Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/642

Rh 628 ISIDORUS. of beasts, birds, insects, reptiles, and fishes in general ; the thirteenth and fourteenth, of geo- graphy, mathematical, physical, and political, in- cluding atmospheric phenomena ; the fifteenth, of the origin of the principal states and kingdoms in the world, of edifices both public and private, of land-surveying and of roads ; the sixteenth, of the constitution of soils, of mineralogy, of weights and measures ; the seventeenth, of agriculture ; the eighteenth of war, and of games and sports of every description ; the nineteenth, of ships and their equipments, of architecture, of clothing and the textile fabrics ; the twentieth, of food, of do- mestic utensils and furniture, of carriages, of har- ness, and of rustic implements. The earliest edition of the Origines which bears a date is that published at Vienna by Ginthenis Zainer of Reutlingen, fol. 1472, but there are three editions in Gothic characters without date and without name of place or printer, all of which are supposed by bibliographers to be older than the first mentioned. One, if not two, of these is be- lieved to have proceeded from the press of Ulric Zell at Cologne, another from that of Mantelin at Strasbourg, while, in addition to the above, at least six editions more belong to the fifteenth century, a sure evidence of the popularity of the work. The most accurate is that which forms the third volume of the "" Corpus Grammaticorum Veterum " of Lindemann, Lips. 4to. 1833. The second book was printed separately by Pithou in his "- Antiqui Rhetores Latini." Paris, 4to. 1 bd% p. 356. The two following works belong to grammar : TI. De Dijferentiis s. De Proprietate Verborum, in two parts, of which the first is less purely gramma- tical than the remainder, since it treats chiefly of the precise meaning of various theological terras, many of which involve abstruse questions of doc- trine. The second part is borrowed in great mea- sure from Agroetius and other old writers upon the same subject. This treatise does not appear to have been ever printed in a separate form, but will be found in editions of the collected works. III. Liber Glossarum Latinarum, a collection from various glossaries circulated under the name of Isidorus. It was published along with the Graeco-Latin glosses of Philoxenus and others, by Vulcanius, Lug. Bat. fol. 1600, and appears in its best form at the end of the third edition of the Lexicon Philologicum of Martinius, which was published under the superintendence of Graevius, Traj. ad Rhen. 1698. The following work belongs to natural philo- sophy : — IV. De Rerum Natura, s. De Mundo, addressed to king Sisebutus. It contains in forty-seven short chapters discussions on sundry questions con- nected with astronomy, meteorology and physical geography ; such as the career of the sun and of the moon, eclipses, falling stars, clouds, rain, winds, prognostics of the weather, earthquakes, the ocean, the Nile, mount Aetna, and the great divisions of the earth. It will be found in tlie collected works. The four following works belong to history : — V. Chronicon. Chronological tables from the cre- ation of the world to the fifth year of the emperor Heraclius, that is, a. d. 627. It was edited with much care by Garcia de Loaisa, Taurin. 4to. 1593, whose text has been followed by Koocalli in his ISIDORUS. Vett. Lai. Script. Chron. p. ii. p. 419, and in the Madrid edition of the collected works. VI. Historia Gothorum, a short account of the Goths from their first collisions with the Romans in the reigns of Valerian and Gallienus down to the death of Sisebutus. VII. Historia Vandalorum, from the time of their entrance into Spain under Gunderic until their final destruction upon the fall of Gelimer, embracing a period of one hundred and twcnt}^ three years and seven months, which is compre- hended within the limits of a single folio page. VIII. Historia Stievorum^ equally brief, from their entrance into Spain under Hemieric until their final destruction, one hundred and twenty- six years afterwards. These three tracts will be found in their best form in the edition of the Chro- nicon by Garcia de Loaisa named above, in the compilations of Labb6 and Florez, and in the Ma- drid edition of the collected works. The following works belong to poetry : — IX. I'oemata. Among the collected works we find a sacred song in trochaic tetrameters cat., en- titled Lamenium Poeniteiiliue pro Indulgentia Pcccu- torum., and in the Acta Sanctorum under the fifth of February, two hymns in praise of St. Agatha. Some assign to Isidorus an astronomical poem in heroic verse more commonly ascribed to Fulgen- tius, the fragments of which are included in the collection of Pithou published at Paris in 1590. The rest of the works of Isidorus are all of a theological character. Two belong to Sacred Bio- graphy. X. De Vita et Obiiu Sanctorum qui Deo pla- cuerunt. Short sketches of sixty-five holy men belonging to the Old Testament history, and of twenty-two under the new dispensation, from Adam to the Maccabaean brothers, from Zacharias to Titus. XL De Scriptoribi/s Ecclesiasticis Liber, or simply, De Viris Illustribus, or, as the title some- times appears at greater length, Isidori Addiiio ad Libros S. Hieronymi et Gennadii de Scriptoribus Ecclesiasticis, a continuation of the biographical sketches of eminent divines by Hieronymus [HiE- RONYMUS ; Gennadius], upon the same plan, commencing in the older editions with Osius, bishop of Cordova, and ending with Maximus, bishop of Saragossa, including thirty-three indi- viduals ; but in the Madrid editions of the collected works we find several new lives prefixed, from a MS. not before collated, reaching from Sixtus, bishop of Rome, down to Marcellinus. The two following works belong to formal theo- logy :— XII. De Offcciis Ecclesiasticis Librill., with a prefatory epistle addressed to Fulgentius. The first book, which bears the separate title De Ori- gine Officiorum, is devoted to the rites, ceremonies, liturgies, and festivals of the church, with an ex- amination of the authority upon which each is founded, whether Scripture, apostolical tradition, or uninternipted and invariable practice ; the second book, with the title De Oriyine Ministrorum, treats in like manner of the different orders among the clergy, and of those persons among the laity, who were more immediately connected with them, such as holy maidens, widows, catechumens, and the like. This piece is of the greatest importance to those who employ themselves in investigating the ritual of the Romish Church. It was published iu