1 H E 



r H K 



Original one, oiiglit to be preferred. The plant is of a 

 flout flirubby luibit, turning black in drying. Leaves about 

 the fr/.i- of the finger-nail, alternate, feffile, ovate or rather 

 heart-fhaped, clafping the ftem, acute, entire, Rcihy, fmooth, 

 without rib or veins. Flowers about the tops of the alter- 

 nate corymbofe upper branches, enveloped in iradeas, like 

 thn leaves, but fmaller. Tube of the calyx very (hort, and 

 ftrongly angular ; limb fmooth within, except perhaps a 

 few minute hairs behind the JIamens, indicated by Mr. 

 Brown. Fruil globofe, chiefly angular at the top. 



21. Th. triflorum. Three -flowered Thefium. Linn. 

 Suppl. 162. Willd. n. j6. Tiumb. Prodr. 46. — " Leaves 

 lanceolate. Stem angular. Flower-ftalks axillary, three- 

 forked, compound." — Gathered by Thunbcrg at the Cape. 

 The Jlower-fla/is are three -flowered, fometimes divided, or 

 three-cleft, greatly divaricated. Linn. We have met with 

 no fpecimen anfwering to this fpecies, nor does Mr. Brown 

 advert to it. 



22. Th. fpinofum. Spinous Thefium. Linn. Suppl. 



161. Willd. n. 19. Thunb. Prodr. 45 Leaves awl- 



fliaped, fpiaous-pointed, fpreading, flefhy, decurrent. 

 Flowers axillary, ftalked, folitary. — Gathered by Thun- 

 berg at the Cape. A very Angular fpecies, whofe woody 

 decumbent Jlem is befet with numerous, afcending, fimple 

 branches, tvco or three inches long, clothed with alternate, 

 horizontally projefting, pungent leaves, one-third of an 

 inch in length, giving the plant the afpeft of an Ulex. 

 Flowtr-Jlalks about as long as the leaves. — Mr. Brown 

 places this in his feftion of fuch Cape fpecies as have the 

 calyx internally naked, except a flender tuft of hairs behind 

 each Jlamen. With it ranges fquarrofum, fragile, Jlridum, 

 j'phwjum, cr'ico'ides, euphorbioides, and one unknown to us, 

 called fparteum. The feftion whofe calyx is lined with a 

 denl'e dcflexed beard, confifts of Frifea, fiinalc, fplcatum, 

 capiiatmn, 3.nA fcabriim, befides five fpecies unknown to us, 

 called crajjifolium, terelifolium, del/He, ciliatum, and divari- 

 catum. 



THESMOPHORIA, P>ra-,/o?iop.a, in jiniiquity, a fefti- 

 val in honour of Ceres, which was celebrated by many 

 cities of Greece ; but efpecially the Athenians obferved it 

 with great devotion and pomp. For the ceremonies of this 

 folemnity, fee Potter, Archsol. Grcec. tom, i. p. 403, feq. 

 See Cerealia and Eleusinia. 



THESMOTHET^, Gs^/^oO^fe, an appellation given 

 to fix of the nine Athenian archons ; the firft and chief of 

 the nine was called, by way of eminence, archon ; the 

 fecond in dignity was called bafdeus ; the thhrA, poLmarchus ; 

 and the other fix, thefmothets : for an account of whofe 

 power and jurifdidtion, iee Potter, Archaeol. Groec. torn. i. 



P- 77- 



THESPANIS, m Ancient Geography, a river of Afiatic 

 Sarmatia ; the mouth ot which, according to Ptolemy, lay 

 between that of Rhembitus and the town of Azara. 



THESPHATA, ©sr^zla, in Antiquity, an appellation 

 given to oracles. See Oracle. 



THESPIA, or Thespi.t,, in Ancient Geography, a town 

 of Boeotia, fituated at the foot of mount Helicon, about 

 50 ftadia from the city of Thebes. The Thebans, who 

 deftroycd this city, fpared nothing but the faered monu- 

 ments, among which were the temple of Hercules, which 

 was ferved by a prieftefs reftrifted to celibacy during her 

 whole life, and the ftatue of that Cupid (orCupidon), 

 fometimes confounded with the god of love, which was 

 only a (hapelefs ftone as it was dug in the quarry, for thus 

 the objefts of public worlliip were reprefented in ancient 

 times. Praxiteles is faid to have formed a ftatue of Cupidon 

 of Penthelic marble ; and Lyfippus made one of bronze. 



The Thefpians reported, that the ftatue of Praxiteles was 

 taken away by Caius, the Roman emperor ; but others 

 fay, that it was returned by Claudius, and that Nero re- 

 moved it to Rome, where it was confumcd by fire. This 

 ftatue was fo beautiful, that, according to Cicero, Thefpia 

 was vifited merely for the fake of feeing it. The Cupidon 

 that exifted in the time of Paufanias was an imitation of 

 that of Praxiteles by Menodorus, the Athenian ; but here 

 were a Venus and Plirync in marble, executed by Praxiteles 

 himfelf. In one quarter of the city was a temple confe- 

 crated to Venus Melenis. The theatre was a beautiful 

 ftrufture, ornamented with a ftatue of Hcfiod m bronze. 

 Near it was a Viftory in bronze, and a chapel confecrated 

 to the Mufes, each of wliich had a fmall ftatue in marble. 

 At Thefpia there was a ftatute of Venus in marble, made 

 by Praxiteles. 



THESPIADES, in Mythology, an appellation given 

 to the Mufes from the city of Tliefpia, where they were 

 honoured. 



THESPIjE, in Ancient Geography, a town of ThefTaly, 

 in Magnefia. 



THESPIANA, the name of an antidote intended for 

 internal abfcefles. 



THESPIS, in Biography, an ancient poet, and the fup- 

 pofed inventor of tragedy, was born in a fmall borough of 

 Attica, named Icaria, and he, as well as Sufarion, a native of the 

 fame place, appeared each at the head of a company of adlors, 

 one on a kind of ftage and the other in a cart, Sufarion at- 

 tacked the vices and abfurdities of his time, and reprefented 

 his firft pieces towards the year 580 B.C. Thefpis treated 

 nobler fubjefts, which he drew from hiftory : he appeared 

 fome years after SufiU'ion, made his firft attempts in tragedy, 

 and adled his Alcoftis in the year 536 B.C. He was 

 followed in this fpecies of drama by jElchylus, Sopho- 

 cles, and Euripides. Thefpis having obfei-ved at the fefti- 

 vals, in which before his time hymns only were fung, one 

 of the fingers, mounted on a table, forming a kind of dia- 

 logue with the chorus, took the hint of introducing into his 

 tra-gedies an aftor, who by fimple recitals, introduced at 

 intervals, (hould relieve the chorus, divide the aftion, and 

 render it more interefting. This innovation, together with 

 fome other liberties in which he indulged himfelf, alarmed 

 Solon, the legidator of Athens, who condemned a fpecies 

 of compofition, in which the ancient traditions were dif- 

 guifed by fiftion. " If we applaud falfehood in our public 

 exhibitions," faid he to Thefpis, " we fliall foon find that 

 it will infinuate itfelf into our moft faered engagement*." 



The exceffive approbation and delight with which both 

 the city and country received the pieces of Theipis and 

 Sufarion, at once juftified and rendered ufelefs the fufpicious 

 forefight of Solon ; the poets, who till that time had only 

 exerciled their genius in dithyrambics and licentious fatire, ' 

 ftruck with the elegant forms which theie fpecies of com- 

 pofition began to affume, dedicated their talents to tragedy 

 and comedy. See Tragedy. 



Thefpis, according to the defcription of Horace, ex- 

 tended his plan farther than the introduction of a fingle 

 aftor in the intervals between the fongs of the chorus, to 

 the reprefentation of fome fable by aiSors on a kind of 

 moveable ftage, who alternately fung and played, with their 

 faces ftained by the lees of wine. 



" Ignotum tragica; genus invenifle Camoenx 

 Dicitur, et plauftris vcxifle poemata Thefpis, 

 Quas canerent agerentque perundli fascibus ora." 



Art. Poet. 

 Some writers have mentioned three pieces of Thefpis, 



viz. 



