D I O 



750 



D I S 



Diogenes, lebrated philosopher, he visited the Craneum, where 

 N — ""V"*"^ he found Diogenes sitting in his tub in the sunshine. 

 The king approached him amidst the crowd, and said, 

 " I am Alexander the Great ;" to which Diogenes re- 

 plied in a surly tone, " and I am Diogenes the Cynic." 

 After conversing with him for some time, Alexander 

 asked if there was any service he could render him? 

 " Yes," said Diogenes, " not to stand between me 

 and the sun." Surprised at the magnanimity of this re- 

 ply, the king exclaimed, " If I were not Alexander, I 

 would be Diogenes !" These circumstances are alluded 

 to by Juvenal, in the sequel of the passage already quo- 

 ted : 



" Even Philip's son, when in the little cell 

 Content he saw the mighty master dwell., 

 Oivn'd, with a sigh, that he who nought desired, 

 Was happier far than he who worlds required," &c. 



GlFFOHD. 



And the author of Hudibras, with his usual humour, 

 contrasts the unbounded ambition of the Macedonian 

 conqueror, with the philosophical contentment of the 

 Cynic : 



" The whole world was not half so wide 

 To Alexander, when he cry'd, 

 Because he had but one to subdue ; 

 As was a paltry, narrow tub to 

 Diogenes, who ne'er was said, 

 For aught that I could ever read, 

 To whine, put finger i'th'eye, and sob, 

 Because he'd ne'er another tub." 



It has not been satisfactorily ascertained at what pe- 

 riod, and in what manner, the death of Diogenes took 

 place. It is most probable, however, that he died at 

 Corinth, of mere decay, in the 90th year of his age, in 

 the 1st year of the 114th Olympiad, or 324 B. C. 

 He was buried by the Athenians in an honourable 

 manner, at the public expence ; a column of Parian 

 marble, terminated by the figure of a dog, was placed 

 over his tomb ; and his friends and disciples erected 

 many brazen statues to his memory. 



At this distant period, it is almost impossible, with- 

 out the assistance of any authentic written memorial, 

 to ascertain, with any near approximation to truth, 

 what were precisely the substance snd tendency of the 

 doctrines promulgated by Diogenes. The accounts 

 which have been transmitted to us by ancient authors, 

 are confused and contradictory. But there seems little 

 reason to doubt, that he practised the most hardy self- 

 controul, and the most rigid abstinence ; that he was 

 earnestly desirous of correcting and improving the pub- 

 lic morals ; and that he censured, with steadiness and 

 severity, the reigning vices and follies of the age. At 

 the same time, he appears to have carried both the cy- 

 nical habits and philosophical doctrines of his master 

 Antisthenes, to an extravagant extreme. True wisdom 

 does not require a sacrifice of the common comforts of 

 life ; and in the affected humility of Diogenes, there 

 evidently lurked a degree of philosophical pride, not 

 inferior to that of many of the individuals who incurred 

 his censure. " I trample under foot the pride of Plato," 

 said Diogenes, treading upon his robe. " Yes," repli- 

 ed Plato, " with greater pride of your own." From 

 his favourite dogma, " that every act which inferred no 

 moral guilt, might be practised openly under the eye of 

 the public," he is said to have deduced consequences in 

 the highest degree disgusting. But it is difficult to be- 

 lieve, that an individual who has been extolled by some 

 of the most ancient philosophers for his sobriety and 



virtue, and represented as one endowed with divine Dionoca 

 wisdom, should have been capable of inculcating such ft. 



revolting doctrines, or of committing such gross inde- men"'"'" 

 cencies as have been laid to his charge. ^_ ., *. _- 



See Bayle, Brucker, Enfield, and Meiners, Gesckichte 

 der Wissenschaften in Griechenland und Rom. (z) 



DIONiEA, a genus of plants of the class Decandria, 

 and order Monogynia. See Botany, p. 212. 



DIONYSIA. See Greece and Mythology. 



DIONYSIUS. See Syracuse. 



DIOPHANTINE Problems. See Algebra and 

 Mathematics. 



DIOPTRICS. See Optics. 



DIOSCOREA, a genus of plants of the class Dioecia, 

 and order Hexandria. See Brown's Prodromus Plcmt. 

 Nov. Holl. &c. p. 294, and Botany, p. 336. 



DIOSCORIDES. See Botany, p. 2. 



DIOSMA, a genus of plants of the class Pentandria, 

 and order Monogynia. See Botany, p. 153. 



DIOSPYROS, a genus of plants of the class Poly- 

 gamia, and order Dioecia. See Botany, p. 346'. 



DIOTIS, a genus of plants of the class Monoecia, 

 and order Tetrandria. See Botany, p. 322. 



DIPHTHONG. See Grammar. 



DIPHYLLEIA, a genus of plants of the class Hex- 

 andria, and order Monogynia. See Botany, p. 197. 



DIPHYSA, a genus of plants of the class Diadelphia, 

 and order Decandria. See Botany, p. 284. 



DIPLANTHERA, a genus of plants of the class 

 Tetrandria, and order Monogynia. See Brown's Pro- 

 dromus Plant. Nov. Holl. &c. p. 449, and Botany, p. 

 131. 



DIPLARRHENA, a genus of plants of the class 

 Triandria, and order Monogynia. See Brown's Pro- 

 dromus Plant. Nov. Holl. &c.p. 304, and Botany, p. 113. 



DIPLASIA, a genus of plants of the class Triandria, 

 and order Monogynia. See Botany, p. 115. 



DIPLAZIUM. See Filices. 



DIPLOLEPIS, a genus of plants of the class Pen- 

 tandria, and order Digynia. See Brown, Wernerian 

 Transactions, p. 30 ; and Botany, p. 181. 



DIPLOPOGON, a genus of plants of the class Tri- 

 andria, and order Monogynia. See Brown's Prodromus 

 Plant. Nov. Holl. p. 11 6. and Botany, p. 114. 



DIPODIUM, a genus of plants of the class Gynan- 

 dria, and order Monandria. See Brown's Prodromus 

 Plant. Nov. Holl. et Ins. Fan. Diem. p. 330; and Bota- 

 ny, p. 318. 



DIPPEL, Animal oil of. See Chemistry, p. 135. 



DIPPING. See Dyeing. 



DIPPING Needle. See Magnetism. 



DIPSACE/E. See Botany, p. 79. 



DIPSACUS, a genus of plants of the class Tetran- 

 dria, and order Monogynia. See Botany, p. 119. 



DIPTERYX, a genus of plants of the class Diadel- 

 phia, and order Decandria. See Botany, p. 274. 



DIPUS. See Mammalia. 



DIRCA, a genus of plants of the class Octandria, and 

 order Monogynia. See Botany, p. 203. 



DISA, a genus of plants of the class Gynandria, and 

 order Diandria. See Botany, p. 313. 



DISANDRIA, a genus of plants of the class Hexan- 

 dria, and order Monogynia. See Botany, p. 197. 



DISAPPOINTMENT, Islands of, is the name gi- 

 ven to a cluster of islands in the South ,Pacific Ocean, 

 by Commodore Byron, by whom they were discovered 

 in 1765, on account of his being unable to procure any 

 refreshments for his sick crew. The smallest of the 

 two principal islands is about five miles in circumfe- 

 rence, and had a most beautiful appearance. It was 



