Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume V.djvu/797

 DEMOCRITUS mission to return to Greece; and the queen induced Darius to send him thither, accompa- nied by 15 Persians, on a secret mission to as- certain the best points of attack for an expe- dition planned by the Persians. The Greek promised to return, and in order to delude the king refused to take any of his own property, saying he should like to find things as they were on coming back to Susa. Laden with rich presents, he went to Sidon, where he and his comrades embarked, and a survey of Greece was made (518). Passing to Italy, Democedes persuaded Aristophilides, ruler of Tarentum, to seize the Persians as spies, while he contin- ued his journey to Crotona. The Persians were soon released, proceeded to Crotona, and seized Democedes in the market place ; but he was rescued by his fellow citizens, who also robbed the Persians of their store ship. He remained in his home, and married the daugh- ter of the wrestler Milo. Democedes is said to have written a work on medicine, and his pro- fessional reputation was almost equal to that of Hippocrates. DEJMOCRITUS, the founder of the atomistic philosophy, born in Abdera, Thrace, about 460 B. 0., died in 361. He inherited a large fortune, travelled extensively in Asia, and after his return held high offices. Of the details of his life little is positively known. He was called the "laughing philosopher," in contrast to the " weeping philosopher " Heraclitus, be- cause he taught that a philosopher must regard the follies of man with the most serene equa- nimity. He wrote many works on physical, moral, mathematical, musical, and technical subjects. The most complete collection of the remnants of his writings is that of Mullach (Berlin, 1843). He thus explains the theory of his philosophy : " Everything is composed of atoms or infinitely small elements, each with a definite quality, form, and movement, whose inevitable union and separation shape all dif- ferent things and forms, laws and effects, and dissolve them again for new combinations. The gods themselves and the human mind originate from such atoms. There are no casu- alties ; everything is necessary and determined by the nature of the atoms, which have certain mutual affinities, attractions, and repulsions." DEMOIVRE, Abraham. See MOIVEE. DEMONOLOGY, a supposititious science which treats of demons (Gr. 6ai/j,uv), a name given by the ancients to a class of beings supposed to hold a middle place between men and the celestial deities. Demonology plays a prom- inent part in the oldest religions of the East, and it was an element in the original worship of the primitive inhabitants prior to the Aryan migration. More ancient in India than the Vedas, it has maintained itself there, either secretly or by public sanction, alike in Brah- tnanism, Buddhism, and Islamism. Its fullest and most systematic development is found in Buddhism, which reckons six classes of beings in the universe, two only of which, gods and DEMONOLOGY 793 men, are accounted good ; the other four (the A suras, irrational animals, Pretas or goblins, and the denizens of hell) being esteemed evil. The Asuras are the most powerful of the wicked spirits, and are in constant warfare with the gods (Devas). They dwell beneath the three-pronged root of the world-mountain, occupying the nadir, while their great enemy Indra, the highest Buddhist god, sits upon the pinnacle of the mountain in the zenith. The Meru, which stands between the earth and the heavens, around which the heavenly bodies revolve, is the battle field of the Asuras and the Devas. The three lower divisions of the Meru are held by various races of demons, the fourth being the lowest heaven, and occupied by the four Maharajahs, who are appointed to be kings of the demons. Around the Asuras cluster numerous associated groups, as the Eakshasas,. probably of Aryan origin, appear- ing sometimes as gigantic opponents of the gods, sometimes as terrible ogres with bloody tongues and long tusks, eager to devour hu- man flesh and blood, and lurking in fields and forests; the Jakshas, Nagas, Mahoragas, &c. According to their nature and office, the dif- ferent species of demons dwell in the air, the water, the earth, in holes and clefts, in the lower portio'ns of the Meru, with the gods whose servants they are, or on the golden mountains which enclose the inland seas in the Buddhistic system of worlds. Among the Persians the Indian terminology is transposed, the great Asura representing the good creating principle, and the devs being the evil spirits. As completed by Zoroaster, the Persian sys- tem made the principle and personifications of evil nearly an equal balance and eternal paral- lel with the good principle and its personifi- cations. Ormuzd created six resplendent an- gels of love and holiness, called Amshaspands, himself being the seventh and highest ; Ahri- man then created the six archdevs, to oppose the Amshaspands. Ormuzd created 28 Izeds, or beneficent spirits, who presided over the heavenly bodies, and showered good gifts upon men ; but Ahriman made the 28 devs to cause all manner of turmoil and distress. The most powerful and pernicious of the devs was the two-forked Ashmogh. The next series of Ormuzd's creations was an infinite number of Fervers, spirits representing the archetypes of all things, and which became the guardian angels of men, animals, and plants. Ahriman made an equal number of corresponding evil spirits, so that every man and thing has its at- tendant bad as well as good genius. To arrest the progress of evil, Ormuzd made an egg filled with spirits of light, but Ahriman made an egg which contained an equal force of spirits of darkness, and then broke both together, so that good and evil were only the more con- founded. Ormuzd created the material world, but could not exclude Ahriman and his min- isters from its deep opaque elements.. Ormuzd created a bull, the symbol of life, which Ahri-