Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 05.djvu/842

* DACIA. 730 DA COSTA. DACIA, da'shl-a. The land of the Daci or Gela-. Its geographical limits were very indefi- nite until its conquest bj- the Romans. After that period it comprised modern Transylvania, with adjacent parts of Himgary, Eumania, and Bukowiua. The Getse came originally ' from Thrace, and were divided into various tribes. Their course northward can only be imper- fectly traced, but we know that shortly be- fore the time of Alexander the Great (B.C. 335) they had migrated across the Danube. It is not known when or for what reason the GetiE changed their name to Daci. They seem to have been the most valiant of the Thracian barbarians. Curio, the first Roman general who ever penetrated as far north as the Danube, did not venture to assail them. Julius Cjesar, however, is said to have contemplated their subjugation. In B.C. 10 Augustus sent an army up the valley ■of the !Maros. From this time there was almost continual fighting between the Romans and the Daci, on the whole to the advantage of the lat- ter, who acttially compelled their civilized ene- mies, in the reign of Domitian, to pay tribute. In A.D. 101 the Emperor Trajan crossed the Theiss, and marched into Transylvania, where he fought a gi-eat battle near Torda. The Wallaeh peasant calls the battlefield, to the present day. Prat de Trajan (Pratum Traiani, Field of Trajan). The Daci, who were com- manded by their famous chief Decebaius, were defeated. A second expedition of the Emperor resulted in the destruction of their capital, the death of Decebaius, and the loss of their freedom (a.d. lOG). Roman colonists were sent into the country, a bridge was built over the Danube — the ruins of which are still extant — and three great roads were constructed. The chief townis were Apulum and Sarmizegetusa. In A.D. 270-75 the Romans abandoned the coun- try to the Goths, and the colonists were trans- ferred to !Mo?sia. DACIEE, da'syi', Andk^ (1651-1722). A French philologist. He was born of Protes- tant parents at Castres, in Upper Languedoc, studied at Saumur, and in 1672 came to Paris, where he was em])loyed to bring out, for the tise of the Dauphin, an edition of the Latin writer Festus, which he published in '1681. In 1683 he married Anne Leffevre, also a Pro- testant, and two years later both entered the Roman Catholic Church. Dacier subsequently became royal librarian, r'.ember of the Academie des Inscriptions, and perpetual secretary of the 'Academic.' He died September 18, 1722, Daeier's principal works, besides his Festus, are lEiirrfs d'Hornce en Latin et en Frani^ais (Paris, 1681-80), an edition of Valerius Flacctis, and niuT.erous translations into French of Greek ati- thors, such as Plutarch and Epictetus, all of which, in spite of his erudition, are of mediocre ■quality, while the expositions and criticisms are shallow, AxNE Dacier (1054-1720), The wife of the pre- ceding. She was born at Saumur. and after the death of her learned father, who had developed her talent, came to Paris, where she acquired sur-h a reputation by lier edition of Callimaclnis (1674) that the Duke of Montausier commis- sioned her to edit several of the ancient authors for the use of the Dauphin. Similarity of tastes and employment led to a marriage between her and Andre Dacier. Her domestic duties did not, however, weaken her literary ardor. Besides edit- ing a number of the classics, she translated the comedies of Terence; the Amijkitryon, Kpidicus, and Rudens of Plautus, accompanied by an able dissertation on the origin, progress, and muta- tions of dramatic poetry; Anacreon, Sappho, and the Plutus and Clouds of Aristophanes. Her ad- miration of Homer was tmbouuded, and involved her in two learned controversies. Madame Da- cier is generally ael^cnowledged to have possessed a more actite and vigorous mind than her hus- band. She died August 17, 1720. DA'CITE. A volcanic roek of generally por- phyritie texture, characterized by the occurrence of lime-soda feldspar, and generally also by qtiartz and by mica, hornblende, or pyroxene. These minerals are imbedded in a ground mass or matrix of rock glasses or of a finer-grained ag- gregate of crj-stals. The color of the rock is generally gray, but under prolonged weathering it may become brownish. The newer or young- er dacites are, therefore, in contrast with the older, much less brown in color. The average chemical composition of dacite is: silica, 68 per cent.; alumina, 17 per cent.; ferric oxide, 2 per cent.; ferrous oxide, 1.5 per cent.; magnesia, 1.5 per cent. ; lime, 3 per cent. : soda, 4 per cent. ; potash, 3 per cent. Dacite differs from andesite (q.v. ) principally in its higher percentage of silica, due to the presence of qtiartz and a greater abundance of the light-colored mineral con- stituents. The name dacite has been given be- cause of the great development of this type of rock in Dacia, an ancient Roman province com- prising part of modern Htmgary and vicinity. Alany recent as well as more ancient volcanic lavas are dacite. Dacite graduates into trachyte, rhyolitc, and diorite (qq.v.l. DACOITS' (Hind, dalait, daMijat, robber, duLCi, attack by robbers, from duhnii, to shout). The name given to bands of men in India who live by robliery. They resemble the thugs (q.v.) in that a slight religious element seems to enter into their conduct, but pltmder, and not murder, is their guiding motive. On the whole, they are a national type of banditti, closely resembling the brigands of Sicily or Greece. Driven out by the British Government from Hindustan, they are still fairly active in Bunna, Technically, da- coity in British-Indian law means the conspiring of five or more men to engage in any act of theft, DACOSTA, da-ko'sta, Gabbiel. See Acosta, G.iBEIEI., DA COSTA, Isaac (1798-1860). A Dutch poet and Protestant theologian, born in Amster- dam. He studied at Levden, in 1818 received the' degree of LL.D., and that of Ph.D. in 1821. Though by parentage he was a Portuguese Jew, he embraced Christianity in 1822, and became a professor and director of the Free Scotch Church Semi;iary. He was an effective public lecturer. The friend of Bilderdijk, the latter's poetic man- tle fell upon him, and he was thenceforth es- teemed the greatest of Holland's poets. The more noteworthy of his voltimes of verse are: Prometheus (1820): Poems (1821-22): Festive f^onps (1S2S): Unnnr (1840): and The Battle of Xieuu-pnort (1850), Da Costa translated Byron's Cain, and, as a theologian, produced a Gospel Uarmony and Israel and the Gentiles,