THEMIS perfections in speech, &c. His son ALGER- NON SYDNEY (1795-1863), a clergyman of the established church and teacher of elocution, published religious works, "Iniquities of the Opium Trade" (1839), &c. THEMIS, in the Greek mythology, a daugh- ter of Uranus and Grea, married to Zeus. She dwelt in Olympus, and convened the assem- bly of the gods. She is represented in Homer as the personification of the order of things established by. law, custom, and equity. At Thebes she had a sanctuary in common with Zeug AgoraBus, and at Olympia in common with the Horse, her daughters. THEMISTOCLES, an Athenian general, born about 514 B. C., died in Magnesia, Asia Mi- nor, about 449. He took part in the battle of Marathon in 490. After the exile of Aris- tides in 483 Themistocles was the great politi- cal leader in Athens. His main endeavor was to make Athens a great naval power, and to prepare it to resist the inroads of the Persians. In the beginning of 480, when the force of Xerxes was on the point of passing the Helles- pont, he and the Spartan Euasnetus were in command ,at the defile of Tempe, which they abandoned on finding that troops could be landed in their rear, retreating to their ships. Afterward he took charge of the Athenian portion of the fleet stationed at Artemisium. "When the vast number of Persian ships was discovered, the Spartans were disposed to draw back to the Peloponnesus; but the Euboeans gave 30 talents to Themistocles, with which he induced them to remain and defend Eubcea. In the ensuing battle the Greeks had the ad- vantage ; but the Athenian ships being much crippled, it was determined to retire. (See GREECE, vol. viii., p. 190.) At the instance of Themistocles the Athenians abandoned their city, and removed mainly to Salamis, where the whole naval force of Greece was gath- ered. It was only by his influence and devices that the fleet was kept together, and the naval battle was fought which resulted in a com- plete victory for the Greeks. The Athenians were desirous of pushing on to the Hellespont to prevent the retreat of Xerxes, but their confederates refused. Herodotus says that Themistocles privately sent word to the king that he had restrained the Greeks from pur- suing his ships and breaking up his bridges over the Hellespont ; and that he did this in order to induce Xerxes to return, and for the purpose of securing for himself a safe retreat in case any mischance should befall him at Athens. Modern historians consider this high- ly improbable. After the division of the booty gained at Salamis, the Greeks sailed to the isthmus, where Themistocles, though deprived of the first prize for skill and wisdom by each of the commanders voting for himself, was declared the wisest man in Greece, and the whole country was filled with his fame. He was received in Sparta with unprecedented honors ; and though the Lacedsemonians gave THENARD 691 to Eurybiades the crown of valor, they gave to Themistocles the crown of wisdom. When the Athenians returned to their city, the Spar- tans opposed their rebuilding their fortifica- tions on an enlarged scale ; but Themistocles was sent to them as ambassador, and he con- trived to deceive them until the walls were far enough advanced to be in a state of de- fence. Athens was now secure against ex- ternal enemies, and Themistocles was more than ever desirous of making her a great mar- itime power. The work on the Piraeus was resumed on a far grander scale, and by his advice the three harbors were enclosed by a wall nearly seven miles in circuit. He also persuaded the Athenians to add 20 triremes to their navy every year. His political ascen- dancy soon declined. His opponents in Athens were headed by Cimon, son of Miltiades, and by Alcmseon. He was acquitted of treason- able intercourse with the Persians, but about 471 was ostracized and went into exile at Ar- gos. According to some versions, Themis- tocles was accused by the Lacedemonians of sharing the treasons of Pausanias ; but he, having notice of his impending arrest, fled to Susa, where he addressed to Artaxerxes, the son of Xerxes, a letter claiming protection on the score of his services to hi father after the battle of Salamis, and asking permission to wait a year and then to come before him in person to explain his views. His request was granted. At the end of a year, having mas- tered the Persian language, he entered into personal communication with the king; and no. Greek, says Thucydides, had ever before attained such a commanding influence and po- sition at the Persian court. He excited Ar- taxerxes with plans for the subjugation of Greece, and was presented by him with a Persian wife and with large presents. After having visited various parts of Asia, he lived at Magnesia on the Meander, and received his maintenance from the revenues of that and two other cities. Some of his property at Athens was secretly sent him by his frienfls, but the bulk of it, amounting to 80 or 100 talents, was confiscated. He is said to have poisoned himself because he knew his prom- ises to the Persian king could not be fulfilled. This is perhaps the most popular form of the story, of which other versions relate that the Persian king had set a price of 200 talents up- on his head, that he went to Susa in the dis- guise of a stranger for the king's harem, and that he was actually put on trial to answer the accusations of Mandane, the sister of Xerxes, for the loss of her sons who fell at Salamis. We have no contemporary history of the life of Themistocles, and when Thucydides wrote his history his enemies had done their best to heighten prejudice against him. His life was written by Nepos and by Plutarch. THEN1RD, Lonis Jacques, baron, a French chem- ist born at La Louptiere, Champagne, May 4, 1777, died in Paris, June 21, 1857. He studied
