402 
I S I 
but the thin bark of the plant papyrus, which occafioned 
Prudentius and others to fay they went bare-footed. They 
wore no garments but linen, becaufe Ills was the firft who 
taught mankind the culture of this commodity. 
ISI'CIUM,/. in cookery, a kind of pudding; a fau- 
fage. 
I'SICLE,/ [more properly icicle, from ice ; but ice 
fhould rather be written ife, from 1 yy, Sax.] A pendant 
fhoot of ice : 
The moon of Rome ; chafle as the ijic/e 
That’s curdled by the froft from pureft fnow 
Hanging on Dian’s temple. Shakefpeare. 
The frolls and fnows her tender body fpare; 
Thofe are not limbs for ijicles to tear. Dryden. 
IS'IDORE of PELU'SIUM, a faint in the Greek and 
Roman calendars, was an Egyptian by nation, and one of 
the molt celebrated difciples of St. John Chryfoftom. He 
is fpoken of by Mill next after Nonnius, as being his con¬ 
temporary; and he is faid by Cave to have flourilhed 
about the year 412. He embraced the monadic date at 
Pelufiurn, whence he is fometimes called Pelufiota ; and, 
if we are to believe Nicephorus, became principal of the 
inditution into which he entered. In this place he fpent 
his whole life in the practice of the greated auderities, 
and literary dudy ; and acquired lo high a character for 
fanetity, learning, and eloquence, that the Greeks gave 
him the l'urname of the Famous. He inculcated the higheft 
refpeft for the metnory of Chryfodom ; whence he became 
a condant opponent to Theophilus, the patriarch of Alex¬ 
andria, and for a long-time continued his attacks upon 
Cyril, till that prelate had rendered judice to the chara&er 
of his mader. He was living in the year 433, and' pro¬ 
bably died before the middle of the fifth century. Fa- 
cundus fays, that he wrote two thoufand epillles for the 
edification of the church; Suidas fays, three thoufand 
explanatory of the fcriptures. There are dill extant two 
thoufand and twelve of them, in five books; but they are 
mod of them very fhort, and not a few of them coincident, 
treating concerning the fame queftion, and in a fimilar 
manner. Dr. Modieim remarks on them, that, though 
fhort, they are admirably written, and are equally to be 
commended for the folidity of the matter and the purity 
and elegance of their dyle. He alfo adds, that they dis¬ 
cover more piety, genius, erudition, and wifdom, than 
are to be found in the voluminous productions of many 
other writers, and cad a comiderable degree of light upon 
feveral parts of fcripture. The learned Lardner concludes 
his account of this author by informing us, that in the 
Primitive Gottingenfes, publilhed at Hanover in 1738, 4to. 
“ Dr. Heumann has a dilfertation on Ilidore of Pelufiurn, 
which well deferves to be read. He reclifies divers mif- 
takes of learned moderns; and argues, that mod of his 
letters are fititious, and not a real correfpondence : and 
he feems to have proved what he advances.” The fird 
three books of thefe Letters were tranllated into Latin 
by James de Billy, and printed after his death in Greek 
and Latin, at Paris, in 1585, with a collection of his 
learned observations, not only on St. Ifidcre, but on other 
Greek fathers. Conrad Ritterhulius added a fourth book 
to thefe, which, with his own numerous notes, he pub- 
lilhed at Heidelberg, in 1605, folio. To the preceding 
the jefuit Andrew Scott added a fifth book, illudrated 
with notes, fcholia, See. from manufcripts in the Vatican 
library, which he publilhed at Frankfort in 1629, folio. 
The bed edition of the whole was publilhed at Paris, in 
Greek and Latin, 1638, folio. 
IS'IDORE of SEV'ILLE, another faint in the Roman 
calendar, and a didinguilhed Spanilh prelate towards the 
clofe of the fixth and in the former part of the feventh 
century, was the fon of Severianus governor of Cartha- 
gena, and the brother of Leander bilhop of Seville, who 
took upon him the care of his education. Upon the 
death of Leander, in the year 595, he fucceeded him in 
I S I 
the fee of that' city, which he governed for more than 
forty years, with a high reputation for learning, fluidity, 
and beneficent actions. He died in the year 636. He 
was the author of, numerous works, \Yhich are chiefly 
compilations, among which are, 1. A Chronicle ; from the 
Beginning of the World to the Year 626. 2. A Treatife 
on Ecclefiaftical Writers, in thirty-three Chapters. 3. 
Sentences, in three Books. 4. Commentaries upon the 
hiltoYical Books of the Old Tedament. 5. Allegories in 
the Scriptures of the Old and New Tedament. 6. A 
Treatife on Eccleliadical Offices, in two Books. 7. A 
Book of Proems, or Prolegomena to the Scriptures of the 
Old and New Tedament. 8. Origins, or Etymologies, in. 
twenty Books, which were left unfiniffied, and pitbliffied 
after his death by Bratilio, bifhop of Saragolfa; and many 
other grammatical, theological, and hidorical, pieces, which 
the reader may find enumerated in Cave and Dupin. The 
characteridics of his productions are learning and pedan¬ 
try, more than judgment, tade, or accuracy. Molheim 
clalfes him among thofe authors who collected together a 
heap, rather than a fydem, of theological opinions, from 
the writings of the ancient doCtors, the decrees of coun¬ 
cils, and the holy fcriptures; and who gave rife to that 
fpecies of divinity, which the Latins afterwards difiin- 
gui(hed by the name of pofitive theology. Yet the fathers 
of the eighth council of Toledo give this illudrious tefti- 
mony to his knowledge : “ The excellent doCfor of our 
age, Ifidore, the greated ornament of the Catholic church, 
the lad of the fathers in point of time, but who may, for 
his learning, be compared to the fird, the mod learned, 
men of pad ages.” Although this commendation be hy¬ 
perbolical, yet it mud be confefled that Ifidore was a man 
of merit, and that Braulio was in the right in faying, that 
“ God feemed to have given him to Spain, and railed him 
up at that time, to bring the monuments of the ancients 
into notice, and to hinder men from falling into extreme 
barbarifm and rudicity.”—This Ifidore is fometimes called 
the Younger, to diftinguifh him from Ifidore, bifliop of Cor¬ 
dova in the fifth century, who wrote Commentaries on 
the two Books of Kings, which he dedicated to Paul Gro- 
fius, the difciple of St. Augudine. The bed edition of 
the works of this St. Ifidore, was publilhed at Paris in 1601, 
by father James du Breuil, a Benediftine monk, in folio. 
IS'IDORE MERCA'TOR, or Pecca'tor, the name 
given to the author of a collection of canons, which for a 
long time were attributed to Ifidore of Seville, is fuppofed 
to have lived towards the end of the eighth century. This 
collection contains the pretended decretals of more than 
fixty popes, from St. Clement to pope Siricius, and the 
decrees and epidles of others from Siricius to Zachary, 
who died in 752; which are followed by the canons of 
the councils which were held in Greece, Africa, France, 
and Spain, to the year 683. Riculph, archbilhop of Mentz, 
brought this collection from Spain, and caufed feveral co¬ 
pies of it to be difperfed in France, about the year 790 
or 800. It includes many decretal letters attributed to 
popes Clement, Anicetus, Evariltus, and others to St. 
Sylvelter, which are marked by the ftrongeft charaCteriltics 
of forgery. They make thofe popes adopt the bad ftyle 
of the eighth century ; the dates are almoft all incorreCf; 
and they abound in the groffelt hiftorical, geographical, 
and chronological, errors. At the time when they made 
their appearance, the power and influence of the Roman 
pontiffs, in civil affairs, had arifen to an enormous height, 
through the favour and prote&ion of the princes in whole 
caufe they had employed the influence which fuperftition 
had given them over the minds of the people. Elated 
with their overgrown profperity, they had endeavoured 
to eftablilh it as an incontrovertible truth, that the bilhop 
of Rome was confcituted and appointed by Jefus Chrilt 
fupreme legiflator and judge of the church univerfal ; and 
that, therefore, the bilhops derived all their authority 
from the Roman pontiff, nor could the councils determine 
any thing without his permilfion and confent. In. order 
.to 
