I S P 393 singular interest describes how, under his rule, the influences of Hellenic civilization had prevailed over the surrounding barbarism. The Panathcnaicus (Or. xii.), intended for the great Panathensea of 342 B.C., but not completed till 339 B.C., contains a recital of the services rendered by Athens to Greece, but digresses into personal defence against critics ; his last work, written in extreme old age, it bears the plainest marks of failing powers. The third subdivision of the scholastic writings is formed by two most interesting essays on education that entitled "Against the Sophists" (Or. xiii., 391-90 B.C.), and the "Antidosis" (Or. xv., 355 B.C.). The first of these is a manifesto put forth by Isocrates at the outset of his professional career of teaching, in which he seeks to distinguish his aims from those of other "sophists." These " sophists " are (1) the " eristics " (of irepl ras fpiSas), by whom he seems to intend the minor Socratics, especially Euclides ; (2) the teachers of practical rhetoric, who had made exaggerated claims for the efRcacy of mere instruction, independently of natural faculty or experience ; (3) the writers of "arts " of rhetoric, who virtually devoted themselves (as Aristotle also complains) to the lowest, or forensic, branch of their subject. As this piece is the prelude to his career, its epilogue is the speech on the "Antidosis," so called be cause it has the form of a speech made in court in answer to a chal lenge to undertake the burden of the trierarehy, or else exchange pro perties with the challenger. The discourse "Against the Sophists" had stated what his art was not; this speech defines what it is. His own account of his (j)Loffo(f>ia " the discipline of discourse " (y rcav ywv TraiSeia) has been embodied in the sketch of it given abt>ve. Litical. Political Writings. These, again, fall into two classes those which concern (1) the relations of Greece with Persia, (2) the inter nal affairs of Greece. The first class consist of the Pancgyricus (Or. iv., 380 E.G.) and ihe Philippics (Or. v., 346 B.C.) The Panegyricus takes its name from the fact that it was given to the Greek public at the time of the Olympic festivals probably by means of copies cir culated there. The orator urges that Athens and Sparta should unite in leading the Greeks against Persia. The feeling of antiquity that this noble discourse is a masterpiece of careful work finds ex pression in the tradition that it had occupied its author for more than ten years. Its excellence is not merely that of language, but also and perhaps even more conspicuously that of lucid arrange ment. The Philippics is an appeal to the king of Macedon to assume that initiative in the war on Persia which Isocrates had ceased to expect from any Greek city. In the view of Demosthenes, Philip was the representative barbarian ; in that of Isocrates, he is the first of Hellenes, and the natural champion of their cause. Of those discourses which concern the internal affairs of Greece, two have already been noticed, that On the Peace (Or. viii. ), and the Areopagiticus (Or. vi.) both of 355 B.C. as dealing respectively with the foreign and the home affairs of Athens. The Plataicus (Or. xiv. ) is supposed to be spoken by a Plataean before the Athenian ecclesia in 373 B.C. In that year Platsea had for the second time in its history been destroyed by Thebes. The oration an appeal to Athens to restore the unhappy town is remarkable both for the power with which Theban cruelty is denounced, and for the genuine pathos of the peroration. The Archidamus (Or. vi. ) is a speech pur porting to be delivered by Archidamus III., son of Agesilaus, in a debate at Sparta on conditions of peace offered by Thebes in 366 B.C. It was demanded that Sparta should recognize the independ ence of Messene, which had lately been restored by Epaminondas (370 B.C.). The oration gives brilliant expression to the feeling which such a demand was calculated to excite in Spartans who knew the history of their own city. Xenophon witnesses that the attitude of Sparta on this occasion was actually snch as the Archi damus assumes (Ifellcn., viii. 4, 8-11).
- ters. Letters. The first letter to Dionysius I. is fragmentary ; but
a passage in the Philippus leaves no doubt as to its object. Iso crates was anxious that the ruler of Syracuse should undertake the command of Greece against Persia. The date is probably 368 B.C. ISText in chronological order stands the letter "To the Children of Jason " (vi. ). Jason, tyrant of Pherae, had been assassinated in 370 B.C. ; and no less than three of his successors had shared the same fate. Isocrates now urges Thebe, the daughter of Jason, and her half-brothers, to set up a popular government. The date is 359 B.C. 1 The letter to Archidamus III. (ix.) the same person who is the imaginary speaker of oration vi. urges him to execute the writer s favourite idea, "to deliver the Greeks from their feuds, and to crush barbarian insolence." It is re markable for a vivid picture of the state of Greece ; the date is about 356 B.C. The letter to Timotheus (vii., 345 B.C.), ruler of Heraclea on the Euxine, introduces an Athenian friend who is going thither, and at the same time offers some good counsels to 1 Tliis is shown by the present writer in a paper on "The Sixth Letter of Isocrates," Journal of Philosophy, vol. v. p. 266, 1874. The fact that Thebe, widow of Alexander of Pheroe, was the daughter of Jason, is incidentally noticed by Plutarch in his life of Pelopidas, c. 28. It is this fact which gives the clue to the occasion of the letter; cf. Diod. xvi. 14. the benevolent despot. The letter "to the government of Myti- lene " (viii., 350 B.C.) is a petition to a newly established oligarchy! begging them to permit the return of a democratic exile, a distin guished musician named Agenor. The first of the two letters to Philip of Macedon (ii.) remonstrates with him on the personal danger to which he had recklessly exposed himself, and alludes to his beneficent intervention in the affairs of Thessaly ; the date is probably the end of 342 B.C. The letter to Alexander (v. ), then a boy of fourteen, is a brief greeting sent along with the last, and congratulates him on preferring " practical " to " eristic " studies a distinction which is explained by the sketch of the author s fyioffo<$>(a., and of his essay "Against the Sophists," given above. It was just at this time, probably, that Alexander was beginning to receive the lessons of Aristotle (342 B.C.). The letter to Antipater (iv. ) introduces a friend who wished to enter the military service of Philip. Antipater was then acting as regent in Macedonia during Philip s absence in Thrace (340-339 B.C.). The later of the two letters to Philip (iii.) appears to be written shortly after the battle of Chreronea in 338 B.C. The questions raised by it have already been discussed. No lost work of Isocrates is known from a definite quotation, ex cept an "Art of Rhetoric," from which some scattered precepts are cited. Quintilian, indeed, and Photius, who had seen this "Art," felt a doubt as to whether it was genuine. Only twenty-five dis courses out of an ascriptive total of some sixty were admitted as authentic by Dionysius; Photius (circ. 850 A.D. ) knew only the number now extant twenty-one. With the exception of defects at the end of Or. xiii., at the be- Text, ginning of Or. xvi., and probably at the end of letters!., vi., ix., the existing text is free from serious mutilations. It is also unusually pure. The smooth and clear style of Isocrates gave few opportunities for the mistakes of copyists. On the other hand, he was a favourite author of the schools. Numerous glosses crept into his text through the comments or conjectures of rhetoricians. This was already the case before the 6th century, as is attested by the citations of Priscian and Stobffius. Jerome Wolf and Koraes successively accomplished much for the text. But a more decided advance was made by Im- Manu- niauuel Bekker. He used fiveMSS., viz., (1) Codex Urbinas III., r scripts, (this, the best, was his principal guide); (2) Vaticanus 936, A ; (3) Laurentianus 87, 14, (13th century); (4) Vaticanus 65, A ; and (5) Marcianus 415, E. The first three, of the same family, have Or. xv. entire ; the last two are from the same original, and have Or. xv. incomplete. Baiter and Sauppe (Zurich, 1850) follow r "even more con stantly than Bekker." Their apparatus is enriched, however, by a MS. to which he had not access, Ambrosianus 0. 144, E, which in some cases, as they recognize, has alone preserved the true read ing. The readings of this MS. were given in full by G. E. Benseler in his second edition (1854-55). The distinctive characteristic of Benseler s textual criticism was a tendency to correct the text against even the best MS., where the MS. conflicted with the usage of Isocrates as inferred from his recorded precepts or from the state ments of ancient writers. Thus, on the strength of the rule ascribed to Isocrates, (jxavfavra. jj.^ ffvpiriirreiv, Benseler would remove from the text every example of hiatus. Benseler s edition has been revised by F. Blass (1878-79), who amends a large number of his readings, but usually follows him in details of form and spelling. Recent Editions. In Orator es Attici, ed. Imm. Bekker, 1823 and 1828 ; ed. G. S. Dobson, 1828 ; ed. J. G. Baiter and Hermann Sauppe, 1850. Separately in Teubner s series, by G. E. Benseler, 2d ed. 1854-55 ; revised by F. Blass, 1878-79. Ad Dcmonicumet Panegyricum, ed. J E. Sandys, 1868. Extracts from Orations iii., iv., vi., vii., viii., ix., xiii., xiv., xv., xix., and Letters iii , v., edited with revised text and commentary, in Selections from the Attic Orators, by the present writer (1880). (R. C. J.) ISOMERISM. See CHEMISTRY, vol. v. p. 550. ISOTHERMS. See METEOROLOGY. ISPAHAN, or ISFAHAN, a city of Persia, in the province of Irak Adjemi, is situated in 32 39 N. lat. and 51 44 E. long. It enjoys the reputation of a very salubrious climate, except in the autumn, when fevers are prevalent. The following statistics are given by modern authorities ; but the condition of the city and its environs is subject to con stant change. The city walls a mere mud curtain ruined in many places are about 5 miles in circumference. There are some 300 villages, more or less flourishing, in the neighbourhood. In the interior of the city there are reckoned to be sixty mosques (of which about forty are in use), from eighty to a hundred baths, perhaps fifty colleges (which seems, however, far beyond the wants of the popula tion), and twenty caravanserais in a more or less perfect state. XIII. 50
