fable of Hylas, with a
preface to his tutor, the grammarian Felicianus; the rape of Helen; the
story of Medea; two epithalamia. It is also probable that Dracontius was
the author of the _Orestis tragoedia_, a poem of some 1000 hexameters,
which in language, metre and general treatment of the subject exhibits a
striking resemblance to the other works of Dracontius. Opinions differ
as to his poetical merits, but, when due allowance is made for
rhetorical exaggeration and consequent want of lucidity, his works show
considerable vigour of expression, and a remarkable knowledge of the
Bible and of Roman classical literature.

EDITIONS.--_De Deo_ and _Satisfactio_, ed. Arevalo, reprinted in
Migne's _Patrologiae cursus_, lx.; _Carmina minora_, ed. F. de Duhn
(1873). On Dracontius generally, see A. Ebert, _Allgemeine Geschichte
der Lit. des Mittelalters im Abendlande_, i. (1874); C. Rossberg, _In
D. Carmina minora_ (1878); H. Mailfait, _De Dracontii poetae lingua_
(1902). On the _Orestis tragoedia_, see editions by R. Peiper (1875)
and C. Giarratino (Milan, 1906); pamphlets by C. Rossberg (1880, on
the authorship; 1888, materials for a commentary).

DRAFTED MASONRY, in architecture, the term given to large stones, on the
face of which has been dressed round the edge a draft or sunken surface,
leaving the centre portion as it came from the quarry. The dressing is
worked with an adze of eight teeth to the inch, used in a vertical
direction and to a width of 2 to 4 in. The earliest example of drafted
masonry is found in the immense platform built by Cyrus 530 B.C. at
Pasargadae in Persia. It occurs again in the palace of Hyrcanus, known
as the Arak-el-Emir (176 B.C.), but is there inferior in execution. The
finest drafted masonry is that dating from the time of Herod, in the
tower of David and the walls of the Haram in Jerusalem, and at Hebron.
In the castles built by the Crusaders, the adze has been worked in a
diagonal direction instead of vertically. In all these examples the size
of the stones employed is sometimes enormous, so that the traditional
influence of the Phoenician masons seems to have lasted till the 12th
century.

DRAG (from the Old Eng. _dragan_, to draw; the word preserves the _g_
which phonetically developed into _w_), that which is drawn or pulled
along a surface, or is used for drawing or pulling. The term is thus
applied to a harrow for breaking up clods of earth, or for an app