Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 1.djvu/1082

Rh 10G4 DOMNINUS. IMaesa, along with the bones of Gela, to the cemetery of the Antonines. There can be little doubt that Domna was her proper Syrian name, analogous to the designations oiMaesa, Soaemias, and Mammaea, borne by other members of the same family. The idea that it is to be regarded as a contraction for rfomiraa, and was employed because the latter would have been offensive to a Roman ear, scarcely requires refu- tation. (See Reimarus on Dion Cass. Ixxiv. 3.) One accusation, of the foulest description, has been brought against this princess by several ancient historians. Spartianus and Aurelius Victor expressly affirm that Julia not only formed an incestuous connexion with Caracalla, but that they were positively joined in marriage : the story is repeated by Eutropius and Orosius also, while Herodian hints at such a report (iv, 16), when he relates that she was nicknamed Jocasta by the licentious rabble of Alexandria. But the silence of Dion Cassius, who was not only alive, but occupied a prominent public station during the whole reign, on the subject, is a sufficient reason for rejecting the tale altogether. It is absolutely impossible that he should have been ignorant of such a rumour, if actually in circulation, and it is equally certain, from the tone of his narrative, that he would not have suppressed it had it been deserving of the felightest credit. On the other hand, the vouchers for the fact are in themselves totally destitute of authority upon all points which admit of doubt or controversy, and in the present case were so ill- informed as to suppose that Julia was only the step-mother of Caracalla. (Dion Cass. Ixxiv. 3, Ixxv. 15, Ixxvi. 4, 16, Ixxvii. 2, 10, 18, Ixviii. 4, 23, 24 ; Herodian, iv. 13, 16, v. 3 ; Spartian. Sept. Sev. 3, 18, Caracall. 3, 10 ; Capitolin. Clod.Albin. 3, Macrin. 9 ; Lamprid. ^ /^j. Sev. 5 ; Victor, Epit. 21 ; de Caes. 21 ; Eutrop. viii. 1 1 ; Oros. vii, 18 ; Philostrat. Vtt. Sophist. Vii. ApoUon. i. 3 ; Tzetzes, ChU. vi. II. 45.) [V. R.] COIN OP DOMNA JULIA. DOMNI'NUS (Ao/o/ti/osX 1. A Christian, who apostatized to Judaism in the persecution under Severus, about A. D. 200, and to whom Serapion, bishop of Antioch, addressed a treatise intended to recall him to the faith. (Euseb. Hist. Ecd. vi. 12; comp. Fabric, Bill. Graec. vol. vii. p. 166.) 2. Of Laodiceia, in Syria, was a disciple of Syria- nus, and a fellow-pupil of Proclus the Lycian, and must, therefore, have flourished about the middle of the fifth century after Christ. He appears to have been peculiarly bigoted to his own opinions, and is said to have corrupted the doctrines of Plato by mixing up with them his private notions. This called forth a treatise from Proclus, intended as a statement of the genuine principles of Platonism {llpayfiania KaQapTUcfj t<2u Soyfidroov tov TlKaTw- ws), a work which Fabricius, apparently by an oversight, ascribes to Domninus himself. {Bihl. (w'raec. vol. ii. p. 171; Damasc. ap. Suid. s. v. DOXATUS. 3. Of Antioch, an historian, quoted frequently in the chronicle of Joannes Malelas. Bentley thinks {Ep. ad Mill. p. 73), that he was bishop of An- tioch, and wrote a history of events from the be- ginning of the world to the time of Justinian, to the 33d year of whose reign (a. d. 560) the chronicle of Malelas extends. ( Voss. deHist. Graec. p. 435, ed. Westermann ; Fabric. BiU. Graec. vol. iii. p. 171, vii. p. 445.) [E. E.] DOMNI'NUS, a Graeco-Roman jurist, who probably flourished shortly before Justinian, or in the commencement of that emperor's reign. He may be the same person to whom was addressed a rescript of the emperor Zeno, (Rasil.vii. p. 711, Cod. 10, tit. 3, 8. 7.) He was a commentator upon the Gregorian, Hermogenian, and Theodosian Codes. (Reiz, ad Theojihilum, pp. 1243, 1245.) Theo- doras, a contemporary of Justinian, calls him his "very learned teacher" (Basil, vi. p. 217); but Zachariae imagines that Domninus could scarcely have been, in a literal sense, the teacher of Theodoras, who survived Justinian, and lived under Tiberius. (Zachariae, Anecdota,^. xlviii.) By Suarez {IVoiit. Basil. § 42), Domninus is called Leo Domninus ; but this seems to be a mistake. (Asscmaiii, Bi/tl. Jur. Orient, lib. ii. c. 20, p. 405.) By Nic. Com- nenus Papadopoli (Praenot. Mystug. pp.372, 402), a Domninus, Nomicus, JCtus, is quoted as having commented upon the Novellae Constitutiones of Constantinus and Leo ; but the untrustworthiness of Papadopoli, in this case, is exposed by Ileim- bach, {A7iecdota, i. p. 222). The names Domnus and Domninus are some- times confounded in manuscripts. They are formed from the word Dominus, and, like other words denoting title (as Patricius), became converted into family names. (Menage, Ainoen. Jur. p. 171.) A jurist Domnus is mentioned by Libanius, who addressed letters to him. (Liban. Ep. iii. 277, 1124, ed. Wolff-.) [J. T.G.J DOMNUS. [Domninus.] DOMNUS (Ao^uj/os), is mentioned in the Com- mentary on the Aphorisms of Hippocrates that are incorrectly attributed to Oribasius (p. 8, ed. Basil. 1535), as having written a commentary on this work. He was probably quite a late author, perhaps living in the fifth or sixth century after Christ ; but it is uncertain whether he was the same person as either of the following physicians of the same name. 2. A Jewish physician, the tutor to Gesius, in the fourth century after Christ, by whom his own reputation was eclipsed, and his pupils enticed away. (Suid. s. v. Feaios.) 3. A heathen physician at Constantinople, in the fourth century after Christ, of whose death, in the time of the plague, an account is given by St. Ephraem Syrus. (Opera^ vol. i. p. 91, ed. Rom. 1589, fol.) [W. A. G.] DONA'TIUS VALENS. [Valens.] DONA'TUS, was bishop of Casa Nigra, in Nii- midia, in the early part of the fourth century (a. d. 312), and from him, together with another prelate of the same name, the successor of Majori- nus in the disputed election to the see of Carthage, the Donatists derived their appellation. This was the first important schism which distracted the Christian church; and, although in a great mea- sure confined within the limits of Africa, proved, for three centuries, the source of great confusion, scandal, and bloodshed. The circumstances which gave rise to the division, and the first steps in the