treatment vary immensely. A. C. Fraser’s Edinburgh lectures (Phil.
of Theism) are central in topic and of distinct value. J. Caird (Glasgow:
Fundamental Ideas of Christianity, comp. his earlier Introduc.
to the Phil. of Relig.) and more unreservedly Ed. Caird (St Andrews:
The Evolution of Religion; Glasgow: The Evolution of Theology in
the Greek Philosophies) represent speculative treatment on a basis
of Hegelianism. H. M. Gwatkin (Edinburgh: The Knowledge of
God) pours out his historical knowledge, and W. James (Edinburgh:
Varieties of Relig. Exp.) reveals his many-sided intellectual interests
and ready sympathies. W. Wallace (Lectures and Essays, incorporating
Glasgow lectures) gives some useful historical references.
James Ward’s masterly criticism of Herbert Spencer (Naturalism
and Agnosticism) has been mentioned above. The student will
rarely lose by reading Gifford Lectures; but it will not always
be upon theism that he finds himself better informed. In France,
Paul Janet (Final Causes, Eng. trans.) and Ch. Sécretan (Philosophie
de la Liberté) may be named: in Germany, H. Ulrici; while
R. Eucken represents to a later generation the spirit and tendency
of Lotze and Ulrici, in original and powerful, if rather elusive,
fashion. H. Höffding’s Phil. of Religion (translated) is one of the
most original books under that title, but it cannot be called theistic.
F. C. S. Schiller, like W. James, opens up new suggestions in
philosophy; the bearing of these upon theistic (or other) beliefs is
hard to define. In history compare B. Pünjer’s Hist. of the Phil.
of Relig. (Eng. trans.; it includes a good deal of the history of
general philosophy); A. Caldecott’s The Philosophy of Religion in
England and America; and A. Caldecott and H. R. Mackintosh’s
Selections from the Literature of Theism (useful texts with useful
notes: nothing from Hegel). (R. Ma.)
THEISS (Hungarian, Tisza; Lat., Tisia or Tissus), a large affluent of the Danube, next to which it is the greatest river of
Hungary. It rises in the north-eastern part of the Carpathian mountains, in the county of Máramaros, at a height of above
6300 ft., and is formed by the confluence of two branches, the Black Theiss (Fekete Tisza), and the White Theiss (Fehér
Tisza), which unite at about 20 m. E. of Máramaros-Sziget.
The Theiss then follows a north-westerly direction until it leaves
its mountainous valley, then runs west, and after a great curve
to the north, takes a south-westerly direction and enters the
great Hungarian plain (Alföld). From Szolnok it runs south
in an almost parallel course with that of the Danube, from
which it is separated by a distance of about 60 m., and flows
into the Danube near the village of Titel, 20 m. E. of Ujvidek.
Its length from source to mouth is, as the crow flies, only about
340 m., but its windings make its course about 870 m. long.
The Theiss is clear and swift in its course through the mountains,
but in the plain it becomes slow, somewhat muddy and
very tortuous. Its basin covers an area of 56,600 sq. m., and
comprises the whole eastern part of Hungary, and the greater
part of Transylvania, and collects all the rivers descending
from the Carpathians westward.
The Theiss is navigable for rafts almost everywhere, but for steamers only from Szolnok downwards, a distance of about 200 m., where the breadth of the river is 450 to 759 ft. The depth of the Theiss at low-water mark is 7 ft. at Tokay, 20 ft. at Szeged and 11 ft. at Titel, near its mouth, while the difference between the low-water mark and the high-water mark is as high as 25 to 35 ft. During its course through the great Hungarian plain the Theiss flows between flat, low-lying banks. which are the cause of periodical and sometimes disastrous inundations and of extensive marshes. Therefore extensive works have been undertaken for the regulation and canalization of the river, which is now strongly dammed in many parts. By these works large tracts of marshes have been transformed into productive ground. Its chief tributaries are the Szamos, Körös, Maros, Latorcza, and the Sajó. In its lower course it is joined to the Danube by the Franz Josef canal, while it is also united with Temesvár by the Bega canal.
THEMIS, in Greek mythology, the personification of justice.
In Homer θέμις is used both as a common and as a
proper noun. As a common noun (plural θέμιστες, θέμιτες, θέμιδες),
it is the body of rules and precedents established at the beginning
of the world, as a guarantee of its order and harmony (see
Greek Law); personified, Themis is the servant or companion
of Zeus, her chief function being to summon the assemblies of
both gods and men (Odyssey, ii. 68). In the Hesiodic theogony,
she is the daughter of Uranus and Gaea, and according to Pindar
the wife of Zeus, by whose side she sits, assisting him with her
advice, which is even better than that of any of the gods. She
is the mother of the Horae and of the Moirae (Fates), an indication
of her influence in the physical and moral world. She is
the representative of divine justice in all its relations to men,
and takes special cognizance of the rights of hospitality. Her
opposite is Hybris (ὕβρις), insolent encroachment upon the
rights of others, on whose track she follows to punish, like
Nemesis. In this aspect both Themis and Nemesis are called
ίχναία (ἴχνος, track). In the lexicon of Festus, Themis is
described as the goddess who prescribes that which is right in
accordance with divine law (fas) and is herself identical with
this divine law. She is also a prophetic divinity, and there
was a tradition that the oracle at Delphi had first been in the
hands of Gaea, who transferred it to Themis (sometimes identified
with her) by whom it was handed over to Apollo (Aeschylus,
Enmenides, 2; Euripides, Iphig. in T. 1181). Orphic poetry
makes her a daughter of Helios, whose eye is all-seeing (πανδέρκης)
and penetrates all mysteries. She was especially honoured at
Athens, Delphi, Thebes, Aegina and Troezene, where there was
an altar dedicated to a triad of Themides (on the analogy of
the triads of Horae, Charites, Moirae). In art she was represented
as of dignified and commanding presence, with the
cornucopiae (symbolizing the blessings resulting from order)
and a pair of scales.
See article “Justitia” by J. A. Hild in Daremberg and Saglio’s Dict. des Antiquités; H. Ahrens, Die Göttin Themis (1862); R. Hirzel, Themis, Dike, und Verwanzttes (1907).
THEMISTIUS (317–?387), named εὐφραδής (“eloquent”), statesman, rhetorician and philosopher, was born in Paphlagonia and taught at Constantinople, where, apart from a short sojourn in Rome, he resided during the rest of his life. Though a pagan, he was admitted to the senate by Constantius in 355. He was prefect of Constantinople in 384 on the nomination of Theodosius. His paraphrases of Aristotle’s Posterior Analytics, Physics and De Anima are valuable; but the orations in which he panegyrizes successive emperors, comparing them to Plato’s “true philosopher,” and even to the “idea” itself, are servile and unworthy. Against this, however, should be set the description given by Boetius, “disertissimus scriptor ac lucidus, et omnia ad facilitatem intelligentiae revocans, ” and that of Gregory Nazianzen—with whom Themistius corresponded—βασιλέα λόγων. Themistius’s paraphrases of the De Coelo and of book Λ of the Metaphysics have reached us only through Hebrew versions. In philosophy Themistius was an eclectic. He held that Plato and Aristotle were in substantial agreement, that God has made men free to adopt the mode of worship they prefer, and that Christianity and Hellenism were merely two forms of the one universal religion.
The first edition of Themistius’s works (Venice, 1534) included the paraphrases and eight of the orations. Nineteen orations were known to Petavius, whose editions appeared in 1613 and 1618; Hardouin (Paris, 1684) gives thirty-three. Another oration was discovered by Angelo Mai, and published at Milan in 1816. The most recent editions are W. Dindorf’s of the orations (Leipzig, 1832), and L. Spengel’s of the paraphrases (Leipzig, 1866). The Latin translations of the Hebrew versions of the paraphrases of the De Coelo and book A of the Metaphysics were published at Venice in 1574 and 1558 respectively. A new edition of the latter by S. Landauer appeared in 1903. See Fabricius, Bibliotheca Graeca, vi. 790 seq.; E. Zeller, History of Greek Phil.; E. Baret, De Themist, sophista (Paris, 1853); Jourdain’s Recherches critiques sur l’âge et l’origine des traductions latines d’Aristote (Paris, 1819); see Neoplatonism. For Themistius’s Commentaries on Aristotle, see Commentaria in Aristotelem Graeca (Berlin), and also Themistii paraphrases Aristotelis librorurn quae snpersunt, ed. L. Spengel (1866, Teubner series, mentioned above).
THEMISTOCLES (c. 514–449 B.C.), Athenian soldier and statesman in some respects probably the ablest and most far- sighted whom Greece produced in the first half of the 5th century. He was the son of Neocles, an Athenian of no distinction and moderate means, his mother being a Carian or a Thracian. Hence according to the Periclean law ἐξ ἀμφοῖν ἀστοῖν he would not have been a free Athenian at all (see Pericles). Thucydides properly brings out the fact that, though he lacked that education which was the peculiar glory of the Periclean age, he displayed a marvellous power of analysing a complex situation together with a genius for rapid action. Plutarch similarly enlarges on his consuming ambition for power both
