Demonology
the doctrine that rethe doctrine that reings inferior in rank to deities proper, but yet capable of influencing human affairs. The earlier and more widely spread conception of the demon was merely that of a more or less powerful and intermediate agent between gods and men at one time resolving himself tron-spirit, at another acting as the into a kind of special guardian or paminister of the divine displeasure. acting as the one of the thousand spiritual beings who To primitive man the demon was but controlled every one of the causes of nature, and whose favor must be purchased by constant tributes of respect and worship. It was perfectly consistent with primitive philosophy that the tinue after death the influence they enmanes or ghosts of the dead should conjoyed in life, and thus should pass into the higher class of deities. It is not merely family affection, but actual fear and considerations of prudence, that lead to the worship of ancestors and of 21-Vol. III-Cyc DEMOSTHENES the dead; and the good or bad fortune of living men is attributed to the direct interference of the invisible spirits with which the whole air around is swarming.
These spirits may not only affect the fortune of the individual, but may even enter into his body, and cause internal diseases and such other inexplicable phenomena as frenzy, wild ravings, hysterical epilepsy, and the like. The very etymology of such words as catalepsy and ecstasy points plainly to a time when there was no metaphor in their meaning. Such is the explanation of disease offered at the present day by savage man all over the world, and such was also the belief of the semi-civilized ancient Egyptians and Babylonians. Indeed, it disappeared but slowly before the progress of scientific medicine, and continued to reappear in survivals strangely perplexing on any other explanation. Hence the function of the exorcist arises naturally as a means of effecting a cure by expelling the demon, and we find him daily exercising his skill in Africa, and even in China and India. In early Christian times those demoniacally possessed, or energumens, were grouped into a class under the care of a special order of clerical exorcists, and after the time of St. Augustine the rite of exorcism came to be applied to all infants before baptism.
DEMOSTHENES (de-mos'the-nēz), an illustrious orator of ancient Greece, born in 383 or 384 B. C. In 359, to assist in his own support, he began preparing speeches to be used in public suits. In 351 he began a long and memorable conflict against Philip the Macedonian. His speeches, intended to arouse the Greek nation to military zeal, called "Philippics," are among the finest specimens of ancient oratory. In 346 he was one of the peace ambassadors who treated with Philip. During the period from 346 to 340 he was engaged in forming an anti-Macedonian party, and in his attacks upon Æschines for betraying Athens in the peace negotiations with Philip. In 340 war again broke out, ending in the great defeat of the Greeks at Chæronea. It having been proposed by the citizens to present Demosthenes with a crown, in honor of his services to the State, his enemies seized on the opportunity to accuse him. He defended himself on his trial, in a memorable oration "On the Crown," one of his greatest productions.
In 324 Harpalus, the State treasurer of Alexander the Great, who had succeeded Philip in Macedonia, fled to Athens with a great sum of money, DEMULCENTS which was placed in the Athenian_public treasury under the charge of Demosthenes. A portion of it disappeared, and Demosthenes was accused of the embezzlement, and condemned and sentenced to prison, but, escaping, went into exile. On the death of Alexander, 323 в. c., he was recalled, and led an un- DEMOSTHENES successful attempt to throw off the Macedonian yoke. After the defeat of the revolting army at Crannon, he fled to Calauria, where he was captured by the Macedonians, and poisoned himself, in 322 B. C.