Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 19.djvu/237

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THEMIS. 193 THENARD. THETUIS (Lat., from Ok. Bitas, justice personified, from Tiddvai. (i(//f>»«i", to set, place) . In Greek mythology, tlic goddess and guardian of the eternal laws, established by the gods. In the Hesiodic theogony she is called the daughter of Uranus and Gsea (heaven and earth I, the wife of Zeus, and, by him, mother of the llor:e (hours) and Moerte (fates). In .ICsehylus she is identified with Giea, and called mother of i'rometheus. As guardian of the due order of things, she was also possessed of prophecy. The popular conceptions do not seem to have distinguislied sharply be- tween Themis and G.Ta, and at Athens we hear of Gc Themis as a single divinity. At Khamnus she was honored in the Temple of Nemesis, and here has been found a fine statue by t'haires- tratos of Rhamnus, an artist of the early third century B.C. THEMIS'TITJS (Lat., from Gk. eefiiimos) ( ?c.38S ..D.). A Greek rhetorician of Paph- lagonia, surnamed Euphrades (eloquent), who lived at Constantinople, as a teacher of phi- losophy and oratory. Though a pagan in re- ligion, he was highly honored by several of the emperors for his nobility and learning. He was tutor to Arcadius, the son of Theodosius. who made him prefect in 384, There are extant 34 of his speeches (TroXiTiKoH, which, though chiefly eulogisms in compliment to various emperors, contain interesting allusions to contemporary history, and instructive quotations from the an- cient piiilosophers: and four of his paraphrases of portions of Aristotle. The orations have been edited by Dindorf (Leipzig, 1832) ; the para- phrases by Spengel (Leipzig, 180()). THEMIS'TO (Lat. from Gk. ecMiimi). In Greek legend, the third wife of Athamas. Her husband, on discovering that his former wife, Ino, was still alive, sent for her, and Themisto in re- venge planned to slay Ino's children. With this intention she directed a new slave to clothe her children in white and Ino's in black, but Ino, who was herself the slave in disguise, reversed the command, and Tlemisto killed her own chil- dren, whom she did not distinguish in the night. THEMIS'TOCLES (Lat., from Gk. ecM'o-ro- jcX^s, ThcniistoklCs) (C..514-449 B.C.), An Athe- nian general and statesman, born about B.C. 514, the son of Neocles, an Athenian citizen of middling station and circumstances, and a Ca- rian or Thracian woman. After the battle of Marathon (B.C. 490). when the first in- vasion of the Persians had been successfully re- sisted, Themistocles, with keen foresight, recog- nized that the final decision of the question of supremacy would come on the sea. and that the only way for the Greeks lo be victorious was to have a large fleet. He aimed, therefore, at the development of a strong Athenian navy. To this end he persuaded the Athenians to devote the proceeds arising from the working of the silver mines at Lauriuni, which it was intended to dis- tribute among the citizens at large, to the con- struction of a strong fleet. He seoired the pas- sage of a law that a certain niunber of new triremes should be built every year. From the time of the expulsion of Aristides by ostracism (B.C. 483), Themistocles was at the head of the politics of Athens, and in B.C. 481 was made arehon eponynuis. When it was learned that Xerxes was preparing a powerful arma- mant wherewith to invade Greece, and the .thenians had been told by the Delphian oracle to defend themselves with the 'wooden wall,' it was Themistocles who interpreted this answer as referring to the ships of Athens. At the battle of .rtemisium ( li.c. 481)) Themistocles, who was commander of the Athenian fleet, which was the largest in Greece, consented to fight i- der the Spartan commander, ICurybiades, but it was only through the former's tact and adroit xise of bribes that the Greek comnuinders were finally induced to make a stand in that place. This engagement was indecisive. In the same year, at Salanii.s, was fought the battle which shattered the naval power of Xerxes. Here a^ain Eurybiades was connuander-in-chief, and here again it was owing to the ell'orts of Themistocles alone that the Greeks were induced not to re- treat to the Isthmus of Corinth, but to give bat- tle in their present position. He threatened, if a separation were now made, that the Athenians would take their women and children an<l sail to Italy, there to found a new home. Finally, he precipitated the contest, by dispatching to Xerxes a secret message to the effect that, if the Persians wished to crush the (ireek fleet, they should ad- vance to the attack without delay, before the Greeks had an opportunity of fleeing. After the battle of Salamis Themistocles was the most im- portant man in Greece. When the Persians had retreated from Greece and the Athenians under- took to restore their city, the Spartans, sending an embassy to Athens, urged the Athenians not to attempt to rebuild the fortifications. Then Themistocles, going on an embassy to Sparta, entertained the Spartans w'ith his false pro- fessions, and kept the matter in abeyance till such time as the walls were sullieiently advanced to allow of their being defended. In B.C. 471 he was ostracized and retired to Argos; and finally, to escape being tried for treason, in which, ac- cording to some accounts, he was implicated by the correspondence of Pausanias, he be- took himself in B.C. 465, to the Court of Artaxerxes, King of Persia ; but before he would see the King himself, got permission to wait a year, during which he made himself master of the language and usages of the country. At the end of this time he managed to raise himself so high in the King's favor that, after the Persian fash- ion, the town of Magnesia was appointed to sup- ply him with bread, Lampsacus with wine, and JIvus with other provisions. He lived securely at Magnesia until his death in B.C. 449. Some au- thorities assert that he poisoned himself. A monument was erected to Themistocles in the market-place of Magnesia, and it is said that his bones were secretly taken to Attica, and there burned. Consult: Wecklein, Uebrr Theniislokles (Munich. 1892) : Bauer, Themistokles (Merse- burg, 1881). THENARD, ta'niir'. Louis .J.^cques (1777- 18.57). . French chemist, born at Nogent-sur- Seine. He was professor of chemistry at the Ecole Polytechnique. at the Coll^ge de France, and at the University of Paris. From 1810 he was a member of the Institute. His original researches resulted in numerous important contributions to chemistry. He improved the methods of ultimate organic analysis; investigated the compound ethers or esters : discovered the peroxide of hydro- gen, cobalt ultramarine (Th^nard's blue), etc. He published; 1'railc de chimie ilimentaire.