[1] For exceptions see Hinschius ii. p. 39, note 1.
DIO CHRYSOSTOM (c. A.D. 40-115), Greek sophist and rhetorician, was born
at Piusa (mod. _Brusa_), a town at the foot of Mount Olympus in
Bithynia. He was called Chrysostom ("golden-mouthed") from his
eloquence, and also to distinguish him from his grandson, the historian
Dio Cassius; his surname Cocceianus was derived from his patron, the
emperor Cocceius Nerva. Although he did much to promote the welfare of
his native place, he became so unpopular there that he migrated to Rome,
but, having incurred the suspicion of Domitian, he was banished from
Italy. With nothing in his pocket but Plato's _Phaedo_ and Demosthenes'
_De falsa legatione_, he wandered about in Thrace, Mysia, Scythia and
the land of the Getae. He returned to Rome on the accession of Nerva,
with whom and his successor Trajan he was on intimate terms. During this
period he paid a visit to Prusa, but, disgusted at his reception, he
went back to Rome. The place and date of his death are unknown; it is
certain, however, that he was alive in 112, when the younger Pliny was
governor of Bithynia.
Eighty orations, or rather essays on political, moral and philosophical
subjects, have come down to us under his name; the _Corinthiaca_,
however, is generally regarded as spurious, and is probably the work of
Favorinus of Arelate. Of the extant orations the following are the most
important:--_Borysthenitica_ (xxxvi.), on the advantages of monarchy,
addressed to the inhabitants of Olbia, and containing interesting
information on the history of the Greek colonies on the shores of the
Black Sea; _Olympica_ (xii.), in which Pheidias is represented as
setting forth the principles which he had followed in his statue of
Zeus, one passage being supposed by some to have suggested Lessing's
_Laocoon_; _Rhodiaca_ (xxxi.), an attack on the Rhodians for altering
the names on their statues, and thus converting them into memorials of
famous men of the day (an imitation of Demosthenes' _Leptines_); _De
regno_ (i.-iv.), addressed to Trajan, a eulogy of the monarchical form
of government, under which the emperor is the representative of Zeus
upon earth; _De Aeschylo et Sophocle et Euripide_ (lii.), a comparison
of the treatment of the story of Philoctetes by the three great Greek
tragedians; and _Philoctetes_ (lix.), a summary of the prologue to the
lost play by Euripides. In his later life, Dio, who had originally
attacked the philosophers, himself became a convert to Stoicism. To this
period belong the essays on moral subjects, such as the denunciation of
various cities (Tarsus, Alexandria) for their immorality. Most pleasing
of all is the _Euboica_ (vii.), a description of the simple life of the
herdsmen and huntsmen of Euboea as contrasted with that of the
inhabitants of the towns. _Troica_ (xi.), an attempt to prove to the
inhabitants of Ilium that Homer was a liar and that Troy was never
taken, is a good example of a sophistical rhetorical exercise. Amongst
his lost works were attacks on philosophers and Domitian, and _Getica_
(wrongly attributed to Dio Cassius by Suidas), an account of the manners
and customs of the Getae, for which he had collected material on the
spot during his banishment. The style of Dio, who took Plato and
Xenophon especially as his models, is pure and refined, and on the whole
free from rhetorical exaggeration. With Plutarch he played an important
part in the revival of Greek literature at the end of the 1st century of
the Christian era.
Editions: J. J. Reiske (Leipzig, 1784); A. Emperius (Brunswick, 1844);
L. Dindorf (Leipzig, 1857), H. von Arnim (Berlin, 1893-1896). The
ancient authorities for his life are Philostratus, _Vit. Soph._ i. 7;
Photius, _Bibliotheca_, cod. 209; Suidas, s.v.; Synesius, [Greek:
Dion]. On Dio generally see H. von Arnim, _Leben und Werke des Dion
von Prusa_ (Berlin, 1898); C. Martha, _Les Moralistes sous l'empire
romain_ (1865); W. Christ, _Geschichte der griechischen Litteratur_
(1898), S 520; J. E. Sandys, _History of Classical Scholarship_ (2nd
ed., 1906); W. Schmid in Pauly-Wissowa's _Realencyclopadie_, v. pt. 1
(1905). The _Euboica_ has been abridged by J. P. Mahaffy in _The Greek
World under Roman Sway_ (1890), and there is a translation of _Select
Essays_ by Gilbert Wakefield (1800).
DIOCLETIAN (GAIUS AURELIUS VALERIUS DIOCLETIANUS) (A.D. 245-313), Roman
emperor 284-305, is said to have been born at Dioclea, near Salona, in
Dalmatia. His original name was Diocles. Of humble origin, he served
with high distinction and held important military commands under the
emperors Probus and Aurelian, and accompanied Carus to the Persian War.
After the death of Numerianus he was chosen emperor by the troops at
Chalcedon, on the 17th of September 284, and slew with his own hands
Arrius Aper, the praefect of the praetorians. He thus fulfilled the
prediction of a druidess of Gaul, that he would mount a throne as soon
as he had slain a wild boar (_aper_). Having been installed at
Nicomedia, he received general acknowledgment after the murder of
Carinus. In consequence of the rising of the Bagaudae in Gaul, and the
threatening attitude of the German peoples on the Rhine, he appointed
Maximian Augustus in 286; and, in view of further dangers and
disturbances in the empire, proclaimed Constantius Chlorus and Galerius
Caesars in 293. Each of the four rulers was placed at a separate
capital--Nicomedia, Mediolanum (Milan), Augusta Trevirorum (Trier),
Sirmium. This amounted to an entirely new organization of the empire, on
a plan commensurate with the work of government which it now had to
carry on. At the age of fifty-nine, exhausted with labour, Diocletian
abdicated his sovereignty on the 1st of May 305, and retired to Salona,
where he died eight years afterwards (others give 316 as the year of his
death). The end of his reign was memorable for the persecution of the
Christians. In defence of this it may be urged that he hoped to
strengthen the empire by reviving the old religion, and that the church
as an independent state over whose inner life at least he possessed no
influence, appeared to be a standing menace to his authority. Under
Diocletian the senate became a political nonentity, the last traces of
republican institutions disappeared, and were replaced by an absolute
monarchy approaching to despotism. He wore the royal diadem, assumed the
title of lord, and introduced a complicated system of ceremonial and
etiquette, borrowed from the East, in order to surround the monarchy and
its representative with mysterious sanctity. But at the same time he
devoted his energies to the improvement of the administration of the
empire; he reformed the standard of coinage, fixed the price of
provisions and other necessaries of daily life, remitted the tax upon
inheritances and manumissions, abolished various monopolies, repressed
corruption and encouraged trade. In addition, he adorned the city with
numerous buildings, such as the thermae, of which extensive remains are
still standing (Aurelius Victor, _De Caesaribus_, 39; Eutropius ix. 13;
Zonaras xii. 31).
See A. Vogel, _Der Kaiser Diocletian_ (Gotha, 1857), a short sketch,
with notes on the authorities; T. Preuss, _Kaiser Diocletian und seine
Zeit_ (Leipzig, 1869); V. Casagrandi, _Diocleziano_ (Faenza, 1876); H.
Schiller, _Gesch. der romischen Kaiserzeit_, ii. (1887); T. Bernhardt,
_Geschichte Roms von Valerian bis zu Diocletians Tod_ (1867); A. J.
Mason, _The Persecution of Diocletian_ (1876); P. Allard, _La
Persecution de Diocletien_ (1890); V. Schultze in Herzog-Hauck's
_Realencyklopadie fur protestantische Theologie_, iv. (1898); Gibbon.
_Decline and Fall_, chaps. 13 and 16; A. W. Hunzinger, _Die
Diocletianische Staatsreform_ (1899); O. Seeck, "Die Schatzungsordnung
Diocletians" in _Zeitschrift fur Social- und Wirthschaftsgeschichte_
(1896), a valuable paper with notes containing references to sources;
and O. Seeck, _Geschichte des Untergangs der antiken Welt_, vol. i.
cap. 1. On his military reforms see T. Mommsen in _Hermes_, xxiv., and
on his tariff system, Diocletian, Edict of.
DIOCLETIAN, EDICT OF (_De pretiis rerum venalium_), an imperial edict
promulgated in A.D. 301, fixing a maximum price for provisions and other
articles of commerce, and a maximum rate of wages. Incomplete copies of
it have been discovered at various times in various places, the first
(in Greek and Latin) in 1709, at Stratonicea in Caria, by W. Sherard,
British consul at Smyrna, containing the preamble and the beginning of
the tables down to No. 403. This partial copy was completed by W. Bankes
in 1817. A second fragment (now in the museum at Aix in Provence) was
brought from Egypt in 1809; it supplements the preamble by specifying
the titles of the emperors and Caesars and the number of times they had
held them, whereby the date of publication can be accurately determined.
For other fragments and their localities see _Corpus Inscriptionum
Latinarum_ (iii., 1873, pp. 801 and 1055; and supplement i, 1893, p.
1909); special mention may be made of those of Elatea, Plataea and
Megalopolis. Latin being the official language all over the empire,
there was no official Greek translation (except for Greece proper), as
is shown by the variations in those portions of the text of which more
than one Greek version is extant. Further, all the fragments come from
the provinces which were under the jurisdiction of Diocletian, from
which it is argued that the edict was only published in the eastern
portion of the empire; certainly the phrase _universo orbi_ in the
preamble is against this, but the words may merely be an exaggerated
description of Diocletian's special provinces, and if it had been
published in the western portion as well, it is curious that no traces
have been found of it. The articles mentioned in the edict, which is
chiefly interesting as giving their relative values at the time, include
cereals, wine, oil, meat, vegetables, fruits, skins, leather, furs,
foot-gear, timber, carpets, articles of dress, and the wages range from
the ordinary labourer to the professional advocate. The unit of money
was the denarius, not the silver, but a copper coin introduced by
Diocletian, of which the value has been fixed approximately at 1/5th of
a penny. The punishment for exceeding the prices fixed was death or
deportation. The edict was a well-intended but abortive attempt, in
great measure in the interests of the soldiers, to meet the distress
caused by several bad harvests and commercial speculation. The actual
effect was disastrous: the restrictions thus placed upon commercial
freedom brought about a disturbance of the food supply in non-productive
countries, many traders were ruined, and the edict soon fell into
abeyance.
See Lactantius, _De mortibus persecutorum_, vii., a contemporary who,
as a Christian, writes with natural bias against Diocletian; T.
Mommsen, _Das Edict Diocletians_ (1851); W. M. Leake, _An Edict of
Diocletian_ (1826); W. H. Waddington, _L'Edit de Diocletien_ (1864),
and E. Lepaulle, _L'Edit de maximum_ (1886), both containing
introductions and ample notes; J. C. Rolfe and F. B. Tarbell in
_Papers of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens_, v.
(1892) (Plataea); W. Loring in _Journal of Hellenic Studies_, xi.
(1890) (Megalopolis); P. Paris in _Bulletin de correspondance
hellenique_, ix. (1885) (Elatea). There is an edition of the whole by
Mommsen, with notes by H. Blumner (1893).
DIODATI, GIOVANNI (1576-1649), Swiss Protestant divine, was born at
Geneva on the 6th of June 1576, of a noble family originally belonging
to Lucca, which had been expatriated on account of its Protestantism. At
the age of twenty-one he was nominated professor of Hebrew at Geneva on
the recommendation of Theodor Beza. In 1606 he became professor of
theology, in 1608 pastor, or parish minister, at Geneva, and in the
following year he succeeded Beza as professor of theology. As a preacher
he was eloquent, bold and fearless. He held a high place among the
reformers of Geneva, by whom he was sent on a mission to France in 1614.
He had previously visited Italy, and made the acquaintance of Paolo
Sarpi, whom he endeavoured unsuccessfully to engage in a reformation
movement. In 1618-1619 he attended the synod of Dort, and took a
prominent part in its deliberations, being one of the six divines
appointed to draw up the account of its proceedings. He was a thorough
Calvinist, and entirely sympathized with the condemnation of the
Arminians. In 1645 he resigned his professorship, and died at Geneva on
the 3rd of October 1649. Diodati is chiefly famous as the author of the
translation of the Bible into Italian (1603, edited with notes, 1607).
He also undertook a translation of the Bible into French, which appeared
with notes in 1644. Among his other works are his _Annotationes in
Biblia_ (1607), of which an English translation (_Pious and Learned
Annotations upon the Holy Bible_) was published in London in 1648, and
various polemical treatises, such as _De fictitio Pontificiorum
Purgatorio_ (1619); _De justa secessione Reformatorum ab Ecclesia
Romana_ (1628); _De Antichristo_, &c. He also published French
translations of Sarpi's _History of the Council of Trent_, and of Edwin
Sandys's _Account of the State of Religion in the West_.
DIODORUS CRONUS (4th century B.C.), Greek philosopher of the Megarian
school. Practically nothing is known of his life. Diogenes Laertius (ii.
111) tells a story that, while staying at the court of Ptolemy Soter,
Diodorus was asked to solve a dialectical subtlety by Stilpo. Not being
able to answer on the spur of the moment, he was nicknamed [Greek: ho
Kronos] (the God, equivalent to "slowcoach") by Ptolemy. The story goes
that he died of shame at his failure. Strabo, however, says (xiv. 658;
xvii. 838) that he took the name from Apollonius, his master. Like the
rest of the Megarian school he revelled in verbal quibbles, proving that
motion and existence are impossible. His was the famous sophism known as
the [Greek: Kyrieyon]. The impossible cannot result from the possible; a
past event cannot become other than it is; but if an event, at a given
moment, had been possible, from this possible would result something
impossible; therefore the original event was impossible. This problem
was taken up by Chrysippus, who admitted that he could not solve it.
Apart from these verbal gymnastics, Diodorus did not differ from the
Megarian school. From his great dialectical skill he earned the title
[Greek: ho dialektikos], or [Greek: dialektikotatos], a title which was
borne by his five daughters, who inherited his ability.
See Cicero, _De Fato_, 6, 7, 9; Aristotle, _Metaphysica_, [theta] 3;
Sext. Empiric., _adv. Math._ x. 85; Ritter and Preller, _Hist. philos.
Gr. et Rom._ chap. v. SS 234-236 (ed. 1869); and bibliography appended
to article MEGARIAN SCHOOL.
DIODORUS SICULUS, Greek historian, born at Agyrium in Sicily, lived in
the times of Julius Caesar and Augustus. From his own statements we
learn that he travelled in Egypt between 60-57 B.C. and that he spent
several years in Rome. The latest event mentioned by him belongs to the
year 21 B.C. He asserts that he devoted thirty years to the composition
of his history, and that he undertook frequent and dangerous journeys in
prosecution of his historical researches. These assertions, however,
find little credit with recent critics. The history, to which Diodorus
gave the name [Greek: bibliotheke historike] (_Bibliotheca historica_,
"Historical Library"), consisted of forty books, and was divided into
three parts. The first treats of the mythic history of the non-Hellenic,
and afterwards of the Hellenic tribes, to the destruction of Troy; the
second section ends with Alexander's death; and the third continues the
history as far as the beginning of Caesar's Gallic War. Of this
extensive work there are still extant only the first five books,
treating of the mythic history of the Egyptians, Assyrians, Ethiopians
and Greeks; and also the 11th to the 20th books inclusive, beginning
with the second Persian War, and ending with the history of the
successors of Alexander, previous to the partition of the Macedonian
empire (302). The rest exists only in fragments preserved in Photius and
the excerpts of Constantine Porphyrogenitus. The faults of Diodorus
arise partly from the nature of the undertaking, and the awkward form of
annals into which he has thrown the historical portion of his narrative.
He shows none of the critical faculties of the historian, merely setting
down a number of unconnected details. His narrative contains frequent
repetitions and contradictions, is without colouring, and monotonous;
and his simple diction, which stands intermediate between pure Attic and
the colloquial Greek of his time, enables us to detect in the narrative
the undigested fragments of the materials which he employed. In spite of
its defects, however, the _Bibliotheca_ is of considerable value as to
some extent supplying the loss of the works of older authors, from which
it is compiled. Unfortunately, Diodorus does not always quote his
authorities, but his general sources of information were--in history and
chronology, Castor, Ephorus and Apollodorus; in geography, Agatharchides
and Artemidorus. In special sections he followed special
authorities--e.g. in the history of his native Sicily, Philistus and
Timaeus.
_Editio princeps_, by H. Stephanus (1559); of other editions the best
are: P. Wesseling (1746), not yet superseded; L. Dindorf (1828-1831);
(text) L. Dindorf (1866-1868, revised by F. Vogel, 1888-1893 and C. T.
Fischer, 1905-1906). The standard works on the sources of Diodorus are
C. G. Heyne, _De fontibus et auctoribus historiarum Diodori_, printed
in Dindorf's edition, and C. A. Volquardsen, _Die Quellen der
griechischen und sicilischen Geschichten bei Diodor_ (1868); A. von
Mess, _Rheinisches Museum_ (1906); see also L. O. Brocker,
_Untersuchungen uber Diodor_ (1879), short, but containing much
information; O. Maass, _Kleitarch und Diodor_ (1894- ); G. J.
Schneider, _De Diodori fontibus_, i.-iv. (1880); C. Wachsmuth,
_Einleitung in das Studium der alten Geschichte_ (1895); GREECE;
_Ancient History_, "Authorities."
DIODOTUS, Seleucid satrap of Bactria, who rebelled against Antiochus II.
(about 255) and became the founder of the Graeco-Bactrian kingdom
(Trogus, _Prol._ 41; Justin xli. 4, 5, where he is wrongly called
Theodotus; Strabo xi. 515). His power seems to have extended over the
neighbouring provinces. Arsaces, the chieftain of the nomadic (Dahan)
tribe of the Parni, fled before him into Parthia and here became the
founder of the Parthian kingdom (Strabo l.c.). When Seleucus II. in 239
attempted to subjugate the rebels in the east he seems to have united
with him against the Parthians (Justin xli. 4, 9). Soon afterwards he
died and was succeeded by his son Diodotus II., who concluded a peace
with the Parthians (Justin l.c.). Diodotus II. was killed by another
usurper, Euthydemus (Polyb. xi. 34, 2). Of Diodotus I. we possess gold
and silver coins, which imitate the coins of Antiochus II.; on these he
sometimes calls himself Soter, "the saviour." As the power of the
Seleucids was weak and continually attacked by Ptolemy II., the eastern
provinces and their Greek cities were exposed to the invasion of the
nomadic barbarians and threatened with destruction (Polyb. xi. 34, 5);
thus the erection of an independent kingdom may have been a necessity
and indeed an advantage to the Greeks, and this epithet well deserved.
Diodotus Soter appears also on coins struck in his memory by the later
Graeco-Bactrian kings Agathocles and Antimachus. Cf. A. v. Sallet, _Die
Nachfolger Alexanders d. Gr. in Baktrien und Indien_; Percy Gardner,
_Catal. of the Coins of the Greek and Scythian Kings of Bactria and
India_ (Brit. Mus.); see also BACTRIA. (ED. M.)
DIOGENES, "the Cynic," Greek philosopher, was born at Sinope about 412
B.C., and died in 323 at Corinth, according to Diogenes Laertius, on the
day on which Alexander the Great died at Babylon. His father, Icesias, a
money-changer, was imprisoned or exiled on the charge of adulterating
the coinage. Diogenes was included in the charge, and went to Athens
with one attendant, whom he dismissed, saying, "If Manes can live
without Diogenes, why not Diogenes without Manes?" Attracted by the
ascetic teaching of Antisthenes, he became his pupil, despite the
brutality with which he was received, and rapidly excelled his master
both in reputation and in the austerity of his life. The stories which
are told of him are probably true; in any case, they serve to
illustrate the logical consistency of his character. He inured himself
to the vicissitudes of weather by living in a tub belonging to the
temple of Cybele. The single wooden bowl he possessed he destroyed on
seeing a peasant boy drink from the hollow of his hands. On a voyage to
Aegina he was captured by pirates and sold as a slave in Crete to a
Corinthian named Xeniades. Being asked his trade, he replied that he
knew no trade but that of governing men, and that he wished to be sold
to a man who needed a master. As tutor to the two sons of Xeniades, he
lived in Corinth for the rest of his life, which he devoted entirely to
preaching the doctrines of virtuous self-control. At the Isthmian games
he lectured to large audiences who turned to him from Antisthenes. It
was, probably, at one of these festivals that he craved from Alexander
the single boon that he would not stand between him and the sun, to
which Alexander replied "If I were not Alexander, I would be Diogenes."
On his death, about which there exist several accounts, the Corinthians
erected to his memory a pillar on which there rested a dog of Parian
marble. His ethical teaching will be found in the article CYNICS (q.v.).
It may suffice to say here that virtue, for him, consisted in the
avoidance of all physical pleasure; that pain and hunger were positively
helpful in the pursuit of goodness; that all the artificial growths of
society appeared to him incompatible with truth and goodness; that
moralization implies a return to nature and simplicity. He has been
credited with going to extremes of impropriety in pursuance of these
ideas; probably, however, his reputation has suffered from the undoubted
immorality of some of his successors. Both in ancient and in modern
times, his personality has appealed strongly to sculptors and to
painters. Ancient busts exist in the museums of the Vatican, the Louvre
and the Capitol. The interview between Diogenes and Alexander is
represented in an ancient marble bas-relief found in the Villa Albani.
Rubens, Jordaens, Steen, Van der Werff, Jeaurat, Salvator Rosa and Karel
Dujardin have painted various episodes in his life.
The chief ancient authority for his life is Diogenes Laertius vi. 20;
see also Mayor's notes on Juvenal, _Satires_, xiv. 305-314; and
article CYNICS.
DIOGENES APOLLONIATES (c. 460 B.C.), Greek natural philosopher, was a
native of Apollonia in Crete. Although of Dorian stock, he wrote in the
Ionic dialect, like all the _physiologi_ (physical philosophers). There
seems no doubt that he lived some time at Athens, where it is said that
he became so unpopular (probably owing to his supposed atheistical
opinions) that his life was in danger. The views of Diogenes are
transferred in the _Clouds_ (264 ff.) of Aristophanes to Socrates. Like
Anaximenes, he believed air to be the one source of all being, and all
other substances to be derived from it by condensation and rarefaction.
His chief advance upon the doctrines of Anaximenes is that he asserted
air, the primal force, to be possessed of intelligence--"the air which
stirred within him not only prompted, but instructed. The air as the
origin of all things is necessarily an eternal, imperishable substance,
but as soul it is also necessarily endowed with consciousness." In fact,
he belonged to the old Ionian school, whose doctrines he modified by the
theories of his contemporary Anaxagoras, although he avoided his
dualism. His most important work was [Greek: Peri physeos] (_De
natura_), of which considerable fragments are extant (chiefly in
Simplicius); it is possible that he wrote also Against the Sophists and
_On the Nature of Man_, to which the well-known fragment about the veins
would belong; possibly these discussions were subdivisions of his great
work.
Fragments in F. Mullach, _Fragmenta philosophorum Graecorum_, i.
(1860); F. Panzerbieter, _Diogenes Apolloniates_ (1830), with
philosophical dissertation; J. Burnet, _Early Greek Philosophy_
(1892); H. Ritter and L. Preller, _Historia philosophiae_ (4th ed.,
1869), SS 59-68; E. Krause, _Diogenes von Apollonia_ (1909). See
IONIAN SCHOOL.
DIOGENES LAERTIUS (or LAERTIUS DIOGENES), the biographer of the Greek
philosophers, is supposed by some to have received his surname from the
town of Laerte in Cilicia, and by others from the Roman family of the
Laertii. Of the circumstances of his life we know nothing. He must have
lived after Sextus Empiricus (c. A.D. 200), whom he mentions, and
before Stephanus of Byzantium (c. A.D. 500), who quotes him. It is
probable that he flourished during the reign of Alexander Severus (A.D.
222-235) and his successors. His own opinions are equally uncertain. By
some he was regarded as a Christian; but it seems more probable that he
was an Epicurean. The work by which he is known professes to give an
account of the lives and sayings of the Greek philosophers. Although it
is at best an uncritical and unphilosophical compilation, its value, as
giving us an insight into the private life of the Greek sages, justly
led Montaigne to exclaim that he wished that instead of one Laertius
there had been a dozen. He treats his subject in two divisions which he
describes as the Ionian and the Italian schools; the division is quite
unscientific. The biographies of the former begin with Anaximander, and
end with Clitomachus, Theophrastus and Chrysippus; the latter begins
with Pythagoras, and ends with Epicurus. The Socratic school, with its
various branches, is classed with the Ionic; while the Eleatics and
sceptics are treated under the Italic. The whole of the last book is
devoted to Epicurus, and contains three most interesting letters
addressed to Herodotus, Pythocles and Menoeceus. His chief authorities
were Diocles of Magnesia's _Cursory Notice_ ([Greek: Epidrome]) _of
Philosophers_ and Favorinus's _Miscellaneous History_ and _Memoirs_.
From the statements of Burlaeus (Walter Burley, a 14th-century monk) in
his _De vita et moribus philosophorum_ the text of Diogenes seems to
have been much fuller than that which we now possess. In addition to the
_Lives_, Diogenes was the author of a work in verse on famous men, in
various metres.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.--_Editio princeps_ (1533); H. Hubner and C. Jacobitz
with commentary (1828-1833); C. G. Cobet (1850), text only. See F.
Nietzsche, "De Diogenis Laertii fontibus" in _Rheinisches Museum_,
xxiii., xxiv. (1868-1869); J. Freudenthal, "Zu Quellenkunde Diog.
Laert.," in _Hellenistische Studien_, iii. (1879); O. Maass, _De
biographis Graecis_ (1880); V. Egger, _De fontibus Diog. Laert._
(1881). There is an English translation by C. D. Yonge in Bohn's
Classical Library.
DIOGENIANUS, of Heraclea on the Pontus (or in Caria), Greek grammarian,
flourished during the reign of Hadrian. He was the author of an
alphabetical lexicon, chiefly of poetical words, abridged from the great
lexicon ([Greek: Peri glosson]) of Pamphilus of Alexandria (fl. A.D. 50)
and other similar works. It was also known by the title [Greek:
Periergopenetes] (for the use of "industrious poor students"). It formed
the basis of the lexicon, or rather glossary, of Hesychius of
Alexandria, which is described in the preface as a new edition of the
work of Diogenianus. We still possess a collection of proverbs under his
name, probably an abridgment of the collection made by himself from his
lexicon (ed. by E. Leutsch and F. W. Schneidewin in _Paroemiographi
Graeci_, i. 1839). Diogenianus was also the author of an Anthology of
epigrams, of treatises on rivers, lakes, fountains and promontories; and
of a list (with map) of all the towns in the world.
DIOGNETUS, EPISTLE TO, one of the early Christian apologies. Diognetus,
of whom nothing is really known, has expressed a desire to know what
Christianity really means--"What is this new race" of men who are
neither pagans nor Jews? "What is this new interest which has entered
into men's lives now and not before?" The anonymous answer begins with a
refutation of the folly of worshipping idols, fashioned by human hands
and needing to be guarded if of precious material. The repulsive smell
of animal sacrifices is enough to show their monstrous absurdity. Next
Judaism is attacked. Jews abstain from idolatry and worship one God, but
they fall into the same error of repulsive sacrifice, and have absurd
superstitions about meats and sabbaths, circumcision and new moons. So
far the task is easy; but the mystery of the Christian religion "think
not to learn from man." A passage of great eloquence follows, showing
that Christians have no obvious peculiarities that mark them off as a
separate race. In spite of blameless lives they are hated. Their home is
in heaven, while they live on earth. "In a word, what the soul is in a
body, this the Christians are in the world.... The soul is enclosed in
the body, and yet itself holdeth the body together: so Christians are
kept in the world as in a prison-house, and yet they themselves hold the
world together." This strange life is inspired in them by the almighty
and invisible God, who sent no angel or subordinate messenger to teach
them, but His own Son by whom He created the universe. No man could have
known God, had He not thus declared Himself. "If thou too wouldst have
this faith, learn first the knowledge of the Father. For God loved men,
for whose sake He made the world.... Knowing Him, thou wilt love Him and
imitate His goodness; and marvel not if a man can imitate God; he can,
if God will." By kindness to the needy, by giving them what God has
given to him, a man can become "a god of them that receive, an imitator
of God." "Then shalt thou on earth behold God's life in heaven; then
shalt thou begin to speak the mysteries of God." A few lines after this
the letter suddenly breaks off.
Even this rapid summary may show that the writer was a man of no
ordinary power, and there is no other early Christian writing outside
the New Testament which appeals so strongly to modern readers. The
letter has been often classed with the writings of the Apostolic
Fathers, and in some ways it seems to mark the transition from the
sub-apostolic age to that of the Apologists. Bishop Lightfoot, who
speaks of the letter as "one of the noblest and most impressive of early
Christian apologies," places it c. A.D. 150, and inclines to identify
Diognetus with the tutor of Marcus Aurelius. Harnack and others would
place it later, perhaps in the 3rd century. There are some striking
parallels in method and language to the Apology of Aristides (q.v.), and
also to the early "Preaching of Peter."
The one manuscript which contained this letter perished by fire at
Strassburg in 1870, but happily it had been accurately collated by Reuss
nine years before. It formed part of a collection of works supposed to
be by Justin Martyr, and to this mistaken attribution its preservation
is no doubt due. Both thought and language mark the author off entirely
from Justin. The end of the letter is lost, but there followed in the
codex the end of a homily,[1] which was attached without a break to the
epistle: this points to the loss in some earlier codex of pages
containing the end of the letter and the beginning of the homily.
The Epistle may be read in J. B. Lightfoot's _Apostolic Fathers_ (ed.
min.), where there is also a translation into English. (J. A. R.)