Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 3.djvu/1114

Rh 1102 THESSALUS. lus to the Athenians, in which he implores them not to continue the war against Cos, his native country ; but this is undoubtedly spurious (see Littre's Ocuvres d'Hippocr. vol. i. p. 432). The epitaph of Thessalus is preserved in the Greek Anthology, (vii. 135, ed. Tauchn.) His name occurs in several other passages of Galen's writhigs, but chiefly in reference to the authorship of the different books " De Morbis Popularibus." 2. A native of Tralles in Lydia, and one of the founders of the medical sect of the Methodici (Galen, Introd. c. 4, vol. xiv, p. 684.). He lived at Rome in the reign of the emperor Nero, A. D. 54 — 68 (Plin. H. N. xxix. 5), to whom he addressed one of his works (Galen, De Mcth, Med. i. 2, vol. X. pp. 7, 8) ; and here he died and was buried, and his tomb was to be seen in Pliny's time on the Via Appia, with the arrogant title of ^larpouiK-qs, it having been his constant boast during his life that medicine surpassed all other arts, and that he sur- passed all other physicians. (Galen, ibid. p. 11.) He was the son of a weaver, and followed the same employment himself during his youth. (Galen, ^id. p. 10.) This, however, he soon gave up, and, though he had had a very imperfect general education, he embraced the medical profession, by which he acquired for a time a great reputa- tion, and amassed a large fortune. He adopted the principles of the Methodici {Diet, of Ant. s. v. Mei/iodici), but modified and developed them so much that he attributed to himself the inven- tion of them, and indeed is always considered as one of the founders of the sect. In fact he appears to have endeavoured on all occasions to exalt himself at the expense of his predecessors (Pliny, I. c); lavish- ing upon the ancients the most insulting epithets, asserting that none of them had contributed any thing to the advance of medical science (Galen, ibid. p. 8), and boasting that he could himself teach the art of healing in six months, (pp. 4, 5.) He is frequently mentioned by Galen, but always in terms of contempt and ridicule (De Mcth. Med. i. 1, &c., vol. X. p. 4, &c. ; Adv. Julian, c. 1, &c. vol. xviii. pt. i. p. 247, &c.) ; probably this was well deserved, as it agrees with what is said of him by Pliny {I. c), but still the gross per- sonal abuse in which Galen indulges goes beyond all bounds, and is quite unworthy of so great a man. An account of the opinions of Thessalus may be found in Le Clerc's Hist, de la Med.^ Haller's Biblioth. Medic. Pract. vol. i., and Sprengel's Hist, de la Med. vol. ii. Perhaps it need only be no- ticed here that he was the inventor of what he called tieTaavyKpiffLs (rendered by Caelius Aurelia- nus, De Morb. Actit. ii. 38, p. 173, " recorporatio "), a method which still forms our principal and most essential corporeal means in the treatment of insa- nity. His object was, in obstinate chronic cases, where other remedies failed, or were not indicated, to effect a thorough commotion in the fundamental constitution of the organism ((XvyKpicris). To this end he commenced by the application, both inter- nally and externally, of strong vegetable remedies, to the use of which, together with the strictest regimen and emetics administered at . intervals, a period of three days was devoted. This treatment was preparatory to a system of fasting, and con- cluded with a course of restoratives. (See Feuch- tersleben's Medical Psychology^ cia,^. 2, p. 38.) He wrote several medical works, of which only the titles and a few sentences remain : 1. Kivwv^ THESTOR. " Canon:' (Gal. De Meth. Med. iv. 4, vol. x. p. 268 ; De Simplic. Medicam. Temper, ac Facidt. V. 25, vol. xi. p. 783.) 2. Hep! tuv Koivottitwv, "Z)e Communitatibus '' (id. De Meth. Med. i. 2, vol. x. p. 7.) 3. Uepl Xeipovpyias, "Z>e Chirur- gia,''"' (id. ibid. iv. 4. p. 250). 4. ^vyKpiriKoi (id. ibid. p. 7), probably the work called " Comparatio " by Caelius Aurelianus. (De Morb. Acut. iii. 17, p. 247.) 5. A Letter to the Emperor Nero. (Gal. /. c. p. 7.) 6. "De Regulis," which might have been considered to be the same work as the " Canon " mentioned above, but that Caelius Aurelianus quotes it as the book "■ De Regulis., quas Graeci Diaetas vocant" (De Morb. Acut. iii. 17, p. 247); it is therefore possibly the same work which this author elsewhere quotes as " Liber Diaeteticus" (ibid. i. 1. p. 11 ) or as " Liber Regularis" (De Morb. Chron. praef. p. 268), or perhaps the whole work may have been called " Canon," of which the second book was the " Liber Diaeteticus." (id. ibid. ii. 8. p. 387.) The reputation of Thessalus does not seem to have been very lasting, as, with the exception of Galen and Pliny, Caelius Aurelianus and Soranus (De Arte Obstetr. pp. 128,210, 212), both of whom belonged to the sect of the Methodici, are perhaps the only ancient authors who mention him. Fabricius mentions (Bibl. Gr. vol. xiii. p. 436, ed. vet.) a third physician of the name of Thessa- lus, and refers to Justin, xii. 13; but the true reading in that passage is " Medius Thessalus," not Medicus ; and Medius, not Thessalus., is the proper name. [Medius, § 2.] [W. A. G.] THE'STIUS (©eo-Ttos), a son of Ares and Demonice or Androdice, and, according to others, a son of Agenor and a grandson of Pleuron, the king of Aetolia, He was the father of Iphiclus, Euippus, Plexippus, Eurypylus, Leda, Althaea, and Hypermnestra. His wife is not the same in all traditions, some calling her Lycippe or Lao- phonte, a daughter of Pleuron, and others Deida- meia. (Apollod. i. 7. §§ 7, 9, 16, iii. 10. § 5 ; Paus. iii. 13. § 5 ; Hygin. Fab. 14 ; Schol. ad Apollon. Rhod. i. 146,201.) His daughters Led and Althaea are sometimes designated by thi patronymic Thestias (Eurip. Iph. Aid. 49 ; Aea chyl. Choeph. 606), and his son Iphiclus by th« name Thestiades. (Apollon.Rhod. i. 261.) [L. S.] THESTOR (@4(Trwp). 1. A son of Idmon anc Laothoe (Schol. ad Apollon. Rhod. i. 139), thouj some ancients declare that Idmon (the knowing)] was only a surname of Thestor. He was th« father of Calchas, Theoclymenus, Leucippe, and Theonoe. (Horn. U. i. 69 ; Hygin. Fab. 128.>j His daughter Theonoe was carried off by pirate8j| and sold to king Icarus in Caria. Thestor, who weni out in search of her, suffered shipwreck, and taken as a prisoner to Caria. His other daughtei( Leucippe then consulted the Delphic oracle about her absent father and sister, and was directed travel through all countries in the attire of a pries of Apollo. In this manner she came to Caria where her own sister fell in love with her, and the love was not returned, Theonoe ordered her t©J be killed. Thestor received the order to kill her^ but when he was on the point of executing it, h« recognised his children, and with presents frou Icarus Thestor with his daughters returned home (Hygin. Fafj. 90.) 2. A Trojan, son of Enops, who was slain hi Patroclus. (Hom. //. xvi. 401.) [L. S.J