Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 3.djvu/1047

Rh THEODECTES. of all for ordinary purposes, that of Wlistemann, in Jacobs and Rost's Bibliotheca Graeca, Gothae, 1830, (5vo. (a new edition is expected). For an account of the numerous Delectuses, and of the translations of the whole, or separate portions, of the Idyls, and of the works upon Theocritus, the reader is referred to Hoffmann. The chief English versions are those of Creech, Lond. 1681, 1684, 1713, 1721, 12rao. ; Fawkes, Lond. 1767, 8vo. ; and Polwhele, Lond. 1786, 4to., 1792, 1811, 8vo. (Fabric. Bibl. Grace, vol. iii. pp. 764, foil. ; Wiis- temann's Prolegomena; Bernhardy, Gesch.d.Griecli. Lit. vol. ii. pp."925, foil. ; Ulrici ; Bode.) [P. S.] THEOCY'DES, an architect of little eminence, who wrote on the proportions of the orders of architecture. (Fraecepta Spnmetriarum, Vitruv. vii. Praef. § 14.) [P. S.] THEODECTES (0eo5e/cT7js). 1. The son of Aristander, of Phaselis, a Dorian city of Pam- phylia, on the borders of Lycia, was a highly dis- tinguished rhetorician and tragic poet in the time of Philip of Macedon (Suid. *. v. ; Steph, Byz. s. V. ^aa-t]is (Eustath. ad Dio?i. Perieg. 8o5). He was a pupil of Isocrates (Pseudo-Piut. Vit. Isocr. 10, p. 837, d.) ; and also, according to Sui- das, of Plato and of Aristotle. The greater part of his life was spent at Athens, where he died at the early age of forty-one, while his father was still alive, and was buried bj' the side of the sacred road to Eleusis (Paus. i. 37. § 3; Pseudo-Plut. I. c). The following epitaph, which was inscribed upon his tomb, is preserved by Stephanus (/. c.) : — "HSe x'^^v KoKvoiai <^a(rriXirt]v &eodeKrriv KpvTTTet^ hv Tjij^Tjaav Movaai ^OXv/xiriddes' Avrap iirl x^^^^ ^^v* Upous rpidi koX Sex' afxiWais 'Oktu/ ayripdvTQvs aix(p€64fxr}v (rrecpdvovs. The people of his native city also honoured the memory of Theodectes with a statue in their agora, which Alexander, when he stopped at Pha- selis on his march towards Persia, crowned with garlands, to show his respect for the memory of a man who had been associated with himself by means of Aristotle and philosophy (Plut. Alex. 17 ; the words are ti/j-^v anoSLdousTfj yeuofievr) Si' 'Api- (TTOTeKrjv Koi <piAoao(piav oixiKia irphs rhv 6.udpa.) On this passage the question arises, whether the somewhat vague expressions used by Plutarch are to be understood as meaning simply that Alex- ander recognized a sort of tie between Theodectes and himself on account of their common con- nection with Aristotle, or whether the strict sense of the word ojniKia is to be so urged as to establish a personal acquaintance between the king and Theodectes; each of these opinions having been maintained by eminent scholars (see Welcker, Kayser, Wagner, and Clinton, as quoted below). We believe the former view to be the right one ; but the question is too minute to be discussed here ; nor is it of much importance, since the age of Theodectes can be determined on other grounds. He was one of the orators who contended for the prize proposed by Artemisia for a funeral oration in honour of Mausolus, in B.C. 352 (Suid. s. r.; Aul. GeU. X. 18: Suidas, however, gives the date wrongly, 01. 103, py', instead of 01. 107, pf ; see Clinton, F. If. vol. ii. s. a., and p. 287). Now the visit of Alexander to Phaselis was in 01. 111. ^ Some critics read eV Se x^P^^ rpayiKwy. THEODECTES. 1035 4, B. c. 333 ; and, if we assume that the statue of which he took such special notice had been but recently erected, we may suppose that Theodectes died about b. c. 335 or 334, and therefore, accord- ing to Suidas's account of the length of his life, that he was born about b. c. 376 or 375. He Avould then be about 23 or 24 at the time of the funeral of Mausolus ; about the same age as Theopompus, his rival on that occasion, and his fellow-pupil under Isocrates ; and about ten years younger than Aristotle, a result agreeing with the account which makes hira not merely the friend, but the pupil of that philosopher (Suid. I. c; Cic. Grat. 51, 57), and also with a story respecting their relation to each other, preserved by Athenaeus (xiii. p. 566., e). It is said that Theodectes was distin- guished for his personal beauty (see also Steph. Byz. I. 6'.), which excited the admiration of Aris- totle, as much as the beauty of Alcibiades en- chanted Socrates. The several passages of Aris- totle, in which Theodectes is mentioned, furnish decisive evidence of the strong regard and high esteem in which he was held by the philosopher. (Aristot. RM. ii. 23. § 13, &c.) Theodectes devoted himself, during the first part of his life, entirely to rhetoric, and afterwards he turned his attention to tragic poetry, but his dra- matic works partook largely of the rhetorical cha- racter, so that, while in tragedy he may be regarded as, to some extent, an imitator of Euripides, he must be considered, in his whole literary character, as the disciple of Isocrates, whose style he is said to have followed very closely. (Dionys. do Is. 19 ; Hermipp. ap. Ath. x. p. 451, f. ; Phot. Bibl. Cod. 260, p. 487, a. 1, Bekker; Suid. /. c.) Like his master, he was a professional teacher of rhetoric and com- poser of orations for others, and was in part de- pendent on this profession for his subsistence, as we learn from a passage of Theopompus, who, while placing himself and Theodectes and Nau- crates, with their common master Isocrates, at the head of the oratorical profession {ttjs eV yois ■n-aiSeias) among the Greeks, boasts that he and Naucrates were independent by their fortunes, while Isocrates and Theodectes were compelled by their necessities to teach, and to write orations for pay. (Phot. Cod. 176, p. 120, b. 30, foil.) Such a boast betrays, perhaps, a consciousness that, in real merit and in public esteem, Theodectes stood above the other pupils of Isocrates, and nearest to his master. It appears, however, pretty cer- tain that, on one great occasion, when these four orators were placed in competition with each other, namely, at the funeral of Mausolus, the prize was gained by Theopompus, who in this case also be- trayed his jealousy and vanity by the manner in which he boasted of his victory over his master Isocrates. (Euseb. Fraep. Ev. x. 3.) In the accounts of this transaction an important question arises respecting the share of Theodectes in the contest. Some writers have concluded, from the testimonies on the subject, that, while the other three orators came forward with funeral orations in honour of Mausolus, Theodectes entered the contest with a tragedy on the subject of the king's life, under the title of Mausolus. This idea is perhaps sufficiently absurd to carry with it its own refutation ; but it is also quite unsupported by the testimonies on which it professes to rest, a careful examination of which will show that Theo- dectes composed both an oration a7id a tragedy on