⁂ In classic story, Theseus is called “king;” but Chaucer styles him “duke,” that is, dux, “leader or emperor” (_imperātor_). =Thespian Maids= (_The_), the nine Muses. So called from Thespia, in Bœotia, near Mount Helĭcon, often called _Thespia Rupes_. Those modest Thespian maids thus to their Isis sung. Drayton, _Polyolbion_, xv. (1613). =Thespi´o=, a Muse. The Muses were called Thespi´adês, from Thespīa, in Bœo´tia, at the foot of mount Helĭcon. Tell me, oh, tell me then, thou holy Muse, Sacred Thespīo. Phineas Fletcher, _The Purple Island_, vii. (1633). =Thespis=, the father of the Greek drama. Thespis, the first professor of our art, At country wakes sang ballads from a cart. Dryden, Prologue to _Sophonisba_ (1729). =Thes´tylis=, a female slave; any rustic maiden.--Theocritos, _Idylls_. With Thestylis to bind the sheaves. Milton, _L’Allegro_ (1638). =Thet´is=, mother of Achillês. She was a sea-nymph, daughter of Nereus, the sea-god.--_Grecian Story._ =Theuerdank=, a sobriquet of Kaiser Maximilian I. of Germany (1459, 1493-1519). =Thiebalt=, a Provençal, one of Arthur’s escorts to Aix.--Sir W. Scott, _Anne of Geierstein_ (time, Edward IV.). =Thieves= (_The Two_). The penitent thief crucified with Jesus, has been called by sundry names, as Demas, Dismas, Titus, Matha, and Vicimus. The impenitent thief, has been called Gestas, Dumachas, Joca, and Justīnus. In the Aprocryphal _Gospel of Nicodemus_, the former is called Dysmas and the latter Gestas. In the _Story of Joseph of Arimathea_, the former is called Demas and the latter Gestas. Longfellow’s _Golden Legend_, calls them Titus and Dumachus. A legend says that they attacked Joseph in his flight into Egypt. Titus said, “Let the good people go;” but Dumachus refused to do so till he “paid a ransom for himself and family.” Upon this, Titus gave his fellow forty groats; and the infant Jesus said, “In thirty years I shall die, and you two with Me. We shall be crucified together; but in that day, Titus, this deed shall be remembered.” _Thieves_ (_His ancestors proved_). It is Sir Walter Scott who wrote and proved his “ancestors were thieves,” in the _Lay of the Last Minstrel_, iv. 9. A modern author spends a hundred leaves To prove his ancestors notorious thieves. _The Town Ecolgue._