character to his whole court. An opposite party, however, headed by the lustorian Philistus, awakened the king's suspicions against Dion, and caused his banishment. Plato in vain endeavored to effect his recall, and, after having been long retained by force, finally left Syracuse himself, when Dionysius was engaged in a war in another part of the island. After the restoration of peace, Plato, at the repeated request of the king, returned to his court, and again endeavored, though in vain, to effect Dion's recall. He therefore insisted upon his own dismissal. Dionysius at last appeased him by promising to restore Dion his fortume, on condition that he would undertake nothing against the throne. But he violated his promise, and Plato, after experiencing many mortifications, finally left him. Dion then appeared, and made himself master of the city of Syracuse, to which Dionysius did not return until after the murder of Dion. His misfortunes, however, had no other effect than to render him more cruel. The first families of the city fled from his tyranny. Meantime, the Carthaginians commenced a new war with Syracuse, and entered into a secret union with Icetas, whose intention it was to make himself master of the city, He, however, disguised his purpose, and even approved of the measure of calling upon Corinth for assistance. Timoleon appeared with a fleet before Syracuse, and expelled not only the enemies, but also the tyrant. Dionysius, who had surrendered himself, was carried to Corinth, where he gained a scanty living by giving lessons in grammar, and died in the contempt which he had brought upon himself by his excesses.

DIONYSIUS of Halicarnassus, in Caria, a learned critic and teacher of eloquence, went to Rome about 30 B. C., where, for the instruction of his countrymen, he wrote his Roman Antiquities, in 20 books, in which he relates the early history of Rome, and its government up to the times of the first Punic war. We have the 11 first books of this work, and some fragments of the others. His residence in Rome during 22 years, his intercourse with the most learned Romans, and his knowledge of the ancient annalists, render him very important to the critical historian, though he has given his own coloring to the Roman traditions. Dionysius is also valuable as a critical and rhetorical writer. It is difficult to pronounce, however, on the genuineness of the writings attributed to him in this department, without a crit

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ical examination. The Rhetoric (Schott, Leips., 1804), for instance, belongs only in part to Dionysius, and probably received its present form in the 3d century, A. D.

DIONYSIUS the Arcopagite (i. e., one of the judges of the Areopagus, at Athens), converted to Christianity by the apostle Paul, about the middle of the 1st century, and first bishop at Athens, where he suffered martyrdom, is remarkable for the Greek works which have been ascribed to him, and for being considered the patron. saint of France. These writings, composed in an obscure style, and hardly intelligible on account of their mysticism, are, Of the heavenly Hierarchy, Of the Names of God, Of the ecclesiastical Hierarchy, and Of the mystic Theology, with a number of letters, which, by their style, contents and historical allusions, betray an author who could not have lived before the middle of the 4th century. They appeared, in a very equivocal manner, as the works of Dionysius, as late as the 6th century. Fantastic descriptions of the Deity, and of the orders of angels and blessed spirits, borrowed from the New Platonic philosophy; brilliant representations of the Catholic ceremonies; exaltations of the hierarchy ; praises of the monastic life, and mystic interpretations of the doctrines of the church, gave them such charms, that the absurdities in which they abound did not prevent the ignorant clergy of the 7th century from reading them with delight, and finding in them the clearest proofs of the apostolic origin of many ecclesiastical observances and institutions, which are of a much later date; for they had no doubt of their genuineness. In France, where a certain Dionysius established the first Christian community at Paris, in the 3d century, they were readily received in the 9th century; and this Dionysius, without further inquiry, was taken for the Areopagite, because the origin of the Gallican church could thus be carried back to the 1st century; and France gained a patron who was a martyr and the immediate disciple of an apostle. The monastic life, in the Western church, gained new support from these writings, which were frequently translated into Latin; and mystic theology received its first impulse from them. The convent of St. Denis, which was originally dedicated to the first apostle of Christianity at Paris, but is now consecrated to Dionysius the Areopagite, had a remarkable dispute with the convent of St. Emmeran, at Ratisbon, in the 11th century, concerning the possession

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of the genuine bones of the saint. Each maintained that it possessed his earthly remains, and each had its claims confirmed by the infallible authority of the pope. In the 14th century, another church in Paris claimed the third head of the saint. The writings attributed to Dionysius the Areopagite are as spurious as the relics. The pretended author of them neither left such writings, nor ever taught in France, as was put beyond all doubt by the French critics Daille, Sirmond and Launoi, in the 17th century.

DIONYSIUS the Little (so called on account of his short stature); a Scythian monk, who was abbot of a monastery at Rome in the beginning of the 6th century, and died about the year 545, celebrated as the author of the computation of time from the Christian era. He calculated an Easter cycle in 526, and fixed the birth of Christ, agreeably to the most certain data, in the year 753 after the foundation of Rome. The computation of time from the birth of Christ thus established, and now universal among Christians, was not publicly used until the 8th century. His collection of ecclesiastical laws, viz. the (so called) apostolical canons, decrees of councils favorable to the pretensions of the Roman bishops, and official letters written by the Roman bishops since the 4th century, which were called decretals, had a more rapid success. The placing of the latter by the side of the decrees of councils, and thus attributing to them equal authority, was so flattering to the pride of the Roman bishops, and the letters of their predecessors afforded so favorable an opportunity for renewing their ancient pretensions, that the collection soon obtained the authority of an acknowledged source of canon law. Dionysius was, as his friend Cassiodorus says of him, a good Latin writer, and well acquainted with the Greek language, from which he translated much. Nothing more is known of him, except that he favored the superstition of the Theopaschites.

DIOPTRICS; the science which treats of the refraction of the rays of light, or the laws of vision when the rays, before reaching the eye, pass through different refracting mediums; for instance, from the air through the glasses of a telescope. Dioptrics, consequently, is a branch of optics, i. e. the science of vision in general. It demonstrates the different directions in which the rays move, according as they are broken on plane or curved surfaces. The principles deduced from these observations determine the nature of the vari

ous lenses, explain the manner in which the light is refracted in the human eye, teach the manner of seeing through lenses, and the composition of them, consequently the theory of telescopes, magnifying glasses, &c. The ancients were not acquainted with this science. Natural science, in modern times, has been greatly indebted to it. By its aid, or rather by the aid of the glasses which it has taught how to construct, the human eye has been enabled to reach objects previously unknown. Kepler, Snellius of Leyden, Descartes, Newton, &c., not only extended this science, but founded a great part of their discoveries on it. In modern times, the science of dioptrics has been very much enriched by the important inventions of Dollond in London. (See Achromatic, Refraction of Light, Telescope, Lenses; also Dioptrica Auctore Leonhardo Eulero, Petersburg, 1769–71, 3 vols., 4to.) DIORAMA. (See Panorama.)

DIOSCORIDES, Pedanius; born at Anazarbus (Cæsarea Augusta), in Cilicia, in the 1st century of the Christian era, a Greek physician, author of a celebrated work on materia medica, in five books. It is particularly valuable in regard to botany, as most of the medicines which the author mentions are taken from the vegetable kingdom. Two other works are also attributed to him; the Alexipharmaca, which was united with the Materia Medica, forming the three last books of it, and treating of the poisons in the three kingdoms of nature, and their antidotes; and the Euporista, which treats of remedies that are easily procured. The best edition of Dioscorides is that of Saracenus (Frankfort, 1598, fol.); the best commentary is by Matthiolus (Venice, 1565, fol.).

DIOSCURI; Castor and Pollux, twinsons of Jupiter, and tutelary deities of wrestlers, horsemen and navigators. (See Castor and Pollux.)

DIP of the horizon is an allowance made in all astronomical observations of altitude for the height of the eye above the level of the sea.

DIPLOMA (from dɩrdów, I fold up); literally, a letter folded but once, and therefore divided into two parts. It is used to signify a document signed and sealed, in which certain rights, privileges, dignities, &c., are conferred. Thus a letter or writing of a university conferring a degree is called a diploma. (See Diplomatics.)

DIPLOMACY. The precise time at which the word diplomacy began to be applied to the management of the mutual relations of independent states through accredited

agents, cannot be easily ascertained. In remote antiquity, embassies are spoken of. Rome received ambassadors from nations seeking peace or alliance and protection. After the establishment of the senate, such messengers of rival or dependent countries delivered their commissions to the senatorial body, and commonly in set orations. At Athens and at Sparta, ambassadors were obliged to harangue the sovereign people from the tribunal of the orators.We have no authentic accounts respecting the privileges of these foreign emissaries, nor relics of their correspondence with their own government, or with those to which they were deputed. The term ambascia is found in the Salic law. But the cardinal de Richelieu is generally considered as the founder of that regular and uninterrupted intercourse between governments, which exists at present between almost all the Christian powers. The private dissensions between Philip II and Elizabeth de Valois furnished a convenient pretence for attaining the ends, which may well be supposed to have guided that sagacious statesman, and which went undoubtedly further than to protect the unfortunate queen of Spain. Raymond de Beccaria thus commences the line of regular ambassadors in Europe. However, the instructions given by Machiavelli to one of his friends, who was sent by the Florentine republic to Charles V (Charles I of Spain), show that Richelieu was not the first person who conceived all the advantages that might be derived to a government from the correspondence of an intelligent agent, accredited at the seat of a foreign government. Machiavelli's own negotiations with Cæsar Borgia, with the cardinal de Rouen, at Rome, in Germany, and wherever he was employed, prove that diplomacy had its present meaning long before Richelieu's ascendency in France. We recommend to our readers Machiavelli's diplomatic correspondence (Legazioni) not only as the earliest, but as the finest specimens of diplomatic despatches; and we do it the more willingly, as this portion of his works is generally little referred to. It is probable, that, from the beginning, the duties of diplomatic agents were at least as great as at present, as far as the art of diplomacy alone was concerned. To study the character of the prince and the disposition of his ministers; to observe with a vigilant eye the passing events; to investigate the strong and weak points of a state; to establish relations which might become useful, either in peace or in war; to strengthen the existing

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amicable relations, and to weaken the means of attack and of defence on the part of the foreign state; to extend commercial intercourse in a manner profitable to the country of the ambassador (for centuries were to pass before sounder views in political economy could prevail); to protect the subjects of the ambassador's sovereign, and to give a great idea of his power and resources, by all possible means;—such were, as we see, from the instructions given by Machiavelli to his friend, the cardinal points recommended to a diplomatic agent early in the 16th century; and they will, with few alterations, serve to guide ambassadors, ministers and chargés d'affaires, yet in the womb of time. Still there are differences, produced by the progress of civilization and the improvement of public morals, that must be noticed. Wherever diplomacy may have had its origin, be it in Italy, France or Spain, the manners of these countries and of the times, left politics infinitely less restrained by the curb of honesty and good feeling, than if it had sprung up among German nations, or at later epochs. Thus intrigue, falsehood, plots and murder, or connivance, at least, in such detestable expedients, were sometimes resorted to, by the earliest diplomatists, and contributed to render diplomacy, in the eyes of the indiscriminating, almost a byword of reproach. The marquis de Bedmar, in Real's conspiracy of Venice, is a mere fancy figure. The cardinal d'Ossat and president Henin are, on the contrary, unquestionable models of excellent men and ambassadors. General ignorance, the laxity of morals which degraded the greater part of Europe till the middle of the 18th century, and the deficiency of that censorship, which, since the triumph of the press, in some countries, spreads itself over all, serve to account for the want of honest principle which formerly disgraced public ministers. Few treaties were as yet concluded. War, brutal force, was the sole umpire of right. Except in the Germanic confede racy, law was hardly ever brought to bear upon international relations. It was not till the independence of Holland, and the subsequent developement of maritime power, that political questions were examined by the learned, in consequence, probably, of having become connected with great public grievances and judicial investigations. From that time, and chiefly from the conclusion of the treaty of Westphalia-the most remarkable epoch in the history of international intercourse-diplomacy assumed a more legitimate, a higher

and really useful character. Ambassadors ceased gradually to seek their greatest lustre in their numerous retinue, and the Russian ministers at Constantinople and Warsaw were the last to appear with such a display of armed followers as made a governor of Bordeaux refuse admission into the city to the duke of Feria, who came, in the name of the king of Spain, to compliment Louis XIII on his accession to the throne. There were no longer (to quote the noble language of Shakspeare) "loving embassies to embrace sovereigns, as it were, from the ends of opposed winds;"* and, from that time, high breed ing, an agreeable figure, the display of wealth, fascinating and prepossessing manners, an unblemished character, discretion, knowledge of mankind, natural parts, nay, upright intentions and noble views, ceased to be sufficient for the fulfilment of duties so much enlarged by the improving condition of general society, through the advancement and diffusion of knowledge. -To be a perfect diplomatist, in the present state of the Christian world, it would be necessary that a man should be a sound lawyer, well acquainted with the municipal laws of more than one country, versed in the sciences, from which industry and arts derive their splendor, and a state its strength, and equal to any of the tasks to which those with whom he is brought into contact might put his learning and sagacity. The present political system of the world can no longer be split into partial and solitary interests: each party to it is a party in a common concern, and usually suffers or gains by every important change. There is really now a Christian commonwealth, a unity of rights and interests, more real, more worthy of consideration and confidence, than the dream of political balance. This whole system is in a constant state of developement; and to step out of its path, is to remain behind it in its career. The tone of political correspondence at present must correspond with the elevated state of the diplomatic character.-In times not very distant, it was sufficient to entertain a royal master by the gossip of a capital, the intrigues of ladies and gentlemen of the bedchamber, and the cabals of rival ministers. Now, the political correspondent of a cabinet is compelled to inquire into the working of the complex machinery of modern society; to observe constantly the pulse of the whole body politic; to keep in view the moral and physical resources of nations; to defend the rights of his coun*Winter's Tale.

try, on the grounds of law and reason; to give information to the minister, from whom he holds his instructions, and to enable his government to profit by the intelligence he imparts, not only in the management of its foreign concerns, but likewise of its internal resources. For the accomplishment of duties so great and so various, no school can be established, or particular study traced. Humani nihil a me alienum ' puto, must be the device of the modern diplomatist; and much application, much good fortune, many favorable opportunities, and a long experience, are necessary to enable him to perform well the duties of his office.-At the earliest period of the French monarchy, a number of persons were joined together in an embassy. Recently, a diplomatic mission has commonly been intrusted to a single personage of high rank or distinguished talents, assisted by one or several secretaries. In the late congresses, and in some late negotiations, several plenipotentiaries were, however, joined together for a particular object. In the U. States, diplomatic commissions, or embassies composed of several individuals, will probably remain in use as long as their present political system subsists.— The diplomacy of, each state is under the direction of a minister, who generally administers at the same time some other branches of the public service, as, for instance, in the U. States, where the secretary of state is at the head of the patent office, and superintends the publication of the laws, &c. In Spain, the Secretario de Estado y del Despacho Universal, or minister of foreign relations, has also the direction of post-offices, public roads, academies, and some other inferior branches of government. In some states, as, for example, in Portugal and Piedmont, the departments of war and of foreign relations are intrusted to the same hands. In Russia, Austria and Prussia, the chancellor or vice-chancellor is, ipso facto, minister of the foreign department.-Diplomatic agents are of several degrees: 1. ambassadors; 2. envoys extraordinary and ministers plenipotentiary; 3. ministers resident; 4. chargés d'affaires; 5. secretaries of legation and attachés.-Their rank has been regulated in Europe in the above order, by the congress assembled at Vienna in 1814; and many such quarrels as formerly arose from questions of precedence, are now obviated, by the agreement of the European powers, that, among ministers of the same rank, he who arrives first shall have the precedence over his colleagues. The most ancient relics of

diplomatic correspondence, perhaps, which have been preserved, are those in the Excerpta Legatimum, volume 1st of the Byzantine historians, or the 53d book of the great historical compilation made by order of the emperor Constantine VI, Porphyrogenitus. Among them will be found the Relation of an Embassy sent by the emperor Theodosius the Younger to Attila, in the year 449. The account here given of court ceremonies, international courtesies, personal pretensions of diplomatists, and the means by which, in barbarous ages, and at the court of a half-savage prince, political ends were pursued, remarkably illustrates the truth of the old proverb, “There is nothing new under the sun." The same petty quarrels and rivalry among associate diplomatists; the same disregard to that moral principle which prohibits the placing of temptations in the way of human virtue; the same want of confidence, on the part of the sovereign, towards the agents intrusted with the care of his greatest interests; the same keen attention to every word falling from the lips of a foreign agent, affecting, however remotely, the honor of a sovereign (though this sovereign be Attila); the same petty intrigues which have been the disgrace of modern diplomacy, seem to have equally characterized that which prevailed 14 centuries since.*We recommend the following works as useful manuals for the study of diplomacy: Traité de Droit politique et de Diplo* The expenses of the diplomatic departments, in the various states, are, of course, very different; but, in general, it is correct to say that, in all the European states, they are by far too great, and an unnecessary burden to the country; whilst the ministers of the U. States receive a salary in most cases entirely inadequate to their expenses. A mistaken idea of dignity, on the part of the courts represented, induces governments to spend immense sums abroad; and the ministers often go far beyond their means. How many ambassadors have ruined themselves! Napoleon, according to Las Cases' journal, once had in consideration the abolition of resident ministers. An official statement has been lately published of the expenses incurred for the English diplomatic service abroad, from 1821 to 1829 inclusive, from which it appears they were as follows:

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matie, by Battus, Paris, 1821; Manuel diplomatique de Charles Martens, 1822; Cours diplomatique, 3 vols. par le Baron de Martens, 1801; Précis du Droit des Gens modernes de l'Europe, par le Baron de Martens, 1821; Heeren, Manuel de l'Histoire du Système Politique de l'Europe, 1822, abrégé de l'Histoire des Traités de Paix entre les Puissances de l'Europe depuis la Paix de Westphalie, par Koch, 4 vols. See also Diplomacy of the U. States, by Theodore Lyman, jun., 2d edition, Boston, 1828; and Diplomatic Correspondence of the American Revolution, &c., edited by Jared Sparks, Boston, 1829, 30. German literature has lately been enriched by some works on diplomacy which might be translated into English, with some advantage to American statesmen.

DIPLOMATICS. The ancient acceptation of diploma is the record of a transaction performed through the agency, or under the eyes of the public authority. The charters of gifts made by sovereigns to individuals and to incorporated bodies, in the earliest ages of civilization, are thus named diplomas; and as the materials on which they were inscribed, the manner of writing, the characters, the ink, and all the other external forms, as well as their style, differed in different centuries, their interpretation, and the ascertaining of their authenticity, have become a science the more complicated, as the clergy of former ages had abundant inducements and means to counterfeit charters, giving them an inancient diplomas which have, as yet, been crease of power and wealth.-The most saved from oblivion and destruction, do not go back farther than the 5th century; and they are on parchment. Those of an earlier date were written on the thin leaves of papyrus, or biblum Ægyptiacum, so called from its Egyptian origin. ink used consisted, at first, of soot; but when parchment came into use, tincture of vermilion, red lead, or a purple coloring substance, and sometimes gold and silver, were used instead of the black liquid.— Till the year 602, Latin seems to have been the general and official language throughout the Roman empire. After that epoch, the Greek became its substiThe English ambassador at Paris receives £12,000*

Petersburg, Vienna, Madrid,

the Hague,

The

13,000

13,000

13,100

13,000

The expenditures of the U. States, for the diplomatic department, in 1827, were $659,211.

Besides this, the British government bought a splen did mansion at Paris for their embassy.