A Smaller Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities

Name: A Smaller Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities
Author: Smith, William

Smith, William

Classical dictionaries; Greece -- Antiquities; Rome -- Antiquities

DĒMENSUM, an allowance of corn, given to Roman slaves monthly or
daily. It usually consisted of four or five modii of corn a month.


DĒMĬNŪTIO CĂPĬTIS. [CAPUT.]


DĒMĬURGI (δημιουργοί), magistrates, whose title is expressive of
their doing the service of the people, existed in several of the
Peloponnesian states. Among the Eleans and Mantineans they seem to
have been the chief executive magistracy. We also read of _demiurgi_
in the Achaean league, who probably ranked next to the _strategi_,
and put questions to the vote in the general assembly of the
confederates. Officers named _epidemiurgi_, or upper demiurgi, were
sent by the Corinthians to manage the government of their colony at
Potidaea.


DĒMŎCRĂTĬA (δημοκρατία), that form of constitution in which the
sovereign political power is in the hands of the demus (δῆμος) or
commonalty. In a passage of Herodotus (iii. 80), the characteristics
of a democracy are specified to be--1. Equality of legal rights
(ἰσονομίη). 2. The appointment of magistrates by lot. 3. The
accountability of all magistrates and officers. 4. The reference
of all public matters to the decision of the community at large.
Aristotle remarks--“The following points are characteristic of a
democracy; that all magistrates should be chosen out of the whole
body of citizens; that all should rule each, and each in turn rule
all; that either all magistracies, or those not requiring experience
and professional knowledge, should be assigned by lot; that there
should be no property qualification, or but a very small one, for
filling any magistracy; that the same man should not fill the same
office twice, or should fill offices but few times, and but few
offices, except in the case of military commands; that all, or as
many as possible of the magistracies, should be of brief duration;
that all citizens should be qualified to serve as dicasts; that the
supreme power in everything should reside in the public assembly,
and that no magistrate should be entrusted with irresponsible power
except in very small matters.” It is somewhat curious that neither
in practice nor in theory did the representative system attract any
attention among the Greeks. That diseased form of a democracy, in
which from the practice of giving pay to the poorer citizens for
their attendance in the public assembly, and from other causes,
the predominant party in the state came to be in fact the lowest
class of the citizens, was by later writers termed an _Ochlocracy_
(ὀχλοκρατία--the dominion of the mob).

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

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A Smaller Dictionary of Greek and Roman AntiquitiesSmith, William

History

A Smaller Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities

Smith, William

Classical dictionaries; Greece -- Antiquities; Rome -- Antiquities

DĒMENSUM, an allowance of corn, given to Roman slaves monthly or
daily. It usually consisted of four or five modii of corn a month.


DĒMĬNŪTIO CĂPĬTIS. [CAPUT.]


DĒMĬURGI (δημιουργοί), magistrates, whose title is expressive of
their doing the service of the people, existed in several of the
Peloponnesian states. Among the Eleans and Mantineans they seem to
have been the chief executive magistracy. We also read of _demiurgi_
in the Achaean league, who probably ranked next to the _strategi_,
and put questions to the vote in the general assembly of the
confederates. Officers named _epidemiurgi_, or upper demiurgi, were
sent by the Corinthians to manage the government of their colony at
Potidaea.


DĒMŎCRĂTĬA (δημοκρατία), that form of constitution in which the
sovereign political power is in the hands of the demus (δῆμος) or
commonalty. In a passage of Herodotus (iii. 80), the characteristics
of a democracy are specified to be--1. Equality of legal rights
(ἰσονομίη). 2. The appointment of magistrates by lot. 3. The
accountability of all magistrates and officers. 4. The reference
of all public matters to the decision of the community at large.
Aristotle remarks--“The following points are characteristic of a
democracy; that all magistrates should be chosen out of the whole
body of citizens; that all should rule each, and each in turn rule
all; that either all magistracies, or those not requiring experience
and professional knowledge, should be assigned by lot; that there
should be no property qualification, or but a very small one, for
filling any magistracy; that the same man should not fill the same
office twice, or should fill offices but few times, and but few
offices, except in the case of military commands; that all, or as
many as possible of the magistracies, should be of brief duration;
that all citizens should be qualified to serve as dicasts; that the
supreme power in everything should reside in the public assembly,
and that no magistrate should be entrusted with irresponsible power
except in very small matters.” It is somewhat curious that neither
in practice nor in theory did the representative system attract any
attention among the Greeks. That diseased form of a democracy, in
which from the practice of giving pay to the poorer citizens for
their attendance in the public assembly, and from other causes,
the predominant party in the state came to be in fact the lowest
class of the citizens, was by later writers termed an _Ochlocracy_
(ὀχλοκρατία--the dominion of the mob).

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

A Smaller Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities

A Smaller Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities

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