Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume V.djvu/751

 DECALOGUE DECATUR 747 DECALOGUE (Gr. dim, ten, and Uyo$, word), the ten commandments, or more properly, the ten words or sayings which God delivered to the Jews through Moses, according to Exod. xx. 3-17, and Deut. v. 7-21. The two versions are almost identical, except in the reason as- signed for the fourth commandment, which is totally different in the two. They were writ- ten, as it is said, " by the finger of God," upon two tables of stone, and given to Moses upon Mount Sinai. They contain the fundamental precepts of religion and morality, and are almost universally regarded as the golden rules for every society, age, and people. The division of the commandments has elicited a manifold difference of opinion. Of the various modes of dividing them which have found numerous and weighty defenders, the following may be regarded as historically the most important : the Origenian or Philonic, the common Jewish or Talmudic, and the two Masoretic. Accord- ing to the Origenian division, which is sup- ported by the Jewish testimony of Philo and Josephus, and the authority of Origen, Gregory Nazianzen, and Jerome, the first precept con- sists mainly in the words : " Thou shalt have no other gods but me;" the second forbids images of God; the third forbids taking the name of God in vain; the fourth commands the sanctification of the sabbath day; the fifth, to honor one's father and mother; the sixth forbids murder; the seventh, adultery; the eighth, theft ; the ninth, bearing false witness ; and the tenth, concupiscence. This division has been adopted by the Helvetian and An- glican churches, by the Lutherans of the school of Bucer, and by the Socinians. The Talmudic division, which is also that of the modern Jews, being supported among other authorities by Maimonides's "Book of the Command- ments," and Aben Ezra's commentary on the Pentateuch, differs from the preceding only in making the words " I am the Lord thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage," the first com- mandment, and in considering the prohibition of the worship of other gods and of images as the second. This division is proved by a quotation from Julian in Cyril of Jerusalem to have been generally known in the early cen- turies of the Christian era, and through the authority of Pseudo-Athanasius has also been adopted by the Greek churches, including the Russian, which has sanctioned it in its cate- chism. The Masoretic division, in both forms, so called on account of its being based on the He- brew text as revised according to the rule of the Masorah, unites the passage on the exclusive worship of God with the prohibition of images to make the first commandment, and restores the number ten, which is distinctly specified in the Scriptures, by dividing the last into two; the text of Exodus separating by the mark of division (o) the prohibited coveting of a neighbor's house, as the ninth commandment, from the prohibited coveting of all other ob- jects as the tenth, while the text of Deuteron- omy separates and gives first the command- ment against coveting another's wife. The di- vision according to Exodus has been adopted by the Lutheran church, and also by the coun- cil of Trent ; the other Masoretic form, which is supported by the Septuagint, is adopted by St. Augustine, Bede, and Peter Lombard. The question, how many of the commandments were engraved on each of the tables of Moses, has been agitated, mostly on philosophical grounds. Philo, and after him Irenseus, are for two pentads ; others believe the command- ments on worship alone to have been engraved on the first table, which is regarded by some as the more divine of the two. DECAMPS, Alexandra Gabriel, a French painter, born in Paris, March 3, 1803, died at Fontaine- bleau, Aug. 22, 1860. In early life he visited Turkey, and afterward executed a great num- ber of pictures of oriental scenery and charac- teristics. He gained a high reputation by these works, as well as by his pictures of animals, especially monkeys. One of them, " The Mon- key Connoisseurs," is intended as a satire on the jury of the Paris academy of painting, on account of the severe criticisms passed upon his works. Among his best historical pictures are " Joseph sold by his Brethren " and the " Defeat of the Ciinbri." His style of painting was bold and original, his coloring brilliant, and he was especially happy in presenting strong contrasts in a humorous and picturesque manner. He gave an interesting account of his boyhood and his early studies in a letter addressed to Veron, who published it in his Memoires <Vun bourgeois de Paris. DE CANDOLLE. See CANDOLLB. DECAPODS, the order of ten-footed crusta- ceans, having normally nine cephalic segments and five- foot segments, each of the latter bear- ing a pair of so-called feet. They embrace the highest crustaceans, like the crabs, lobster, and squill. The lower forms extend back in time, as far as is positively known, to the beginning of the carboniferous period. DECAPOLIS (Gr. <$f*a, ten, and TnJA/r, city), a district of eastern Palestine, which contained the following ten cities: Damascus, Philadel- phia, Raphana, Scythopolis, Gadara, Hippos, Dion, Pella, Galasa or Gerasa, and Canatha. The cities were probably rebuilt, partially col- onized, and given political privileges after the conquest of Syria by the Romans, 64 B. C., and at some time were confederated. The word is not used to designate the country after the 1st century. DECATUR. I. A S. W. county of Georgia, bordering on Florida, intersected by Flint riv- er, and bounded W. by the Chattahoochee ; area, 1,062 sq. m. ; pop. in 1870, 15,183, of whom 7,718 were colored. The surface is ir- regular, and the soil productive. The Atlantic and Gulf railroad terminates at Bainbridge. The chief productions in 1870 were 215,040 bushels of Indian corn, 23,055 of oats, 52,115