]
states that Isaeus instructed him gratis, whereas
3.
states that Isaeus instructed him gratis, whereas
3.
William Smith - 1844 - Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities - b
p.
93.
tab.
12, 2, 3 ; Böttiger, Vasen- strongly opposed any amicable arrangement, on the
gemälde, ii. pp. 68, 86, &c. )
(L. S. ] ground of the well-known faithlessness of Michael.
IRUS (ʻlpos). 1. A son of Actor, and father The latter was soon after compelled to resign, and
of Eurydamas and Eurytion. He propitiated assume the monastic habit. In his struggle with
Peleus for the murder of his brother ; but during Michael, Isaac was cordially assisted by his excel-
the chase of the Calydonian boar, Peleus uninten- lent brother John. He rewarded the leaders of the
tionally killed Eurytion, the son of Irus. Peleus en conspiracy with great liberality, but in a manner
deavoured to soothe him by offering him his flocks; that showed his good sense, for he sent most of
but Irus would not accept them, and at the com- them into the provinces, and conferred such
mand of an oracle, Peleus allowed them to run honours and offices upon them as entailed only a
wherever they pleased. A wolf devoured the moderate degree of power and influence. He
sheep, but was thereupon changed into a stone, divided the important functions of the curopalates
which was shown in later times on the frontier be- between Catacalon and his brother John. The
tween Locris and Phocis. (Anton. Lib. 38; Tzetz. treasury being exhausted, he introduced a system
ad Lycoph. 175; Schol. ad Apollon. Rhod. i. 71. ) of great economy into all the branches of the ad-
2. The well-known beggar of Ithaca, who was ministration, showing, by his own example, how
celebrated for his voracity. His real name was his subjects ought to act under such circumstances
Arnaeus, but he was called Irus because he was In levying new taxes, however, he called upon the
employed by the suitors of Penelope as the mes clergy also to contribute their share, but they re
senger; for Irus, according to the lexicographers, fused to comply with his orders; and the patriarch
signifies a messenger. (Hom. Od. xviii. 5, &c. , of Constantinople, Michael Cerularius, had the im-
239. )
[L. S. ) T pudence to say to the emperor : “ I have given you
## p. 623 (#639) ############################################
ISAACUS.
623
ISAACUS.
the crown, and I know how to take it from you avail limself of the sanctuary of the church of St.
again. " Banishment was the reward for this inso- Sophia. A dense crowd soon filled the church :
lence, and death prevented the priest from taking Islac implored their assistance; and the numerous
revenge by kindling a rebellion. In several cases enemies of Andronicus, exerting themselves to
Isaac acted rather haughtily, and he sometimes kindle a revolt in favour of any one persecuted by
found difficulty in reconciling through his wisdom, that cruel emperor, the fickle people of Constanti-
those whom he had wounded through his pride. nople suddenly took up arms, killed the officers des
In 2059 he marched against the Hungarians, who patched by Hagiochristophorites to put Isaac to
had crossed the Danube, and compelled them to death, and proclaimed the latter emperor of Con-
sue for peace. This was the only occasion during stantinople (A. D. 1185). Andronicus hastened to
his reign where he could show that he was the his capital, but it was too late: he was seized by
best tactician among the Greeks. The empire re the mob, and, by order, or at least with the consent
covered visibly under his administration from so of Isaac, perished in the miserable manner which
many calamities, and great was the grief of the is related in his life. [ANDRONICUS I. ]
people when, after his return from the Hungarian No sooner was Isaac firmly established on the
campaign, he was suddenly attacked by a violent throne than he began a life which Gibbon thus de-
fever, which brought him to the verge of the tomb. scribes :- He slept on the throne, and was
Feeling his death approaching, he called for his awakened only by the sound of pleasure: his
brother and offered him the crown, but John having vacant hours were amused by comedians and buf-
declined it, he appointed Constantine Ducas, a re- foons ; and even to these buffoons the emperor was
nowned general, his future successor. Isaac, how- an object of contempt: his feasts and buildings
ever, recovered from his illness, but, to the utmost exceeded the examples of royal luxury, the number
grief and astonishment of his brother and the of his eunuchs and domestics amounted to twenty
people, resigned the crown into the hands of Con- thousand, and the daily sum of four thousand
stantine Ducas, and retired to a convent ( December, pounds of silver would swell to four millions sterling
1059). His wife and daughter followed his ex- the annual expense of his household and table.
ample, and took the veil. Isaac survived his ab- His poverty was relieved by oppression, and the
dication about two years, living in the strictest public discontent was inflamed by equal abuses in
performance of the duties a monk, and devoting the collection and the application of the revenue.
his leisure hours to learned occupations. The em- Shortly after his accession Isaac was involved in a
peror Constantine XI. often visited him in his cell, dreadful war with the Bulgarians, which arose
and consulted bim on important affairs; and among under the following circumstances : After the
the people he was in the odour of sanctity; His conquest by Basil II. of the powerful Bulgarian
death probably took place in 1061. He left no kingdom, which extended over the greater part of
male issue. Homer was the favourite author of the Thracian peninsula, the Bulgarians continued
Isaac, who wrote Scholia to the Iliad, which are to live under the sway of the Byzantine emperors,
. extant in several libraries, but are still unpublished. till Peter and Asan, two brothers, who were de-
There are also extant in manuscript Niepl TW kata- scended from the ancient kings of Bulgaria, took
λειφθέντων υπό του Ομήρου, and Χαρακτηρίσματα, up arms in order to deliver their country from the
being characteristics of the leaders of the Greeks insupportable oppression and rapacity of Isaac.
and Trojans mentioned in the Iliad. His other They were successful--they penetrated as far as
works are lost. (Cedren. p. 797, &c. ; Zonar. vol. Thessalonica—they defeated and made prisoner
ii. p. 265, &c. ; Scylitzes, p. 807, &c. ; Glycas, p. Isaac Sebastocrator, the Greek generalissimo, in a
322, &c. ; Joel, p. 184, &c. , in the Paris editions ; pitched battle ; and at last Asan was acknowledged
Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol. i. p. 558. ) [W. P. ) as king of Bulgaria Nigra, or that country which
ISAACUS II. , A'NGELUS ('Ioaários ó is still called Bulgaria. In this war the Bulgarians
Agjenos), emperor of Constantinople (A. D. 1185 were assisted by the Blachi or Moro-Vlachi, the
-1195), was the eldest son of Andronicus An- descendants of ancient Roman colonists in the
gelus, and was born in the middle half of the 12th mountainous parts of Thessaly and Macedonia,
century. Belonging to one of the great Byzantine who were likewise driven to despair by the rapa-
families and descended, through his grandmother cious emperor, and who finally left their homes and
Theodora, from the imperial family of the Comneni, emigrated into the countries beyond the Danube
he held several offices of importance in the reign of (Dacia), where, mixed with Slavonian tribes, they
the emperor Manuel Comnenus; but his name re continued to live, and still live, as Wallachians.
mained obscure, and the emperor Andronicus Com-However, some of them remained in their native
nenus, the exterminator of the Greek nobility, mountains in Thessaly and Macedonia : they were
despised to kill such a harmless being, although he the ancestors of the present Kutzo-Wallachians.
put his father Andronicus Angelus to death. The In a second war with the Bulgarians, the Greek
weak-minded Isaac became, nevertheless, the cause arms obtained a decisive victory (1193) ; but Isaac
of the deposition and miserable end of Andronicus was, nevertheless, obliged to recognise the successor
Comnenus. In the summer of 1185 the emperor of Asan, Joannicus or Joannes. Isaac was more
retired for a short time to one of his country seats successful against William II. , the Good, who
in Asia, appointing one Hagiochristophorites his was compelled, in 1187, to give up the conquests
lieutenant in Constantinople during his absence. which he had made two years previously in
This officer gave orders to put Isaac to death, be- Epeirus, Thessaly, and Macedonia. In 1189 the
cause his name began with an I; and there was a emperor Frederic I. of Germany appeared on the
silly belief among the people that Andronicus northern frontier of the Byzantine empire, with an
would be ruined by somebody whose name began army of 150,000 men, on his way to the Holy
with an I. Isaac was fortunately apprized of Land. In spite of the menaces of Isaac, the em-
the bloody design of the emperor's lieutenant, but peror quietly advanced, took up his winter-quarters
had barely time to escape from his palace, and to at Adrianople, and crossed the Bosporus, declining
## p. 624 (#640) ############################################
624
ISAACUS.
: ISAEUS.
P
both to help the Bulgarians aguinst the Greeks, more reason to believe that he wrote “ De Cogita.
and the Greeks against the Bulgarians.
tionibus," the Greek text of which, with a Latin
Indic was 80 terrified by the emperor's march translation, was published by Petrus Possinus, in
through his dominions, and the success of the other his Ascetica. Several other productions of Isaac
crusaders in Syria and Palestine, that he sent an are extant in MS. in the library of the Vatican and
ambassador to Saladin offering him his alliance in other libraries. (Cave, Hist. Lit. vol. i. p. 434-
against the Latins, which, however, Saladin de 435; Fabric. Bilt. Graec. vol. xi. p. 214, &c. )
clined, because Isaac demanded the restitution of 6. Surnamed SYRUS, lived in the middle of the
the holy sepulchre. Besides Bulgaria, Isaac lost sixth century, and was bishop of Ninireh, but abdi-
the island of Cyprus, where Alexis Comnenus had cated and retired to a convent, of which he was
made himself independent, but was deprived of his afterwards chosen abbot. After having lived several
conquest by Richard Coeur de Lion of England years in that convent he went to Italy and died
(1101), who in 1192 ceded it to king Guido of near Spoleto. It is probable that he is the author
Jerusalem ; and Cyprus was never again united of the work De Contemtu Mundi, which is mentioned
to the Byzantine empire. Isaac, continuing to in the preceding article. He also wrote 87 Ser-
make himself despised and hated by the Greeks, a mones A scetici, which some attribute to the preceding
rebellion broke out at Constantinople while he was Isaac, and which are extant in MS. in Greek, in
hunting in the mountains of Thrace; nnd Alexis, the the imperial library at Vienna Some Homilies of
younger brother of Isaac, was raised to the throne. this Isaac are exinnt in MS. in the Bodleian and
On this news, Isaac fled without daring to im- other libraries. It is probable that Isaac wrote
plore the assistance of any one. Arrived at Stagyra originally in Syriac. (Cave, Hist. Litt vol. i. p.
in Macedonia, he was arrested and brought before 519-520 ; Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol. xi. p. 215, &c. )
Alexis, who ordered his eyes to be put out, and 7. TZETZES. (Tzetzes. )
(W. P. )
confined him in a prison (1195). (ALEXIS III. ) ISAEUS ('lgaios). 1. One of the ten Attic
Alexis, the son of Isaac, fortunately escaped, fled orators, whose orations were contained in the Alex-
to Italy, and succeeded in rousing the Latin andrian canon. The time of his birth and death
princes to a war against Alexis III. , which resulted is unknown, but all accounts agree in the statement
in the capture of Constantinople in 1203, and the that he flourished (Ruage) during the period be-
restoration of the blind Isaac, who reigned, together tween the Peloponnesian war and the accession of
with his son (ALEXIS IV), till the following year, Philip of Macedonia, so that he lived between
1204, when Alexis IV. was dethroned and killed B. C. 420 and 348. (Dionys. Isaeus, 1; Plut. l'it.
by Alexis Ducas Murzuphlus (ALEXIS V. ), who X. Orat. p. 839; Anonym. yévos 'loalov. ) He
usurped the throne, and kept it during two months, was a son of Diagoras, and was born at Chalcis or,
when he, in his turn, was deposed by the Latins. as some say, at Athens, probably only because he
Murzuphlus spared the life of Isaac, who, however, came to Athens at an early age, and spent the
did not long survive the melancholy fate of bis greater part of his life there. He was instructed
youthful and spirited son. (Nicetas, Isaacius An- in oratory by Lysias and Isocrates (Phot. Bibl.
gelus ;- Isaacius et Aleris filius ; the Latin authori. Cod. 263 ; Dionys. Plut. II. cc. ) He was afterwards
ties quoted under Alexis 111. , IV. , V. ] [W. P. ] engaged in writing judicial orations for others, and
ISAACUS, literary. 1. Of Antioch. (See established a rhetorical school at Athens, in which
No. 5. )
Demosthenes is said to have been his pupil. Suidas
2. ARGYRUS. [ARGYRUS.
]
states that Isaeus instructed him gratis, whereas
3. Of ARMENIA, catholicus or patriarch of Ar- Plutarch relates that he received 10,000 drachmas
menia Magna, lived in the middle of the twelfth | (comp. Plut. de Glor. Ath. p. 350, c. ; Phot. l. c. );
century, and wrote Orationes Invectivae II. adversus and it is further said thai Isaeus composed for
Armenos, published in Greek and Latin, and with Demosthenes the speeches against his guardians,
notes in Combefisius, Auctuar. Nov. Bibl. vol. ii. or at least assisted him in the composition. All
p. 317, &c. , and by Galland. Bill. Patr. vol. xiv. particulars about his life are unknown, and were so
p. 41), &c. (Cave, Hist. Litt, vol. ii. p. 227 ; even in the time of Dionysius, since Hermippus,
Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol. xi. p. 123, &c. )
who had written an account of the disciples of Iso-
4. Of NINIVEH. (See No. 6. ]
crates, did not mention Isaeus at all.
5. Surnamed SYRus, because he was a native of In antiquity there were sixty-four orations which
Syria, was first monk and afterwards priest at bore the name of Isaeus, but fifty only were recog-
Antioch, and died about A. D. 456. He wrote nised as genuine by the ancient critics. (Plut.
in Syriac, and perhaps also in Greek, different Vit. X. Orat. l. c. ) Of these only eleven have
works and treatises on theological matters, several come down to us ; but we possess fragments and
of them to oppose the writers of the Nestorians and the titles of 56 speeches ascribed to him. The
Eutychians. His principal work is De Contenitu eleven extant are all on subjects connected with
Mundi, de Operatione Corporali et sui Abjectione disputed inheritances; and Isaeus appears to have
Liber, published in the second edition of the Or been particularly well acquainted with the laws
thodoxographi, Basel, 1569; in the Bibl. Patr. relating to inheritance. (Tiepl AA tipov. ) Ten of
Colon. vol. vi. ; in the B. P. Puris, vol. v. ; in the these orations had been known ever since the re-
B. P. Novissima Luydun. vol. xi. ; and in Gal- | viral of letters, and were printed in the collections
land. Bibl. Patr. vol. xii. In all these collections of Greek orators; but the eleventh, Nepl toll Me
it is printed in Greek, with a Latin translation, but verléovs Kańpou, was first published in 1785, from
the Greek text also seems to be a translation from a Florentine MS. , by Th. Thyrwitt, London,
the Syriac. It is very doubtful whether this work | 1785, 8vo. ; and afterwards in the Götting. Biblioth.
was written by Isaac, the subject of this notice, or für alte Lit. und Kunst for 1788, part iii. , and by
by another Isaac, the subject of the following article. J. C. Orelli, Zürich, 1814, 8vo. In 1815 A. Mai
Neither Trithemius nor Gennadius (De Script. discovered the greater half of the oration of Isaeus,
Eccles. ) attribute the work to our Isaac. There is nepl Toû KAewvýpov kanpov, which he published at
## p. 625 (#641) ############################################
ISAGORAS.
625
ISCHOLAUS.
Milan, 1815, fol. , and reprinted in his Classic. Auctor. of note: of its remote origin he professes himself
e Cod. Vatican, vol. iv. p. 280, &c. (Roine, 1831. ) | ignorant, but adds that his kinsmen sacrificed to
Isaeus also wrote on rhetorical subjects, such as a Carian Zeus. When Cleomenes I. of Sparta came
work entitled Idiai téxval, which, however, is lost. to Athens, in B. C. 510, to drive out Hippias, he
(Plut. Vit. X. Orat. p. 839 ; Dionys. Epist
. ad formed a connection of friendship and hospitality
Ammon. i. 2. ) Although his orations were placed with Isagoras, who was stispected of conniving at
fifth in the Alexandrian canon, still we do not hear an intrigue between his wife and the Spartan king.
of any of the grammarians having written com- Not long after this we find Isagoras, the leader of
mentaries upon them, except Didymus of Alexnn- the oligarchical party at Athens, in opposition to
dria (Harpocrat. s. oo. yaunala, ravdaiola. ) But Cleisthenes, and, when he found the latter too
we still possess the criticism upon Isaeus written strong for him, he applied to Cleomenes for aid.
by Dionysius of Halicamassus; and by a com- The attempt made by the Spartans in consequence
parison of the orations still extant with the opinions to establish oligarchy at Athens was defeated ;
of Dionysius, we come to the following conclusion and when Cleomenes, eager for revenge, again in-
The oratory of Isaeus resembles in many points vaded Attica, with the view of placing the chief
that of his teacher, Lysias : the style of both is power in the hands of Isagoras, his enterprise
pure, clear, and concise ; but while Lysias is at the again came to nothing, through the defection of
same time simple and graceful, Isaeus evidently the Corinthians and Demaratus. (Herod. v. 66,
strives to attain a higher degree of polish and re- 70—72, 74, 75; Plut. de Herod. Malign. 23;
finement, without, however, in the least injuring Paus. iii. 4, vi. 8. ) (CLEISTHENES ; CLEOMENES ;
the powerful and impressive character of his oratory. DEMARATI'S. )
(E. E. ]
The same spirit is visible in the manner in which ISANDER (Ioav8pos), a son of Bellerophon,
he handles his subjects, especially in their skilful killed by Ares in the fight with the Solymi. (Hom.
division, and in the artful manner in which he Il. vi. 197 ; Strab. xii. p. 573, xiii. p. 630. ) (L. S. ]
interweaves his arguments with various parts of the ISAU'RICUS, a surname of P. Servilius Vatia,
exposition, whereby his orations become like a father and son. [Vatia. )
painting in which light and shade are distributed I'SCANUS, JOSE'PHUS, the author of a Latin
with a distinct view to produce certain effects. It poem on the Trojan war, in six books, in hexameter
was mainly owing to this mode of management metre. This poem has sometimes been ascribed to
that he was envied and censured by his contempo Cornelius Nepos, for which reason it is mentioned
raries, as if he had tried to deceive and misguide here, but its author was a native of England, and
his bearers. He was one of the first who turned lived in the twelfth century of our era. It is
their attention to a scientific cultivation of political printed at the end of the edition of Dictys Creten-
oratory; but excellence in this department of the sis, published at Amsterdam, in 1702.
art was not attained till the time of Demosthenes. ISCHA'GORAS (ʻloxayopas), commanded the
The orations of Isaeus are contained in the col- reinforcements sent by Sparta in the ninth year of
lections of the Greek_orators, published by Aldus, the Peloponnesian war, B. C. 423, to join Brasidas
Stephens, Miniati, Reiske, Ducas, Bekker, and in Chalcidice. Perdiccas, as the price of his new
Baiter and Sauppe. A separate edition, with treaty with Athens, prevented, by means of his
Reiske's and Taylor's notes, appeared at Leipzig, influence in Thessaly, the passage of the troops.
1773, 8vo. , and another by G. H. Schäfer, Leip- Ischagoras himself, with some others, made their
zig, 1822, 8vo. The best separate edition is that way to Brasidas, but how long he staid is doubtful;
by G. F. Schömann, with critical notes and a in B. C. 421 we find him sent again from Sparta to
good commentary, Greifswald, 1831, 8vo. There the same district, to urge Clearidas to give up Am.
is an English translation of the orations of Isaeus, phipolis, according to the treaty, into the hands of
by Sir William Jones (London, 1794, 4to. ), with the Athenians. (Thuc. iv. 132, v. 21. )[A. H. C. ]
prefatory discourse, notes critical and historical, ISCHANDER ("loxavopos), an obscure Athe-
and a commentary. (Comp. Westermann, Gesch. nian tragic poet, in whose plays Aeschines is said
d: Griech. Beredtsamkeit, $ 51, and Beilage, v. p. to have acted. (A ESCHINES, p. 37, a ; Vit. Aesch. ;
293, &c. ; J. A. Liebmann, De Isaci Vita et Harpocrat, s. v. 'loxavopos; Kayser, Hist. Crit.
gemälde, ii. pp. 68, 86, &c. )
(L. S. ] ground of the well-known faithlessness of Michael.
IRUS (ʻlpos). 1. A son of Actor, and father The latter was soon after compelled to resign, and
of Eurydamas and Eurytion. He propitiated assume the monastic habit. In his struggle with
Peleus for the murder of his brother ; but during Michael, Isaac was cordially assisted by his excel-
the chase of the Calydonian boar, Peleus uninten- lent brother John. He rewarded the leaders of the
tionally killed Eurytion, the son of Irus. Peleus en conspiracy with great liberality, but in a manner
deavoured to soothe him by offering him his flocks; that showed his good sense, for he sent most of
but Irus would not accept them, and at the com- them into the provinces, and conferred such
mand of an oracle, Peleus allowed them to run honours and offices upon them as entailed only a
wherever they pleased. A wolf devoured the moderate degree of power and influence. He
sheep, but was thereupon changed into a stone, divided the important functions of the curopalates
which was shown in later times on the frontier be- between Catacalon and his brother John. The
tween Locris and Phocis. (Anton. Lib. 38; Tzetz. treasury being exhausted, he introduced a system
ad Lycoph. 175; Schol. ad Apollon. Rhod. i. 71. ) of great economy into all the branches of the ad-
2. The well-known beggar of Ithaca, who was ministration, showing, by his own example, how
celebrated for his voracity. His real name was his subjects ought to act under such circumstances
Arnaeus, but he was called Irus because he was In levying new taxes, however, he called upon the
employed by the suitors of Penelope as the mes clergy also to contribute their share, but they re
senger; for Irus, according to the lexicographers, fused to comply with his orders; and the patriarch
signifies a messenger. (Hom. Od. xviii. 5, &c. , of Constantinople, Michael Cerularius, had the im-
239. )
[L. S. ) T pudence to say to the emperor : “ I have given you
## p. 623 (#639) ############################################
ISAACUS.
623
ISAACUS.
the crown, and I know how to take it from you avail limself of the sanctuary of the church of St.
again. " Banishment was the reward for this inso- Sophia. A dense crowd soon filled the church :
lence, and death prevented the priest from taking Islac implored their assistance; and the numerous
revenge by kindling a rebellion. In several cases enemies of Andronicus, exerting themselves to
Isaac acted rather haughtily, and he sometimes kindle a revolt in favour of any one persecuted by
found difficulty in reconciling through his wisdom, that cruel emperor, the fickle people of Constanti-
those whom he had wounded through his pride. nople suddenly took up arms, killed the officers des
In 2059 he marched against the Hungarians, who patched by Hagiochristophorites to put Isaac to
had crossed the Danube, and compelled them to death, and proclaimed the latter emperor of Con-
sue for peace. This was the only occasion during stantinople (A. D. 1185). Andronicus hastened to
his reign where he could show that he was the his capital, but it was too late: he was seized by
best tactician among the Greeks. The empire re the mob, and, by order, or at least with the consent
covered visibly under his administration from so of Isaac, perished in the miserable manner which
many calamities, and great was the grief of the is related in his life. [ANDRONICUS I. ]
people when, after his return from the Hungarian No sooner was Isaac firmly established on the
campaign, he was suddenly attacked by a violent throne than he began a life which Gibbon thus de-
fever, which brought him to the verge of the tomb. scribes :- He slept on the throne, and was
Feeling his death approaching, he called for his awakened only by the sound of pleasure: his
brother and offered him the crown, but John having vacant hours were amused by comedians and buf-
declined it, he appointed Constantine Ducas, a re- foons ; and even to these buffoons the emperor was
nowned general, his future successor. Isaac, how- an object of contempt: his feasts and buildings
ever, recovered from his illness, but, to the utmost exceeded the examples of royal luxury, the number
grief and astonishment of his brother and the of his eunuchs and domestics amounted to twenty
people, resigned the crown into the hands of Con- thousand, and the daily sum of four thousand
stantine Ducas, and retired to a convent ( December, pounds of silver would swell to four millions sterling
1059). His wife and daughter followed his ex- the annual expense of his household and table.
ample, and took the veil. Isaac survived his ab- His poverty was relieved by oppression, and the
dication about two years, living in the strictest public discontent was inflamed by equal abuses in
performance of the duties a monk, and devoting the collection and the application of the revenue.
his leisure hours to learned occupations. The em- Shortly after his accession Isaac was involved in a
peror Constantine XI. often visited him in his cell, dreadful war with the Bulgarians, which arose
and consulted bim on important affairs; and among under the following circumstances : After the
the people he was in the odour of sanctity; His conquest by Basil II. of the powerful Bulgarian
death probably took place in 1061. He left no kingdom, which extended over the greater part of
male issue. Homer was the favourite author of the Thracian peninsula, the Bulgarians continued
Isaac, who wrote Scholia to the Iliad, which are to live under the sway of the Byzantine emperors,
. extant in several libraries, but are still unpublished. till Peter and Asan, two brothers, who were de-
There are also extant in manuscript Niepl TW kata- scended from the ancient kings of Bulgaria, took
λειφθέντων υπό του Ομήρου, and Χαρακτηρίσματα, up arms in order to deliver their country from the
being characteristics of the leaders of the Greeks insupportable oppression and rapacity of Isaac.
and Trojans mentioned in the Iliad. His other They were successful--they penetrated as far as
works are lost. (Cedren. p. 797, &c. ; Zonar. vol. Thessalonica—they defeated and made prisoner
ii. p. 265, &c. ; Scylitzes, p. 807, &c. ; Glycas, p. Isaac Sebastocrator, the Greek generalissimo, in a
322, &c. ; Joel, p. 184, &c. , in the Paris editions ; pitched battle ; and at last Asan was acknowledged
Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol. i. p. 558. ) [W. P. ) as king of Bulgaria Nigra, or that country which
ISAACUS II. , A'NGELUS ('Ioaários ó is still called Bulgaria. In this war the Bulgarians
Agjenos), emperor of Constantinople (A. D. 1185 were assisted by the Blachi or Moro-Vlachi, the
-1195), was the eldest son of Andronicus An- descendants of ancient Roman colonists in the
gelus, and was born in the middle half of the 12th mountainous parts of Thessaly and Macedonia,
century. Belonging to one of the great Byzantine who were likewise driven to despair by the rapa-
families and descended, through his grandmother cious emperor, and who finally left their homes and
Theodora, from the imperial family of the Comneni, emigrated into the countries beyond the Danube
he held several offices of importance in the reign of (Dacia), where, mixed with Slavonian tribes, they
the emperor Manuel Comnenus; but his name re continued to live, and still live, as Wallachians.
mained obscure, and the emperor Andronicus Com-However, some of them remained in their native
nenus, the exterminator of the Greek nobility, mountains in Thessaly and Macedonia : they were
despised to kill such a harmless being, although he the ancestors of the present Kutzo-Wallachians.
put his father Andronicus Angelus to death. The In a second war with the Bulgarians, the Greek
weak-minded Isaac became, nevertheless, the cause arms obtained a decisive victory (1193) ; but Isaac
of the deposition and miserable end of Andronicus was, nevertheless, obliged to recognise the successor
Comnenus. In the summer of 1185 the emperor of Asan, Joannicus or Joannes. Isaac was more
retired for a short time to one of his country seats successful against William II. , the Good, who
in Asia, appointing one Hagiochristophorites his was compelled, in 1187, to give up the conquests
lieutenant in Constantinople during his absence. which he had made two years previously in
This officer gave orders to put Isaac to death, be- Epeirus, Thessaly, and Macedonia. In 1189 the
cause his name began with an I; and there was a emperor Frederic I. of Germany appeared on the
silly belief among the people that Andronicus northern frontier of the Byzantine empire, with an
would be ruined by somebody whose name began army of 150,000 men, on his way to the Holy
with an I. Isaac was fortunately apprized of Land. In spite of the menaces of Isaac, the em-
the bloody design of the emperor's lieutenant, but peror quietly advanced, took up his winter-quarters
had barely time to escape from his palace, and to at Adrianople, and crossed the Bosporus, declining
## p. 624 (#640) ############################################
624
ISAACUS.
: ISAEUS.
P
both to help the Bulgarians aguinst the Greeks, more reason to believe that he wrote “ De Cogita.
and the Greeks against the Bulgarians.
tionibus," the Greek text of which, with a Latin
Indic was 80 terrified by the emperor's march translation, was published by Petrus Possinus, in
through his dominions, and the success of the other his Ascetica. Several other productions of Isaac
crusaders in Syria and Palestine, that he sent an are extant in MS. in the library of the Vatican and
ambassador to Saladin offering him his alliance in other libraries. (Cave, Hist. Lit. vol. i. p. 434-
against the Latins, which, however, Saladin de 435; Fabric. Bilt. Graec. vol. xi. p. 214, &c. )
clined, because Isaac demanded the restitution of 6. Surnamed SYRUS, lived in the middle of the
the holy sepulchre. Besides Bulgaria, Isaac lost sixth century, and was bishop of Ninireh, but abdi-
the island of Cyprus, where Alexis Comnenus had cated and retired to a convent, of which he was
made himself independent, but was deprived of his afterwards chosen abbot. After having lived several
conquest by Richard Coeur de Lion of England years in that convent he went to Italy and died
(1101), who in 1192 ceded it to king Guido of near Spoleto. It is probable that he is the author
Jerusalem ; and Cyprus was never again united of the work De Contemtu Mundi, which is mentioned
to the Byzantine empire. Isaac, continuing to in the preceding article. He also wrote 87 Ser-
make himself despised and hated by the Greeks, a mones A scetici, which some attribute to the preceding
rebellion broke out at Constantinople while he was Isaac, and which are extant in MS. in Greek, in
hunting in the mountains of Thrace; nnd Alexis, the the imperial library at Vienna Some Homilies of
younger brother of Isaac, was raised to the throne. this Isaac are exinnt in MS. in the Bodleian and
On this news, Isaac fled without daring to im- other libraries. It is probable that Isaac wrote
plore the assistance of any one. Arrived at Stagyra originally in Syriac. (Cave, Hist. Litt vol. i. p.
in Macedonia, he was arrested and brought before 519-520 ; Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol. xi. p. 215, &c. )
Alexis, who ordered his eyes to be put out, and 7. TZETZES. (Tzetzes. )
(W. P. )
confined him in a prison (1195). (ALEXIS III. ) ISAEUS ('lgaios). 1. One of the ten Attic
Alexis, the son of Isaac, fortunately escaped, fled orators, whose orations were contained in the Alex-
to Italy, and succeeded in rousing the Latin andrian canon. The time of his birth and death
princes to a war against Alexis III. , which resulted is unknown, but all accounts agree in the statement
in the capture of Constantinople in 1203, and the that he flourished (Ruage) during the period be-
restoration of the blind Isaac, who reigned, together tween the Peloponnesian war and the accession of
with his son (ALEXIS IV), till the following year, Philip of Macedonia, so that he lived between
1204, when Alexis IV. was dethroned and killed B. C. 420 and 348. (Dionys. Isaeus, 1; Plut. l'it.
by Alexis Ducas Murzuphlus (ALEXIS V. ), who X. Orat. p. 839; Anonym. yévos 'loalov. ) He
usurped the throne, and kept it during two months, was a son of Diagoras, and was born at Chalcis or,
when he, in his turn, was deposed by the Latins. as some say, at Athens, probably only because he
Murzuphlus spared the life of Isaac, who, however, came to Athens at an early age, and spent the
did not long survive the melancholy fate of bis greater part of his life there. He was instructed
youthful and spirited son. (Nicetas, Isaacius An- in oratory by Lysias and Isocrates (Phot. Bibl.
gelus ;- Isaacius et Aleris filius ; the Latin authori. Cod. 263 ; Dionys. Plut. II. cc. ) He was afterwards
ties quoted under Alexis 111. , IV. , V. ] [W. P. ] engaged in writing judicial orations for others, and
ISAACUS, literary. 1. Of Antioch. (See established a rhetorical school at Athens, in which
No. 5. )
Demosthenes is said to have been his pupil. Suidas
2. ARGYRUS. [ARGYRUS.
]
states that Isaeus instructed him gratis, whereas
3. Of ARMENIA, catholicus or patriarch of Ar- Plutarch relates that he received 10,000 drachmas
menia Magna, lived in the middle of the twelfth | (comp. Plut. de Glor. Ath. p. 350, c. ; Phot. l. c. );
century, and wrote Orationes Invectivae II. adversus and it is further said thai Isaeus composed for
Armenos, published in Greek and Latin, and with Demosthenes the speeches against his guardians,
notes in Combefisius, Auctuar. Nov. Bibl. vol. ii. or at least assisted him in the composition. All
p. 317, &c. , and by Galland. Bill. Patr. vol. xiv. particulars about his life are unknown, and were so
p. 41), &c. (Cave, Hist. Litt, vol. ii. p. 227 ; even in the time of Dionysius, since Hermippus,
Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol. xi. p. 123, &c. )
who had written an account of the disciples of Iso-
4. Of NINIVEH. (See No. 6. ]
crates, did not mention Isaeus at all.
5. Surnamed SYRus, because he was a native of In antiquity there were sixty-four orations which
Syria, was first monk and afterwards priest at bore the name of Isaeus, but fifty only were recog-
Antioch, and died about A. D. 456. He wrote nised as genuine by the ancient critics. (Plut.
in Syriac, and perhaps also in Greek, different Vit. X. Orat. l. c. ) Of these only eleven have
works and treatises on theological matters, several come down to us ; but we possess fragments and
of them to oppose the writers of the Nestorians and the titles of 56 speeches ascribed to him. The
Eutychians. His principal work is De Contenitu eleven extant are all on subjects connected with
Mundi, de Operatione Corporali et sui Abjectione disputed inheritances; and Isaeus appears to have
Liber, published in the second edition of the Or been particularly well acquainted with the laws
thodoxographi, Basel, 1569; in the Bibl. Patr. relating to inheritance. (Tiepl AA tipov. ) Ten of
Colon. vol. vi. ; in the B. P. Puris, vol. v. ; in the these orations had been known ever since the re-
B. P. Novissima Luydun. vol. xi. ; and in Gal- | viral of letters, and were printed in the collections
land. Bibl. Patr. vol. xii. In all these collections of Greek orators; but the eleventh, Nepl toll Me
it is printed in Greek, with a Latin translation, but verléovs Kańpou, was first published in 1785, from
the Greek text also seems to be a translation from a Florentine MS. , by Th. Thyrwitt, London,
the Syriac. It is very doubtful whether this work | 1785, 8vo. ; and afterwards in the Götting. Biblioth.
was written by Isaac, the subject of this notice, or für alte Lit. und Kunst for 1788, part iii. , and by
by another Isaac, the subject of the following article. J. C. Orelli, Zürich, 1814, 8vo. In 1815 A. Mai
Neither Trithemius nor Gennadius (De Script. discovered the greater half of the oration of Isaeus,
Eccles. ) attribute the work to our Isaac. There is nepl Toû KAewvýpov kanpov, which he published at
## p. 625 (#641) ############################################
ISAGORAS.
625
ISCHOLAUS.
Milan, 1815, fol. , and reprinted in his Classic. Auctor. of note: of its remote origin he professes himself
e Cod. Vatican, vol. iv. p. 280, &c. (Roine, 1831. ) | ignorant, but adds that his kinsmen sacrificed to
Isaeus also wrote on rhetorical subjects, such as a Carian Zeus. When Cleomenes I. of Sparta came
work entitled Idiai téxval, which, however, is lost. to Athens, in B. C. 510, to drive out Hippias, he
(Plut. Vit. X. Orat. p. 839 ; Dionys. Epist
. ad formed a connection of friendship and hospitality
Ammon. i. 2. ) Although his orations were placed with Isagoras, who was stispected of conniving at
fifth in the Alexandrian canon, still we do not hear an intrigue between his wife and the Spartan king.
of any of the grammarians having written com- Not long after this we find Isagoras, the leader of
mentaries upon them, except Didymus of Alexnn- the oligarchical party at Athens, in opposition to
dria (Harpocrat. s. oo. yaunala, ravdaiola. ) But Cleisthenes, and, when he found the latter too
we still possess the criticism upon Isaeus written strong for him, he applied to Cleomenes for aid.
by Dionysius of Halicamassus; and by a com- The attempt made by the Spartans in consequence
parison of the orations still extant with the opinions to establish oligarchy at Athens was defeated ;
of Dionysius, we come to the following conclusion and when Cleomenes, eager for revenge, again in-
The oratory of Isaeus resembles in many points vaded Attica, with the view of placing the chief
that of his teacher, Lysias : the style of both is power in the hands of Isagoras, his enterprise
pure, clear, and concise ; but while Lysias is at the again came to nothing, through the defection of
same time simple and graceful, Isaeus evidently the Corinthians and Demaratus. (Herod. v. 66,
strives to attain a higher degree of polish and re- 70—72, 74, 75; Plut. de Herod. Malign. 23;
finement, without, however, in the least injuring Paus. iii. 4, vi. 8. ) (CLEISTHENES ; CLEOMENES ;
the powerful and impressive character of his oratory. DEMARATI'S. )
(E. E. ]
The same spirit is visible in the manner in which ISANDER (Ioav8pos), a son of Bellerophon,
he handles his subjects, especially in their skilful killed by Ares in the fight with the Solymi. (Hom.
division, and in the artful manner in which he Il. vi. 197 ; Strab. xii. p. 573, xiii. p. 630. ) (L. S. ]
interweaves his arguments with various parts of the ISAU'RICUS, a surname of P. Servilius Vatia,
exposition, whereby his orations become like a father and son. [Vatia. )
painting in which light and shade are distributed I'SCANUS, JOSE'PHUS, the author of a Latin
with a distinct view to produce certain effects. It poem on the Trojan war, in six books, in hexameter
was mainly owing to this mode of management metre. This poem has sometimes been ascribed to
that he was envied and censured by his contempo Cornelius Nepos, for which reason it is mentioned
raries, as if he had tried to deceive and misguide here, but its author was a native of England, and
his bearers. He was one of the first who turned lived in the twelfth century of our era. It is
their attention to a scientific cultivation of political printed at the end of the edition of Dictys Creten-
oratory; but excellence in this department of the sis, published at Amsterdam, in 1702.
art was not attained till the time of Demosthenes. ISCHA'GORAS (ʻloxayopas), commanded the
The orations of Isaeus are contained in the col- reinforcements sent by Sparta in the ninth year of
lections of the Greek_orators, published by Aldus, the Peloponnesian war, B. C. 423, to join Brasidas
Stephens, Miniati, Reiske, Ducas, Bekker, and in Chalcidice. Perdiccas, as the price of his new
Baiter and Sauppe. A separate edition, with treaty with Athens, prevented, by means of his
Reiske's and Taylor's notes, appeared at Leipzig, influence in Thessaly, the passage of the troops.
1773, 8vo. , and another by G. H. Schäfer, Leip- Ischagoras himself, with some others, made their
zig, 1822, 8vo. The best separate edition is that way to Brasidas, but how long he staid is doubtful;
by G. F. Schömann, with critical notes and a in B. C. 421 we find him sent again from Sparta to
good commentary, Greifswald, 1831, 8vo. There the same district, to urge Clearidas to give up Am.
is an English translation of the orations of Isaeus, phipolis, according to the treaty, into the hands of
by Sir William Jones (London, 1794, 4to. ), with the Athenians. (Thuc. iv. 132, v. 21. )[A. H. C. ]
prefatory discourse, notes critical and historical, ISCHANDER ("loxavopos), an obscure Athe-
and a commentary. (Comp. Westermann, Gesch. nian tragic poet, in whose plays Aeschines is said
d: Griech. Beredtsamkeit, $ 51, and Beilage, v. p. to have acted. (A ESCHINES, p. 37, a ; Vit. Aesch. ;
293, &c. ; J. A. Liebmann, De Isaci Vita et Harpocrat, s. v. 'loxavopos; Kayser, Hist. Crit.
