Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 3.djvu/1106

1094 THEOSEBFA. is variously cited by the ancients under the titles oi 'SvfiSovAaX TTfjhs 'AAe'lavSpoic (Athen vi. p. 230, f.), '^^vfiSovXevTiKhp irphs *Ae^dp5pou (Ck.ad Att. xii. 40), and ^EitkttoX^ vphs AKe^avdpov (Athen. xiii. p. 595). 5. Kara UXoltoovos 5iaTpi§ri (Athen. xi. p. 508, c ; Diog. Laert, iii. 40), was perhaps a digression in his Philippics ; and the same appears to have been the case with his work which is cited under the title of 6. Tlep ev(Ti€elas (Schol. ad Aristoph. Av. 1354; Porphyr. de Abst'm. ii. 16). The work which Anaximenes published under the name of Theopompus, in order to injure his rival, is spoken of in the life of the former. [Vol. I. p. 166, b.] Theopompus is praised by Dionysius of Hali- carnassus {I. c.) as well as by other ancient writers for his diligence and accuracy ; but he is at the same time blamed by most writers for the extrava- gance of his praises and censures. He is said, however, to have taken more pleasure in blaming than in commending ; and many of his judgments respecting events and characters were expressed with such acrimony and severity that several of the ancient writers speak of his malignity, and call him a reviler ( Corn. Nep. Alcib. c. 1 1; Clem. Alex. i. p. 316; Lucian, Quomodo Histor. conscrib. c. 59; Plut. L7/sand. c. 30 ; Polyb. viii, 12). It would seem that the vehemence of the temper of Theo- pompus frequently overcame his judgment, and prevented him from expressing himself with the calmness and impartiality of an historian. The ancients also blame Theopompus for introducing innumerable fables into his history (Cic. de Leg. i. 1; Aelian, F. ^. iii. 18). The style of Theopompus was formed on the model of Isocrates, and possessed the charac- teristic merits and defects of his master. It was pure, clear, and elegant, but deficient in vigour, loaded with ornament, and in general too artificial. It is praised in high terms by Dionysius of Hali- camassus {I. c), but is spoken of in very different language by other critics. (Longin. deSubl. c. 43; Demetr. Phal. irepl kpixT]v. § 75 ; Plut. Praec. ger. Reip. c. 6, p. 803, b.) The fragments of Theopompus have been pub- lished by Wichers, under the title of Theopompi Chit Fragmenta^ collegit, disposuit et explicavit^ ^c. R. H. Eyssonius WicJiers, Lugd. Bat. 1829, and by C. and Theod. Miiller in the Fragmenla Histo- ricorum Graecorum^ Paris, 1841. (The life of Theopompus prefixed to the collections of Fragments by Wichers and MUUer ; Aschbach, Dissert, de Tluiopomp. Francof. 1823; Pflugk, De Theopomp. Vita etScriptis, Berol. 1827 ; Vossius, De Historicis (ilraecis^ p, 59, foil., ed. Westermann ; Clinton, Fasti Hellenici, vol. ii. p. 374, foil. 2nd ed.) THEOPOMPUS, artist. [Theopropus.] THEO'PROPUS (0e(j7rpo7ro$), a statuary of Aegina, who made a bronze bull, which was dedi- cated by the Corcyreans at Delphi, as a tithe of their profits from a shoal of fish, which they dis- covered by means of a bull, according to the story related by Pausanias (x. 9. § 2. s. 3, 4). The reading of the name is doubtful : the common text has &6otrp6iTou, but other MSS. give 0eo7rpe7roi/$ and 0eo7rJ;i7roi>, the latter of which readings is approved by Schubart and Walz, and adopted by Thiersch. (Eporhen, p. 197.) [P. S.] THEOSE'BIA (eeojegta), the writer of an THEOXOTUS. epigram in the Greek Anthology upon the physician Ablabius, was the sister of the philosopher Zosi- mus of Thebes, who dedicated to her his work on chemistry, and who appears to have lived under Theodosius II., about a. d. 420. (Suid. s. v. Zcvaifxas ; Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol. iv. p. 497, new ed., and vol. xii. p. 753, old ed. ; Brunck, Anal. vol. ii. p. 450 ; Jacobs, Afith. Graec. vol. iii. p. 156, vol. xiii. p. 961.) [P- S.] THEOSTERICTUS, a Greek monk in Bithy- nia, lived in the reigns of Michael II. Balbus (a. d. 820 — 829) and of his son Theophilus (a. d. 829 — 842). He wrote the life of his master Nicetas the Confessor, which is published by Su- rius, vol. ii. d. 3. April. (Vossius, de Hist. Graec. p. 343, ed. Westermann ; Fabric. Bibl. Gi-aec. vol. xi. p. 719.) THEOTI'MUS (eeSrifios), a Greek writer of unknown date, wrote upon Italy (Plut. Farall. min. c. 8), Cj'rene (Schol. ad Find. Fyth. iv. 61, V. 33), and the Nile (Schol. ad Find. Fyth. vii. 33). Athenaeus (xiii. p. 611, b.) speaks of a stoic philosopher of the name of Theotimus, but in that passage Diotimus ought probably to be sub- stituted. [DioTiMUs, No. 5.] (Comp. Vossius, de Hist. Graec. p. 505, ed. Westermann.) THEOTYCHUS. [Theodotus.] THEO'XENA (0eJ|6j/a). 1. The last wife of Agathocles, king of Syracuse, to whom she bore two children. She is called by Justin an Egyptian princess, but her parentage is unknown. Droysen, however, conjectures that she was a daughter of Berenice by her first husband. According to Justin, Agathocles/ when he felt his death ap- proaching, sent away Theoxena and her two children to Egypt, but the whole of his narrative is subject to grave difficulties. ( Justin, xxiii. 2 Droysen, Hellenism, vol. i. pp. 560, 602.) 2. A daughter of Herodicus, a noble Thessalian, who had been put to death by Philip V. king of Macedonia. Many years afterwards, the increasing suspicions and cruelty of that monarch having led him to contemplate the destruction of the children of all those whom he had previously executed, Theoxena sought to make her escape by sea with her husband Poris and her two nephews, whom she had adopted ; but the ship being driven back, in order to avoid falling into the hands of the king's emissaries, she slew her nephews with her own hand, and then threw herself with her hus- band into the sea. (Liv. xl. 4.) [E. H. B.] THEOXE'NIUS {@^o^hios a surname of Apollo and Heiines. (Pans, vii, 27. § 2 ; Schol. ad Find. 01. ix. 146, Nem. x. 32.) Respecting the festival of the Theoxenia, see Diet, of A ntiq. S.V. [L. S.] THEO'XENUS (0€(J|6»/os), commanded the Achaean troops, who assisted the Rhodians in B.C. 197. (Liv. xxxiii. 18.) THEO'XOTUS, the maker of a very beautiful painted vase, found at Vulci, and now in the col- lection of M. Durand. It is painted black, with decorations in white and violet, and bears the in- scription 0EOHOTO^ MEnOE$E, that is, 0eo^oT(^s jue ^TTofTjo-e, according to the interpretation of De Witte {Cab. Durand. No. 884), and Raoul-Rocliette (Lettre a M. ScJiorn, p. 60, 2d ed.) ; but Panofka prefers to read the name ©eo^iJroy, or its equi- valent 06(Jo-SoTOS, comparing the form with the kindred name &foa5oTiSr}s, which occurs in Pluto and Demosthenes. {Wuiin. Mas. 1846, vol. iv.