for, after five centuries of prosperity under Venetian or Hungarian rule, an outbreak of plague in 1456 swept away the majority of the townsfolk, and ruined the survivors. Some of the old palaces are, nevertheless, of considerable interest; one especially as the birthplace of the celebrated philosopher, Marc Antonio de Dominis. Fishing and agriculture constitute the chief resources of the islanders, whose ancient silk industry is still maintained. In 1018 the yearly tribute due to Venice was fixed at ten pounds of silk or five pounds of gold.
ARBELA (Arba‘il, i.e. “Four-god-city”), an ancient town in Adiabene, the capital in Assyrian and pre-Assyrian times of the country between the greater and lesser Zab, and seat of an important cult of Ishtar. The battle in which Alexander overthrew Darius in 331 B.C., though named in the old books after Arbela, was probably fought at Gaugamela, some 60 m. away (Yorck von Wartenburg, Kurze Übersicht der Feldzüge A. des Gr.). The modern town of Erbil or Arbil, in the vilayet of Mosul, is about 40 m. from Mosul on the road to Bagdad. The greater part of the town, which seems at one time to have been very large, is situated on an artificial mound about 150 ft. high. It became the seat of the Ayyūbite sultan Saladin in 1184; was bequeathed in 1233 to the caliphs of Bagdad; was plundered by the Mongols in 1236 and in 1393 by Timur, and was taken in 1732 by the Persians under Nadir Shah. In the 14th century the Christians were almost exterminated. The population, which varies from 2000 to 6000, is chiefly composed of Kurds.
The ruins of another Arbela (Irbid, Beth-Arbel) in Palestine, situated near the west shore of the Sea of Galilee, a little north of its centre, are not in themselves of high interest, but the site is noteworthy through its connexion with the neighbouring caves in the lofty flank of the Wadi Hamam, above which Arbela stood. These caves (called by the Arabs Kulat ibn Ma‘an) are apparently natural, but were enlarged and fortified. They were used by the inhabitants of Arbela as a place of refuge from the army of Bacchides, general of Demetrius III., king of Syria, and were the resort of bandits in the reign of Herod the Great. He laid siege to them, and his men could only gain access to the caves by being let down from above. The caves were also fortified against the Romans by Josephus.
ARBER, EDWARD (1836–), English man of letters, was born in London on the 4th of December 1836. From 1854 to 1878 he was a clerk in the admiralty; from 1878 to 1881 lecturer on English, under Prof. H. Morley, at University College; and from 1881 to 1894 professor of English at Mason College, Birmingham. From 1894 he lived in London as emeritus professor, being also a fellow of King’s College. In 1905 he received the honorary degree of D. Litt. at Oxford. He married in 1869, and had two sons, one of them, E. A. N. Arber, becoming demonstrator in palaeobotany at Cambridge. As a scholarly editor Professor Arber’s services to English literature are memorable. His name is associated particularly with the series of “English Reprints” (1868–1880), by which an accurate text of the works of many English authors, formerly only accessible in rare or expensive editions, was placed within reach of the general public. Among the thirty volumes of the series were Gosson’s School of Abuse, Ascham’s Toxophilus, Tottel’s Miscellany, Naunton’s Fragmenta Regalia, &c. It was followed by the “English Scholar’s Library” (16 vols.) which included the Works (1884) of Captain John Smith, governor of Virginia, and the Poems (1882) of Richard Barnfield. In his English Garner (8 vols. 1877–1896) he made an admirable collection of rare old tracts and poems; in 1899–1901 he issued British Anthologies (10 vols.), and in 1907 began a series called A Christian Library. He also accomplished single-handed the editing of two vast, and invaluable, English bibliographies: A Transcript of the Registers of the Stationers’ Company, 1553–1640 (1875–1894), and The Term Catalogues, 1668–1709; with a number for Easter Term 1711 (1904–1906), edited from the quarterly lists of the booksellers.
ARBITRAGE, the term applied to the system of equalizing prices in different commercial centres by buying in the cheaper market and selling in the dearer. These transactions, or their converse, are mainly confined to stocks and shares, foreign exchanges and bullion; and are for the most part carried on between London and other European capitals and largely with New York. When prices in London are affected by financial or political causes, all other markets are sooner or later influenced, as London is the banking and financial centre for the commerce of the world. It may, however, also occur that some local event of importance initiates a rise or fall in a particular market which must ultimately affect other countries. For instance, a crisis in France would immediately depress all French securities, and by exciting the fears of capitalists would stimulate transfers of funds and raise all the exchanges against France.
In ordinary times those engaged in arbitrage operate with a very small margin of profit. The great improvement in postal, telegraphic and telephonic communication enables operators to close transactions with amazing rapidity, while competition reduces the margin of profit to a minimum. Operations in American stocks and shares are carried on between London and New York on a vast scale, while transactions in African mining shares are undertaken to a considerable extent between London and Paris. The frequent fluctuations in the prices of the latter securities offer a large and fruitful field to bold operators possessed of large resources, while those who have small means often succumb in a commercial crisis. As regards foreign exchange and bullion, arbitrage operators stand on a fairly safe foundation, the fluctuations being slight and involving little or no risk, although they yield a very small margin of profit. Arbitrage operations are for these reasons resorted to frequently by one country in supplying the requirements of another. The slightest advantage in any market is put to profit, and as the margin in ordinary exchange transactions is minute, the ability to operate in this cross fashion renders business possible, which would otherwise be impracticable. To give concrete instances of the working of arbitrage the following may be cited:—
On the 21st of May 1906 the exchange on London in Vienna was telegraphed from that city 24 kronen 434 cents; London, requiring to purchase remittances, found that Antwerp had some Vienna to sell, and arranged to buy there. The transactions worked out as follows:—The direct exchange in Antwerp on London being 25·2512, and Antwerp’s selling price of Vienna being 105 francs for 100 kronen, on dividing 25·2512 by 105 an exchange of 24·0514 was obtained or 12 cent cheaper than the direct exchange between Vienna and London.
Again a portion of the proceeds of the Russian loan of 1906 had to be remitted to Berlin from Paris. Having exhausted local balances in Berlin, Paris on one side, and Berlin on the other, sought to prevent gold shipments from Berlin, and thus cause stringency in that money market. On the 21st of May 1906 Berlin was therefore seeking to sell Paris in London at 81·35 marks for 100 francs, and draw on London for the proceeds at 20·50. This transaction produced a parity between the exchanges of 25·20, which left a small margin in London.
Two instances of arbitrage of stocks are the following:—On the 24th of March 1906, Japanese exchequer bonds, series 2 and 3, were bought in Tokio at 9314 and were paid for by telegraphic transfer at 2438 pence per yen, and were sold in London the same day at 94 for payment on arrival of bonds. It took five weeks for the transmission of the bonds to London, where they were dealt in on the fixed basis of exchange, namely 2412 pence per yen. The London price works out thus:
93·25 × 24·37524·50＝92·77,
to which must be added the loss of interest, as the firm in London paid cash on the 24th of March for the telegraphic transfer, and did not recover payment until the arrival of the bonds from Tokio five weeks later. The following is a computation of the transaction:—
| London price | 92·77 |
| Five weeks at 5 % | ·45 |
| English stamp 12 % on nominal amount | ·50 |
| Insurance 18 % | ·12 |
| ——— | |
| 93·84 |
