DRAGOMANOFF. 425 DBAGON. pointed letturcr iit tlif I iiivcr^ity of Kiev, where he held the chair of general history until 1870. He criticised the educational system of Count Dmitri Tolstoy, which was based on (.iernian models of classicism, and refused to send in his resignation because of his Lkraiuophil activity; but a special commission, appointed by Alex- ander il., found him guilty, and he was for- bidden to reside in Little Russia and the capi- tals, or to engage in literary pursuits. The Southern Section of the Geographical Six'iety in Kiev was abolished, and the printing of books in the Little Russian dialect was |)rol)ibited. Dragomanoff went to Geneva, Avhere lie re- mained until made professor of history at the University of Sofia, in Bulgaria, in 1888. For over twenty years he fearlessly combated au- tocracy and oppression in all its forms. A strong nationalist, he advocated a complete re- organization of Russia on federative lines, in which every nationality should possess equal and equitable representation. As he started out on the field of literary' and political activity at a time wheji the terroristic doctrines were at their height, he stood for political execution, and justi- fied it on the ground of necessity in view of the ultimate triumph of political liberty. His nu- merous works in the literary and historical lield deal mostly with his native Little Russia, of which he was passionately fond. Beginning with The Historical thongs of Little Russia, published by him in collaboration with Professor Antono- vitch. in 1874. Dragomanoflf incessantly worked on the history, ethnography, folk-lore, and religioui? history of his country. After jT^if Question of Little Russian Literature (18761, he published a series of popular pamphlets in the Little Rus- sian dialect, and. during 187882. five volumes of the periodical Eromada ( The Commune) . His Le tyrannicide en Rnssie appeared in CJeneva (1876) ; La Polopne historique et la democratie moscovite (1881): The Political Songs in the Ukrainian Language in the Eighteenth and Nine- teenth Centuries (Geneva, 1883-85). DRAGOMIROFF, dra'gCi-me'rof. Mikhail Iv.NoviTCH ( 18:!0 — ). A Russian general. He studied at the War Academy in Saint Petersburg, and became professor of tactics at that institu- tion. After participating in the AustroPrus- sian War as military attache, he was appointed in 1868 major-general and chief of the general stafT at Kiev. As commander of the Russian advance-guard, in the Russo Turkish War of 1877-78, he distinguished himself at the cross- ing of the Danube at Sistova. In consequence of wounds received in the fighting at the Shipka Pass, he was compelled to retire from active service, and was subse()uently appointed direc- tor of the War Academy, where he exercised a most salutary influence upon military training. He was made Governor-ficneral of Kiev in 1808. His principal works include; Discipline and Ifluhordinntion (1894): The French floldier (1807): M'ar Is an Inevitable Etnl (1897); Joan of Are (1899). DRAGON (OF. dragon. Lat. draco. Cik.SfidKwv. drakon, dragon, from S^pKejBai, dcrkcsthai, Skt. dars. to see). In the mythical history and legendary' poetry of almost every nation, the dragon appears as the emblem of the destructive and anarchic principle, as it manifests itself in the earlier stages of society — viz. as misdirected physical power and untanmblc animal passion striving against human progress. The earliest conception is embodied in the Babylonian myth of Timat — the great she-dragim — who healed the Titanic hordes of Chaos, and whose de- struction by the Demiurge Merodach was the necessary prerequisite to an uiidisturbe<l and orderly universe. The destruction of the lower representatives of this disorderly element was one of the first objects of human energy, but being unattainable by merely human means, the task was assumed by that intermediate class of beings known as heroes in classical antiquity. As the highest ideal of human strength and courage, the task properly fell to Hercules (e.g. Dragon of the (Jarden of the Hcsperides), but it was not confined to him, for we find both Apollo and Perseus represented as dragon-slayers. From legendary poetry, the dragon passed into art, some of the earliest efforts of which prob- ably consisted in depicting it on the shield, or carving it for the crest of a eoncjueror's helmet. It was used in this way as a sort of Medusa, an apotropaion or terror-striking image. Thus it was represented on the war standards of Ger- manic and Dacian tribes. The dragon does not seem to have been a native emblem with the Romans, and when they ultimately adopted it as a sort of subordinate synd)ol. the eagle still hold- ing the first place, it seems to have been in consequence of their intercourse with other na- tions. Among all the new races which over- ran Europe at the termination of the classical period, the dragon seems to have occupied nearly the same place that it held in the earlier stages of Oriental and Greek life. In the Nibelungeti- lied we find Siegfried killing a dragon at Worms: and the contest of Beowulf (q.v. ), first with the monster Grendal, and then with the dfagon, forms the principal incident in the curious epic which bears the name of the former. Even Thor himself was a slayer of dragons. Among the Teutonic tribes which settled in Eng- land it was from the first depicted on their shields and banners, as it was also in Germany. Nor was the dragon peculiar to the Teutonic races. Among the Celts it was the emblem of sovereignty, ,and as such borne as the sovereign's crest. Tennyson's Idylls have made every one familiar with "the dragon of the great pen- dragonship,' blazing on Arthur's helmet, as he rode forth to his last battle, and 'making all the night a stream of fire.' Christianity inherited the Oriental idea of the dragon, which is made the emblem and embodi- ment of the devil. In Saint .Tohn's .pocalyp.se, in fact, in all apocalyptic literature, if plays an important part. That Christ should 'tread on the lion and the dragon' was an idea handed down from the Old Testament. In later Chris- tian traditions Saint Michael is the chief oppo- nent of the infernal, and Saint George of the terrestrial dragon. The dragon in a cave on Mount Socrafe represented paganism, and his defeat by Pope Sylvester symbolized the triumph of Christianity tinder Constantine. In Christiiui art the dragon is the emblem of sin. the usual form given to it being that of a winged crocodile. It is often represented as crushed under the feet of saints and martyrs. Some- times its prostrate attitude signifies the tri- umph of C'liristianity over paganism, as in pic- tures of Saint George and Saint Sylvester; or
