Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 13.djvu/393

I S A I S A 377 Such is the general relation of Isams to Lysias. What, we must next ask, is the relation of Isams to Demosthenes ? The Greek critic who had so carefully studied both authors states his own view in broad terms when he declares that "the power of Demosthenes took its seeds and its beginnings from Isams. " A closer examina tion will show that within certain limits the statement may be allowed. Attic prose expression had been continuously developed as an art ; the true link between Isams and Demosthenes is techni cal, depending on their continuity. Isams had made some original contributions to the resources of the art ; and Demosthenes had not failed to profit by these. The com2)osition of Demosthenes resembles that of Isams in blending terse and vigorous periods with passages of more lax and fluent ease, as well as in that dramatic vivacity which is given by rhetorical question and similar devices. In the versatile disposition of subject-matter, the divisions of " narrative" and "proof" being shifted and interwoven according to circum stances, Demosthenes has clearly been instructed by the example of Isams. Still more plainly and strikingly is this so in regard to the elaboration of systematic proof ; here Demosthenes invites direct and close comparison wit ft Isseus by his method of drawing out a chain of arguments, or enforcing a proposition by strict legal argument. And, more generally, Demosthenes is the pupil of Isa iis, though here the pupil became even greater than the master, in that faculty of grappling with an adversary s case point by point, in that aptitude for close and strenuous conflict which is expressed by the words aywv, ivaywvLos. 1 Thus far Isaeus and Demosthenes are related to each other as technical proficients in a progressive a^rt. It might be added that there was some degree of resemblance between the natures of the two men, in so far as the intellectual character of both was marked by a certain vigorous intensity of logic. But it would be as perverse to overstate the debt of Demosthenes to Isams as it would be unjust to rest the significance of Isams solely or chiefly 011 his relation to Demosthenes. As Demosthenes holds his unrivalled place in virtue of qualities which no teacher could have communicated, so, too, the writings of Isams have the independent value of masterpieces in their own kind. rks. The pseudo-Plutarch, in his life of Isams, mentions an Art of Rhetoric and sixty-four speeches, of which fifty were accounted genuine. From a passage of Photius it appears that at least 2 the fifty speeches of recognized authenticity were extant as late as 850 A.D. Only eleven, with large part of a twelfth, have come down to us ; but the titles of forty-two others are known. 3 The titles of the lost speeches confirm the statement of Dionysius that the speeches of Isams were exclusively forensic ; and only three titles indicate speeches made in public causes. The remainder, concerned with private cruises, may be classed under six heads : (1) K-r)piKoi cases of claim to an inheritance; (2) tTrtKTipiKoi cases of claim to the hand of an heiress ; (3) StaStKaaiai cases of claim to property ; (4) airoffraaiov cases of claim to the ownership of a slave. ; (5) tyyvys action brought against a surety whose principal had made default; (6) avrapoffia (tis = irapaypa(p-fj) a special plea; (7) e<pe<m appeal from one jurisdiction to an other. Eleven of the twelve extant speeches belong to class (1), the K-npLKot, or claims to an inheritance. This was probably the branch of practice in which Isreus had done his most important and most characteristic work. And, according to the ancient custom, this class of spf eches would therefore stand first in the manuscript col lections of his writings. The case of Antiphon is parallel : his speeches in cases of homicide ((poviKoi) were those on which his reputation mainly depended, and stood first in the manuscripts. Their exclusive preservation, like that of the speeches made by Isams in will-cases, is thus primarily an accident of manuscript tradition, but partly also the result of the writer s special pres- . tige. ssifi- Six of the twelve extant speeches are directly concerned with on. claims to an estate ; five others are connected with legal proceedings arising out of such a claim. They may be classified thus (the name 1 Cleou s speech in Time. iii. 37, 38, works out this image with remarkable force ; within a short space we have vi/ffffci>s aycav TUV Toiwvfif ayiawv o.yiavi(Tri]s -&ytavlfff6a.i avTayuvi^faOai a.yuvoQtrt ii . See Attic Orators, vol. i. 39 ; ii. 304. 2 For the words of Photius (cod. 263), TOUTODJ/ 8e ol rl yv-fjmov /.iapTvpT]9ti/T($ v Karae nrovTai p6vov, might be so rendered as to imply that, besides these fifty, others also were extant. See Alt. Orat., ii. 311, note 2. 3 The second of our speeches (the Meneclean) was discovered in the Laurentian Library in 1785, and was edited in that year by Tyrwhit. In editions previous to that date, Oration i. is made to conclude with a few lines which really belong to the end of Orat. ii. ( 47, & eVeiS); T~b irpa.yfj.0. . . . 4/7j(pi (ra<r(?e), and this arrangement is followed in the translation of Isams by Sir William Jones, to whom our second oration was, of course, then (1779) unknown. In Oration i. all that follows the words /*}; Tronjcraj/Tes in 22 was first published in 1815 by Mai, from a MS. in the Ainbrosian Library at Milan. given in each case being that of the person whose estate is in dis pute) : I. Trials of Claim to an Inheritance (5iauca<rt<u). 1. Or. i., Cleonymus. Date between 300 and 303 B.C. 2. Or. iv., Nicostratus. Date uncertain. 3. Or. vii , Apollodorus. 303 B.C. 4. Or. viii., G iron. 370 B.C. 5. Or. ix., Astyphilus. 3fi9 B.C. G. Or. x., Aristarchus. 377-71 B.C. II. Actions for False Witness (Sixou >//ei;5ojuapTvpiwi ). 1. Or. ii., Menecles. 304 B.C. 2. Or. iii., Pyrrlius. Date uncertain, but comparatively late. 3. Or. vi., Philoctemon. 364-03 B.C. III. Action to Compel the Discharge of a Suretyship (eyyvTjs ii xij). Or. v., Dicscogones. 300 B.C. IV. Indictment of a Guardian for Maltreatment of a Ward (eicrayyeAia Ka/iuffeus bpifravov). Or. xi., Hagnias. 3J9 B.C. V. Appeal from Arbitration to a Dicastery (e^ecris). Or. xii., For Euphiletus. (Incomplete.) Date uncertain. _ The speeches of Isams supply valuable illustrations to the early General history of testamentary law. They show us the faculty of adoption, char- still, indeed, associated with the religious motive in which it acter- originated, as a mode of securing that the sacred rites of the family istics. shall continue to be discharged by one who can call himself the son of the deceased. But practically the civil aspect of adoption is, for the Athenian citizen, predominant over the religious; he adopts a son in order to bestow property on a person to whom he wishes to bequeath it. The Athenian system, as interpreted by Isams, is thus intermediate, at least in spirit, between the purely religious stand point of the Hindu and the maturer form which Roman testamen tary law had reached before the time of Cicero. 4 As to the form of the speeches, it is remarkable for its variety. There are three which, taken together, may be considered as best representing the diversity and range of their author s power. The fifth, with its simple but lively _diction, its graceful and persuasive narrative, recalls the qualities of Lysias. The eleventh, with its sustained and impetu ous power, has no slight resemblance to the manner of Demosthenes. The eighth is, of all, the most characteristic, alike in narrative and in argument. Isaeus is here seen at his best. No reader who is interested in the social life of ancient Greece need find Isams dull. If the glimpses of Greek society which he gives us are seldom so gay and picturesque as those which enliven the pages of Lysias, they are certainly not less suggestive. Here, where the innermost rela tions and central interests of the family are in question, we touch the springs of social life ; we are not merely presented with scenic details of dress and furniture, but are enabled in no small degree to conceive the feelings of the actors. The best manuscript of Isasus is in the British Museum, Crippsianus A Maira- (=I!urneianus 95), which contains also Antiphon, Andocides, Lycurgus, and scripts. Pinarchus. The next best is Hekker s Laurentianus 13 (Florence), of the 15th century. Besides these, he used Marcianus L (Venice), ssec. 14, Vralislaviensis Z. Sec, 14, and two very inferior MSS., Ambrosianus A. 99, P (which he dis missed after Or. i.), and Ambrosianus D. 42, Q (which contains only Or. i., ii.). Schumann, in his edition of 1831, generally followed Bckkcr s text ; he had no fresh apparatus beyond a collation of a Paris MS. R in part of Or. i. ; but he had sifted the Aldine more carefully. Baiter and Sauppe (1850) had a new colla tion of A, and also used a collation of Burneianus 90, M, given by Dobson in vol. iv. of his edition (1828). C. Schuibe (Teubner, I860) made it his especial aim to complete the work of his predecessors by restoring the correct Attic forms of words; thus (e.y.) he giv<.s riyyva for tveyva, SeSintv for ScSiafjicv, and the like, following the consent of the MSS., however, in such forms as the accusative of proper names in -rfv rather than -r;, or (e.g ) the future <^on)crofiai rather than </>afoO/xai, itc., and on such doubtful points as ^iparepe? instead of (^pa-ropes, or EiArjflui as instead of EiAei&vt aj. Recent Editions. In Oratores Altici, by I. Bekker, 1823-8 ; G. E. Dobson, 1828 ; J. G. Baiter and Hermann Sauppe. 1850. Separately, by G. F. Schb mann, with commentary, 1831. In Teubner series, by C. Scheibe, 1SUO. English translation by Sir William Jones, 1779. (U. C. J.) ISAIAH. I. Isaiah is the name of the greatest, and both in life and in death the most influential of the Old Testament prophets. We do not forget Jeremiah, but Jere miah s literary and religious influence is secondary compared with that of Isaiah. Unfortunately we are reduced to infer ence and conjecture with regard both to his life and to the extent of his literary activity. In the heading (i. 1) of what we may call the occasional prophecies of Isaiah (i.e., those which were called forth by passing events), the- author is called " the son of Amoz," and Rabbinical legend identifies this Amoz with a brother of Amaziah, king of Juclah ; but this is evidently based on a mere etymo logical fancy. We know from his works that (unlike Jeremiah) he was married (viii. 3), and that he had at least two sons, whose names he regarded as, together with his own, symbolic by Divine appointment of certain decisive events or religious truths Isaiah (Yesha -yahii), meaning 4 Cf. Maine s Ancient Law, cli. vi. ; and the Tai/ore Law Lectures (1870), by Herbert Cowell, lect. ix., On the Rite of Adoption," PP. 208 /. XIII. --48