DEC 
To DECA'Y, ». n. [ decheoir , Fr. from dc and cadcrt, 
Lat.] To lofe excellence; to decline from the date of 
perfection; to be gradually impaired: 
The monarch oak, 
Three centuries he grows, and three he days 
Supreme in date, and in three more decays. Dryclcn. 
The garlands fade, the vows are worn away ; 
So dies her love, and fo my hopes decay. Pope. 
To DECA'Y, v. a. To impair; to bring to decay.— 
Infirmity, that decays the wile, doth ever make better 
the fool. Shakefpeare. —It is fo ordered, that almod every 
thing that corrupts the foul decays the body. Addifon. 
Decay'd by time and wars, they only prove 
Their former beauty by your former love. Dryden. 
In Spain our fprings, like old men’s children, be 
Decay'd and wither’d from their infancy. Dryden. 
DECA'Y, f. Decline from the date of perfection; 
date of depravation or diminution.—By reafon of the 
tenacity of fluids, and attrition of their parts, and the 
weaknefs of eladicity in folids, motion is much more apt 
to be lod than got, and is always upon the decay. Newton. 
Taught, half by reafon, half by mere decay, 
To welcome death, and calmly pafs away. Pope. 
The effeCts of diminution; the marks of decay.—They 
think, that whatever is called old mud have the decay 
of time upon it, and truth too were liable to mould and 
rottennefs. Locke. —Declenfion from profperity.—And if 
thy brother be waxen poor, and fallen in decay with thee, 
then thou flialt relieve him. Levit. xxv. 35. 
I am the very man 
That, from your fird of difference and decay. 
Have follow’d your fad deps. Shakefpeare. 
The caufe of decline.—He that feeketh to be eminent 
amongfl able men, hath a great talk ; but that is ever 
good for the public : but he that plots to be the only 
figure among cyphers, is the decay of a whole age. Bacon. 
DECA'YEDNESS, f. Decayed date.—A fourth duty 
to the parent is to aflid, and minider to them in all their 
wants ; whether weaknefs and ficknefs of body, decayed - 
nefs of underdanding or poverty, or lownefs in edate. 
Whole Duty of Man. 
DECAY'ER,/! That which caufes decay.—Your wa¬ 
ter is a fore decayer of your whorfon dead body. ShakeJp. 
DECA'YING, f. Decay: 
Thefe indeed are not 
So fubjeCt to decayings, as the face. Majfnger. 
DEC'CAN, or Dekkan, a general term which figni- 
fies South, and by which the Indian geographers include 
all the countries of India fouth of the parallels of twen¬ 
ty-one or twenty-two degrees of north latitude, forming 
an extent of territory about equal to the Britifli iflands, 
Spain, and European Turkey. This is the mod exten- 
five fenfe ; but, in its proper and more limited fenfe, it 
means only the countries fituated between Hindoodan 
Proper, the Carnatic, the Wedern Indian fea, and the 
province of Oriffa ; that is, the Deccan is formed of the 
provinces of Candeidi, Dowlatabad, or Amednagur, Vi- 
fiapour, Golconda, and the wedern part of Berar. Au- 
rengezebe conquered this country, and ereCted it into a 
viceroyalty, orfubah, the potleflor of which, at the time 
of the invafion of Nadir Shah, took the title of Nizam- 
Elmoulouk, or Protestor of the Empire ; he preferved an 
apparent independence ; his jurifdiCtion extending from 
Burhampour to Cape Comorin, and eadward to the fea. 
Six provinces depended on this prince, and the number 
of his fubjeCts was edimated at thirty-five millions. The 
Mahrattas came into potfedion of the greater part; other 
difiriCts have from time to time been formed into fepa- 
rate dates ; and the condant revolutions of India make 
the boundaries of each country in fome meafure uncer¬ 
tain. The Nizam’s prefent dominions, including his tri- 
D E G 639 
butanes, are about 430 miles long from north-wed to 
fouth-ead, and about 300 wide ; compridng Golconda, 
the principal part of Dowlatabad, and the wedern part 
of Berar ; the latter fubjeCt to a tribute of a fourth-part 
of its net revenue to the Berar Mahrattas. His terri¬ 
tories are bounded on the north-wed by the Poonah 
Mahrattas, on the north by the Berar Mahrattas, on the 
ead by the. Northern Circars, and -on the fouth by the 
Carnatic and Myfore; By family fucceflion, in 1780, the 
nizam became polleffed of the didriCts of Adoni and Ta- 
chore, and of the Guntoor Circar; and, by the peace of 
1792, he had a lhare of the country ceffions made by Tip- 
poo Sultan, including Kopaul, Cuddapa, and Gange- 
colla. His capital is Hydrabad. See Hindoostan. • 
DEC'CAN SHABAZPOUR, an ifland of India, in 
the mouth of the Ganges. Lat. 22. 30. N. Ion. 98. 58. E. 
Greenwich. 
DECE'ASE,y. \_decejfus, Lat.] Death; departure from 
life.—Lands are by human law, in fome places, after the 
owner’s deceafc, divided unto all his children; in fome, 
all defeendeth to the elded fon. Hooker. 
To DECE'ASE, v.n. [_deccdo, Lat.] To die ; to de¬ 
part from life.'—He tells us Arthur is deceas’d to-night. 
Shakefpeare. 
You fhall die 
Twice now, where others, that mortality 
In her fair arms holds, 'fhall but once deceafc. Chapman . 
DECE'BALUS, king of the Dacians, and one who 
contended with mod fuccefs againd the power of the 
Roman empire. He was railed to the throne by his mi¬ 
litary talents on the voluntary relignation of Duras the 
former king, about the reign of the emperor Domitian. 
He had the character of being equally wife in council, 
and prompt in aCtion, Ikilful in all the arts of war, and 
polleffed of vigotir to improve a victory, and condancy 
to repair a defeat. He took up arms againd the Romans, 
eroded the Danube, entered Mcefia, defeated and killed 
Oppius Sabinus, the commander in that province, and 
made himfelf rnader of many of its fortreffes and cadles. 
The commencement of this war is dated anno Domini 86. 
Domitian marched in perfon into Moefia, but committed 
the care of the war to his lieutenants. Of thefe, Cor¬ 
nelius Fufcus, pnetorian prefeCt, experienced a total de¬ 
feat, in which he perilhed with mod of his troops; but 
Julianus revenged the difader by as fignal a defeat of the 
Datians. Decebalus is faid to have deterred the Romans 
from advancing to his capital by the firatagem of felling 
trees, and covering the trunks with armour, fo as to ap¬ 
pear like a line of foldiers. Some time after, Domitian 
found it advifeable to propofe a treaty with the Dacians, 
which Decebalus prudently accepted. It was agreed 
that he fltould redore his prifoners, receive a diadem at 
the emperor’s hand, and a yearly tribute under the title 
of a penfion ; and, after this inglorious agreement, Do¬ 
mitian was left to indulge his vanity with a triumph 
over the conquered Dacians. The penfion was paid 
during the reign of Domitian and his fucceffor Nerva ; 
but the martial Trajan, alleging that he had not been 
conquered by Decebalus, refilled to fubmit to an igno¬ 
minious tribute. The war was renewed. Trajan en¬ 
tered Dacia with a powerful army, and gained a bloody 
victory over Decebalus. By further fuccelfes he com¬ 
pelled the Dacian to fubmit to hard conditions of peace, 
by which he agreed to redore the territories he had 
ulurped from his neighbours, to deliver up his arms and 
warlike engines, and to difmantle all his fortreffes, De¬ 
cebalus in perfon appeared before Trajan, and paid him 
homage as his conqueror. It was not likely, however, 
that fuch a fubmidion fliould lad longer than the pre¬ 
fent danger. After the departure of the conqueror, De¬ 
cebalus renew’ed hodilities againd his neighbours the 
Iazyges, repaired his fortifications, and defied the Ro¬ 
mans, w'ho again declared him a public enemy. Trajan 
again marched againd him, and refufed to grant him 
peace 
