paper on vegetable monstrosities; a monograph of campanulaceæ, and of anonaceæ; an "Introduction to the Study of Botany;" an essay on the distribution of plants used for food; and an account of the botanic garden of Geneva.—J. H. B.
* DECAZES, Elie, Duke de, a celebrated French statesman, was born in 1780. After a successful début at the bar, he filled in succession several subordinate offices, and in 1811 was appointed a counsellor, on the formation of the imperial court of Paris. Decazes incurred the displeasure of the emperor on account of his alleged connection with the abdication of Louis Napoleon, king of Holland, in 1810; and in 1814 he was deprived of his office as counsellor, and ordered to remove to the distance of forty leagues from Paris. On the return of Louis XVIII., he was appointed prefect of the police. He was promoted to the ministry of police under the duke de Richelieu, and in 1816 was created a peer of France. On the retirement of the duke from office in 1818, Count Decazes accepted the office of minister of the interior. His administration gave a powerful impulse to agriculture, arts, and industry in France, and he took a deep interest in the reformation of prisoners, the inspection of prisons, and other social improvements. In 1819 Count Decazes was nominated president of the council; but the violent attacks of the ultra-royalists ultimately caused him to resign, though enjoying the confidence and strenuous support of the king. On his retirement Louis, as a mark of his approbation, created him a duke, and sent him as ambassador to England. In 1821 the duke resigned his post, having lost the favour of Louis through a disgraceful intrigue of the ultra-royalists and jesuits. On the overthrow of the elder branch of the Bourbons, Decazes gave his support to the government of Louis Philippe, and four years later accepted the office of grand referendary of the chamber of peers. Under his administration a number of important works were completed. Since 1849 he has devoted himself mainly to the promotion of the social welfare and industrial progress of the country. Decazes is a man of considerable ability, and of great tact and suavity of manner. It should be stated to his credit that Guizot, Villemain, Cousin, and several other men of note in France, owed their rise to him.—J. T.
DECEBALUS, a famous king of the Dacians, who was born about the first century of the christian era. On account of his great reputation for courage and ability, he was elevated to the throne by the reigning monarch, Douras, who abdicated in his favour, about a.d. 84, and for many years he was the most enterprising and formidable enemy of Rome. Shortly after his accession he crossed the Danube, attacked and carried the advanced posts of the Romans, defeated Appius Fabius the governor, took many towns and fortresses, and laid waste the whole country. Domitian, on receiving tidings of these ravages, sent against the barbarians an army commanded by Cornelius Fucus, and himself afterwards took the field, but was eventually constrained to sue for peace, which was concluded on terms exceedingly favourable to the Dacians. Decebalus made good use of the ten years of peace which followed. He erected fortresses for the protection of the frontiers of his kingdom, disciplined his soldiers after the manner of the Romans, and instructed his subjects in the arts of civilization. Meanwhile Trajan had ascended the throne, a.d. 98, and refused to continue the tribute paid by Domitian. War in consequence broke out between him and Decebalus, in which the latter was defeated and compelled to sue for peace, which was granted him on very hard terms. But it was not of long duration; and in 104 the emperor, alleging that the Dacians had violated the terms of the treaty, took the field against them in person. The war, which was both bloody and of long duration, was conducted by Trajan with great caution, as well as valour. Decebalus, finding his kingdom and palace in the hands of the enemy, committed suicide, a.d. 105.—J. T.
DECEMBRIO, Pietro Candido—born at Pavia. 1399; died at Milan, November 12, 1477—was the son of Uberto Decembrio, a learned man, who was secretary to Pope Alexander V., and afterwards to Giam-Maria Visconti, duke of Milan. While Pietro was yet a youth he was appointed secretary to Filippo Maria Visconti, with whom he continued until the death of that prince, though it is said that Pope Eugenius V. sought to induce him to enter his service. Upon the troubles that followed the death of his patron, Decembrio was the steadfast friend of the liberties of the Milanese, and was sent by them as ambassador to France. Subsequently he left Milan, and accepted the post of secretary to Pope Nicholas V. After some time he returned to Milan where he died. Decembrio was a voluminous writer, though probably not to the extent stated upon his tomb. He wrote the lives of Filippo Visconti and Francisco Sforza, and many works, some of which are given by Muratori, and others are to be found in MSS. in the Ambrosian Library.—J. F. W.
DECHALES, Claude François Milliet, was born at Chambery the capital of Savoy in 1611, and died in 1678. He filled, during four years, the mathematical chair in the college of Clermont, whence he removed to Marseilles, where he taught navigation and military engineering. He afterwards went to Turin, having been appointed professor of mathematics in the university of that city. Dechales' edition of Euclid was long a popular text-book in France and other parts of the continent. He was an accurate and elegant writer, but he wanted that originality of mind which is necessary in any one who aims at extending the boundaries of science. His works were published at Lyons in four volumes, folio, under the title of "Mundus Mathematicus."—R. M., A.
DECIO, Filippo, an eminent Italian jurist, was born in 1454, and died at Siena in 1535. He is said to have been a natural son of Tristan of Dexio. Decio studied at Pavia and Pisa, in the latter of which he obtained the chair of Roman law, and was afterwards appointed to that of the civil law. He soon became known for his wit, his exorbitant fees, and his peculiar temper, which would not suffer him to live in concord with his rivals—such as Accolti, Felinus, and Mainus. This last circumstance it was that caused him to move about so often from city to city. From Pisa he went to Siena, and from Siena back again to Pisa, when it became necessary to change his chair periodically from civil to canon and from canon to civil law, on account of the other professors refusing to encounter his formidable talents for dispute. In 1490 he went to Rome, and was made auditor di rota by Innocent VIII. But for the illegitimacy of his birth preventing it, he would, at that time, have exchanged the professor's for the priest's habit. Invited in 1501 to the chair of canon law at Padua, he repaired thither; but Milan soon afterwards falling under the power of Louis XII., he was summoned by that prince to the latter city, of which he was a native. After this he went to France, but on the accession of Francis I., returned to Pisa. His most famous works are his "Consilia," and "Commentarius de Regulis Juris;" both were annotated by Dumoulin.—R. M., A.
DECIUS, Caius Messius Quintus Trajanus, the Roman emperor, was born in 191, and was the first of a long line of princes whom Illyria furnished to the empire. About 236 he was governor of Lusitania under Maximin, and in 245 held an important command upon the Danube. Four years later he was commissioned by the Emperor Philip to re-establish order among the forces stationed in Mœsia. But the soldiers, fearing that they could not escape punishment without change of rulers, compelled him to accept the purple under threat of death. Decius wrote to Philip assuring him that he was still faithful to his allegiance, but the latter, distrusting his professions, marched against him, and was defeated and slain at Verona about the close of 249. The reign of Decius lasted upwards of ten years. In the year 250 the Goths crossed the Danube and ravaged Thrace. Decius, whose presence was required in Italy, sent his son against the barbarians. Young Decius at first obtained some success over the invaders, but was surprised and completely defeated at Berea; and the city of Philippopolis, together with immense booty and a great number of prisoners, fell into the hands of the victors. On receiving the news of this disaster, Decius took the field in person, and, according to Zosimus, defeated the invaders wherever he encountered them, and recovered a portion of their plunder. Pressed on all sides by the Roman forces, the Goths offered to give up their booty and prisoners on condition that they should be permitted to retreat without molestation into their own country. But these proposals were rejected by Decius; and the barbarians, with the fury of despair, attacked their enemies, and aided, it is alleged, by the treachery of Gallus, one of the Roman generals, defeated and slew both the emperor and his son in November, 251. Decius distinguished himself by a futile attempt to arrest the downfall of heathenism by a violent persecution of the christians. Fabian, bishop of Rome, and many of the bishops of Antioch, Jerusalem, Babylon, and Alexandria, suffered martyrdom during his reign.—J. T.
DECIUS, Jubellius, commander of the Campanian legion
