THEBES

thebes, a disciple of socrates and philolaus. he is one of the speakers in the _phaedo_ of plato, in which he is represented as an earnest seeker after virtue and truth, keen in argument and cautious in decision. three dialogues, the [greek: hebdome], the [greek: phrynichos] and the [greek: pinax] or _tabula_, are attributed to him by suidas and diogenes laertius. the two former are lost, and most scholars deny the authenticity of the _tabula_ on the ground of material and verbal anachronisms. they attribute it either to cebes of cyzicus (above) or to an anonymous author, of the 1st century a.d., who assumed the character of cebes of thebes. the work professes to be an interpretation of an allegorical picture in the temple of cronus at athens or thebes. the author develops the platonic theory of pre-existence, and shows that true education consists not in mere erudition, but rather in the formation of character. the _tabula_ has been widely translated both into european languages and into arabic (the latter version published with the greek text and latin translation by salmasius in 1640). it is usually printed together with epictetus. separate editions by c.s. jerram (with introduction and notes, 1878), c. prachter (1893), and many others. see zeller's _history of greek philosophy_; f. klopfer, _de cebetis tabula_ (1818-1822); c. prachter, _cebetis tabula quanam aetate conscripta esse videatur_ (1885).