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

ISIDORtIS. ISIDORUS. t621
Jesuit Andreas Schott, Antwerp, 1623, 8vo.; re- et, quod majus est, in saeculorum fine doctissimus
printed with Latin version and notes, at Frank- atque cum reverentia nominandus, ISmDORUS."
fort-on-the-Main, 1629, fol.; finally, these editions His numercus works display an extent of knowwere combined into a complete one, Paris, 1638, ledge which, although at once superficial and inacfol. (Schr6ckh, Chi-istliche Kirchengesckicte, -vol. curate, must have caused them to be regarded as
xvii. pp. 520-529; Hermann, JDissert. de Isidoro absolutely marvellous at the period when they
Pelasiota, ejusque epistolis, Gotting. 1737, 4to.; were given to the world, exhibiting as they do a
Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol. x. pp. 480-494.) certain degree of familiarity with almost every
7. Of PERGAMUS, a rhetorician, of whom nothing branch of learning known even by name in those
more is known than the mention of him by Dio- times. The fruits of this unremitting industry are
genes Lartius (vii. 34), and a single quotation even in the present day not altogether destitute of
from him by Rutilius Lupus. (De Fig. Sent. et value, since considerable portions of the facts are
Eloc. ii. 16.) derived from sources no longer accessible, although
8. SCHOLASTICUS, ofthe'town of Bolbotine, in the it may be doubted whether the ancient authorities
Delta of Egypt, the author of a single epigram in were consulted directly or only through the methe Greek Anthology. (Brunck, Anal. vol. ii. dium of previous compilations drawn up during the
p. 474; Jacobs, Anth. Graec. vol. i p, 179; vol. fifth and sixth centuries. In giving a catalogue of
xiii. p. 905.) the works of Isidorus, without attempting any.
9. Metropolitan of THESSALONICA, about A. D. regular or formal classification, which is scarcely
1401, was the author of four homilies on the practicable, we shall endeavour to rank those toVirgin Mary, published in Latin, with notes, by gether which approach most nearly in the nature
Hippolytus Maraccius, Rome, 1651, 8vo.; and of of their subjects, assigning the first place to the
other homilies, commentaries, and epistles, which most important of all, namely,exist in MS. in various libraries. (Fabric. Bibl. I. Originurn s. Etymologiarum LibriXX. An
Graec. vol. x. p. 498.) [P. S.] Encyclopaedia of Arts and Sciences belonging to
ISIDO'RUS. We read of three Spanish eccle- the same class with the medley of Martianus Casiastics who bore this name, and who must be care. pella [CAPELLA], but far superior to it botj in
fully distinguished from each other- Isidorus, matter and manner. From this book we can orm
bishop of Cordova (Cordubensis), who is said to a very distinct idea of the state of mental culture
have flourished about the end of the fourth cen- at the epoch of its publication, when the study of
tury, but whose very existence has been called in the ancient authors was almost entirely superseded
question by Nicolas Antonio in the Bibliotheca by meagre abridgments and confused condensaHispana vetus; Isidorus, bishop of Sevilla (His- tions, and it is of high importance in so far as the
palensis), who flourished at the beginning of the history of education and literature during the
seventh century; and, finally, Isidorus, bishop of middle ages is concerned, since it was one of
Badajos (Pacensis), who flourished in the middle the very few manuals by means of which some
of the eighth century. Of these by far the most re- acquaintance with the Greek and Roman clasmarkable Was sics was kept alive during six hundred years.
ISIDORUS HISPALENSIS, whose merits are but Prefixed is a correspondence between Isidorus
imperfectly acknowledged when he is pronounced and his pupil Branlio, bishop of Saragossa, to
to have been the most eloquent speaker, the most whom we are indebted for a " Praenotatio libroprofound scholar, and the most able prelate of the rum Isidori," and who, together with another
barbarous age and country to which he belonged. pupil, Ildefonsus, bishop of Toledo, revised the
Descended from an honourable Gothic stock, his production now before us. The first book treats of
father, Severianus, was governor, and his elder grammar, with four chapters at the end, upon the
brother, Fulgentius, bishop of Cartagena, while an- nature', advantages, and different species* of hisother brother, Leander, also his senior, presided tory; the second, of rhetoric and dialectics; the
over the see of Sevilla. In the palace of the latter third, of the four great departments of mathemaIsidorus passed his youth devoted to study and to tical science, arithmetic, geometry, music, and asreligious exercises, labouring at the same time with tronomy; the fourth, of medicine; the fifth, of
zeal and success in the conversion of the Arian law, to which is subjoined a dissertation on the
Visigoths. Upon the death of Leander, in A. D. different measures of time, together with a short
600 or 601, he succeeded to his episcopal charge. chronicle, extending from the creation of the world
One of his first acts was to establish a college for to the reign of Heraclius; the sixth, of the canon
the education of youth; soon after he repaired to of Scripture, of libraries, of books in general; books
Rome-for the purpose of holding personal communi- binding, and writing materials, and of the determication with the great Gregory, in 616 (or 617), he nation of Easter, concluding with an explanatior
presided at the second council of Sevilla, and in of sundry sacred words and technicalities; the
December, A. D. 633, at the great council of To- seventh, of God, of angels, and of the various
ledo, manifesting at all times -the most eager orders of holy men from patriarchs, prophets, and
anxiety for the extension of the orthodox faith, apostles down to monks; the eighth, of the Jews
and for the maintenance of order and strict disci- and their sects, of the Christian church and its hepline among the clergy. He died in the church of resies, of the gods, soothsayers, priests, and magiSt. Vincentius on the 4th of April, A.D. 636. The cians of the pagans; the-ninth of languages, of the
esteem in which he was held by his contemporaries names of nations, of various political combinations,
and immediate successors is sufficiently attested by of the titles of magistrates and military authorities;
the tribute to his memory in the Acts of the eighth and of the various grades of relationship; the
council of Toledo, held fourteen years after his tenth, of topics purely etymological, expounding
death: "Nostri seculi doctor egregius, ecclesiae the derivation of a number of words' arranged in
Catholicae novissimum decus, praecedentibus ae- alphabetical order; the eleventh, of man and. of
tate postremus, doctriniae comparatione rion infimus, monsters; the twelfth, of domestic. animals, and
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