THEOPHRASTUS, the Greek moralist and naturalist, was born at Eresus in Lesbos, and studied philosophy at Athens, first under Plato, and subsequently under Aristotle. The latter took especial interest in him, and according to a rather incredible legend, altered his original name of Tyrtamus into that of Theophrastus (divine speaker), in compli ment to the fluent and graceful speech of his pupil. To Theophrastus, moreover, he bequeathed the presidency of the lyceum, his library, and the original MSS. of his writings. Theophrastus proved a worthy successor of the Stagirite. Under his presi dency the lyceum sustained its character, and attracted no fewer than 2,000 disciples, among whom was the comic poet Menander. The kings Philippus, Cassander, and Ptolemy held him in high esteem; and such was the admiration of the people of Athens for him that, when he was arraigned for impiety and triumphantly acquitted, they would have killed his accuser had he not generously interceded. In compliance, how ever, with the law of Sophocles, which decreed the banishment of all philosophers from Athens, Theophrastus, in 305 B.c., left the city, until the enactment was repealed the very next year by Philo, also a disciple of Aristotle. From that date Theophrastus continued his lectures until his death in 287, at which time be had presided over the academy for 35 years. His birth being unknown, we are ignorant of his age at the time
of his death, and conjectures variously give it from 85 to 107 years. On the eve of dis solution, he is said to have complained of the shortness of human life, which ended just when he was about to solve its enigmas. He was accompanied to the grave by the entire Athenian population. He bequeathed his library to Neleus of Scepsis. The great ebject of his philosophical labors was to develop the Aristotelian system, to explain the difficulties which obscured it, and to fill up the gaps which left it incomplete. Most of the works which he wrote with this object have perished; only the following remain: 1. Characteres, in 30 chapters, descriptive of vicious character; 2. Of Senuous Perception and its Objects; 3. A fragment on Metaphysics; 4. Of the History of Plants, in 10 books, one of the earliest of extant treatises on botany; 5. Of the Causes of Plants, in 8 books, of which, however, only 6 remain; 6. Of Stones. The best complete edition of Theo phrastus is that of Schneider; there are numerous editions of the Characteres separately.