Dēmŏcrĭtus

, a celebrated philosopher of Abdera, disciple to Leu cippus. He travelled over the greatest part of Europe, Asia, and Africa, in quest of knowledge, and returned home in the greatest poverty. There was a law at Abdera, which deprived of the honour of a funeral the man who had reduced himself to indigence; and Demo crit us, to avoid ignominy, repeated before his countrymen one of his compositions called Diacosmus . It was received with such uncommon applause that he was presented with 500 talents; statues were erected in his honour; and a decree pa ed that the expenses of his funeral should be paid from the public treasury. He retired to a garden near the city, where he dedicated his time to study and solitude; and according to some authors he put out his eyes, to apply himself more closely to philosophical inquiries. He was accused of insanity, and Hippo crates was ordered to inquire into the nature of his disorder. The physician had a conference with the philosopher, and declared that not Demo crit us, but his enemies, were insane. He continually laughed at the follies and vanity of mankind, who distract themselves with care, and are at once a prey to hope and anxiety. He told Darius, who was inconsolable for the lo of his wife, that he would raise her from the dead, if he could find three persons who had gone through life without adversity, whose names he might engrave on the queen’s monument. The king’s inquiries to find such persons proved unavailing, and the philosopher in some manner soothed the sorrow of his sovereign. He taught his disciples that the soul died with the body; and therefore, as he gave no credit to the existence of ghosts, some youths, to try his fortitude, dre ed themselves in a hideous and deformed habit, and approached his cave in the dead of night, with whatever could create terror and astonishment. The philosopher received them unmoved; and without even looking at them, he desired them to cease making themselves such objects of ridicule and folly. He died in the 109th year of his age, B.C. 361. His father was so rich, that he entertained Xerxes, with all his army, as he was marching against Greece. All the works of Demo crit us are lost. He was the author of the doctrine of atoms, and first taught that the milky way was occasioned by a confused light from a multitude of stars. He may be considered as the parent of experimental philosophy, in the prosecution of which he showed himself so ardent, that he declared he would prefer the discovery of one of the causes of the works of nature to the diadem of Persia. He made artificial emeralds, and tinged them with various colours; he likewise di olved stones, and softened ivory. Eusebius , bk. 14 , ch. 27 .— Diogenes Laërtius , Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers .— Ælian , Varia Hist or i a , bk. 4 , ch. 20 .— Cicero , de Finibus Bonorum et Malorum .— Valerius Maximus , bk. 8 , ch. 7 .— Strabo , bks. 1 & 15.――An Ephesian, who wrote a book on Diana’s temple, . Diogenes Laërtius. ――A powerful man of Naxos. Hero dot us , bk. 7 , ch. 46 .