ISAIAS
184
ISAURA
these idols was widely indulged in, the higher class and
the Court itself giving in this regard an abominable
example. Throughout the kingdom there was corrup-
tion of higher officials, ever-increasing luxury among
the wealthy, wanton haughtiness of women, ostenta-
tion among the middle-class people, shameful par-
tiality of the judges, unscrupulous greed of the owners
of large estates, and oppression of the poor and lowly.
The Assyrian suzerainty did not change anything in
this woeful state of affairs. In the eyes of Isaias this
order of things was intolerable; and he never tired re-
peating it could not last. The first condition of social
reformation was the downfall of the unjust and cor-
rupt rulers; the Assyrians were the means appointed
by God to level their [iride and tyranny with the dust.
With their mistaken ideas about God, the nation
imagined He tlid not concern Him.self about the dis-
positions of Ilis worshippers. But God loathes sacri-
fices offered by "... hands full of blood. Wash your-
selves, be clean, . . . relieve the oppressed, judge for
the fatherless, defend the widow. . . . But if you will
not, . . . theswordshalldevouryou" (i, 15-20). God
here appears as the avenger of disregarded human jus-
tice as much as of His Divine rights. He cannot and
will not let injustice, crime, and idolatry go unpun-
ished. The destruction of sinners will inaugurate an era
of regeneration, and a little circle of men faithful to
God will be the first-fruits of a new Israel free from past
defilements and ruled by a scion of David's House.
With the reign of Ezechias began a period of religious
revival. Just how far the reform extended we are not
able to state ; local sanctuaries around which heathen-
ish abuses had gathered were suppressed, and many
'asherim and masseboth were destroyed. It is true the
times were not ripe for a radical change, and there was
little response to the appeal of the Prophet for moral
amendment and redress of social abuses.
The Fathers of the Church, echoing the eulogy of Jesus, son of Sirach (Ecclus., xlviii, 25-28), agree that Isaias was the greatest of the literary Prophets (Euseb., "Proep. Evang.", v, 4, P. G., XXII, .370; "Synops. Script. S.", among the works of St. Athan., P. G., XXXVIII, 363; St. Cyril of Jerusalem, "In Is. Prooem.", P. G., LXX, 14; St. Isidore of Pelus., "Epist.", i, 42, P. G., LXXVIII, 208; Theodoret., "In Is. Argum.", P. G., LXXXI, 216; St. Jerome, "Prol. in Is.", P. L., XXIV, 18; "Pra;f. ad Paul, et Eustoch.", P. L., XXVIII, 771; St. Aug., "Conf.", ix, 5, P. L., XXXII, 769; "De civ. Dei", XVIII, xxix, 1, P. L., XLI, 585, etc.). Isaias's poetical genius was in every respect worthy of his lofty position as a Prophet. He is unsurpassed in poetry, descriptive, lyric, or elegiac. There is in his compositions an uncommon elevation and majesty of conception, and an unparal- leled wealth of imagery, never departing, however, from the utmost propriety, elegance, and dignity. He possessed an extraordinary power of adapting his language both to occasions and audiences; sometimes he displays most exquisite tenderness, and at other times austere severity; he successively assumes a mother's pleading and irresistible tone, and the stern manner of an implacable judge, now making use of delicate irony to bring home to his hearers wliat he would have them understand, and then pitilessly shat- tering their fontlest illusions or wielding threats which strike like mighty thunderbolts. His rebukes are nei- ther impetuous like those of Osee nor blustering like those of Amos; he never allows the conviction of his mind or the warmth of his heart to overdraw any feature or to overstep the limits assigned by the most exquisite taste. Exquisite taste indeed is one of the leading features of the Prophet's style. This style is rapid, energetic, full of life and colour, and withal always chaste and dignified. It moreover manifests a wonderful command of language. It has been justly said that no Prophet ever had the same com- mand of noble thoughts; it may be as justly added
that never perhaps did any man utter lofty thoughts
in more beautiful language. St. Jerome rejected
the idea that Isaias's prophecies were true poetry in
the full sense of the word (Prsf. in Is., P. L., XXVIII,
771). Nevertheless the authority of the illustri-
ous Robert Lowth, in his "Lectures on the Sacred
Poetry of the Hebrews" (1753), esteemed "the whole
book of Isaiah to be poetical, a few passages excepted,
which, if brought together, would not at most exceed
the bulk of five or six chapters". This opinion of
Lowth, at first scarcely noticed, became more and more
general in the latter part of the nineteenth century, and
IS now common among Biblical scholars.
In addition to gpiiiTal ami special commentariea consult: Cheyne, Book of /.'(./ , ' Ml/ -/mv, y'.'v urra-nged (London, 1S70); Idem, Prop//..,, / I .. i . ISSO); Idem, /ji(rod.
to the Book of Isaiali ( I ^ ui i .:, I - i I m ! \ i u, Isaiah; his life and times and the inilin'i -c /, „„„,,. (London, 1888);
Lowth, Jsaoif'. / , ^li^Nirl. and notes (London, 1778);
.Skinner, /.s'N. I < ,(,i ; i"r, 1896); G. A. Smith, BooA; o//saiaft (Expositor's!. I I - \-~'.m);'W.'R. SmTK. The Prophets oj Israel and tht u j>'ih^ ><■ ' fnri/ (London, 1882); Knabenbaueh, Comment, in Isaiarn proph;iam (Paris, 1887); Condamine, Livre d'lsaie, trad, critique avec notes et comment. (Paris, 1905; a vol- ume of introduction to the same is forthcoming); Le Hir, Les trois grands prophetes, Isaie, Jeremie, Ezechiel (Paris, 1877); Idem, Etxides Bibliques (Paris, 1869); Trochon, Isaie Introd., Critique et Comment. (Paris, 1878); Delitzsch, Commentar ilber das Buck Jesaja; tr. (Edinburgh, 1890) ; Duhm, Das Buck Jesaia (Gottingen, 1892); Gesenius, Der Prophet Jesaja (Leipzig, 1820-1821); EwALD, Die Propheten des Alten Bundes (Tubingen, 1840-1841); tr. by F. Smith (London, 1876—); Hitzig, Der Prophet Jesaja libers, und ausgelegt (Heidelberg, 1833) ; Kittel, Der Prophet Jesaia, 6th ed. of Dillmann's work of the same title (Leipzig, 1898); Knabenbacer, Erklarung des Proph. Isaias (Freiburg, 1881); Marti, Das Buch Jesaja (Tubingen, 1900). Charles L. Souvay.
Isaias, Ascension of. See Apocrypha.
Isaura, titular see in the Province of Lycaonia, suffragan of Iconium. Isaura, the capital of the Isaurian tribes, an energetic and pillaging people, existed even before the expedition of Alexander. In order not to fall into the power of the Greek generals, Perdiccas and Philip, its inhabitants after a desperate resistance, buried themselves beneath the ruins of their city (Diodorus Siculus, XVIII, 22). Afterwards rebuilt, Isaura was a second time destroyed by P. Ser- vilius, and then ceded to Amyntas, the last King of Galatia, who attempted to rebuild it and make it his capital (25 B. c). Strabo, who gives these particu- lars, speaks of two cities, Isaura Palsea and Isaura Nova, which existed in his time, and the information is correct. In the year 266 of our era Trebidlian, one of the thirty tyrants, made Isaura his capital, but he was slain the next year. Ammianus Marcellinus (XIV, 7) in the fourth century speaks of the city as ruined. Isaura Nova is now Doria in the sanjak and vilayet of Koniah. Ramsay discovered there re- cently more than fifty Greek inscri])tions, the greater number Christian, as well as magnificent tombs. These monuments date from the third, fourth, and fifth centuries of our era. Epitaphs have been foimd of three bishops, Theophilus, Sisamoas, and Mamas, who lived between the years 250 and 400. Three other bishops are also known, Hilary, 381; Callistra- tus, somewhat later; Aetius, 451 (Lequien, " Oriens chri.st.", I, 1085). The last named bishop bears the title of Isauropolis, the name of a city which also figures in the "Hieroclis Synecdemus" (ed. Parthey, 675, 12). As no "Notitiic episcopatuum " makes mention of Isaura, or Isauropolis, Ramsay supposes that the Diocese of Isaura Nova was early joined with that of Leontopolis, the more recent name of Isaura Pala;a which is mentioned in all the " Notitia; ". The site of Isaura Pala>a has been discovered at Olou- bounar in the vilayet of Koniah, where splendid ruins are still to be seen.
Ramsay, Studies in the History and Art of the Eastern Prov- inces of the Roman Empire (.\berdccn, 1906), 22-58; Smith, Dirt. Greek and Roman (Icoq.. II, 65; Texier, Asie Mineure (Paris, 1862), 6.')4-60; Bulletin de correspondance hellinique (1883), 315; (1887), 767-70.
S. Vailh6.
