and usurpations of the throne compelled Theodosius to
active interference, which led to his becoming sole head of the empire
(394), after successfully combating the revolutionaries, Franks and
others; was a zealous Churchman, and stern suppressor of the "Arian
Heresy"; the close of his reign marks the beginning of the end of the
Roman Empire, for his death opened the floodgates of barbarian invasion,
and from this date begins the formation of the new kingdoms of Europe
(346-395).

THEOGNIS, an elegiac poet of Megara; flourished in the second half
of the 6th century B.C.; lost his possessions during a revolution at
Megara, in which the democrats overpowered the aristocrats, to which
party he belonged; compelled to live in exile, he found solace in the
writing of poetry full of a practical and prudential wisdom, bitterly
biased against democracy, and tinged with pessimism.

THEOLOGY, the science which treats of God, particularly as He
manifests Himself in His relation to man in nature, reason, or
revelation.

THEOPHRASTUS, a peripatetic philosopher, born in Lesbos; pupil,
heir, and successor of Aristotle, and the great interpreter and expounder
of his philosophy; was widely famous in his day; his writings were
numerous, but only a few are extant, on plants, stars, and fire; _d_. 286
B.C.

THEOSOPHY (lit. divine wisdom), a mystic philosophy of very
difficult definition which hails from the East, and was introduced among
us by Madame Blavatsky, a Russian lady, who was initiated into its
mysteries in Thibet by a fraternity there who professed to be the sole
custodiers of its secrets as the spiritual successors of those to whom it
was at first revealed. The radical idea of the system appears to be
reincarnation, and the return of the spirit to itself by a succession of
incarnations, each one of which raises it to a higher level until, by
seven stages it would seem, the process is complete, matter has become
spirit, and spirit matter, God has become man, and man God, agreeably
somewhat to the doctrine of Amiel, that "the complete spiritualisation of
the animal element in us is the task of our race," though with them it
seems rather to mean its extinction. The adherents of this system, with
their head-quarters at Madras, are numerous and wide-scattered, and form
an organisation of 300 branches, having three definite aims: (1) To
establish a brotherhood over the world irrespective of race, creed,
caste, or sex; (2)