ysius, which he did not,
however, complete. He is described as an imitator, though at a great
distance, of Thucydides, and hence was known as "the little Thucydides."
As an historian he is deficient in conscientiousness and candour; he
appears as a partisan of Dionysius, and seeks to throw a veil over his
discreditable actions. Still he belongs to the most important of the
Greek historians (Luebker).

THEODORUS of Gadara, a rhetorician in the first century after Christ;
tutor of Tiberius, first in Rome, afterwards in Rhodes, from which town
he called himself a Rhodian, and where Tiberius during his exile
diligently attended his instruction. He was the author of various
grammatical and other works, but his fame chiefly rested on his
abilities as a teacher, in which capacity he seems to have had great
influence (Pauly). He was the author of that famous description of
Tiberius which is given by Suetonius (_Tib._ 57), +pelos haimati
pephuramenos+, "A clod kneaded together with blood."[1]

[Footnote 1: A remarkable parallel, if not actually an imitation,
occurs in Goethe's _Faust_, "Du Spottgeburt von Dreck und Feuer."]

THEOPOMPUS, a native of Chios; born 380 B.C. He came to Athens while
still a boy, and studied eloquence under Isokrates, who is said, in
comparing him with another pupil, Ephorus, to have made use of the image
which we find in Longinus, c. ii. "Theopompus," he said, "needs the
curb, Ephorus the spur" (Suidas, quoted by Jahn ad v.) He appeared with
applause in various great cities as an advocate, but especially
distinguished himself in the contest of eloquence instituted by
Artemisia at the obsequies of her husband Mausolus, where he won the
prize. He afterwards devoted himself to historical composition. His
great work was a history of Greece, in which he takes up the thread of
Thucydides's narrative, and carries it on uninterruptedly in twelve
books down to the battle of Knidus, seventeen years later. Here he broke
off, and began a new work entitled _The Philippics_, in fifty-eight
books. This work dealt with the history of Greece in the Macedonian
period, but was padded out to a preposterous bulk by all kinds of
digressions on mythological, historical, or social topics. Only a few
fragments remain. He earned an ill name among ancient critics by the
bitterness of his censures, his love of the marvellous, and the
inordinate length of his digressions. His style is by some critics
censured as feeble,