DEC 
Sigh no more, ladies, figh no more; 
Men were deceivers ever: 
One foot in fea, and one on fhore; 
To one thing condant never. Shakejpcare. 
Adieu the heart expanding bowl, 
And all the kind deceivers of the foul. Pope. 
DECELE'UM, a fmall village of Attica, north of 
Athens ; which, when in the hands of the Spartans, 
proved a very galling garrifon to the Athenians. The 
Peloponnefian war has been called Decelean, becaufe for 
fome time hodilities were carried on in its neighbourhood. 
DE'CEM TA'LES,/ When a full jury doth not ap¬ 
pear at a trial at bar; then a writ goes to the flieriff ap- 
ponere decern tales, &c. whereby a fupply is made of jury¬ 
men to proceed in the trial. See the article Jury. 
DECEM'BER, the lad month of the year; in which 
the fun enters the tropic of Capricorn, making the win¬ 
ter foldice. In the time of Romulus, December was the 
tenth month ; whence the name, viz. decern, ten ; for the 
Romans began their years in March, from which Decem¬ 
ber is the tenth month. The month of December was 
under the prote&ion of Veda. Romulus afligncd it thirty 
days; Numareduced it to twenty-nine ; which Julius Cae- 
far increafed to thirty-one. Art the latter part of this 
month they had the Juveniles Ludi, and the country peo- 
le kept the fead of the goddefs Vacuna in the fields, 
aving then gathered in their fruits, and fown their corn ; 
whence it feems is derived our popular feftival called 
harvejl-home. 
DECEM'BRIO (Pietro Candido), a learned Italian, 
born at Pavia in 1399, the f° n Uberto Decembrio, a 
man of erudition, who died potefta of Triviglio. Pietro 
at an early age was made fecretary to Philip-Maria Vif- 
conti, duke of Milan, and continued in his fervice till 
the duke’s death, in 1447. In the tumultuous fcenes 
which followed, he proved himfelf one of the mod dre- 
rmous defenders of the liberty of the Milanefe; info- 
much that, when they determined to fubmit to the arms 
of Francis Sforza, he refufed to accept the office of fur¬ 
rendering the city to the conqueror. He went about 
this period ambaffador to France, to obtain fuccotirs; 
but, finding the caufe of liberty extinguifhed at Milan, 
he accepted an offer from pope Nicolas V. of becoming 
apodolic fecretary, and accordingly removed to Rome. 
He was alfo, during fome part of his life, fecretary to 
Alphonfo of Arragon, king of Naples. He eventually 
returned to Milan, where he died in 1477, and was buried 
in the cathedral of St. Ambrofe. Decembrio was a vo¬ 
luminous writer. Among his printed works are, The 
Lives of Philip-Maria Vifconti, and Francis Sforza, dukes 
of Milan, written in imitation of the ftyle and manner 
of Suetonius; alfo a Latin tranflation of Appian’s Hif- 
tory, which has been much cenfured for want of fideli¬ 
ty ; but he has been excufed on account of the faulty 
copies of the original which he ufed. He likewife tranf- 
Lited Qujntus Curtins into Italian; and, into the fame 
language, the ten fird books of Livy, by command of 
king Alphonfo. He trandated the twelve fird books of 
ihe Iliad into Latin profe ; the hidory of Diodorus Si¬ 
culus; and various other works of the ancients. He 
compofed a variety of mifcellaneous pieces, profe and 
verfe, Latin and Italian. A large number of his letters 
remain in manufcript, 
DECEMPA'GI, a town of Belgica; now Dieufe , in 
Lorrain, on the rivulet Seille or Selna, near the lake 
Lindre, about feven German miles to the north-eaft of 
Nancy. 
DECEM'PEDA, f. [^£x«touc, Gr. ten-feet rod] An 
indrument ufed by the ancients in meafuring. 
DECEMPE'DAL, adj. [from decempeda, Lat.] Ten 
feet in length. 
DECEMVI'RAL, adj. [from decemviri, Lat.] Belong¬ 
ing to the decemviri, belonging to the laws which were 
drawn up by the decemviri, 
Vot. V. No. 302. 
DEC 041 
DECEM'VIRATE, f. [ decemviratus , Lat.] Tlie dig¬ 
nity and office of the ten governors of Rome, who were 
appointed to rule the commonwealth inftead of confuls: 
their authority fubfified only two years. See the article 
Rome. Any body of ten men. 
DECEM'VIRI, f. [Lat.] Ten fupreme magiflrates 
that were once chofen in ancient Rome to govern the peo¬ 
ple for two years, and make laws for the commonwealth. 
•—Reftraining the power of dictators to fix months, and 
that of the decemviri to two years. Sidney. 
DE'CENCE,yi or Decency, [ decence , Fr. or decet, 
Lat.] Propriety of form; proper formality ; becoming 
ceremony: decence is feldomufed.—In good works there 
may be goodnefs in the general : but decence and grace- 
fulnefs can be only in the particulars in doing the good. 
Sprat. 
She fpeaks, behaves,, and a£ts, juft as ffie ought; 
But never, never reach’d one gen’rous thought; 
Virtue ffie finds too painful an endeavour, 
Content to dwell in decencies for ever. Pope. 
Suitablenefs to charafter; propriety.—The confideration 
immediately fubfequent to the being of a thing, is what 
agrees or difagrees with that thing; what is fuitable or 
unfuitable to it; and from this fprings the notion of de¬ 
cency or indecency, that which becomes or milbecomes. 
South. 
And mud I own, flie faid, my fecret fmart, 
What with more decence were in filence kept f Dryden 
Modefty ; not ribaldry ; not obfeenity : 
Immoded words admit of no defence ; 
For want of decency is want of lenfe. Rofcommon. 
DECEN'NARY, f. A town or tithing confiding oriV 
ginally of ten families of freeholders. Ten tithings com¬ 
pofed an hundred. The inditution of decennaries, or 
frankpledges, is imputed to Alfred. In thefe decennaries 
the whole neighbourhood,, or tithing of freemen, were 
mutually pledges for each other’s good behaviour. See 
the article Deciners. 
DECEN'NIAL, adj. [from decennium, Lat.] What 
continues for the fpace of ten years. 
DECENNO'VAL, or Decennovary, adj. [ decern and 
novem, Lat.] Relating to the number nineteen.—Meton, 
of old, in the time of the Peloponnefian war, condi- 
tuted a decennoval circle, or of nineteen years ; the fame 
which we now call the golden number. Holder. 
DE'CENT, adj. [ decens , Lat.] Becoming; fit; fuit¬ 
able.—Since there mud be ornaments both in painting 
and poetry, if they are not necelfary, they mud at lead be 
decent ; that is, in their due place, and but moderately' 
ufed. Dryden. —Grave; not gaudy ; not odentatious. Not 
wanton ; not immoded : 
Come, penfive nun, devout and pure. 
Sober, ftedfad, and demure, 
All in a robe of darked grain 
Flowing with majedic train, 
And fable dole of Cyprus lawn 
O’er the decent ffioulders drawn. Milton . 
DE'CENTLY, adv. In a proper manner; with fuit¬ 
able behaviour; without meannefs or odentation : 
Perform’d what friendffiip, judice, truth, require ; 
What could he more, but decently retire J Swift , 
Without immodedy : 
Pad hope of fafety, ’twas his lated care, 
Like falling Caefar, decently to die. Dryden. 
DECEPTIBI'LITY,y. Liablenefs to be deceived.— 
Some errors are fo fleffied in us, that they maintain their 
intered upon the deceptibility of our decayed natures. 
Glanville. 
DECEP'TIBLE, adj. Liable to be deceived; open 
to impodure; fubjeft to fraud.—The fird and farther 
caufe of common error, is the ^common infirmity of hu- 
8 A man 
