ISTHMIAN ODES (Gk. 'Ioμovîkaι, Isthmionikai, victors in the Isthmian games). Poems of Pindar (q.v.) celebrating the victors in the Isthmian games.

ISTHMUS, is'mus (Lat. isthmus, from Gk. iouós, isthmos, narrow passage between two seas). In geography, a narrow neck of land joining two portions of land. The name Isthmus was by the ancients often employed without any addition to designate the Isthmus of Corinth, join ing the Peloponnesus to continental Hellas. At the southeast of the Isthmus, was a sacred precinct containing temples of Poseidon and PalæmonMelicertes, where were celebrated the Isthmian Games, one of the four great national festivals of Greece. According to legend, they were established by Poseidon or Sisyphus in honor of Melicertes, or by Theseus after his victory over Sinis in honor of Poseidon, a version which explained the right of the Athenians to the seats of honor. The regular celebration of the games was dated from B.C. 582. The games seem to have been held every two years, in the spring of the second and fourth years of each Olympiad. The prizes were a palm branch and wreath of parsley during the Greek period, but under the Roman Empire a wreath of fir was substituted. The games were in charge of the Corinthians, and the contests seem to have been those usual at Olympia (see OLYMPIC GAMES), to which later musical competitions were added. After the fall of Corinth (B.c. 146) the Sicy onians continued the games, until the reëstablishment of the city by Julius Cæsar. The contests were open to all Greeks except the Eleans. The site of the games has been excavated by the French. Near the site of the Isthmian sanctuary

can be seen remains of the Diolkos or railway by which, in ancient times, small ships were transported across the Isthmus; and somewhat to the north can be traced the ancient wall by which, at various times, the Peloponnesus was protected against invasion. The extant remains belong chiefly to the later Roman Empire or the period of Venetian rule. Consult Gazette archéologique (Paris, 1884-85). See CORINTH, GULF OF; CORINTH CANAL.

ISTIB, ê-step', or SHTIPLIE, shtiplyě. A town of European Turkey, in the Vilayet of Kossovo, situated about 18 miles east of Köprili (Map: Balkan Peninsula, D 4). It has a number of mosques and a fine bazaar. Its trade is of considerable importance; the population is

estimated at 10,000.

ISTRIA, is'tri-å. An Austrian margraviate and crownland, forming part of the modern division called Küstenland, or Coast Districts (Map: Austria-Hungary, C 4). It consists of a peninsula, the ancient Histria, projecting into the northeast part of the Adriatic Sea, and the islands of Veglia, Cherso, and a few others, covering a total area of 1910 square miles. The peninsula is bordered on the north by Triest, Görz and Gradisca, and Carniola, on the east by Fiume, Croatia, and the Bay of Quarnero, and on the south and west by the Adriatic. The peninsula has well-indented coasts, and is traversed by a chain of rocky mountains from north to south, culminating in the peak of Monte Maggiore, nearly 4600 feet high. The shores are generally precipitous. The chief streams are the Arsa in the east and the Quieto in the west.

The climate is very warm and dry. The severe winds along the coasts are greatly feared by the inhabitants. Istria has little land adapted for tillage, but its pasture lands are extensive as well as its forests. The climate is favorable to the cultivation of southern fruits, such as olives and figs. Istria also produces an excellent grape, and its wines are famous. Of mineral products it yields chiefly alum, lignite, and salt. The large forests furnish good material for ships, and shipbuilding is a very extensive industry. The seafishing is also important. The manufacturing industries are as yet undeveloped. Owing to its numerous harbors Istria is one of the most important commercial districts of Austria, and Pola, at the southern end of the peninsula, is the The total chief naval station of the Empire. shipping of all the Istrian harbors amounts to about 6,500,000 tons annually. Istria has a separate Diet of 33 members, and sends 5 representatives to the Lower House of the Austrian Reichsrat. For administrative purposes it is divided into six districts and the municipality of Rovigno. The population in 1900 was 344,173, an increase of 8.4 per cent. for the decade. The population is almost exclusively Roman Catholic. About 40 per cent. of the people are Serbo-Croats, and about 34 per cent. Italians. The capital is the little town of Parenzo. The ancient. Istrians belonged to the stock of Illyrians, like them were pirates, and were subjected by the Romans under C. Claudius, B.C. 177. Part of their country was later united to Italy, part to Illyricum. It fell into the hands of the Goths in the fifth century. In the seventh century Slavic peoples penetrated into the region. In the course of the Middle Ages parts of Istria were at different times under the rule of the Byzan

tine emperors, the Franks, the dukes of Carinthia, margraves of various petty German houses, counts of Görz, and the House of Austria, the the Patriarch of Aquileja, the Venetians, the bulk of the peninsula finally remaining in the hands of the Venetians and the northeastern or German portion in those of Austria. On the extinction of the Venetian Republic, in 1797, the whole of Istria became an Austrian possession.

ISTURIZ, ĕ'stoo-reth', FRANCISCO XAVIER DE (1790-1871). A Spanish statesman, born at Cadiz. An ardent patriot, he was a leader in the Revolution of 1820, and three years later presided at the Cortes, and voted against the Royalists. This stand caused his exile, and he remained in England until the amnesty of 1834. In 1836 he was made Minister of Foreign Affairs and Premier. Forced to yield his portfolio during the Revolution of the following August, he became president of the Cortes in 1838. He was now devoted to the cause of Queen Maria Christina, and continued to advance her interest and the French alliance by every means in his power. Premier again in 1846, his Ministry was of short duration, but he afterwards represented his country at the Court of Saint James (1850-54), at Saint Petersburg (1856), and at Paris (1863-64). The revolution of 1868 caused his permanent retirement.

IS'UMBRAS. See ISENBRAS.

ISWARA, ésh'wå-rå (Skt. isvara, lord). An epithet applied to different Hindu divinities, but in mythological acceptation it mostly designates SIVA (q.v.).

tongue than Latin. Save the infinitives, which often end in r, when not followed by s impure (as sp, st, sc, etc.), or by a vowel, and a few foreign words, such as nord, sud, lapis, and monosyllables such as in, per, con, and non, all Italian words end in a vowel. Thus carus becomes caro, and principem becomes principe. This vocalic tendency is furthermore observable in the avoidance of consonantal groups like in Spagna, which becomes in Ispagna, or instituto, which gives istituto. Of the Latin consonants and aspirate h have disappeared, though c in pure Tuscan is under some conditions aspirated, as hasa for casa. The combinations bl, pl, fl, gl, and cl become bi, pi, fi, ghi, and chi, as in biasimare (blasphemare), pieno (plenus), fiore (florem), ghianda (glanda), chiaro (claro). Gn is liquefied. Thus dignus gives degno (pronounced de-nyo). Ct becomes tt (dictum > detto); pt becomes tt (raptum ratto); gd becomes dd (frig'dus >freddo). Initial simple consonants usually remain, but c before e and i become ts (English ch). Thus carne, coda, cura, but Cicerone, pronounced in Latin Kikerone, becomes cicerone, pronounced tšitšerone. So g, as in gemma or gibbo. Jam becomes già, and justum, giusto, in which the i is merely a sign to mark the palatal, as it is also in Giovanni, to be pronounced Džovanni. That is, the Italian gi is like our j. So sc before i and e is no longer sk, as in Latin, but like sh in English. Č, ğ, and sc are made guttural by putting in an h. Thus chi, sgherro, schiera. In Italian (but only seldom in other Romanic languages) there are true double consonants. Thus pretto =pret-to, anno = an-no, gobbo = gob-bo, etc. K is always trilled on the tongue; not gutturally, as in French.

The destiny of the Latin vowels may be summarily examined. Whereas the Latin distinguished its vowels by quantity, Italian distinguishes them by quality, though long and

short vowels exist also in Italian. In Latin there were , ě, Ĭ, ỗ, ŭ, and, among others, diphthongs a =ě, and œ = ě. What became of them depended mainly on their possession or lack of stress. A remained in almost all cases (cantare). I, too, usually held its own, if long (vino); if short it often fell, thus giving rise to new consonantal groups (domina > donna); or it changed to a close e (e), as in fede, from fidem. E, long, usually, became a close e (e); but ě, when not blocked, usually became ie (fěl > fiole, větus > vieto). O long oftenest became close o (0); but o, when not blocked, was generally diphthonged to uo (bõnum > buono). U long remained, but short u usually was changed to ọ (vulgus > volgo).

mnar is a development of Latin grammar; we may add that it is a simplification thereof. There are still the two numbers, singular and plural, for substantives, but, except for certain pronouns, case distinctions have disappeared. Like Spanish, but unlike French, Italian ordinarily feels no need of an expressed subject-pronoun, since the termination of the verb-form sufficiently marks its person and number.

The Roman tradition was much stronger in Italy than elsewhere, and the new speech did not depart so far from Latin as to make the latter difficult to understand. The first continuous bits of Italian are found in a document of the year 960 (the Carta Capuana). Other phrases in the vulgar tongue occur in a document of 964, and about a century later certain inscriptions in Italian were written on a wall of the lower basilica of San Clemente at Rome. The first important appearance of written Tuscan thus far noted is in certain banking registers of Florence, which seem to date from about 1211. The beginning of the fourteenth century brought Dante, who in his Divina Commedia gave to Tuscan its supremacy over the other dialects of the Peninsula. A little later Petrarch and Boccaccio proved further the suppleness and artistic adequacy of the new speech, and since their day Italian has suffered no very material alterations. Now and then authors intruded dialectal peculiarities into texts written essentially in Tuscan; but in the early sixteenth century the Regole grammaticali della volgar lingua of Fortunio (1516), the Volgari eleganzie of Niccolò Liburnio, and the Prose della volgar lingua of Pietro Bembo (1525) introduced an element of greater rigidity, requiring absolute purity of idiom in the writing of Tuscan as the true literary Italian. The Accademia della Crusca completed their work in 1612 by publishing its dictionary of Tuscan as the standard national lan

guage.

In a short sketch one can only observe certain tendencies. If we carried our study farther, we should learn that almost innumerable causes have been at work in changing Old Latin to Modern Latin or Italian. Analogy and popular etymology, as we may see in the words suonare, instead of sonare, or Campidoglio for Capitoglio, are constantly at work. Furthermore, it is highly important to observe what accent, or rather stress, has to do with the fate of vowel; for otherwise we could not understand such apparent inconsistencies as fière from fèrit, and ferire from fěríre, or gli (from illi in hiatus), as in gli ho veduti, with li (from illi not in hiatus), as in li vedo.

It has already been stated that Italian gram

Grammatik der italienischen Sprache (Halle, 1844); Vockeradt, Lehrbuch der italienischen Sprache (Berlin, 1878): Diez, Grammatik der romanischen Sprachen (5th ed., Bonn, 1882, English translation by Cayley, London, 1862); Meyer-Lübke, Italienische Grammatik (Leipzig, 1890) ; id., Grammatik der romanischen

Sprachen (3 vols., Leipzig, 1890-99), a fourth volume of which is in preparation.

Dictionaries: Petrocchi, Novo dizionario della lingua italiana (Milan, 1884-91), one of the best of the dictionaries wholly in Italian, also published in an abridged form; Tommaseo e Bellini, Dizionario della lingua italiana (Turin, 186579); Rigutini and Fanfani, Vocabolario italiano della lingua parlata (3d ed., Florence, 1893); Fanfani, Vocabolario della lingua italiana (3d ed., Florence, 1891); id., Vocabolario della pronunzia toscana (ib., 1863); id., Vocabolario dell' uso toscano (ib., 1863); Blanc, Vocabolario dantesco (Leipzig, 1852; Italian trans., 2d ed., 1877, and since). The Italian-English and English-Italian dictionaries of Baretti and Millhouse are unsatisfactory; a better one is that of Edgren (New York, 1902). A good Italian-German dictionary is that of Valentini. There are numerous dictionaries of Italian dialects, some of which are mentioned in Groeber, Grundriss, vol. i. (Strassburg, 1888). For further bibliography, this last-named work may be consulted.

ITALIAN LITERATURE. The tenacity of Latin tradition in Italy retarded considerably the rise and development of literature in the vulgar tongue. Until the first half of the thirteenth century Latin continued to serve in Italy

for the writing of chronicles, historical and narrative poems, heroic legends (many of them introduced from France; e.g. the story of Charlemagne and his knights, of Arthur and his Round Table, the mediæval account of the fall of Troy, and the history of Alexander the Great), religious legends and lives of the saints (cf. the famous collection of the Bishop of Genoa, Jacopo da Voragine (1230-98), known as the Legenda Aurea), didactic and scientific works (grammars, Encyclopædias, and moralizing treatises), religious lyrics (hymns like the "Stabat Mater" and the "Dies Iræ"), and liturgical plays and inysteries (the prototypes of the first Italian dramas, the rappresentazioni sacre). But Latin was not the only language written in Italy before the time when Italian was thought dignified enough for literary use. The poets of Southern France had already wandered into Italy before the end of the twelfth century, and when the Albigensian crusade drove them forth in the early years of the fourteenth century the troubadours crossed the Alps in still greater numbers and sang throughout the land of the Apennines their Provençal songs of love and political strife. There soon arose a school of Italian poets who

imitated the methods of these Provençal troubadours, and, disdaining their native tongue, wrote in the foreign Provençal. Prominent among them were: Alberto Malaspina (c.1165-1210), Lanfranco Cigala (c.1200-c.1260), Bonafacio Calvo (c.1200-70), and especially Sordello (c.1200c.1270). Like the speech and song of Southern France, the speech and verse of Northern France also entered Italy at an early date. The jongleurs brought the chansons de geste into the north of Italy, and there, especially in the domain of Venice, great currency was given to the stories of Charlemagne, of his mother, Berte, of his knights like Ogier le Danois, and the heroes of the Carolingian cycle. The chansons de geste were introduced in their native speech. Soon, however, Italians took them up and told the

stories in an Italianized form of French (cf. Niccolò da Verona's Prise de Pampelune), and later still certain of the chansons were related by Italians in a mixed speech, in which Italian predominated. The epic matter thus worked over in Italy was to become of great importance for the history of the poems of chivalry in the fifteenth century. From Northern France there were imported also the fabliaux, the stories of Reynard the Fox, and the great allegorical and satirical Roman de la Rose, all of which played a part in the formation of the literature of Italy. As has already been stated (see ITALIAN LANGUAGE), we have specimens of written Italian that date back almost to the middle of the tenth century; but they have no literary significance. Nor does the eleventh century show anything of importance, and the various documents sometimes ascribed to the twelfth century are of too uncertain chronological origin, as in the case of the cantilena bellunese, the ritmo cassinese, and the cantilena di un giullare toscano, or prove little, like the joccse and isolated attempt at writing Italian verse on the part of a foreigner, the Provençal poet Raimbaut de Vaqueiras, in his bilingual contrasto. (For these documents, consult Monaci, Crestomazia italiana, Città di CasWith the thirteenth century, tello, 1889.) In all parts of Italy the popular language is however, Italian assumes literary significance.

now used for the composition of verse, which for half a century remains much more important than prose in the vernacular, and in form and content this verse continues faithful to the models from France. Only after a little more than fifty years of rather servile imitation do the Italian poets venture to vary their subject matter and improve upon the borrowed forms.

It was at the Court of Frederick II. (11941250) in Sicily that the Provençal lyric manner was first imitated in Italian. Hence the early Italian poets are generally grouped together as the Sicilian school, although in point of fact they were not all Sicilians, but had Apulians and Tuscans among them. Chief among their number zio (c.1225-72), his Chancellor, Pier della Vigna were the Emperor Frederick himself, his son En(died 1249), and Giacomo da Lentino, who was one of the most fertile of all, and was regarded by Dante as one of the best of the school. These and the other members of the movement sang of love in the conventional Provençal way, adopting them the manner spread into Central Italy and the canzone as their stock poetic form, and from Tuscany, finding acceptance especially in the towns having close relations with Frederick's Court. Thus Arrigo Testa in Arrezzo, Folcacchiero de' Folcacchieri in Siena, and many more reëchoed the Sicilian note. In at least one writer of this class, Buonagiunta Orbicciani, there is manifest a tendency to depart somewhat from the methods of the Sicilian school, and to introduce elements of Tuscan origin. This tendency becomes a certainty about 1260-80, in the lyrics of two sets of poets-the one belonging to Tuscany, the other to Bologna-and both representing a transition period during which prominence is given to the sonnet as well as to the canzone, the range of subject for poetic treatment is widened by the introduction of philosophical, religious, and political considerations, and especially of philosophical considerations as to the birth and nature of love, and an endeavor is made to

improve the style by bringing it closer to that of composition in Latin. Of the Tuscan poets the most important was Guittone del Viva of Arezzo (1220-94), a member of the Frati godenti. In his earlier poems he adhered closely to the strict Provençal manner. In the later ones, replete with Latinisms in vocabulary and construction, he introduces speculation of a moral, religious, and philosophical nature, and, what is still more interesting, he addresses to his fellow-citizens remarks on matters of contemporary political interest. This attention to political matters of the day is stressed also in other members of the Florentine group, of whom Monte Andrea and Frescobaldi may receive a passing mention. The greatest departure from the mannerisms of the Sicilian school was made by the Bolognese group of writers, and the best of all these was Guido Guinizelli (c.1230-76), who was the first true poet in Italian. In his better canzoni and sonnets he applies Guittone's innovations to much better purpose, and in verses combining beauty of form with spontaneity of expression he discusses the origin and characteristics of love. From Guinizelli dates the dolce stil nuovo, which reached its height of excellence in the sublime poetry of Dante. The methods of Guittone and Guinizelli were adopted by the Florentine Chiaro Davanzati (c. 1230-?), whose conception of love is, however, rather more theological than purely philosophical. In many ways like Guinizelli, and especially so in the genuine ness of his poetic note, was the Florentine Rustico di Filippo (c.1230-c.1280), who in his sonnets was the first to import a humorous element into Italian verse. More generally known to fame than he is still another Florentine, Brunetto Latini (c.1220-c.1294), whom a too literal interpretation of a statement made by Dante (Inferno, xv.) has caused to be considered as the latter's tutor. He was certainly a great factor in promoting culture in his own time. To Brunetto Latini, in addition to prose works and certain minor poems, there must also be ascribed the first allegorical poem in Italian, the Tesoretto. Possibly he intended this to be a sort of preface to his encyclopædic work, Li livres dou tresor, which he wrote in French. The verse so far mentioned was more or less learned in its nature; of a more popular origin was the verse that appeared in connection with the religious movements of the thirteenth century of the Flagellants, the Franciscans, and others.

To about 1224 belong the famous Laudes Creaturarum or Cantico del sole of Saint Francis of Assisi, and throughout the thirteenth century there were produced in both Umbria and Tuscany many laudi, a sort of religious verse, which, given the form of a dialogue, developed into the first dramas of Italy. Many of these laudi were composed by Jacopo (or Jacopone) dei Benedetti of Todi (c.1230-1306), a tertiary of the Franciscans from 1268 on. In Northern Italy there flourished a didactic poetry written for the inculcating of moral and religious teaching by clerics who stood in close relations with the people, and who had, moreover, the intention of counteracting the efforts of the jongleurs that were spreading a knowledge of the French chansons de geste and other profane literature. The earliest of these writers was perhaps Gherardo Patecchio (Girardo Pateg, c.1228), author of the Tedii and the Splanamento de li proverbii de

Salomone. Hardly later than the middle of the thirteenth century was the Libro of Uguçon de Laodho (Lodi), a rhymed account of Christian beliefs. The Sermon of the Milanese Pietro da Barsegapé seems to have been written not later than 1264. More culture is visible in the didactic and narrative verse of the monks, Bonvesin da Riva and Giacomino da Verona, produced during the second half of the thirteenth century. Giacomino's. poems belong to the class of literature dealing with visions of the other world, as does also an anonymous poem-styled atrorare-which originated in Reggio.

forms.

To Northern Italy, a favorite haunt of the wandering jongleurs, belongs also at this time much narrative verse in Italian showing the foreign material of the chansons de geste (cf. the Buovo d'Antona, almost wholly Italian in treatment), and the beast epic (cf. Rainardo e Lesengrino, in two Venetian versions), thoroughly acclimated in Italy, after having passed through Franco-Italian intermediary There was some writing of history in verse, but more interest attaches to Guidaloste da Pistoia's canzone on the taking of Torniella by the Sienese (1253), and especially to a Bolognese sirventese on the conflicts between the Guelphs and Ghibellines, composed shortly after 1280. Proofs are not lacking of the existence of a crude and thoroughly popular poetry (cf. the cantastorie), which was occasional in its nature and had reference to matters chiefly of local significance. Some elements of this spontaneous poetry of the people entered the more strictly literary forms; thus they were adopted by the didactic poets of the north, who strove to popularize their works, by the authors of religious lyrics, and even by certain poets of Tuscany and the South (Giacomino Pugliese, etc.), who utilized them in their love poems. Exceedingly popular in its nature, and yet influenced by literary conventions, is the so-called Contrasto di Cielo dal Camo (or d'Alcamo; consult A. d'Ancona, Studj sulla letteratura italiana dei primi secoli, Ancona, 1884), which, ascribed by a misreading of the manuscript to a Ciullo d'Alcamo, was long erroneously thought to be the earliest Italian poem. It really belongs to the period between 1231 and 1250, and has the form of a love debate between a maiden and an over-ardent admirer.

Italian prose of literary moment did not appear until the second half of the thirteenth century. As has been said, many narrative and didactic works were written in Latin. Moreover, like Brunetto Latini, certain other Italians adopted French for their productions; thus, Aldobrando, a Tuscan, composed in French prose his little treatise Le régime du corps (1256), and Rusticiano da Pisa employed the same language in his compilation of tales about Arthur and his knights (c.1270) and in his account of the journey of Marco Polo. Italian prose was first used to any great extent in translations of Latin didactic, moral, and historical works, and of French legends of an heroic or a religious nature. From French came the Dodici conti morali, the Fatti di Cesare, the Istorietta troiana (based on Benoît de Sainte-More's Roman de Troie), the Tavola ritonda, and the Tristano, all apparently of the thirteenth century, as is also at least one of the versions of the Libro dei Sette Savi.

The Disciplina clericale came in through a French version of Petrus Alphonsus's Latin text.