pope, Innocent III., had sent missionaries (Cistercian monks) among the Albigenses, to reclaim them, if possible, by argument, or, if that should fail, by fire and sword. Their mission had utterly failed. The Spanish prelate told them they had failed through pride, and that they ought to lay aside their pomp, and go amongst the heretics attired in, at least, the outward garb of humility. They asked him, probably in scorn, to set the example. The bishop, who had already obtained leave from the pope to preach during two years in France, acceded to their request; but, being soon after summoned to France, he left Dominic, whose whole heart was in the conversion of the dissidents, to carry on the work in conjunction with the Cistercian monks. It seems that success still kept aloof from their efforts; at least we may conclude as much from Innocent's invocation of the secular arm. The crusade, which was commenced ostensibly to avenge the murder of a papal legate, found a zealous preacher in Dominic; and probably there were not two more ferocious men in France than he and the brutal Simon de Montfort who headed the ranks of the orthodox in the frightful massacres that followed. It is probable that Dominic did not formally institute the inquisition, but that he acted the part of an inquisitor, and that in a very bad sense, among the Albigenses, there cannot be the least doubt. Nor should we perhaps be incorrect in tracing the origin of the most fearful weapon ever wielded by the Church of Rome to the influence of the gloomy and ferocious Spanish saint. It is certain that Dominic was the inventor of the rosary. In 1215 he attended the council of the Lateran, and obtained leave to establish a new fraternity which should have for its chief object the repression of heresy. This order, of which Dominic was the first general, was called the Dominican after the name of its founder, though at first its members were styled fratres predicatores (preaching friars), because they devoted themselves chiefly to preaching. He adopted the rale of the canons commonly called St. Augustine's, but afterwards went over to the class of monks, and enjoined upon his followers poverty and contempt for all permanent revenues and possessions. Dominic during the rest of his life resided chiefly at Bologna. He died on the 6th of August, 1221, and was canonized by Gregory IX. in 1234.—R. M., A.
DOMINIS, Marcantonio de, a theologian and mathematician, was born in Arba, an island off the coast of Dalmatia, in 1566, and died in September, 1624. He was of the same family as Gregory X. Educated by the jesuits in their colleges at Loretto and Padua, he ultimately entered their order. For some time he was employed in teaching philosophy and mathematics in Padua and other cities of Italy. After spending twenty years in the Society of Jesus, the prospect of a bishopric induced him to quit it. He was secularized, and immediately appointed bishop of Segni. Two years afterwards he was promoted to the archbishopric of Spalatro. In the latter station he showed himself favourable to reform in the church. This circumstance, together with the liberal character of his discourses, and his taking part with the Venetians who had been placed under an interdict by Paul V., brought upon him the suspicion of protestantism. Upon this he left Spalatro in 1615, and withdrew to Venice, where he was assisted by Bishop Bedell in revising his work "De Republica Ecclesiastica." Finding himself still in danger on account of his innovations, he repaired in the following year to Chur in the Grisons. We find him next in Heidelberg, whence, after a brief sojourn, he came over to England. James I. bestowed on him the deanery of Windsor and other preferments. In 1617 he published the work already mentioned. A second part appeared in 1620. It was replied to by several Romanists, none of whom seems to have been worthy to enter the lists of controversy with this impugner of the church. Dominis, however, returned to his allegiance to the pope. Flattered by the Spanish ambassador with the prospect of a cardinal's hat, he repaired to Rome in 1622, where he solemnly abjured his opinions, and was received back into the bosom of the church. But his recantation appears to have been insincere. He still corresponded with old protestant friends, and some of his letters having been intercepted, he was imprisoned in the castle of St. Angelo where he died. It was by some suspected that he was poisoned. His body was disinterred and burned. He wrote, besides the treatise above-mentioned, "Dominis suæ Profectionis a Venetiis consilium exponit;" "Scogli del Christiano naufragio, quali va scopendo la Santa Chiesa;" "De Radiis Visûs et Lucis in vitiis perspectivis, et iride," &c.—R. M. A.
DOMITIANUS, Titus Flavius Sabinus, Emperor of Rome, was born a.d. 52. He was the younger son of Vespasian and Domitilla, and the brother of Titus. After narrowly escaping from the troops of Vitellius, he was intrusted with the government of Italy during the absence of his father and brother in Palestine; but he so grossly abused the power which had been placed in his hands that Vespasian never afterwards allowed him to take a prominent part in public affairs. The throne became vacant in a.d. 81, by the sudden death of Titus; and Domitian, having secured the support of the praetorian guards, took possession of it without opposition, but not without being strongly suspected of having caused his brother's death. The first few years of his reign were marked by the introduction of several salutary reforms, both social and political; but the fear with which he regarded the higher classes in Rome, together with extreme disappointment at the failure of his own military enterprises, and excessive jealousy of the success of others, soon produced a change in his administration, and converted a reign which had begun more auspiciously than was expected, into a period of the most violent tyranny. An expedition which he undertook against the Chatti in a.d. 84, was attended with a measure of success, and he celebrated a triumph on his return; but several years afterwards he was completely and disgracefully defeated in a war against the Dacians. From that time till the end of his reign, he gave himself up to the habitual practice of the most despotic cruelty. Even the enormous taxes which he imposed, were found inadequate to supply the continual largesses to the army and the populace which were necessary to secure their allegiance; and he did not hesitate to replenish his treasury by seizing the property of the wealthier citizens, whom he accused of imaginary crimes that he might have a pretence for confiscating their goods. Juvenal has drawn a terrible picture of the moral degradation, as well as of the political slavery, that characterized the reign of Domitian; and the sins of the tyrant himself have been recorded by him and by other writers of that period. Perhaps the only redeeming point in his character is his generosity as a patron of literature. He himself executed a paraphrase of the Phenomena of Aratus, which is not without merit. He was assassinated, a.d. 96, by some officers of the household, to whom his wife Domitia had revealed that the emperor was meditating their death as well as her own.—W. M.
DOMNA, Julia, wife of Septimius Severus and mother of Caracalla, was born of obscure parentage at Emesa in Syria. The attention of her future husband is said to have been attracted towards her long before his elevation to the purple, in consequence of an astrological prediction that destined her to be the wife of a sovereign. Already cherishing ambitious designs, and "trusting implicitly to the infallibility of an art in which he possessed no mean skill, Severus, after the death of Marcia, wedded the humble Syrian damsel, with no other dowry than her horoscope." This union took place probably not later than a.d. 175. The marriage couch was spread in the temple of Venus, near the palatium, by the Empress Faustina. Julia being possessed of a powerful intellect, and of a large measure of Syrian cunning, easily acquired an ascendant over the mind of her superstitious husband. She induced him to take up arms against Pescennius Niger and Clodius Albinus, and maintained her influence in its integrity even after the complete fulfilment of the prophecy. Nor did her keen interest in imperial affairs preclude her from following more refined pursuits. She was at one time ardently devoted to philosophy. It was at her instigation that Philostratus undertook to write the life of the celebrated miracle-worker, Apollonius Tyanæus, and she was accustomed to sit whole days in the midst of grammarians, rhetoricians, and sophists. Her private life was notoriously profligate. She is even said to have plotted against the life of her husband. Her political influence became greater after the death of Severus. Caracalla intrusted her with the administration of the most important affairs of state. But she possessed notwithstanding no control over his fierce and violent passions. It is well known that he murdered his own brother, Geta, in her arms. Julia Domna, soon after the successful rebellion of Macrinus, perished through a voluntary abstinence from food in 217. The story of her incestuous connection with Caracalla seems to be not deserving of the slightest credit, the silence of Dion Cassius on the matter being quite conclusive. But it is the fate of the profligate to have their memory burdened with the accusation of fictitious crimes.—R. M. A.
