DOG DAYS, the name applied by the ancients to a period of about 40 days, the hottest season of the year, at the time of the heliacal rising of Sirius, the dog-star. The time of the rising is now, owing to the precession of the equinoxes, different from what it was to the ancients, July 1; and the dog days are now counted from July 3 to August 11, that is, 20 days be fore and 20 days after the heliacal rising.
DOGE (doj), the title borne by the chief magistrate in the former Italian republics of Venice and Genoa. The dogate, or office and dignity of doge, was elective; the doge of Genoa being elected for two years, and at Venice for life. The office was originated in the latter city in the year 697. When the seven tribunes, by whom state affairs had been previously administered, were found un equal to their posts, the Venetians re solved to replace them by a single chief magistrate, who should hold office for life. The doge was chief of the council, first minister, and personal representa tive of the republic; but, though invested with almost regal authority, he was not a sovereign. He could convoke assem blies, declare war, or conclude treaties, command the armies of the state, ap point the military tribunes and the correct citizens, hear appeals, de cide disputes between the clergy, award ecclesiastical punishments, invest bish ops, and install them in their churches.
Notwithstanding these vast powers, a perusal of the history of Venice will prove, that though the Venetians allowed four centuries to elapse before they fixed the bounds or controlled the exercise of the power of their chief magistrate— after that time the doge was merely the representative of an authority which was actually reserved to the republic. In fact he was a state pageant who lent the weight of his name to the acts of the senate. Dispatches were directed to him by ambassadors, but he could not open them, except in presence of the council lors; and although money was struck in his name it did not bear his stamp or arms. He could not go beyond Venice without permission of the council. He could not divest himself of his dignity at will; and at his death three inquisitors and five correctors examined into his conduct with the most searching rigor. The office, after an existence of 1,100 years, yielded, with but slight resistance, to the power of the republic of France.