A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

ISAACUS. T ISM-SAJtC'6 3
the crnwn, mid I know how to take it from you avail- limielf ot re sanctuary of the church -of St.
-pgain." Banishment was the reward for this inso- Sophi. A dense crowd soon filled the church:
lence, and death prevented the priest from taking Isaac iniplored 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 Constantithose whom he had wounded through his pride. nople suddenly took up arms, killed the officers desIn 1059 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 Consue 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.consernt
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 defever, 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 bufdeclined it, he appointed Constaniltine 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 of 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 him 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 Bulgarianr
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 emperorsi
extant in several libraries, but are still unpublished. till Peter and Asan, two brothers, who were de —
There are also extant in manuscript IIepl c~v HaTra- scended from the ancient kings of Bulgaria; took
Ae;4sOevrwv VSjr Tre'On7'pou, and XapaCpT'Pzorlua'a,. 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
ISAA'CUS II., A'NGELUS ('Io'aa'dctor o is still called Bulgaria. In this war the Bulgarians
AyysAos), 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 rapafamilies 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 liame 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 recoginise 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 emathe 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