ISAAC OF ANTIOCH

isaac of antioch, "one of the stars of syriac literature,"[1] the reputed author of a large number of metrical homilies,[2] many of which are distinguished by an originality and acumen rare among syriac writers. as to the identity and history of the author considerable difficulty has arisen. the statements of ancient writers, eastern and western, were collected by assemani (_b.o._ i. 207-214). according to these accounts isaac flourished under theodosius ii. (408-450),[3] and was a native either of amid (diarbekr) or of edessa. several writers identify him with isaac, the disciple of s. ephraim, who is mentioned in the anonymous _life_ of that father; but according to the patriarch bar shushan (d. 1073), who made a collection of his homilies, his master was ephraim's disciple zenobius. he is supposed to have migrated to antioch, and to have become abbot of one of the convents in its neighbourhood. according to zacharias rhetor he visited rome and other cities, and the chronicle of pseudo-dionysius of tell-mahre informs us that he composed poems on the secular games of 404, and wrote on the destruction of rome by alaric in 410. he also commemorated the destruction of antioch by an earthquake in 459, so that he must have lived till about 460. unfortunately these poems have perished. he is of course to be distinguished from isaac of nineveh, a nestorian writer on the ascetic life who belongs to the second half of the 7th century.[4] when we examine the collection of homilies attributed to isaac, a difficulty arises on two grounds. (1) the author of some of the poems is fervently orthodox or catholic (see especially nos. 1-3 in bickell's edition = 62-64 in bedjan), in other and more important homilies (such as bickell 6, 8 = bedjan 59, 61, and especially bedjan 60) the doctrine is monophysite, even though eutyches and nestorius are equally condemned. (2) one of the monophysite homilies, the famous poem of 2136 lines on the parrot which uttered the trisagion in the streets of antioch (bickell, 8 = bedjan 61), appears to have been written at antioch after peter the fuller (patriarch 471-488) raised the dispute about the addition to the doxology of the words _qui crucifixus es pro nobis_. it is therefore scarcely possible that the author of this homily should be the same who composed the lost poems on the secular games in 404 and on the sack of rome. moreover, lamy (_s. ephraemi hymni et sermones_, iv. 361-364) and bedjan (_homiliae s. isaaci_, i. pp. iv-ix) have recently called attention to statements made by jacob of edessa (708) in a letter to john the stylite. he says there were three isaacs who wrote in syriac:--two orthodox (i.e. monophysite), and one a chalcedonian heretic (i.e. orthodox or catholic). (a) the first, he says, a native of amid, and pupil of s. ephraim, visited rome in the time of arcadius (395-408), on his return journey suffered imprisonment at byzantium, and afterwards became a priest in the church of amid. (b) the second was a priest of edessa, and flourished in the reign of zeno (474-491). he went up to antioch in the time of peter the fuller. jacob then tells the story of the parrot (see above). (c) the third was also an edessene. at first in the days of bishop paul (510-522) he was orthodox (monophysite): but afterwards in the time of the chalcedonian (catholic) bishop asclepius he became nestorian (catholic) and wrote poems setting forth nestorian doctrine. with such conflicting evidence it is impossible to arrive at a certain result. but jacob is an early witness: and on the whole it seems safe to conclude with bedjan (p. ix) that works by at least two authors have been included in the collection attributed to isaac of antioch. still the majority of the poems are the work of one hand--the 5th-century monophysite who wrote the poem on the parrot.[5] a full list[6] of the 191 poems existing in european mss. is given by bickell, who copied out 181 with a view to publishing them all: the other 10 had been previously copied by zingerle. but the two volumes published by bickell in his lifetime (giessen, 1873 and 1877) contain only 37 homilies. bedjan's edition, of which the first volume has alone appeared (paris, 1903) contains 67 poems, viz. 24 previously published (18 by bickell), and 43 that are new, though their titles are all included in bickell's list. the writer's main interest lies in the application of religion to the practical duties of life, whether in the church or in the world. he has a great command of forcible language and considerable skill in apt illustration. the zeal with which he denounces the abuses prevalent in the church of his day, and particularly in the monastic orders, is not unlike that of the protestant reformers. he shows acquaintance with many phases of life. he describes the corruption of judges, the prevalence of usury and avarice, the unchastity which especially characterized the upper classes, and the general hypocrisy of so-called christians. his doctrinal discussions are apt to be diffuse; but he seldom loses sight of the bearing of doctrine on practical life. he judges with extreme severity those who argue about religion while neglecting its practice, and those who though stupid and ignorant dare to pry into mysteries which are sealed to the angels. "not newly have we found him, that we should search and pry into god. as he was he is: he changeth not with the times.... confess that he formed thee of dust: search not the mode of his being: worship him that he redeemed thee by his only son: inquire not the manner of his birth."[7] some of isaac's works have an interest for the historian of the 5th century. in two poems (bickell 11, 12 = bedjan 48, 49), written probably at edessa, he commemorates the capture of beth-hur (a city near nisibis) by the arabs. although the historical allusions are far from clear, we gather that beth-hur, which in zealous paganism had been a successor to haran, had been in earlier days devastated by the persians:[8] but for the last 34 years the persians had themselves suffered subjection.[9] and now had come a flood of arab invaders, "sons of hagar," who had swept away the city and carried all its inhabitants captive. from these two poems, and from the 2nd homily on fasting (bickell 14 = bedjan 17) we gain a vivid picture of the miseries borne by the inhabitants of that frontier region during the wars between persia and the romano-greek empire. there are also instructive references to the heathen practices and the worship of pagan deities (such as baalti, uzzi, gedlath and the planet venus) prevalent in mesopotamia. two other poems (bickell 35, 36 = bedjan 66, 67), written probably at antioch,[10] describe the prevalence of sorcery and the extraordinary influence possessed by "chaldeans" and enchanters over women who were nominally christians. the metre of all the published homilies is heptasyllabic. (n. m.) footnotes: [1] w. wright, _short hist. of syr. lit._ p. 51. [2] the fullest list, by g. bickell, contains 191 which are extant in mss. [3] the trustworthy _chronicle of edessa_ gives his date as 451-452 (hallier, no. lxvii.); and the recently published _chronicle_ of michael the syrian makes him contemporary with nonus, who became the 31st bishop of edessa in 449. [4] the date of isaac of nineveh is now known from the _liber fundatorum_ of isho'-denah, an 8th-century writer; see bedjan's edition, and chabot, _livre de la chastete_, p. 63. assemani (_b.o._ i. 445) had placed him late in the 6th century, and chabot (_de s. isaaci ninivitae vita_, &c.) in the second half of the 5th. [5] lamy (_op. cit._ iv. 364-366) has pointed out that several of the poems are in certain mss. attributed to ephraim. possibly the author of the orthodox poems was not named isaac at all. [6] assemani's list of 104 poems (_b.o._ i. 214-234) is completely covered by bickell's. [7] from a really noble poem (bedjan 60) on the problem whether _god_ suffered and died on the cross. [8] possibly in the war at the beginning of the reign of bahram v.: but on the uncertainty see noldeke, _gesch. d. perser und araber_, 117. [9] probably at the hands of the hephthalites or white huns of kushan: cf. isaac's mention of the huns in 1. 420 of the 1st poem. [10] the author refers to the weeping for tammuz (1. 125 of the 1st poem), and speaks of his city as illustrious throughout the world (ib. 1. 132). isabella (1451-1504), surnamed _la catolica_, "the catholic," queen of castile, was the second child and only daughter of john ii. of castile by his second wife isabella, granddaughter of john i. of portugal (thus being through both parents a descendant of john of gaunt), and was born at madrigal on the 22nd of april 1451. on the death of her father, who was succeeded by her brother henry iv. (1454), she was withdrawn by her mother to arevalo, where her early education was conducted in the deepest seclusion; in 1462, however, along with her uterine brother alphonso, she was removed by henry to the court, where she showed a remarkable example of staidness and sobriety. already more than one suitor had made application for her hand, ferdinand of aragon, who ultimately became her husband, being among the number; for some little time she was engaged to his elder brother charles, who died in 1461. in her thirteenth year her brother promised her in marriage to alphonso of portugal, but she firmly refused to consent; her resistance seemed less likely to be effectual in the case of pedro giron, grand master of the order of calatrava and brother of the marquis of villena, to whom she was next affianced, when she was delivered from her fears by the sudden death of the bridegroom while on his way to the nuptials in 1466. after an offer of the crown of castile, made by the revolutionary leaders in the civil war, had been declined by her, she was in 1468 formally recognized by her brother as lawful heir, after himself, to the united crowns of castile and leon. new candidates for her hand now appeared in the persons of a brother of edward iv. of england (probably richard, duke of gloucester), and the duke of guienne, brother of louis xi., and heir presumptive of the french monarchy. finally however, in face of very great difficulties, she was married to ferdinand of aragon at valladolid on the 19th of october 1469. thence forward the fortunes of ferdinand and isabella were inseparably blended. for some time they held a humble court at duenas, and afterwards they resided at segovia, where, on the death of henry, she was proclaimed queen of castile and leon (december 13, 1474). spain undoubtedly owed to isabella's clear intellect, resolute energy and unselfish patriotism much of that greatness which for the first time it acquired under "the catholic sovereigns." the moral influence of the queen's personal character over the castilian court was incalculably great; from the debasement and degradation of the preceding reign she raised it to being "the nursery of virtue and of generous ambition." she did much for letters in spain by founding the palace school and by her protection of peter martyr d'anghiera. the very sincerity of her piety and strength of her religious convictions led her more than once, however, into great errors of state policy, and into more than one act which offends the moral sense of a more refined age: her efforts for the introduction of the inquisition into castile, and for the proscription of the jews, are outstanding evidences of what can only be called her bigotry. but not even the briefest sketch of her life can omit to notice that happy instinct or intuition which led her, when all others had heard with incredulity the scheme of columbus, to recall the wanderer to her presence with the words, "i will assume the undertaking for my own crown of castile, and am ready to pawn my jewels to defray the expenses of it, if the funds in the treasury should be found inadequate." she died at medina del campo on the 24th of november 1504, and was succeeded by her daughter joanna "la loca" (the "crazy") and her husband, philip of habsburg. see w. h. prescott, _history of the reign of ferdinand and isabella_ (1837), where the original authorities are exhaustively enumerated; and for later researches, baron de nervo, _isabella the catholic_, translated by lieut.-col. temple-west (1897). isabella ii. (1830-1904), queen of spain, was born in madrid on the 10th of october 1830. she was the eldest daughter of ferdinand vii., king of spain, and of his fourth wife, maria christina, a neapolitan bourbon, who became queen-regent on 29th september 1833, when her daughter, at the age of three years, was proclaimed on the death of the king. queen isabella succeeded to the throne because ferdinand vii. induced the cortes to assist him in setting aside the salic law, which the bourbons had introduced since the beginning of the 18th century, and to re-establish the older succession law of spain. the brother of ferdinand, don carlos, the first pretender, fought seven years, during the minority of isabella, to dispute her title, and her rights were only maintained through the gallant support of the army, the cortes and the liberals and progressists, who at the same time established constitutional and parliamentary government, dissolved the religious orders, confiscated the property of the orders and of the jesuits, disestablished the church property, and attempted to restore order in finances. after the carlist war the queen-regent, christina, resigned to make way for espartero, the most successful and most popular general of the isabelline armies, who only remained regent two years. he was turned out in 1843 by a military and political _pronunciamiento_, led by generals o'donnell and narvaez, who formed a cabinet, presided over by joaquin maria lopez, and this government induced the cortes to declare isabella of age at thirteen. three years later the moderado party or castilian conservatives made their queen marry, at sixteen, her cousin, prince francisco de assisi de bourbon (1822-1902), on the same day (10th october 1846) on which her younger sister married the duke of montpensier. these marriages suited the views of france and louis philippe, who nearly quarrelled in consequence with great britain; but both matches were anything but happy. queen isabella reigned from 1843 to 1868, and that period was one long succession of palace intrigues, back-stairs and ante-chamber influences, barrack conspiracies, military _pronunciamientos_ to further the ends of the political parties--moderados, who ruled from 1846 to 1854, progressists from 1854 to 1856, union liberal from 1856 to 1863; moderados and union liberal quickly succeeding each other and keeping out the progressists so steadily that the seeds were sown which budded into the revolution of 1868. queen isabella ii. often interfered in politics in a wayward, unscrupulous manner that made her very unpopular. she showed most favour to her reactionary generals and statesmen, to the church and religious orders, and was constantly the tool of corrupt and profligate courtiers and favourites who gave her court a deservedly bad name. she went into exile at the end of september 1868, after her moderado generals had made a slight show of resistance that was crushed at the battle of alcolea by marshals serrano and prim. the only redeeming traits of queen isabella's reign were a war against morocco, which ended in an advantageous treaty and some cession of territory; some progress in public works, especially railways; a slight improvement in commerce and finance. isabella was induced to abdicate in paris on 25th june 1870 in favour of her son, alphonso xii., and the cause of the restoration was thus much furthered. she had separated from her husband in the previous march. she continued to live in france after the restoration in 1874. on the occasion of one of her visits to madrid during alphonso xii.'s reign she began to intrigue with the politicians of the capital, and was peremptorily requested to go abroad again. she died on the 10th of april 1904.