Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VI.djvu/214

 206 DOMITIAN DONA ANA each domino there is a different combination of numbers. The game is played with 28 dom- inos, t!u- reverse sides of which are unmarked and all alike. This side being up, each player takes an equal number of the dominos. The person who has drawn the one which has the highest number of points puts it down; the next domino played has to be one with a num- ber the same as one of the two numbers pre- sented by the first, and the two similar ends are joined. The next may match the remain- ing number of either the first or the second domino, and thus the game continues till one player has put down all his pieces. There are a number of variations in the mode of playing this game. The combinations are neither very varied nor intricate, and yet it requires mem- ory and calculation. DOMITIAN (Titus Flavins Domitianus Augustus), a Roman emperor, born Oct. 24, A. D..51, killed Sept. 18, 96. He was the younger son of Vespasian, and narrowly escaped death at Rome by concealing himself when his father was proclaimed emperor by the legions of the East. On the fall of Vitellius he ruled the capital as Caesar till the return of his father. Having then exhibited a sanguinary and licen- tious temper, he was excluded both by Vespa- sian (69-79) and Titus (79-81) from all share in public affairs, and spent his time on an estate near Rome, in effeminate pleasures, as well as in writing and reciting poetical compositions. On the death of Titus, which was ascribed to him by the people, he was hailed emperor by the soldiers. At the beginning of his reign he concealed his vices, and even manifested some firmness in the regular management of affairs ; but he soon began to display his vanity and jealousies. Almost every citizen of Rome who was noted for wealth or learning was either murdered or banished. In his wars he was personally unsuccessful against the Oatti and other German tribes, as well as against the Dacians, whose king Decebalus compelled him to purchase peace on humiliating terms. These reverses, however, did not prevent him from triumphing and decorating himself with the names of Germanicus and Dacicus. Govern- ment officials, says a historian, were busy in keeping the people of Rome from laughing on such occasions. Games were employed to amuse them. Agricola, the heroic commander in Britain, was recalled because of his victo- ries, amlthe jealousy of his fame probably caus- ed his subsequent death. War having been terminated by an ignominious peace with De- cebalus in 89, Domitian satiated his thirst for blood at home, until, as Tacitus says, silent fear tvi-ned at Rome. After many fruitless conspiracies, he was finally killed by three offi- cers of his court who had been warned of their intended death by the emperor's wife Domitia, whom he had also doomed. UOMREMY, or Domremy la Pucelle, a village of Lorraine, France, on the Meuse, in the depart- ment of Vosges, 7 m. N. of Neufchateau, the birthplace of Joan of Arc. The cottage in which she was born had become a stable, but was repaired in 1820 at the expense of the government, and a free school for girlg con- nected with it. A chapel has also been dedi- cated to her, and a monument raised in her honor, to which Louis Philippe contributed in 1843 a cast of the statue of the maid of Or- leans executed by his daughter Princess Marie. DON (Lat. dominus, lord or master), a title of honor among the Spaniards, the feminine form being dona, and the corresponding title among the Portuguese being dom. It is used even by the king and the royal princes, and was formerly assumed by the nobility only with the consent of the sovereign, but is now merely a title of respect used by all classes. Dom is also sometimes employed in France as a clerical title. The old English form of the word is 'dan, frequently used by Chaucer. DON. I. A river of Russia, the Tanais of the ancients, and the Tuna, Duna, or Dana of the Tartars. It is one of the largest rivers of Europe. It rises in a small lake in the gov- ernment of Tula, flows S. E. and S. W., passes Voronezh, Pavlovsk, Novo-Tcherkask, Tcher- kask, Nakhitchevan, Rostov, and Azov, and enters the sea of Azov by three mouths, only one of which is navigable. Its length, inclu- ding windings, is nearly 1,000 m., though from its mouth to its source in direct line is but 468 m. In summer navigation is difficult, but in winter the water is high enough, and the stream becomes navigable to Zadonsk, about 800 m. from its mouth. The course of the river lies through a low country, covered with vast forests of oak and pine. The current is sluggish, and sand banks, over which there are often only two feet of water, are of frequent occurrence. Opposite Dubovka the Don ap- proaches the Volga to within 40 m., and a railroad connects the two rivers between Ka- latch and Tzaritzin. The principal tributaries are the Sosna and the Donetz on the right, and the Voronezh (or Voronetz), the Khoper, the Medvieditza, the Sal, and the Manitch on the left. II. A river of Aberdeenshire, Scot- land, next to the Dee in size, but of little com- mercial importance. It rises on the declivity of Ben Aven, flows a tortuous easterly course of about 70 m., and enters the North sea near Aberdeen. It is navigable for a very short distance from the sea. Near its mouth stands the celebrated one-arched Gothic bridge of Balgownie. A handsome new bridge of five arches has been built a little below the old structure. The salmon fisheries of the Don are of considerable value. HI. A river of York- shire, England, 55 m. long, rising near the bor- ders of Cheshire, and flowing into the Ouse. It is navigable from Sheffield, a distance of 40 m., and communicates by canal with the Trent and the Calder. DONA ANA, the S. E. county of Few Mexico, bounded E. by Texas, and S. by Texas and Mexico; area, about 20,000 sq. m. ; pop. in