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D I I 
He, fhe knew, would intermix 
Grateful digrcffions, and folve high dilpute 
With conjugal careffes. Milton. 
Deviation.—The digreffion of the fun is not equal; but, 
near the equinoctial interfeftions, it is right and greater; 
near the folftices, more oblique and lelfer. Brown. 
DIGY’NIA, f and yvv/i, Gr. two females.] In 
botany, the name of an order in Linnaeus’s Artificial Syf- 
tem, comprehending thofe plants which have two piftils 
to a flower. This order is the fecond in the firft thirteen 
dalles, except the ninth. 
DIHE'LIUS, f. [from the Greek Acs, through; and 
■n'Xioc, the fun.] In aftronomy, that ordinate of the ellipti¬ 
cal orbit of a planet which palfes through the focus. 
DII, in mythology, the gods or divinities of the an¬ 
cient inhabitants of the earth. Thefe were very nume¬ 
rous. Every ohjeft which caufed terror, infpircd grati¬ 
tude, or bellowed affluence, received the tribute of vene¬ 
ration. Man fancied he law a fuperior agent in the liars, 
the elements, or the trees, and fuppofed that the waters 
which communicated fertility to his fields and poffeflions, 
were under the influence and direction of fome invilible 
power inclined to favour and to benefit all his undertak¬ 
ings. Thus arofe a train of divinities, which imagina¬ 
tion arrayed in different forms, and armed with different 
powers, *They were endowed with underftanding, and 
were fuppofed to be actuated by the fame paflions which 
daily afflift the human race, and thofe children of fuper- 
flition were appeafed or provoked as the imperfeCt be¬ 
ing which gave them birth. Their wrath was to be mi¬ 
tigated by facrifices and incenfe, and fometimes human 
victims bled to expiate a crime, which fuperftition alone 
fuppofed to exilt. The fun, from his powerful influence 
and animating nature, firft attracted the notice and claim¬ 
ed the adoration of the uncivilized inhabitants of the 
earth. The moon alfo w r as honoured with facrifices and 
addreffed in prayers; and, after immortality had been 
liberally bellowed on all the heavenly bodies, mankind 
clalfed among their deities the brute creation, and the 
cat and the fow fliared equally with Jupiter himfelf, the 
popular father of gods and men, the devout veneration 
of their votaries. This immenfe number of deities has 
been divided into different clalfes, according to the will 
and pleafure of mythologifts. The Romans, generally 
fipeaking, reckoned two clalfes of the gods, the dii majo- 
rum gentium, or dii confulentes, and the dii minorum gentium. 
The former were twelve in number, fix males and fix 
females. In the clafs of the latter were ranked all the 
gods which were worfhipped in different parts of the 
earth. Befides thefe there were fome called diifekEli, 
fometimes clalfed with the twelve greater gods; thefe 
were, Janus, Saturn, the Genius, the Moon, Pluto, and 
Bacchus. There were alfo fome called demi-gods, wdio 
deferved immortality by the greatnefs of their explbits, 
and for their uncommon fervices to mankind. Among 
thefe were Priapus, Vertumnus, Hercules, and thofe 
whofe parents were fome of the immortal gods. Befides 
thefe, all the paflions and the moral virtues were reckoned 
as powerful deities, and hence temples were raifed to a 
goddefs of concord, peace, &c. According to the au¬ 
thority of Hefiod, there were no lefs than 30,000 gods 
that inhabited the earth, and w'ere guardians of men, all 
fubfervient to the power of Jupiter. To thefe, fuc- 
ceeding ages have added an almoft equal number ; and, 
indeed, they were fo numerous, and their functions fo 
various, that we find temples erefted, and facrifices of¬ 
fered, to unknown gods. It is obfervable, that all the 
gods of the ancients have lived upon the earth as mere 
mortals ; and even Jupiter, the ruler of heaven, is repre- 
fented by the mythologifts as a helplefs child ; and we 
are acquainted with all the particulars that attended the 
birth and education of Juno. In procefs of time, not 
only good and virtuous men, the patrons of learning, and 
the fupporters of liberty, but alfo thieves and pirates. 
D I L 
were admitted among the gods, and the Roman fenate 
was at length fo depraved as to grant immortality to the 
mod cruel and abandoned of their emperors. 
DIJAM'BUS, f. [from the Gr. a:?, twice; and tap.Ccj, 
an iambic.] A foot confiding of two iambics. 
DI'JON, a town of France, and capital of the depart¬ 
ment of Cote-d’Or, fituated on the Ouche, in a fertile 
and charming plain, bounded by a ridge of mountains, 
on the fide of which the inhabitants cultivate vines, of 
which they make excellent wine: it has four gates, and 
three fauxbourgs, and is near a league in circumference. 
The walls are handfome, but the fortifications old. The 
caftle was built by Louis XI. It was formerly the capi¬ 
tal of the Dijonnois, was the fee of a bifhop, contained 
feven pariflies, four abbies, eleven convents, a college, 
an hofpital, &c. and 25,000 fouls: eleven pods weft of 
Befanjon, and thirty-feven fouth-eaft of Paris. Lat. 47. 
iS.N. Ion. 22. 42. E. Ferro. 
DIJONNOI'S, before the revolution, a country of 
France, round the city of Dijon. 
To DIJU'DICATE, v: n. [from the Lat. dc, from; and 
judico, to judge.] To judge between two. Scott. 
DIJUDICA'TION,/! \_dijudicatio, Lat.] Judicial dif- 
tinftion. 
DIKE, f. [bic, Sax. dyk, Erfe.] A channel to receive 
water: 
The dykes are fill’d, and with a roaring found 
The.riling rivers float the nether ground. Dryden. 
A mound to hinder inundations.—God, that breaks up 
the flood-gates of fo great a deluge, and all the art and 
induftry of man is not fufficient to raife up dykes and ram¬ 
parts againft it. Cowley. 
DI'KEGRAVE, or Dikereave, f. in Lincolnlhire, 
the officer that takes care of the dikes. 
DIKO'WO, a town of Bohemia, in the circle of Ko- 
nigingratz : nine miles eaft-fouth-eaft of Gitfchin. 
To DILA'CERATE, v. a. [dilacero, Lat.] To tear; 
to rend; to force in two.—The infant, at the accom- 
plilhed period, ftruggling to come forth, di/acerates and 
breaks thofe parts which reftrained him before. Brozdk. 
DILACER A'TION, J'. [from dilaceratio, Lat.] The 
aft of rending in two.—The greateft fenfation of pain 
is by the obftruftion of the fmall veflels, and dilaceration 
of the nervous fibres. Arbuthnot. 
To DILA'NIATE, v. a. \_dilanio, Lat.] To tear; to 
rend in pieces.—Rather than they would dilaniate the en¬ 
trails of their own mother, and expofe her thereby to be 
raviftied, they met half way in a gallant kind. Howell. 
DILANI A'TION, f. A tearing or rending in pieces. 
To DILA'PIDATE, v. n. [dilapido , Lat.] To go to 
ruin ; to fall by decay. 
DILAPIDA'TIOX, f. \_dilapidatio, Lat-.] In law, is 
where an incumbent on a church living fuffers the par- 
fonage houfe or out-houfes to fall down, or be in decay 
for want of neceflary reparation ; or it is the pulling 
down or deftroying any of the houfes or buildings be¬ 
longing to a fpiritual living, or deftroying of the woods, 
trees, &c. appertaining to the fame ; for it is faid to ex¬ 
tend to the committing or buffering any wilful wade, in 
dr upon the inheritance of the church. Deggs's Parf. 
Counf. 89. It is the intereft of the church in general to 
preferve what belongs to it for the benefit of the fuccef- 
fors; and the old canons, and our own provincial con- 
ftitutions, require the clergy fufficiently to repair the 
houfes belonging to their benefices ; which, if they neg- 
left or refufe to do, the bifhop may fequefter the pro¬ 
fits of the benefice for that purpofe. Right's Clerg. 143. 
And, by the canon law, dilapidations are made a debt, 
which is to be fatisfied out of the profits of the church ; 
but the common law prefers debt on contrafts, &c. be- 
foie debt for dilapidations. Hern. 136. The profecution 
in thefe cafes may be brought either againft the incum¬ 
bent himfelf, or againft his executors or adminiftrators j 
and the executor or adminiftrator of him in whofe time 
it 
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