Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 3.djvu/1054

Rh 1042 THEODORE! US. sitions maintained in them, namely, first, that God the Word is unchangeable (uti ^tpctttos h &ehs secondly, that his union with the human nature is ■without confusion (Srt aavyxvTOS rj evwcris), and, thirdly, that the divine nature of the Saviour is incapable of suffering (8ti airaO^s t] tov 2wt'^- pos i&eoTTjy). The work displays great learning and power, with a moderation which made it as displeasing to the Nestorians as it was to the Eu- tychians : (3) A work against heresies in general, entitled AlpeTiKrjs KaKOfxvOias eTTiTo/irf, or, Hae- reticarum Fahtdarum Epitome, in five books, ad- dressed to Sporacius. In this work, which seems to have been written after the end of the Nesto- rian and Eutychian disputes, he not only uses, with regard to other heretics, the intolerant language which was common in that age, but he speaks of Nestorius in terms of bitterness which cannot be defended, and which occur again in a special work against Nestorius, addressed to the same Spo- racius. The wannest admirers of Theodoret must lament that, after the contest was over, he took such means to set himself right with his former oppo- nents : (4) Twenty-seven books against various propositions of the Eutychians (Ao'7ot k^' irphs Sia(j)6povs (&6<re£s). an abstract of which is supplied by Photius. (BibL Cod. 46.) IV. The chief of his remaining works are : (1) An apologetic treatise, intended to exhibit the con- firmations of the truth of Christianity contained in the Gentile philosophy, under the title of 'EWrjui- Kwv ^(paTrevTiKri iraQr]fxaTuv' ^ evayy^Kufris aKr]- Oe'ias e'i ''E.'f]viKT)s (piXo(To<pias eiriyvwais, Graeca- rum Affedionum Curatio ; seu, Evangelicae Veritatis ea Gentilium Philosophia Cognitio: (2) Ten Orations on Providence (irepl irpovoias Xoyoi ZiKo) : (3) Va- rious Orations, Homilies, and minor treatises : (4) One hundred and eighty-one letters, which are of the greatest importance for the history of Theo- doret and his times. There are only two complete editions of the works of Theodoret. both of very great excellence ; but the later having the advantage of containing all that is good, and correcting much that is faulty, in its prodecessor. The first is that edited by the Jesuits Jac. Sirmond and Jo. Garnier, in five vo- lumes folio, Paris, 1642 — 1684: the first four volumes, by Sirmond, contain the bulk of the works of Theodoret in Greek and Latin ; and the fifth, some minor works and fragments omitted by Sirmond, together with Gamier's five dissertations on (1) the History, (2) the Books, (3) the Faith of Theodoret, (4) on the fifth General Council, (5) on the Cause of Theodoret and the Orientals. The faults of these valuable treatises have been already mentioned. The other edition, founded on the former, is that of Lud. Schuize and J. A. Noesselt, Halae Sax. 1769—1774, 5 vols, in 10 parts 8vo. For an account of the editions of se- parate works, see Hotfmann, Lexicon Bibliogr. Scriptorum Graecorum. (Gamier, Dissertationes, in vol. 5 of Schulze's edition ; Tillemont, Mem. vol. xiv. ; Cave, Hist. Litt. s. a. 423, pp. 405, foil., ed. Basil. ; Fabric. Dili. Grace, vol. vii. pp. 429, foil., vol. viii. pp. 277, foil. ; Schuize, De Vita et Scriptis B. Tlicodoreti Dissertation prefixed to vol. i. of his edition ; Neander, Geschichtc der Chrisil. Relig. u. Kirclie, vol. ii. passim ; Schrockh, Christliclie Kirchenges- ckichte, vol xviii. pp. 355, foil.) A few insignificant ecclesiastics of the name are THEODORICUS. mentioned by Fabricius. (Bibl. Grace, vol. viii. pp. 307, 308") [P. S.] THEODORICUS or TIIEODERICUS I., king of the Visigoths from a. d. 418* to 451, was the successor of Wallia, but appears to have been the son of the great Alaric. (Gibbon, Decline and Fall, c. XXXV. note 10.) Not content with the limits of his dominions, Theodoric broke the peace which existed between the Visigoths and the Romans, took several places in Gaul, and laid siege to Aries in a. d. 425. He was, however, obliged to retire on the approacli of Aetius, with whom he concluded a peace ; and he then turned his arms against the Vandals in Spain, upon receiving a sufficient subsidy from the Roman general. Theo- doric however was only waiting for a favourable opportunity to attack the Romans again ; and ac- cordingly, while the Burgundians invaded the Belgic provinces, Theodoric laid siege to Narbonne in A. D. 436. Aetius displayed his usual activity; he defeated the Burgundians in battle, and sent Litorius to oppose Theodoric. The inhabitants of Narbonne had resisted many months all the efforts of Theodoric to take the town ; but they were reduced to the last extremities of famine, when Litorius, in the following year (a. d. 437) cut his way through the entrenchments of the besiegers. The siege was immediately raised ; and Aetius, who arrived shortly afterwards, defeated Theodoric with great slaughter, and obliged him to retire into his own dominions. The Gothic king was now obliged to act on the defensive ; and Aetius, on his return to Italy, left Litorius at the head of an army, chiefly consisting of Huns, to prosecute the war. Unable to resist the Romans in the field, Theodoric retired to Toulouse, where he Avas be- sieged by Litorius in A. d. 439. Despairing of success, Theodoric now endeavoured to obtain a peace by the mediation of his Christian bishops ; but Litorius, confident of success, and relying upon the predictions of the pagan augurs, that he should enter the Gothic capital in triumph, refused all the proposals Avhich were repeatedly made him. The presumption of Litorius appears to have made him careless. The Goths availed themselves of a favourable opportunity, sallied out of their city, and, after a long and obstinate battle, defeated the Roman army, made their general prisoner, and conducted him in triumph through the streets of Toulouse. This victory turned the fortune of the war ; and the whole of the country as far as the Rhone lay exposed to the ravages of the barbarians. Avitus, who was then praefectus praetorio in Gaul, had no army to resist the Visigoths, and accordingly entered into negotiations with Theodoric, which ended in a peace, the terms of which are not related, but which must have been in favour of the bar- barians. This last peace between Theodoric and the Romans does not appear to have been inter- rupted. Theodoric had sought to strengthen his power by giving one of his daughters in marriage to the eldest son of Genseric, king of the Vandals in Africa ; but Genseric, who suspected that his son's wife had conspired to poison him, igno- miniously deprived her of her nose and ears, and sent her back in this mutilated condition to her father at Toulouse. To revenge this unpardonable • His accession was not in a.d. 419, as is stated by Gibbon and most writers. See Clinton, Fasti Horn, ad ann. 418.