A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

1084 THEOPHILUS.' THEOPHILUS.
miliac Byzantinae, pp. 132, 133; Gibbon, Decline an earnest lover of truth (Theoph. ad Autolyc. i.
and Fall, cc. xlviii. and lii.) p. 69, b., iii. pp. 119, a., 127, b., 138, d.). This
THEO'PHIILUS (~eLptAos), literary. 1. An work must have been written, or, at least, finished,
Athenian comic poet, most prdbably of the Middle shortly before the death of Theophilus, for there is
Comedy, as Meineke shows from the extant titles an allusion towards the close of it, which fixes the
and fragments of his plays. In a passage of Pol- composition of that part after the death of Marcus
lux (ix. 15), in which he is represented as one of Antoninus, ill A. D. 180; and, according to the
the poets of the New Comedy, most of the MSS. preceding testimonies, Theophilus did not live later
have the name of Diphilus, instead of Theophilus. than A. D. 183, or perhaps than A. D. 181. The
The following titles of his plays are preserved by work is cited by various titles, either simply 7rphs
Athenaeus (passim) and Suidas (s. v.), except the ATr'ovKov 13LgXALa i/, or with the addition 7rEpI
first, which is quoted by the Scholiast to Dionysius Ts Tor v XpLa-lavIYv 7rTSrecWs, or, as Eusebius has
Thrax (p. 724. 26):'A7ro'3s77AoL, Botossna,'E7-tIad- it (II. E. iv. 24), Trpia Ta 7rpbs AvTro'AvIcov fT'opros,'Iasrpos, KLtaprp's (Meinreke, vol. iii. p. 628, XeLoh371 ovyypdascaTa, implying that the object of
retracts the doubt which he'had raised as to this the work was to teach Autolycus the elements of
being a true title of a drama), Neo7rrT'Aeos, Christian truth; and again, in a MS. in the Paris
fIaycKpartaos-T5, IIpolTI'res,'ihavAos. (Fabric. library, the title is given with an addition which
Bibl. Grace. vol. ii. pp. 500, 501; Meineke, Frag. states the object of the work to be, to prove " that
Com. Grace. vol. i. pp. 434, 435, vol. iii. pp. 626 the divine oracles in our possession are more ancient
-632; Editio Minor, pp. 816 —818.) and more true than the statements of Egyptian
2. An historian and geographer, if at least the and Grecian and all other historians." It is quoted
passages about to be quoted refer to one and the by Lactantius (ii. 23), by the title of De Temrporibus,
same person. Ile is mentioned by Josephus (c. and it is mentioned by Gennadius (33) who erroApcion. i. 23) among those writers, who had no- neously ascribes it to Theophilus of Alexandria.
ticed the Jews. The third book of his work on The work shows much learning and more simplicity
Italy ('IraALKd), and the second of that on the of mind; in its general structure, it resembles the
Peloponnesus (leXoirovvsoittaKd), are quoted by works of Justin Martyr and the other early apoloPlutarch (Parallela Minora, 13, 32, pp. 309, a., gists; but it contains a more detailed examination
313, d). Ptolemy (Geogr. i. 9. ~ 3) quotes a of the evidence for Christianity derived both from
statement from some geographical work by Theo- Scripture and from history. Some of the arguments
philus, the title of which he does not mention, but are fanciful, not to say puerile, in the extreme; for
which is no doubt the same as the nIpt-?tlaLS, the example, he interprets ev aPX., in Genesis i. 1, as
eleventh book of which is referred to by Ste- meaning by Christ. He indulges much in allegorical
phanus of Byzantium (s. v. nIaAi/c). Plutarch also interpretations: thus, the three days, preceding the
((de Fluv. 24) cites the first book of a work of creation of the sun and moon, are typical of the
Theophilus respl A(owv. (Vossius, de Hist. Graec. Trinity of God and his Word and his Wisdom; a
p. 504, ed. Westermann.) passage, by the way, which is belie-ed to contain
3. A writer on agriculture, whom Varro (R. 1?R. the earliest instance of the use of the word Trinity
i. 1. ~ 9), and Columella (i. 1. ~ 11) mention in in the writings of the Fathers. The work, however,
their lists of authorities, but about whom they give contains much valuable matter; and its style is
us no further information. clear and good.
4. Bishop of Antioch, in the latter part of the The three books of Theophilus to Autolycus were
second century of our era, and the author of one first published in the collection of the monks Alnof the early apologies for Christianity which have tonius and Maximus, entitled Sententiarumn sire
come down to us. The common opinion concern- Capitzcon, T/ieologicorumn praecipuc, ex sacris et
ing his time, derived from Eusebius, Jerome, and profanis libris, Tonii ir-es, and containing, besides
Nicephorus, has been elaborately canvassed by the work of Theophilus, the Centuriae of Maximus,
Dodwell and others, whose arguments are fully and the Oratio ad Gracos of Tatian, edited by
examined, and satisfactorily answered by Cave Conrad Gesner, Tiguri, 1546, fol.: again with the
([list. Lilt. s. a. 168), and Harless (ad Fabric. Bibl. Latin version of Conrad Clauser, in the collections
Graec. vol. vii. p. 102). In the eighth (Ilieron. of the Scriptores Sacri, or Ortl/odoxographi, pubChron. s. a. 2184) or tenth (Euseb. Chron. s. a. lished in 1555 and 1559, fol. (see Hoffmann, Lex.
2186; Syncell. p. 352, d.) year of Marcus Anto- Bibliogr.): with the editions of Justin Martyr,
ninus (A. D. 168 or 170), he succeeded Eros in 1615, 1636, 1686, 1742, 1747, fol.: with notes by
the see of Antioch, of which he was the sixth Fronto Ducaesus, in the Auctuar. Biblioth. Patrum,
bishop (Enuseb. II. E. iv. 20; Hieron. de Vir. Ill. Paris, 1624, fol.: with a revised text and notes, by
25), or, includirg S. Peter, the seventh (IHieron. John Fell, bishop of Oxford, Oxon. 1684. 2mo.:
Algas. vol. iii. p. 318; Niceph. Chiroz. p. 417, c.); the most complete edition is that of Jo. Christoph.
and he held that office for thirteen years, that is, Wolf, Hamb. 1724, 8vo. It has been translated
till A. D. 181 or 183 (Niceph. 1. c.). Having been into English by Joseph Betty, Oxf. 1722, 8vo.,
originally a heathen*, as he tells us himself (Ad and into German by G. C. Hosmann, Hamb, 1729,
Autolyc. i. p. 78), he was converted to Christianity 8vo.
by the study of the sacred Scriptures, and, besides Theophilus was the author of several other works,
other religious works, he wrote an apology for the which were extant in the times of Eusebius and
Christian faith, in the form of a letter to a friend, Jerome (Euseb. CUron. Arnm. 1. c.; Hieron. C(bon.
named Autolycus, who was still a heathen, but a 1. c.; Sync. 1. c.) Among these, were works against
nian of extensive reading and great learning, and the heresies of Marcion and Hermogelnes, in the
latter of which the Apocalypse was quoted. (Euseb.
Respecting the opinion that he was not a H. E. iv. 24; Hieron. de Vir. Illust. 25.) Jerome
heathen, but a Jew and a Sadducee, see Harless, also mentions a Commentary on the Gospels, which
1. c., p. 101. seems to have been a sort of harmony, and of which