DIOGNETUS. 264 DION^A. its author. The lack of external testimony to the Kpislle renders the question of its date a dilticuit one. If we covild be sure that the "Diog- netus." to whom it is addressed, was the teuelicr of Marcus Aurcl-us, the problem would be easier. But of this we are by no means certain. Some extreme critics hare conjectured that the work is a tiftecnth-ccntury forgery. Others, with much greater probability, assign it to the second. <ir the early i)art of the third century. In view of internal resemblances, some have inclined to the opinion that it proceeds from the same author as the re- cently recovered Apology of Aristides, which was written before a.d. 150. Date and authorship, however, remain matters of conjecture. The last two chapters are evidently a later addition, and from a dilferent hand. The Epistle is an excellent product of Christian thought and writing, evangelical in character, dignified in tone, and clothed in language which is at times almost of poetic beauty. Its contents are determined by the questions Diognetus haa asked, e.g. what god the Christians worship, why they despise death, what is the expluialion of their mutual love, and why their new life-motiva did not sooner enter the world. In replying to these inquiries, the author shows special famil- iarity with Pauline and Johannine teaching. He sets forth Christianity on its practical side, placing emphasis upon godly living rather than upon correct dogmatic belief. Yet he combats with vigor the errors of the .Jews and Greeks, very much after the fashion of the Apology of Aristides, arguing for the superior rationality of the Christian faith. For the Greek text, consult: K. Otto, Corpus Apolofntdiiim Cliristiatwniin, ii. (3d ed., Jena, 187!)) : for the text with Eng. trans., Lightfoot, The Apostolic Fathers (L(mdon, 1893) : for Eng. trans., A. 0, Coxe, The AnteXirotc Fathers, i. Consult also, in general: G. Kriiger, History of Early Christian Literature (trans. Xew York, 18!)7) ; the article "Diognetus," in Smith and Wace, Dictionary of Christian Biography ; Har- nack, ChronoUxjie dcr altchristlichen Litteratur, i. (Leipzig, 1897), DI'OMEDE ISLANDS, A group of three small islands situated near the middle of Bering Strait, in about latitude 60° X. and longitude 109° W., forming as it were stepping-stones be- tween the nearest points of Asia and Xorth America, They were discovered by Bering in 1728. DI'OME'DES (Lat., from Gk. A(o^i)«//f). The son of Tydeus and Deipyle. and King of Argos. He plays a prominent part in the legend of the Trojan War, where he appears as the com- panion of Odysseus in many adventures, such as the bringing of Achilles from Scyros, the carrj-- ing off of the hor.ses of Rhesus, and the theft of the Palladium. He is also prominent at the funeral games of Patroclus, where he Is victor in the chariot race, and in the capture of Troy, rieturning to .rgos, he found that -Aiihrodile. in revenge for the wound which he had given her in a battle before Troy, had i-aused his wife to be- come unfaithful. In grief he left Argos, and, according to Ihe biter tradition, went to Italy, where he was honored in a number of the south- ern cities, as Metiiponlum and Thurii. .-Vrpi in -Apulia, Canusium. Hrundisium, and several other towns claimed him as their founder. According to one story Athena gave him immortality; ac- cording to another, he was killed by the Italian King l)auiii~. DIOMEDES. In Greek legend, the son of Mars and Cyrene, and King of the Bistones in Thrace. He fed his mares upon the llesh of strangers, until Heracles slew him and brought his mares to Eurystheus. According to one story, Heracles threw him to his mares to be devoured. DIOMEDES. A Bomaii grammarian of the fourth cintuiy ..i). : author of .lr,s (Irammatica, ail extant treatise on grammar. The work, which is in three books, is foundcil on the same sources as the Institutions tlraminaticw of Cha- risius, and is valuable chielly for its quotations from earlier authorities now lost and for its com- ments on literary history contained in the third book and borrowed from the De I'oetis of Sue- tonius. The text is printed in Keil's edition of the Crammatici Latini (i. 298). (In Ditmiedes's Latinity, consult Paucker's treatise (Berlin, 1883), DIOMEDES, Vii.L. OF. The name given to one of the villas at Pompeii excavated in 1771- 74, and so called from the tomb of Marcus Arrius Diomedes, which faces it on the opposite side of the Street of Tombs. It was an extensive and very completely appointed establishment, built apparently before the time of Augustus. The rear portion occupies a lower level than the front and contains a colonnade surrounding a gjirden. In the wine-cellar beneath the colonnade twenty skeletons were discovered in the course of the excavation, and fourteen in other parts of the house, DI'ON, (1) A Sicilian noble in Shakespeare's ^yinter's Tale. (2) Eatlicr to Euphrasia in Bcaiiiiiont and Fletcher's I'hilaster. DION (Lat., from Gk. Auk) (c.410-3.54 B.C.). A Syracusan, son of Hipparinus, the brother-in- law of Dionysius the Elder, and a ]m|)il of Plato. His lofty character secured for him the hostility of the King, Dionysius the Younger, and in B.C. 360 he was banished. His property was con- fiscated, and his wife, .rete. was given to another man. Dion retired to Athens, where he lived several years, but, desiring to free his country from the tyrant's rule, he in n.c. 350 returned to Syracuse with a small force. He took the citV and expelled Dionysius, but was himself shortly after comjxdled to give up his (lower and with- draw to Italy. Being soon recalled by popular vote, he was assassinated about n.c. 354 by one Cali|)pus. DI'ONJE'A (Lat., fcm. of Dionwus. pertaining to Dione, Gk, Atwn;. DiOnr, name of Venus). A most remarkable insect-catching plant belonging to the order Droseracea'. The single species, Pionfra niuscipula. is popularly known as Venus's fiy-trap because of the peculiarly trap like fly- catching organ developed at the sumiiiits of its leaves. This plant is a small, relatively incon- spicuous, perennial herb, growing native in bops in North and South Carolina, ami because of its interesting habits often kept in greenhouses. From the midst of the circlet of root leaves arises a slender scape ten to twelve inches in height, at the summit of which is a cyme of small white flowers. The leaf is divided into two parts, a lower, simple, spatulate portion, above which.
