Theodo'rus
37. Of GADARA (
Θεόδωρος Γαδαρεύς), an eminent rhetorician of the age of Augustus. His surname indicates his birth-place, Gadara, in the country east of the Jordan. (See also Strabo,
Geogr. lib. xvi. p. 759, Casaub.)
He is said to have been originally a slave (Suidas).
He appears to have settled at Rhodes, where Tiberius, afterwards emperor, during his retirement (from B. C. 6 to A. D. 2) to that island, was one of his hearers. (Quintil.
Instit. Orat. lib. iii. c. 1. §§ 17, 18; comp. Seneca,
Suasoria, iii. sub fin.)
According to Suidas he was also settled at Rome, where he was the rival of Polemon and Antipater, the rhetoricians (Suidas,
s.v. Θεόδωρος Γαδαρευς). Whether his settlement at Rome preceded that at Rhodes is uncertain : it is likely that it did, and that Tiberius received instruction from him in rhetoric in his boyhood, as well as in maturer years, during his retreat at Rhodes.
By this supposition we may reconcile the statement given above from Quintilian with the following remarkable passage from Suetonius (
Suet. Tib. 100.57) : -- " His (Tiberius's) cruel and sluggish temperament did not escape notice even in his boyhood; Theodore of Gadara, his teacher in rhetoric, seems to have been the first who sagaciously perceived and aptly expressed it by a comparison, calling him from time to time when reproving him (
πηλὸν αἵματι πεφυρμένον), ` clay tempered with blood.' " Theodorus was one of the most eminent rhetoricians of his time (comp. Juvenal,
Sat. 7.177); and was in fact the founder of a certain school of rhetoricians who were called " Theodorei " (Quintil.
l.c. ; comp. Strab.
Geog. lib. xiii. p. 625, Casaub.), as distinguished from the " Apollodorei," or followers of Apollodorus of Pergamus, who had been the tutor of Augustus Caesar at Apollonia. [APOLLODORUS, No. 22.] Hermagoras the rhetorician, surnamed Carion [HERMAGORAS, No. 2], was a pupil of Theodore. (Quintilian,
l.c. § 19.) Theodore wrote many works. (Quintil.
l.c. 100.18.) Suidas (
s. v.) and Endocia (apud Villoison.
Anecdota Graec. vol. i. p. 230) mention the following : -- 1.
Περὶ τῶν ἐν φωναῖς ζητουμένων γ́,
Libri tres de üs quae vocibus quaeruntur. 2. Περὶ ἱστορίας ά, De Historia Liber unus. 3. Περὶ θέσεως ἕν, De Thesi Liber unus. 4. Περὶ διαλέκτων ὁμοιότητος καὶ ἀποδείξεως β́, De Dialectorum Similitudine et Demonstratione Libri duo. 5. Περὶ πολιτείας β́, De Republican Libri duo. 6. Περὶ Κοιλης Συριας ά, De Coele-Syria Liber unus. 7. Περὶ ῥήτορος δυνάμεως ά, De Facultate Oratoris Liber unus. He adds that he wrote others.
The list shows that Theodore was a man of varied attainments. His works are all lost : a few fragments are preserved by Quintilian, whose frequent references to or citations from Theodore (
Institut. lib. ii. c. 15.16, lib. iii. c. 6. §§ 2, 36, 51, c. 11. §§ 3, 26, lib. iv. c. 1.23, lib. v. c. 13.59) show the reputation he had attained.
He is also cited by Longinus (
De Sublim. 100.2), Theon (
Progymnasmat. c. xii.), and perhaps by Demetrius, miscalled Phalereus (
De Interpretatione, c. ccxxxvii.). Antonius, a son of Theodore of Gadara, became a senator in the time of Adrian (Suidas,
l.c.). (Langbainc,
ad Longin. c. ii. p. 24, ed. Oxford, 1638; Menag.
ad Diog. Laert. 2.104; Fabric.
Bibl. Graec. vol. vi. p. 139, vol. x. p. 387.)
