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Thebais, was one of the most renowned cities of the ancient world.It was also called Diospolis , or the cily of Jupiter, and was built,according to some, by Osiris , according to others, by Busiris. Uslength, in Strabo ’s time, was 80 furlongs, or ten miles; but thiswas nothing in comparison of its ancient extent, before it wasruined by Cambyses , which was no less than 420 stadia, or 52miles and a half. The wealth of this city was so great, that, afterit had been plundered by the Persians , what was found, on burn-ing the remains of the pillage, amounted to above 300 talents ofgold, and 2300 of silver.

Thebes , the name of a celebrated city of ancient Greece. Itis supposed to have been built by Cadmus , about the year of theworld 2555. It is seated between two small rivers, in Lon. 23.40. E. Lat. 38. 17. N.

THECLA, a noble and learned lady of Alexandria, in Egypt ,who, in the fourth century, transcribed the whole of the Bible inthe Greek language, from the original Septuagint copy, then pre-served in the Alexandrian Library ; and this ancient copy is stillpreserved, and constitutes the celebrated Alexandrine Manuscript,so often appealed to by commentators. It was presented to KingCharles I. by Cyrillus Lucaris, patriarch of Constantinople ,in 1628.

THEFT, or SIMPLE LARCENY, in English law, is “ thefelonious taking and carrying away of the personal goods of ano-ther.” By the Jewish law it was only punished with a pecuniaryfine, and satisfaction to the party injured ; and in the civil law, tillsome very lale constitutions, we never find the punishment capital.The laws of Draco at Athens punished it with death; but his lawswere said tube written with blood; and Solon afterwards changedthe penalty to a pecuniary mulct. And so the Attic laws in ge-neral continued; except that once, in a time of dearth, it wasniade capital to break into a garden and steal figs: but this law,and the informers against the offence, grew so odious, .that fromthem all malicious informers were styled sycophants ; a namewhich we have much perverted from its original meaning. Thepunishment of theft throughout the greatest part of Europe is ca-pital. The Anglo-Saxon laws nominally punished theft withdeath, if above the value of 12 d. but the criminal was permitted toredeem his life by a pecuniary ransom ; as, among their ancestorsthe Germans , by a stated number of cattle. But in the ninth yearof Henry I. this power of redemption was taken away, and allpersons guilty of larceny above the value of 12 d. were directed toBe hanged ; which law continues in force to this day. For thoughtl'e inferior species of theft, or petit larceny, is only punished bywhipping at common law, or (by stat. 4 Geo. I. c. 11,) may beextended to transportation for seven years, as is also expressly di-luted in the case of the Plate-Glass Company ; yet the punish-ment of grand larceny, or the stealing above the value of 1 2d.(which sum was the standard in the time of king Athelstan , above800 years ago,) is at common law regularly death, although thejnercy of juries will often make them strain a point, and bring inlarceny to be under the value of 12c?. when it is really of muchgreater value.

Theft-Bote, [from the Saxon theof,\.e. a thief and bote,Co >npensatis,~\ the receiving of a man’s goods again from a thief,a fter stolen, or other amends, not to prosecute the felon, and to*he intent the thief may escape ; which is an olience punishableVvi th fine and impiisonment, &c.

. TllEISM, [tromSiof God,] the doctrine or belief that there[ s but one God. This word is synonymous with Deism, the lat-rp r being derived from the Latin, the former from the Greek., e Deism .

PIlEIST, [from ®<«f,God, ] one who believes in the eternalExistence of one God. A word synonymous with Deist . SeeDeist. All Christians, Jews , and even Mohammedans, are^ heists, or Deists, though all Theists are not Christians .

THELIGONUM, in botany, a genus of plants of the class^onoecia, and order polyandria ; natural order, Scabridae. Male^'yx bifid ; no corolla; stamina generally twelve. Female calyxa ‘So bifid; no corolla; pistil one; capsule coriaceous, one-celled,

’’^seeded. There is but one species.

„ * HELLUSSON, Peter. Isaac, a native of Geneva, who set-1 at i° r man y ) ,( -'ars as a merchant in London , where he accumu-?n immense fortune, which, at his death in 1793, he left by111 to be disposed of- as follows: Above 100,000/. to his widow

and children, and all the rest to accumulate till a certain period,when, if none of his descendants shall then be in life, the whole isto be devoted to the Sinking Fund, to pay off the national debt,and to be entirely at the disposal of the British Parliament . It wasestimated, that within 120 years, there w ould be none of his posterityin life, and the sum will then have accumulated to 140 millions ofpounds sterling. His descendants applied to the court of chan-cery to get this will set aside, but without success.

THEMIS, iu the mythology, the goddess of Justice, but dif-ferent from Astraea ; she was a daughter of Coelus and Terra, and,according to the poets, was compelled to marry Jupiter, by whomshe became mother of the Pares, or the Fates.

THEM1SON, a celebrated physician of Laodicea , a discipleof Asclepiades . He founded the methodic sect, with a view tothe more easily teaching and practising the art of medicine. The-mison gave the first account of diacodium, which was prepared ofthe juice and decotion of poppy-heads and honey. He inventeda purging medicine called heirat.

TIIEMISTIUS, an ancient Greek orator and philosopher, anative of Paphlagonia , who flourished in the fourth century. Hehad great interest and favour with the emperors in his time, andthough a heathen, was of a very tolerating spirit. He taught formany years at Constantinople , of which city he was made prefectby Julian and Theodosius ; and lived to be very old. More thanthirty of his orations are still extant, besides commentaries on se-veral parts of Aristotle ’s works.

THEMISTOCLES, the renowned Athenian admiral , general,and patriot, who gained the battle of Salamis against the Persians .Being banished his country by his ungrateful fellow-citizens, hefled to Artaxerxes, king of Persia ; but, to avoid taking up armsagainst his country, he slew himself, 464 B. C.

THEOBROMA, in botany, a genus of plants of the class po-Uadelphia, and order pentandria: natural order, Columnifer®.Calyx five-leaved; petals five, arched ; nectary five-horned ;filaments five ; within the calyx of the petals, growing externallyto the nectary, having two anthers in each. There is but onespecies.

T. Cacao , or Chocolate-tree. This tree delights in ihadyplaces and deep valleys. It is seldom above twenty feet high.The leaves are oblong, large, and pointed. The flowers springfrom the trunk and large branches ; they are small, and pale-red.The pods are oval and pointed. The seeds or nuts are numerous,and curiously stowed in a white pithy substance. See Cho-colate.

THEOCRACY, [0«xpaTfia] in matters of government, a stategoverned by the immediate direction of God alone; such was theancient government of the Jews , before the time of Saul.

I II EOCRITUS, the father of pastoral poetrj, was born at Sy-racuse in Sicily , and flourished under Hiero, who began bis reignabout B. C. 275. The compositions of this poet are distinguished,among the ancients, by the name of Idyliiums, in order to expresstheir smallness and variety ; they would now be called Miscella-nies, or Poems on several Occasions. The works of this poetwere first published in folio by Aldus Manutius at Venice in 1495.But the first edition was published in 1770, in 2 vols. 4to. by Mr.Thomas Warton .

THEODOLITE, a mathematical instrument much used in sur-veying, for the taking of angles, distances, &c. It is variouslyconstructed: the common one consists of a brass-circle about afoot diameter, represented in Plate CLXXI. fig. 6, having itslimb divided into 360 degrees, and each degree subdivided, eitherdiagonally, or otherwise, into minutes. Underneath, at cc, arcfixed two little pillars bb, (fig. 7,) which support an axis, where-upon is fixed a telescope consisting of two glasses, in a squarebrass tube, for the viewing of remote objects. On the centre ofthe circle moves the index C, which is a circular plate, havin» acompass in the middle, whose meridian-line answers to the fiducfal-line aa : at bb, are fixed two pillars to support an axis which bearsa telescope like the former, whose line of collimation answers tothe fiducial line aa. At each end of either telescope is fixed aplain sight for the viewing nearer objects. The ends of the indexaa are cut circularly, to fit the divisions of the limb B; and whenthat limb is diagonally divided, the fiducial line, at one end of theindex, shews the degrees and minutes upon the limb. The wholeinstrument is mounted with a ball and socket, upon a three-legged

staff.