

Diogenes, the Cynic, a famous ancient philosopher, the sonpf a banker ot Sinope . Being banished with iiis father for coiningfalse money, he retired to Athens , where he studied philosophyunder Antisthenes . lie added new degrees of austerity to thesect of the Cynics, and never did any philosopher carry so far acontempt lor the conveniences of life, lie was one of those extra-ordinary men w ho run every thing to extremity’, without except-ing even reason itself; and who confirm the saying, that “ thereis no great genius without a tincture of madness.” He lodged ina tub; and had no other moveables besides his staff, wallet, andwooden bowl, which last he threw away, on seeing a boy drinkout of the hollow’ of his hand. He used to call himself a vaga-bond, who had neither house' nor country ; was obliged to beg,was ill clothed, anil lived from hand to mouth: and yet, saysJElian, he took as much pride in these things, as Alexander couldin the conquest of the world. He was not indeed a jot morehumble, than those who are clothed in rich apparel, and faresumptuously every day. He looked down on all the world withscorn ; he magisterially censured all mankind, and thought himselfunquestionably superior to all other philosophers. Alexander oneday paid him a visit, and made him an olfer of riches or any thingelse but all that the philosopher requested of him was, to standfrom betw ixt the sun and him; as if he had said, “ Do not depriveme of the benefits of nature, and I leave to you those of fortune.”The conqueror was so affected with the vigour and elevation ofhis soul, as to declare, (hat “ if he was not Alexander, he wouldchoose to be Diogenes.” Diogenes had ereat presence of mind,as appears from bis smart sayings and quick repartees; and Plato seems to have hit off his true character, when he called him a So-crates run mad. He spent a great part of his life at Corinth . Ashe was going over to the island of /Egina , he was taken by’ pirates,who carried him into Crete , and there exposed him to sale. Heanswered the crier, who asked him what lie could do, that “ heknew how to command men:” and perceiving Xeniades , a Co-rinthian, going by, he said, “ sell me to that gentleman, for hewants a master.” Xeniades struck with the singularity of Dio-genes bought him, and carrying him to Corinth , appointed him tu-tor to his children, and soon entrusted him with the managementof his house. Diogenes ’s friends being desirous of redeeming him,“ You are fools (said he); the lions are not the slaves of thosewho feed them, but they are the servants of the lions.” Hetherefore plainly told Xeniades , that he ought to obey him, asVOL. II. —no. 65.

people obev tneir governors and physicians. He died at Corinth ,when he was about 90 years old: hut authors arc not agreed ei-ther as to the time or manner of his death.

Diogenes, surnamed Laertius, from Laerla in Cilicia , hisbirth-place, an ancient Greek author, who wrote ten books of theLives of the Philosophers , still extant. In what age he flourished,is not determined. The oldest writers who mention him are So-pater of Alexandria, who lived in the time-of Con.tantiue theGreat, and llesyehius Milesius, who lived under Justinian. Dio-genes often mentions Plutarch and l’havoriinis, with approbation;and therefore, as Plutarch lived under Trajan , and Phavorinusunder Adrian, it is certain that he could not flourish before thereigns of those emperors. Menage has fixed him to the time ofSeverus; that is, about A. D. 200. From certain expressions iniiis writings, some have fancied him to have been a Christian;but, as Menage observes, the immoderate praises he bestows uponEpicurus, incline us rather to suppose that he was an Epicurean .He divided his Lives into books, and inscribed them to a learnedlady of the Platonic school, as he himself intimates in his life ofPlato . Montaigne was so fond of this author, that instead of oneLaertius , he wishes he had a dozen; and Vossius says, that hiswork is as precious as gold. Without doubt we are greatly obligedto him for what he has recorded of the ancient philosophers; butif he had been as exact in the writing, as lie was judicious in thechoice of his subject, we had been still more obliged to him. Bi-shop Burnet , in the preface to his Life of Sir Matthew Hale,speaks of him in the following proper manner: “There is nobook the ancients have left us (says he), which might leave inform-ed us more than Diogenes Laertius’s Lives of the Philosophers , ifhe had had the art of writing equal to that great subject which heundertook: for if he had given the world such an account of themas Gassendus has done of Pieresc, how great a stock of knowledgemight we have had, which by his unskilfulness is in a great mea-sure lost! since we must now depend only on him, because wehave no other, and better author, who has written on that argu-ment.” There have been several editions of his Lives of the Phi-losophers; but the best is that printed in two volumes 4to, at Am-sterdam , 1693. This contains the advantages of all the former, be-sides some peculiar to itself: the Greek text, and the Latin ver-sion, corrected and amended by Meibomius; the entire notes ofHenry Stephens, both the Casaubons, and of Menage; 24 cop-per-plates, elegantly engraved: to which is added, The Historyof the Female Philosophers, written by Menage, and dedicated toMadam Uacier. Diogenes wrote also a book of Epigrams uponillustrious men, called Pammctrus, from its various kinds of metre:but this is lost.

DIOMEDES, in fabulous history, a tyrant of Thrace , who issaid to have fed his horses with the flesh of men. Hercules killedhim, and threw him to be eaten by his own carnivorous horses;Hyginus says there were four of them, and that the hero afterwardskilled them’, along with Abderus, their groom.

Diomedes, king of Astolia, the son of Tydeus and Deiphyle,one of the bravest of the Grecian chiefs in the Trojan war. Heoften engaged Hector and JEneas, and obtained much militaryglory, lie went with Ulysses to steal the Palladium from thetemple of Minerva, in Troy; and assisted in murdering Rhesus,king of Thrace , and carrying off his horses. At his return fromthe siege of Troy, he lost his way in the darkness of the night, andlanded in Attica, where his companions plundered the country,and lost the Trojan Palladium. During his long absence, his wiledfgiale had prostituted herself to Cometes, one of her servants.This was attributed to the resentment of. Venus, whom Diomedes had wounded in a battle before Troy. He resolved to abandonbis native country, which was the seat of his disgrace ; and the at-tempts of his wife to take away his life, hastened his departure.He came to that part of Italy which has been called Magna Griv-cia, where lie built a city, which he called Argyrippa, and marriedthe daughter of Daumis the king of the country. lie died therein extreme old age; or, according to a certain tradition} he pe-rished by the band of his father-in-law.

DIOMEDIA, in ornithology, a genus of the order aiiseres.Bill strait; superior mandible, crooked at the point; lower 011 ctruncated ; nostrils oval, open, a little prominent, placed on thesides. There are four species.

D. Demf.rsa, has no quill-feathers on the wings; and the feethave, four toes, connected together by a membrane. It is the2 S black