Page:Imperialdictiona02eadi Brandeis.pdf/120

DIN Dimsdale's celebrity as an inoculator for the small-pox, induced the Empress Catherine to invite him to Russia. Thither he went in 1768, and having successfully inoculated the czarina and her son, was rewarded with the rank of baron of the empire and of counsellor of state. He was, besides, appointed physician to the empress, and in addition to a pension of £500 per annum, received a present of £12,000. His son, who accompanied him, was presented with a gold snuff-box set with diamonds. On his way home he was admitted to a private audience of Frederick III. of Prussia, at Sans Souci. After his return he again resumed practice at Hertford. Dimsdale had in 1766 published his "Thoughts on General and Partial Inoculation," a work which was immediately circulated on the continent, and translated into almost all languages. His "Observations on the Introduction to the Plan of the Dispensary for General Inoculation," involved him in a pamphlet controversy with Dr. Lettsom. He afterwards opened a banking-house in Cornhill, in partnership with his sons and the Barnards; and having in 1780 been elected representative for the burgh of Hertford, declined all practice except for the relief of the poor. He paid another visit to Russia in 1781, when he inoculated the emperor and his brother Constantine. Resigning his seat in parliament in 1790, he passed some winters at Bath, and at length settled finally at Hertford, where he died on the 30th December, 1800.—R. M., A.  * DINDORF,, a German philologist, was born at Leipzig in 1802. In 1828 he was appointed to a professorship in the university of his native town, which he, however, resigned in 1833, in order to devote himself exclusively to his literary labours, especially to the new edition of Stephani Thesaurus Linguæ Græcæ. He has edited a great number of Greek classics, amongst which we must particularly mention his edition of Demosthenes, Oxford, 1846-49, 7 vols.; and his "Poetæ Scenici Græci," Oxford, 1851.—His brother, , born at Leipzig in 1805, has materially assisted him in the publication of the Thesaurus, and has besides edited several Greek authors.—K. E.  * DINGELSTEDT,, a German poet, was born in 1814 at Halsdorf, electorate of Hassia, and studied at Marburg. Soon after he successively became teacher at the gymnasia of Kassel and Fulda, but in 1841 resigned his office, and travelled in France, England, Holland, and Belgium. In 1843 he was appointed librarian to the king of Wurtemberg, and in 1850 intendant of the Munich theatre. Several years after he was called to Weimar in the same capacity. Among his poems, the "Lieder eines politischen Nachtwächters" had the greatest success. The liberal principles and feelings, however, which were expressed in them, he afterwards renounced in a rather flippant manner. He also wrote a tragedy—"Das Haus des Barneveldt"—novels, and sketches of travel.—K. E.  DINOCRATES, the Greek architect who planned the city of Alexandria in Egypt. Warmly patronized by Alexander, he possessed the genius required to execute the plans of such a comprehensive mind as that of the Macedonian conqueror. The plan of the new town was such a wonder of regularity; it presented such a magnificence of public buildings, and such a comfortable disposition of private dwellings, that it was declared by the ancients to deserve to stand as a model for all future cities. Dinocrates was deemed worthy to restore that wonder of antiquity, the temple of Ephesus, and to erect one in honour of the second Arsinoe. Amongst his gigantic suggestions was the project for transforming Mount Athos into a statue of his great patron. The funeral pile of Hephæstion was designed by Dinocrates, and consisted of pyramidal terraces enriched by all that art could produce. This work, which was only to serve for a momentary display, was suggested, perhaps, by the far-famed tomb of Mausolus, which was then being built, and by other monuments on the same principle. The name of this great architect is often, but wrongly, recorded as Dinochares, Cheirocrates, Stasicrates, Timocrates, and even Diodes. He is supposed to have been a native of Rhegium, and to have flourished between 330 and 278 .—R. M.  DINTER,, a distinguished German educator and catechist, was born at Borna in Saxony on the 29th February, 1760, and died at Königsberg, 29th May, 1831. From 1797 to 1807 he superintended the training college for schoolmasters at Dresden, and in 1816 was called to Königsberg as ecclesiastical councillor and professor of theology. Not only in his official capacity, but still more by his numerous writings, he exercised a wholesome and widely-spread influence on the German parish schools and their masters. His most popular, though perhaps not his most solid work, was his "Schullehrer Bibel" (the Bible adapted to the use of Schoolmasters). His complete works were published after his death, in forty-two volumes, by ____ Wilhelm.—K. E.  DIOCLETIANUS,, Emperor of Rome, was born, near Salona, in Dalmatia in 245. His extraction was mean, according to some accounts even servile. He was originally called Diocles, from the small town of Dioclea, the birthplace of his mother; but on his elevation to the throne he assumed the more aristocratic name of Valerius, and added the Latinized form Diocletianus as a surname. He served for many years in the army, and soon attracted the favourable notice of Aurelian and Probus, by whom he was intrusted with several commands of importance. After holding for a time the office of governor of Mœsia, he was appointed captain of the domestici, or body-guards, a rank which he retained during the reign of Carus. On the death of that emperor, and of Numerianus his son, Diocletian was invested with the supreme power by the army in the east; and he immediately marched homewards to meet Carinus, the elder son of Carus, who had shared the imperial dignity with Numerianus, and was recognized in Italy as his successor. The rival armies met near Margus in Mœsia, and a battle ensued, in which the troops of Diocletian had already given way, when Carinus was killed by one of his own followers, and both parties united in recognizing the right of the surviving claimant to the throne of the Cæsars, in 285. Diocletian found the empire in a precarious condition. The northern frontier was subject to continual incursions by the barbarian tribes; the Gallic peasantry were in open insurrection in the west; and in the east the Persians were taking vigorous measures for renewing the war. He could not conduct the defence of the empire in person at all the points which were threatened, and he knew well from the fate of many of his predecessors in office, that it was unsafe lor him to invest any subject with the command of an army. In these circumstances he adopted a policy which was afterwards carried out to a more advanced stage. With the view of providing at once for the defence of the empire and the safety of the emperor, he assumed as a colleague Marcus Aurelius Maximianus, one of his most experienced generals, who conducted the war in Europe, while Diocletian himself undertook the defence of the East. In 292 it was found necessary still further to subdivide the sovereign authority. Galerius and Constantius Chlorus were accordingly invested with the purple, and the title of Cæsars was conferred on them, to distinguish them from the senior emperors, who were called Augusti. Each of the four colleagues took upon himself the government of one quarter of the empire; and their united efforts soon re-established the Roman power in all parts of the world. Diocletian chose for himself the command in Egypt and Persia. He was relieved from the necessity of active service in the Persian war by the arrival of his more youthful colleague Galerius, who took his place at the head of the army; but during the whole of the Egyptian war he commanded in person, and brought it to a triumphant issue, capturing the cities of Alexandria, Eusiris, and Coptos. Diocletian entered on the twentieth year of his reign in 303. A festival was held at Rome in honour of the occasion; and the two Augusti celebrated the success of their arms by a splendid triumph, memorable from its being the last that Rome ever witnessed. Diocletian did not remain long in the capital. Early in 304 he set out for Nicomedia; but he had not proceeded far when he was seized with a dangerous illness, which clung to him during the succeeding winter. Finding himself unable to sustain the cares of the empire, he resolved to abdicate the throne, and to pass the remainder of his life in retirement. The ceremony of abdication took place near Nicomedia in the year 305, Maximian resigning the sovereignty on the same day at Milan. Diocletian chose the neighbourhood of Salona as his future residence; and the extension and adornment of the magnificent palace which he had built there, together with the cultivation of a garden, formed his principal occupations till his death in 313. The character of Diocletian is in many points of view worthy of our esteem. The uniform success of his arms leaves no doubt of his ability as a soldier, and the united prudence and vigour of his administration entitle him to a very high rank as a politician. But a stain has been left on his memory by the cruel persecution of the christians carried on during the later years of his reign, 