THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
The use of wine and tobacco is forbidden, at least to the initiates, while gfave misdemeanors are punished severely, and even with exclusion from the community. Women are more highly esteemed among them than by the modern Mohammedans, and are usually instructed in reading and religion, although, in conformity with ancient Oriental usage, they are veiled in the presence of strangers.
It is impossible, with the sources thus far known, to give a complete presentment of the religion of the Druses, nor do they themselves possess a perfect system of all their dogmas, for in the course of centuries many new doctrines have been developed, and others have been forgotten. Although their faith is not without its dark aspects, the Druses have sought with all their might to preserve their views and customs, and to defend against external influences their consciousness of nationality, which rests upon a foundation of religion.
(A. SociNf.)
Bibliography: S. de Sacy, Expose de la religion des Druzes, 2 vols., Paris, 1838; C. Niebuhr, Reisebeschreibung, ii. 428 sqq., Copenhagen, 1778; C. H. Churchill, Ten Years' Residence in Lebanon, Full Account of the Druze
Religion, 4 vols. (vol. iv. is Druzes and Maronites under Turkish Rule), London, 1853-62; G. W. Chasseaud, Visits to the Druzes of Lebanon, ib. 1854; Earl of Carnarvon, Recollections of the Druzes of Lebanon, ib. 1860; B. H. Cowper, Sects in Syria, ib. 1860; H. Petermann, Reisen im Orient, i. 375 sqq., Leipsic, 1860; H. Guys, Theogonie des Druses, Paris, 1863; idem, La Nation Druse, son histoire, sa religion, ses mozurs, Marseilles, 1864; P. Dozy, Het Islamism, Haarlem, 1880; L. Oliphant, Land of Gilead, London, 1880; idem, Haifa, or Life in Modern Palestine, ib. 1887; A. Muller, Der Islam im Morgen- und Abendland, i. 629 sqq., Berlin, 1885; T. Waldemeier, Autobiography: . Sixteen Years in Syria, London, 1886; W. Ewing, Arab and Druze at Home, ib. 1907.
DRUSILLA. See Herod and his Family.
DRUSIUS, JOHANNES (Jan van den Driessche): Orientalist and exegete; b. at Audenarde (Oudenaarde; 14 m. s.s.w. of Ghent), in East Flanders, June 28, 1550; d. in Franeker Feb. 12, 1616. He studied Latin and Greek under Peter Dickel at Ghent, and with Cornelius Valerius and Johannes Stadius at Louvain. When his father, Clement van den Driessche, was proscribed in 1567 as a zealous Protestant and had to flee, the son followed him to London where, among others, his teacher was Antoine Rudolphe le Chevalier. In 1572 Drusius became professor of Oriental languages at Oxford. After the Peace of Ghent (1576) had enabled him to return home, he filled the like office at Leyden. In 1585 he accepted a call to Franeker, where he lived as professor of the Hebrew language until his death. His scholarship was recognized wherever unprejudiced judgment was not overcast by theological bias. When a committee was organized in 1596 for the preparation of a new Dutch version of the Bible, Drusius was made a member upon the recommendation of Arminius and Uytenbogaert; but subsequently the committee was obliged to dissolve. In 1600 Drusius was commissioned by the States General to annotate difficult passages of the Old Testament, to which task he devoted himself with great industry, but had often to hear reproaches of tardy progress. He was also attacked by theologians of other opinions for being a friend of Arminius and Uytenbogaert.
Even the morality of his family was assailed. Taken all in all, the accusations brought against him by his pupil Sixtinus Amama and others have been shown to be unjust. But in his age of stormy conflicts he passed for an undecided man because, having applied himself with all his might to the advancement of Biblical science, in connection with his investigations he could not admit dogmatic definitions as authoritative. He repeatedly appeals to the " judgment of the Church catholic " against particular churches and ecclesiastical factions, by which he will not suffer himself to be restricted in his scholarly activity. Only a small portion of his notes on the Old Testament appeared in his lifetime; the rest were published by Amama and others, 1617-36. He also wrote comments on the New Testament, containing especially elucidations from the Talmud and rabbinical sources (Franeker, 1612; 2d ed., 1616). His coUective works were issued by Amama (10 vols., Arnheim and Amsterdam, 1622-36). Lists of Drusius's numerous writings are to be found in Meursius, Vriemoet, and Niceron. In the Critica sacra his annotations stand after those of Miinster, Fagius, Vatablus, Castalio, and Clarius; they rank among the most important in this great compilation.
Carl Bertheau.
Bibliography: A. Curiander, Vitas operumque Johannis Drusii . delineatio et tituli, Franeker, 1616; J. Meursius, Athena Batavce, pp. 252 sqq., Leyden, 1625; R. Simon, Histoire critique du V. T., p. 499, Paris, 1680; Niee'ron, Memoires, xxii. 57-76; G. W. Meyer, Geschichte der Schrifterkldrung, iii. 413-414, Gottingen, 1804; F. A. Tholuck, Das akademische Leben des 17. Jahrhunderts, ii. 206, 378, Halle, 1854; L. Diestel, Geschichte des A. T. in der christlichen Kirche, passim, especially pp. 422 sqq., Jena, 1869; ADB, v. 439-440.
DRUTHMAR, CHRISTIAN: The name assigned to the author of an extensive commentary on Matthew, and two briefer ones on Luke and John. It has recently been shown, however, that the name Druthmar does not occur in the manuscripts, but is based on a statement of Trithemius {De scriptoribus ecclesiasticis, 280), and therefore must be given up. According to the prologue to the commentary on Matthew, Christian was a monk in the cloister of Stabulaus (the modern Stavelot, 24 m. s.e. of Liege), where he wrote his work on the basis of the lectures which he delivered in the school of the monastery. Sigibert of Gembloux (De scriptoribus ecclesiasticis, 72) states that Christian came from Aquitaine to Gaul, although certain passages in his own writings make plausible the conjecture that his native district was Burgundy. His date can only be conjectured, but his statement that the Bulgarians were in process of conversion to Christianity during his lifetime points approximately to 865. A deacon named Christian is known to have lived at Stavelot in 880, and it is not impossible that he was the exegete. The commentary on Matthew ranks above the average contribution of the ninth century. Though the author drew much from other sources, he did not content himself with mere excerpting, but proceeded with a considerable degree of independence. He was tolerably accurate in his judgment on literal and allegorical exegesis, preferring the former in cases of advantage, yet not disdaining