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D E M 
DEM 
bis father, is highly worthy of praife. He was alfo ca¬ 
pable of generous attachment to his companions of the 
fame age. One of thefe, Mithridates the fon of Ario- 
barzanes, having excited the jealoufy of Antigonus, who 
refolved to put him to death, Demetrius, apprifed by his 
father of his intention, under an oath of fecrefy, eluded 
its violation, and yet gave his friend warning, by draw¬ 
ing him apart, and writing on the ground with his fpear, 
“ Fly, Mithridates.” As he had a turn for mechanics, 
he applied it in the conbruftion of drips and military en¬ 
gines, of a greatnefs of bulk, and complexity of con¬ 
trivance, never before feen. He built galleys of fifteen 
or fixteea banks of oars, which were much admired at 
the time, though, perhaps, lefs ufeful in fervice than 
thofe of the ufual fize. His machinery for fieges was of 
fimilar magnitude. One of thefe, called helepolis, a vab 
tower of nine dories, rolling upon wheels, and conceal¬ 
ing numerous engines, had a mod formidable appear¬ 
ance, though its prodigious weight rendered it very un¬ 
wieldy. Every invention of this kind-was fully tried in 
the famous fiege of Rhodes, which he undertook in con- 
fequence of the attachment of that city to the caufe of 
Ptolemy ; hut which he was at length obliged to relin- 
quifh without fuccefs, after it had continued above a 
year. For his military exploits, and death, fee the arti¬ 
cle Macedon. 
DEME'TRIUS furnamed Soter, and Demetrius fur- 
»amed Nicator, were kings-of Syria, of great celebrity in 
ancient liibory; for which fee the article Syria. 
DEME'TRIUS (Phalereus), an illudrius philofopher 
of the peripatetic fchool, and a difciple of Theophradus, 
flourifhed at Athens about three centuries before the 
Chridian era. In the fourth year of the 115th olympiad, 
or 317 years before Chrid, he was appointed by Callan¬ 
der, king of Macedon, to the government of that city ; 
vvhich he conducted for ten years with fuch wifdom and 
moderation, that he acquired an uncommon diare of po¬ 
pularity, and is reported to have had 360 brazen datues 
ereifted in his honour, out of gratitude for the impYove- 
mcnts introduced by him into the finances, and the .pub¬ 
lic buildings with which he had ornamented the city. 
But envy created him enemies, who took advantage of 
the popular jealoufy for which the Athenians were fo 
remarkable, and, during his occafional abfence from the 
city, were fo fuccefsful in their intrigues that they pro¬ 
cured a fentence of death to be paired againd him. He 
was fortunate enough to cfcape their attempts upon his 
perfon ; but his effects were plundered, and all his da¬ 
tues thrown down. When information was brought to 
him of thefe outrages, he -calmly obferved, that he pof- 
feiTed at lead this confolation, that they could not rob 
him of the virtues which bad been once honoured by 
thofe tedimonies of public approbation. To avoid the 
refentment of the Athenians, he firlt withdrew to the 
protection of Callander ; and afterwards removed to the 
court of Ptolemy Soter, king of Egypt, who admitted 
him to his confidence and frienddiip. That prince is 
even laid to have confulted him on the choice ot his fuc- 
celfor; when Demetrius embraced the interefis ot the 
king’s fons by his wife Eurydice, in preference to his 
fon by Berenice, who afterwards reigned under the name 
of Ptolemy Philadelphus. But the king rejected his ad¬ 
vice, and aitociated the fon of Berenice with him in the 
government during his life. On His father’s death, that 
pxince, out of refentment againd Demetrius for the coun¬ 
t'd which he had given, banifhed him to a diliant pro¬ 
vince, where, in a Ihort time, he lod. his life by the bite 
of an alp. Demetrius Phalereus was the author of more 
works, in profe and verfe, on philolophy, liibory, poli¬ 
tics, criticifm, rhe.toric, See. than any other peripatetic 
of his time. In the particulars of his life, given by .Dio¬ 
genes Laertius, the lubjeCls of many of them are enume¬ 
rated. None of them, however, have reached our days; 
for the ^elegant rhetorical treatife T£p EppiJaia?, or con¬ 
cerning interpretation, which fome writers aferibe ‘t® 
him, is mod probably a work of later date. According 
to the reprefentations of Aridaeus, Aridobulus; Philo, 
Jofeplnis, and feveral of the Chridian fathers, who too 
eadly adopted their opinions, Demetrius Phalereus was 
librarian to Ptolemy Philadelphus, and, befides forming 
a noble collection of above 200,000 volumes, obtained a 
royal mandate which produced the tranflation of the 
Jewifli fcriptures from the Hebrew, commonly called 
the feptuagint. Many able critics, however, have enter¬ 
tained doubts with refpeft to the credit due to their tefl 
timony. To reconcile it with the politive datement of 
Laertius, that Demetrius was banifned when Ptolemy 
Philadelphus fucceeded his father, Vollius and others 
fuppofe, that the collection was made, and the mandate 
idued, during the period while Ptolemy Philadelphus 
reigned conjointly with Ptolemy Soter. But this hypo- 
tliefis appears more ingenious than fatisfactory ; el'pe- 
cially when it is confidered, that, mod probably, the 
Septuagint verdon was produced by the private labours 
of the Jews, and not in confequence of any royal order, 
DEME'TRIUS, of Corinth, a cynic philofopher, who 
flouridied in the drd century. During the reign of the 
emperor Caligula he taught.philosophy at Rome, where 
he acquired a high reputation for wifdom and virtue, 
and the unabaflied freedom with which he reproved the 
corrupt manners of the age. In the reign of Nero lie 
was banidied from that city, becaufe he was too honed 
not to proted againd the fcandalous vices which were 
praCtifed by that prince and his courtiers. At his death 
he returned to Rome ; but, having offended Vefpafiati 
by the boldnefs of his language, he was again fent into 
exile. Apollonius Tyanaeus, with whom he had con¬ 
tracted an intimate frienddiip, prevailed upon Titus once 
more to recal him ; but lie was afterwards involved in 
the common fate of the pliilofophers, under the reign of 
Domitian. He had the boldnefs to attend Thrafea Pse- 
tus in his lad moments, and to fortify his mind by the 
confolations of philofophy. Seneca fpeaks in high terms 
of panegyric concerning his character: “ Leaving (fays 
he) the nobles clad in purple, I converfe with, and ad¬ 
mire, the half-naked Demetrius; and why do I admire 
him, but becaufe I perceive that, in the midd of his po¬ 
verty, he wants nothing ! When I hear this excellent man 
difeourfmg from his couch of draw, I perceive in him, 
not a preceptor only, but a witnefs of the truth ; and I 
cannot doubt that Providence has endowed him with fuch 
virtues and talents, that lie might be an example and a 
monitor to the prefent age.” 
DEMEU', a town of France, in the department of the 
Gers : two leagues wed of Vic Fezenfac. 
DE'MI, infeparablc particle, [_deim, Fr. dimidium, Lat.J 
Half; one of two equal parts. 
DE'MI-AIR, f. [from demi and air .] In the manege, 
the demivolt, one of the feven artifical motions of a liorfe. 
DE'MI-BASTION, f. in fortification, a badion that 
has only one face and one flank. 
DE'MI-CAN'NON, and Dem 1-Cul v ertn, f. Names 
of certain fpecies of cannon, now no longer uled. 
DE'MI-CROSS,yi An indrument ufed by the Dutch 
to take the altitude of the fun or a bar at fe.a; indead of 
which we ufe the crofs daff, or forebafF. 
D E' MI-DEVIL,y 1 Partaking of infernal natufe; half 
a.devil: 
Will you, I pray, demandthat demi-clcvil. 
Why he hath thus enfnar’d my foul and'body? S'takefp. 
DE'MI-DISTANCE, f. The didartce between the 
outward polygons and the flank : a term in fortification. 
DE'MI-GAU-NTLET, f. in furgery, a bandage for 
disjointed fingers. 
DE'MI-GOD, f. Partaking of divine nature; half, a 
god ; an hero produced by the cohabitation of divinities 
with mortals; 
• i-y Tranlported 
