A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology

(Θεόπομπος), of Chios, the historian, was the son of Damasistratus and the brother of Cancalus, the rhetorician. He accompanied his father into banishment, when the latter was exiled on account of his espousing the interests of the Lacedaemonians, but was restored to his native country in the forty-fifth year of his age, after the death of his father, in consequence of the letters of Alexander the Great, in which he exhorted the Chians to recal their exiles (Phot. Bibl. 176, p. 120b. ed. Bekker). But as these letters could not have been written at the earliest till after the battle of Granicus, we may place the restoration of Theopompus in B. C. 333, and his birth in B. C. 378. Suidas assigns a much earlier date to Theopompus, stating that he was born at the same time as Ephorus. during the anarchy at Athens in the 93d Olympiad, that is in B. C. 404 ; but as we know that Theopompus was alive in B. C. 305, we may safely conclude that Suidas is in error, and that the date in Photius is the correct one. In what year Theopompus quitted Chios with his father, can only be matter of conjecture ; and the various suppositions of the learned on the point are not worth repeating here. We know, however, that before he left his native country, he attended the school of rhetoric which Isocrates opened at Chios, and he profited so much by the lessons of his great master, that he was regarded by the ancients as the most distinguished of all his scholars. (Plut. Vit. dec. Orat. p. 837b; Phot. Bibl. 260; Dionys. Ep. ad Cn. Pomp. 100.6.) Ephorus the historian was a fellow-student with him, but was of a very different character; and Isocrates used to say of them, that Theopompus needed the bit and Ephorus the spur. (Cic. Brut. 56, ad Att. 6.1.12.) In consequence of the advice of Isocrates, Theopompus did not devote his oratorical powers to the pleading of causes, but gave his chief attention to the study and composition of history. (Cic. de Orat. 2.13, 22.) Like his master Isocrates, however, he composed many

orations of the kind, called Epideitic by the Greeks, that is, speeches on set subjects delivered for display, such as eulogiums upon states and individuals, and similar subjects. He himself tells us that there was no important city of Greece, in which he had not remained some time, and where he had not obtained great glory by the public exhibition of his oratorical powers. One instance of the kind is recorded. In B. C. 352 he contended at Halicarnassus with Naucrates and his master Isocrates for the prize of oratory, given by Artemisia in honour of her husband, and gained the victory (Gel. 10.18; Plut. Vit. dec. Orat. p. 838b; Euseb. Praep. Ev. 10.3.) The other places which he visited are not mentioned; but it appears from his own account, to which we have already referred, that he spent the greater part of the time of his exile in travelling, and in the acquisition of know ledge. He was able to pursue this mode of life in consequence of his possessing a large fortune, which released him from the necessity of working for his livelihood, like Isocrates, by writing speeches for others, and giving instruction in oratory. (Phot. Bibl. 176; Dionys. Ep. ad Cn. Pomp. 100.6; Athen. 3.85b.) On his return to his native country in B. C. 333, Theopompus, from his eloquence, acquirements and wealth, naturally took an important position in the state; but his vehement temper, haughty bearing, and above all his support of the aristocratical party, which he had inherited from his father, soon raised against him a host of enemies. Of these one of the most formidable was the sophist Theocritus, who had also been a pupil of Isocrates, and who likewise attacked Alexander and Aristotle in the bitterest manner. (Strab. xiv. p.645.) As long as Alexander lived, his enemies dared not take any open proceedings against Theopompus; and even after the death of the Macedonian monarch, he appears to have enjoyed for some years the protection of the royal house. But when he lost this support, he was expelled from Chios as a disturber of the public peace. He fled to Egypt to king Ptolemy. (Phot. l.c.) Ptolemy did not assume the title of king till B. C. 306, and consequently if the expression of Photius is to be taken literally, we may place the arrival of Theopompus in Egypt in B. C. 305, when he was seventy-five years of age. Photius adds that Ptolemy not only refused to receive Theopompus, but would even have put him to death as a dangerous busybody, had not some of his friends interceded for his life. Of his further fate we have no particulars, but he probably died soon afterwards.