a philosopher of Greece, was a native of Eresus, a maritime town in the island of Lesbos, and is supposed to have been born about the year 372 before the Christian era. His father was by trade a fuller. The original name of the son, we are informed, was Tyrannus; but on account of his conspicuous eloquence, he was called Euphrastus, and afterwards Theophrastus. At an early age he repaired to Athens, where he successively became the disciple of Plato and of Aristotle. On the retirement of the latter, he became the head of the Peripatetic school; and so high was his reputation as a teacher of philosophy, that at one period the number of his scholars amounted to two thousand. He appears to have reached a very advanced age. If the preface to his Characters is genuine, and if one passage which it contains is correct in the reading, he undertook that work at the age of ninety-nine. This statement however cannot be received without the utmost suspicion. He succeeded Aristotle in 322, and was himself succeeded by Strato in 287 B.C. He had thus presided in the Lyceum for about thirty-five years (Clinton's Fasti Hellenici, vol. ii. p. 183.) His works, according to the catalogue of Diogenes Laertius, were very numerous; and several of them have been preserved in a state more or less perfect. To the stock of natural knowledge he made some important contributions. The largest of his works are two which relate to the history and to the causes of plants; and by these he has established a claim to be regarded as the father of botanical science. His Characters form one of the most remarkable compositions which ancient Greece has bequeathed to our times.

The works of Theophrastus were first printed by Aldus, in two volumes of his edition of Aristotle, Venet. 1497-8, fol. A separate edition was long afterwards produced by Lusius, Lugd. Bat. 1613, fol. This only contains the text, and a Latin version, without annotations. A more elaborate edition was at length published by Schneider, Lipsiae, 1818-21, 5 tom. 8vo. The text is comprised in the first volume; the others are occupied with a Latin version, annotations, various readings, and an index. Of the Historia Plantarum an elaborate edition was published by Bodaeus, Amst. 1644, fol. A separate volume had formerly appeared under the title of Julii Cassaris Scaligeri Animadversiones in Historias Theophrasti, Lugduni, 1584, 8vo. The same learned man had likewise published Commentarii et Animadversiones in sex libros de Causis Plantarum Theophrasti, Lugd. 1566, fol. The octavo volume is a book of rare occurrence. An English translation of the Treatise on Stones, accompanying the original, was published by Sir John Hill, M.D., Lond. 1746, 8vo.

Of the Characters of Theophrastus, the separate editions are very numerous. The earliest, which only includes fifteen characters, is that of Pirckheimher, Norenbergae, 1527, 8vo. But for the most able and conspicuous edition we are indebted to Casaubon, Lugd. 1592, 8vo. This edition, which has often been reprinted, is accompanied with a most learned and elaborate commentary. Here we ought not perhaps to overlook the edition of Needham, Cantab. 1712, 8vo. He has published the prelections of Duport, professor of Greek at Cambridge, on thirteen of the characters, and has reprinted the commentary of Casaubon. The editions by Fischer in 1768, and Schneider in 1799, likewise deserve to be specified. The number of characters Casaubon had augmented to twenty-eight. Other two were long afterwards brought to light by Amaduzzi, who published them in a splendid volume printed by Bodoni: Characterum Ethicorum Theophrasti Eresii Capita duo hactenus anecdota, quae ex cod. MS. Vaticanum secundi XI. Graece editit, Latine verit, prefatione et adnotationibus illustravit Johannes Christophorus Amadutius, Parmae, 1786, 4to. Here the Greek text occupies six pages, but the volume extends to nearly 140. The Characters of Theophrastus have been translated into many languages. The version of La Bruyere, with additional characters by the translator, ranks among the most conspicuous books in the French language. His version was transferred into English in 1699; Budgell's translation of the original followed in 1713, and Gally's in 1725. A more recent version has appeared under the subsequent title: The Characters of Theophrastus, translated from the Greek, and illustrated by physiognomical sketches; to which are subjoined the Greek text, with notes and hints on the individual varieties of human nature, by Francis Howell, Lond. 1824, 8vo.