Character Sketches of Romance, Fiction, and the Drama, Vol. 4: A Revised American Edition of the Reader's HandbookBrewer, Ebenezer Cobham
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Character Sketches of Romance, Fiction, and the Drama, Vol. 4: A Revised American Edition of the Reader's Handbook
Brewer, Ebenezer Cobham
Allusions; Fiction -- Dictionaries; Literature -- Dictionaries
=Thwackum=, in Fielding’s novel, _The History of Tom Jones, a
Foundling_ (1749).
=Thyamis=, an Egyptian thief, native of Memphis. Theagĕnês and
Chariclēa being taken by him prisoners, he fell in love with the lady,
and shut her up in a cave for fear of losing her. Being closely beset
by another gang stronger than his own, he ran his sword into the heart
of Chariclea, that she might go with him into the land of shadows, and
be his companion in the future life.--Heliodorus, _Æthiopica_.
Like to the Egyptian thief, at point of death,
Kill what I love.
Shakespeare, _Twelfth Night_, act v. sc. 1 (1614).
=Thyeste´an Banquet= (in Latin _cæna Thyestæ_), a cannibal feast.
Thyestês was given his own two sons to eat in a banquet served up to
him by his brother, Atreus [_At.truce_].
Procnê and Philomēla served up to Tereus (2 _syl._) his own son Itys.
⁂ Milton accents the word on the second syllable in _Paradise Lost_,
x. 688, but then he calls Chalybe´an (_Samson Agonistes_, 133)
“Chalyb´ean,” Æge´an (_Paradise Lost_, i. 745) “Æ´gean,” and
Cambuscan´ he calls “Cambus´can.”
=Thyeste´an Revenge=, blood for blood, tit for tat of bloody
vengeance.
1. Thyestês seduced the wife of his brother, Atreus (2 _syl._), for
which he was banished. In his banishment he carried off his brother’s
son, Plisthĕnês, whom he brought up as his own child. When the boy was
grown to manhood, he sent him to assassinate Atreus, but Atreus slew
Plisthenês, not knowing him to be his son. The corresponding vengeance
was this: Thyestês had a son named. Ægisthos, who was brought up by
King Atreus as his own child. When Ægisthos was grown to manhood, the
king sent him to assassinate Thyestês, but the young man slew Atreus
instead.
2. Atreus slew his own son, Plisthenês, thinking him to be his
brother’s child. When he found out his mistake, he pretended to be
reconciled to his brother, and asked him to a banquet. Thyestês went
to the feast, and ate part of his own two sons, which had been cooked,
and were set before him by his brother.
3. Thyestês defiled the wife of his brother, Atreus, and Atreus
married Pelopia, the unwedded wife of his brother, Thyestês. It was
the son of this woman by Thyestês who murdered Atreus (his uncle and
father-in-law).
⁂ The tale of Atreus and that of Œdĭpus are the two most lamentable
stories of historic fiction, and in some points resemble each other:
Thus Œdipus married his mother, not knowing who she was; Thyestês
seduced his daughter, not knowing who she was. Œdipus slew his
father, not knowing who he was; Atreus slew his son, not knowing who
he was. Œdipus was driven from his throne by the sons born to him
by his own mother; Atreus [_At´.ruce_] was killed by the natural son
of his own wife.
=Thymbræ´an God= (_The_), Apollo; so called from a celebrated temple
raised to his honor on a hill near the river Thymbrĭus.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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