of Kyme and Theopompos, son of Damasistratos, of Chios;[1] both students of Isocrates,[2] but from the start they were opposites of one another in terms both of character and of discourse. Ephoros, you see, was simple in character, and in the interpretation of history laid-back and lazy and devoid of intensity; Theopompos, meanwhile, was jaundiced and ill-tempered in character, but in expression he was rich and eloquent and full of force, a dogged pursuer of the truth in what he wrote. Isokrates, at any rate, said that Theopompos needed a rein, but Ephoros a spur.[3] Theopompus was exiled, became a suppliant of Ephesian Artemis, and wrote many letters to Alexander [sc. the Great] against the Chians,[4] and at the same time he also wrote many encomia of Alexander himself.[5] It is also said that he wrote a diatribe against him that is not preserved.