Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 06.djvu/150

* DEMOSTHENES. IJO DEMURRAGE. queror; but Maeedoiiiiin ^oUl liiul iloiip its work, and Deiiuistlidii's. as incorruptible as he was elo- (jui'Mt. !^av with despair that Philip was allowed to seize Therniopybe. the kev of lireeee. and be- eonie a member" of the Amphietyonie League. The peace, eoneluded in u.r. ;Uti, lasted for six years, during; which l'hilip's«incessant intrigues were exposed and tlenounccd by Ucmosthencs iu orations hardly less remarkable for their po- litical wisdom' than for their eloquence. Tho most important of these were the second and third I'hiHitiiics. and the spwches on The False Kmhiisxii and 'J'hr Alfaiis of the Chersonese. Wlien Philip entered upon a fresh course of ag- gression (ii.o. 340). and laid siege to Byzan- tium, he was batlled for a time through the assist- ance atVorded by the Athenians to the hesieged city at the instance of Demosthenes (B.C. 339). In n.c. 338. when Philip threw Athens into con- sternation by passing ThcrmopyliT and seizing Elatea. Demosthenes brought about an alliance between his countrymen and Thebes. Hut the MaceiUmian phalanx jiroved invincible, and the battle of Chivronea laid (ini'ce prostrate at the fe<-t of the King. Demosthenes ])ronounced the funeral oration over those who fell in the battle, and urged the Athenians to repair their walls against their enemy, contributing to the expense from his own purse. For these services Ctesi- phon proposed that he be given a golden crown : whereupon .Eschincs. Demosthenes's lifelong op- ponent, attacked Ctesii)hon with the charge of having made an illegal proposal. J5emosthenes defended him (B.C. 330) in his oration Oti the Croicn — essentially a review of his entire po- litical career — which the almost unanimous ver- dict of critics has pronounced to be the most perfect masterpiece of oratory of aniicnt or mod- ern times. .'Eschincs was defeated and obliged to leave Athens, and spent the remainder of his life in exile. In u.c. 324 the enemies of Demos- thenes brought about his conviction on a charge of having received bribes from Harpalus, the absconding treasurer of Alexander. I'nable to p.iy the tine imjuised, he was thrown into prison, but succeeded in escaping. The death of Alex- ander the (Jreat in the following year was fol- lowed by the triinn])hant return of the orator, and he was again at the head of atTairs. But the disastrous issue of the l.amian War. waged by the Greeks against -Xntipater, was fatal to Demosthenes. Once more the power of Macedcm prevailed. The surrender of Demosthenes was de- manded by the conquerors. Finding escajie im- ptissible. the orator sought an asylum in the tem- ple of Poseidon, in the island of Calaurea. Be- fore his pursuers overtook him he died (B.C. '.i2-2) . as was generally believed, of poison nd- ministered by his own hand. The personal character of Demosthenes is one of the noblest. His bravery, the stainless juirity of his |)ublic and ])rivate life, his splendid and disinterested, if blind, patriotism, and his ser- vices as a statesman and administrator, entitle him to a i)lace among the noblest men of an- tiquity. As an orator he has been assigned the highest place by all critics since his own day. There have come down to us sixty speeches, six letters, a letter from Philip of Macedon, and a collection of introductions irpoltaa. . the letters, introductions, and some of the speeches are regarded as spurious. The works are best edited hy IM'f 'IS24), Saiii)pc (1843), and bv Dindorf-Blass (4th ed., 1889-92). Of the single speeches there are many special editions; of the oratiim On the t'roii-ii the best in English is by tioodwin (1901). There is a translation of the orations by Kennedy, in live volumes ( Lon- don, 1853-ti3). On the life and art of Demos- thenes, consult: Schiifer, Oeniosthiius iiii^ seine Zeit (Leipzig, 1 88.5-87): Blass, .4»i«c/ic Uered- sainhiil. Vol. iii. (Leipzig, 1893). DEMOSTHENES ( Mi.c. 413). A conspicu- ous Athenian general in the Peloponnesian War. He was one of the conunanders sent (B.C. 413) to reinforce Nicias at Syracuse, but he was cap- tured .ind put to diatli. DEMOTIC ALPHABET. See E.iypT. DEMOT'IKA (M<;k. AiSv/i/rretX'H', l>iJymotei- elioii. douhli'-wallcd, from iHdvin's, diili/iiios, twin, -j-Tfix"'! '""'*'• wall). A town in Eur»q»ean Turkey, in the Province of Adriantqile. '21 miles south of Adrianoplc (Map: Turkey in Europe, F 4). It is situated on the Maritza, licrc navi- gable for small vessel.s, and is connected l>y rail with Constantinople. It contains an old palace and a citadel, and is the seat of a tJreek arch- bishop. The inhabitants are engaged in agricul- ture, fishing, and seafaring. Demotika is noted as the temporary residence of Charles XII. of Sweden after his defeat at Poltava. Po|mlation, about .")(ll(0, mostly (Jreeks. DEMP'STER, TiioM.s (c.l.-)791ti-2-)). A Scottli scliolar and author. b<un at Cliftbog, in .berdecnshire. The ilctails of his life are given in an untrustworthy autobiography, but from other sources it seems that he was educated at Cambridge, and was professor first at Pisa and later at IJologiia. He left a llisloria Ecclesiasliea (lenlis Svutonim (1027). which, while curiously dishonest concerning earlier personages, is some- tinu's valuable for the information it gives of the author's contemporaries. The Ballantyne Club issued an edition of it in 1829. Dempster's best work is an annotated edititm of Accolti"s Dr lietlo a Christiiiiiis cimtrii litirharos Oesto ( l(i23). and he also enjoyed a good reputation as a Latin poet. DEMULCENTS (Lat. demulccre, to stroke down. >otti M. from ile. down + miileere, to stroke). Bland and lubricating licpiid substances taken by the mouth for the juirpose of soothing irritation of the mucous membranes of the gas- tro-intestjnal I met. and ri'flexly of the larnyx ami bronchi. The same sidistances are also given in enemata to relieve irritation of the lower portion of the bowels. Water must he classed as the most valuable of the de- mulcents. Demulcents are chiefly composed of starch, or gimi, or of substances containing these, dissolvi'd in water: sometimes also of oily mat- ters, or the white of eggs, and other albuminous or gelatinous substances largely diluted. The decoction of altlwea. or marshmallow, is a fa- vorite form of ilcnuihent : llaxsced tea is a com- mon domestic remedy of this class. DEMURRAGE (OF. itimoratje, from ilemorer, to delay, from l.;il. ilnnorari. to delay, frimi de, down 4- morari, to delay). In admiralty law, an allowance made to the master or owners of a ship by the freighter when she is detained in port by the latter beyond the specified time of sailing for his own i-onvenience. . certain nundier of days, called running or working days, are allowed for receivinj; and ili^chargiiig <argo, and it is usually