_Theocritus_ (_The Scotch_), Allan Ramsay, author of _The Gentle Shepherd_ (1685-1758). _Theocritus_ (_The Sicilian_), Giovanni Meli, of Palermo, immortalized by his eclogues and idylls (1740-1815). =Theod´ofred=, heir to the Spanish throne, but incapacitated from reigning, because he had been blinded by Witiza. Theodofred was the son of Chindasuintho, and father of King Roderick. As Witiza, the usurper, had blinded Theodofred, so Roderick dethroned and blinded Witiza.--Southey, _Roderick, etc._ (1814). ⁂ In mediæval times no one with any personal defect was allowed to reign and one of the most ordinary means of disqualifying a prince for succeeding to a throne was to put out his eyes. Of course, the reader will call to mind the case of Prince Arthur, the nephew of King John; and scores of other instances in Italian, French, Spanish, German, Russian, and Scandinavian history. =Theod´omas=, a famous trumpeter at the siege of Thebes. At every court ther cam loud menstralcye That never trompêd Joab for to heere, Ne he Theodomas yit half so cleere At Thebês, when the citê was in doute. Chaucer, _Canterbury Tales_, 9592, etc. (1338). =Theodo´ra=, sister of Constantine, the Greek emperor. She entertained most bitter hatred against Rogēro for slaying her son, and vowed vengeance. Rogero, being entrapped in sleep, was confined by her in a dungeon, and fed on the bread and water of affliction, but was ultimately released by Prince Leon.--Ariosto, _Orlando Furioso_ (1516). =The´odore= (3 _syl._), son of General Archas, “the loyal subject” of the great-duke of Muscovia. A colonel, valorous, but impatient.--Beaumont and Fletcher, _The Loyal Subject_ (1618). _Theodore_ (3 _syl._), of Ravenna, brave, rich, honored, and chivalrous. He loved Honōria “to madness,” but “found small favor in the lady’s eyes.” At length, however, the lady relented and married him. (See HONORIA.)--Dryden, _Theodore and Honoria_ (from Boccaccio). _Theodore_, son of the lord of Clarinsal, and grandson of Alphonso. His father thought him dead, renounced the world, and became a monk of St. Nicholas, assuming the name of Austin. By chance Theodore was sent home in a Spanish bark, and found his way into some secret passage of the count’s castle, where he was seized and taken before the count. Here he met the monk, Austin, and was made known to him. He informed his father of his love for Adelaide, the count’s daughter, and was then told that if he married her, he must renounce his estates and title. The case stood thus: If he claimed his estates, he must challenge the count to mortal combat, and renounce the daughter; but if he married Adelaide, he must forego his rights, for he could not marry the daughter and slay his father-in-law. The perplexity is solved by the death of Adelaide, killed by her father by mistake, and the death of the count by his own hand.--Robert Jephson, _Count of Narbonne_ (1782).