Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 3.djvu/1085

Rh TIIEODOTUS. allegiance of Egypt. (Polyb. v. 40, 46, 61, 62.) From this time Theodotus enjoyed a high place in the favour of the Syrian king. In the campaign of B. c. 217 we find him commanding a body of 10,000 select troops, and just before the battle of Raphia he gave a singular proof of daring by pene- trating with only two companions into the heart of the Egyptian camp, in order to assassinate Ptolemy himself. Mistaking the king's tent, he slew his physician instead, but effected his escape in safety, and returned to the Syrian camp. (Id. v. 66^ 79, 81.) Again in b. c. 215 we find him ex- hibiting equal audacity in supporting the daring project of Lagoras to scale the walls of the city of Sardes, the success of which seems to have been in great measure owing to his skill and ability. (Id. vii. 16—18.) 6. A Syracusan who joined in a conspiracy against the life of the tyrant Hieronymus. Being seized and put to the torture, he concealed the names of all his real accomplices, and accused Thrason, the leader of the opposite party, who was put to death in consequence. (Liv. xxiv. 7.) It is difficult to conceive that the life of Theodotus himself would be spared, but we find him (or another person of the same name) mentioned shortly after among the conspirators who assassinated Hieronymus at Leontini, B. c. 214. On that oc- casion he hastened with Sosis to Syracuse (Id. xxiv. 21), and his name is associated with the latter during the transactions that followed [Sosis]. His subsequent fate is unknown. 7. A Thessalian of the city of Pherae, who was an exile from his native country and settled at Stratus in Aetolia. He was one of the deputies sent by the Aetolians to Rome in B. c. 198. (Polyb. xvii. 10.) 8. An Epeirot, who during the war between the Romans and Perseus, king of Macedonia, zea- lously espoused the cause of the latter, and in conjunction with Antinous succeeded in inducing his countrymen the Molossians to abandon the Roman alliance for that of Perseus. In b. c. 170 he conceived the design, which was only frustrated by accident, of intercepting the consul A. Hostilius Mancinus on his passage through Epeirus, and betraying him into the hands of the Macedonian king. After the defeat of Perseus, when the Roman praetor L. Anicius invaded the Molossian " territories, Theodotus and Antinous shut themselves up in the fortress of Passaron, but finding the inhabitants disposed to surrender, they sallied forth, attacked the Roman outposts, and perished fighting bravely. (Polvb. xxvii. 14, xxx. 7; Liv. xiv. 26.) 9. A rhetorician of Samos, or, according to others, of Chios, who was the preceptor of the infant king of Egypt, Ptolemy XII. He appears to have ex- ercised much political influence, and when after the battle of Pharsalia (b. c. 48), Pompey sought refuge in Egypt, it was Theodotus who was the first to suggest that the illustrious fugitive should be put to death. By this base advice Ke hoped to gain the favour of Caesar, and when the conqueror arrived in Egypt, hastened to meet him, bearing the head and signet ring of his rival. But Caesar turned from him with disgust, and would have put him to death, had he not succeeded in making his escape. At a subsequent period he was less for- tunate, being apprehended and executed in Asia, by order of M. Brutus in b. c. 43. (Liv. Eyit. VOL. in. THEODOTUS. 1073 cxiii.; Plut. Pomp. 77, 80 ; Appian. B. C. ii. 84, 90). [E. H. B.] THEO'DOTUS I. and II., kings of Bactria. [DiODOTUS.] THEO'DOTUS (0e(J5oTos), literary. 1. A disciple of Socrates, who, in his Defence, according to Plato, speaks of him as already dead. He was the son of Theosdotides, and the brother of Nico- stratus. (Plat. Jpol. p. 33, e.) 2. A Phoenician historian, who lived before Josephus, and wrote a history of his native country, in the Phoenician tongue, which was translated into Greek by a certain Laetus, if we adopt the correction of Reinesius in the passage of Tatian, where the MSS. give Xalros or'AcriTos (Tatian. adv. Graec. 58, p. 128, ed. Worth ; Joseph, c. Apion. i. 23 ; Euseb. Praep. Ev. x. 1 1 ; Vossius, de Hist. Graec. p. 504.) 3. A poet, from whose poem upon the Jews {h rep irepl 'louSatwi/) some verses respecting the city of Sichem are quoted by Eusebius. {Praep. Ev. ix. 22.) According to a scholiast on Ovid (3. 467) there was a poet of this name who was cruelly put to death by the tyrant Mnesarchus, and to whose fate Ovid alludes (Z. c.) ; but this is evidently mere guess-work. (See Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol. ii. p. 324, vol. X. p. 516.) 4. A sophist and rhetorician, who flourished under M.Aurelius Antoninus, by whom he is spoken of as ayuviar^'! twv iroKiriKcov Xoywv kclI f>r}To- piK^s 6(peos. He was at first a hearer of Lollianus and Herodes Atticus, and afterwards their rival. He taught at Athens by the express appointment of M. Antoninus, from whom also he received 10,000 drachmae as his remuneration. His life is related by Philostratus. ( Vit. Soph. ii. 2, pp. 566y foil.) 5. A grammarian, cited in the Etymologicum Magnum, s v. 'Opiyavov. 6. Of B>zantium, a tanner and heresiarch, in the second century of our era, from whom the sect of the Theodotiani took their name. The heresy of Theodotus related to the person of Christ. For particulars respecting him and his followers, see Fabricius (Bill. Graec. vol. vii. pp. 124, foil., pp. 149, 180, vol. X. p. 515), Cave {Hist Litt. s. a. 192, p. 87, ed. Basil.), and the authors quoted by those writers. 7. Bishop of Antioch, from A. D. 423 — 427, ce- lebrated by Theodoret {H.E. v. 38) as "the pearl of self-command," and distinguished in church history for his success in bringing back the majority of the ApoUinarists to orthodoxy. He wrote a book against those heretics, entitled Karh. ^vvovgi-, aaTwu, of which a fragment exists in MS. (Cave, Hist. Litt. s. a. 423, p. 405 ; Fabric. BiU. Graec. vol. ix. p. 281, vol. X. p. 515.) 8. Bishop of Ancyra, in Galatia, an ecclesiastic of some distinction in the fifth century. He was present at the council of Ephesus, in A. D. 431, and vehemently supported Cyril in his attacks upon Nestorius. He was the author of numerous homilies and controversial works, the titles of which it is not worth while to insert here ; they are fully given by Fabricius. Of these works some are published in the Acts of the Councils, some exist in MS., and others are wholly lost. Cave praises the ease and clearness of his style, and his contro- versial powers. (Cave, Hist. Litt. s. a. 430, p. 415; Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol. x. pp. 512, foil.) 3z