ISYLLUS, a Greek poet, whose name was rediscovered in the course of excavations on the site of the temple of Asclepius at Epidaurus. An inscription was found engraved on stone, consisting of 72 lines of verse (trochaic tetrameters, hexameters, ionics), mainly in the Doric dialect. It is preceded by two lines of prose stating that the author was Isyllus, an Epidaurian, and that it was dedicated to Asclepius and Apollo of Malea. It contains a few political remarks, showing general sympathy with an aristocratic form of government; a self-congratulatory notice of the resolution, passed at the poet’s instigation, to arrange a solemn procession in honour of the two gods; a paean (no doubt for use in the procession), chiefly occupied with the genealogical relations of Apollo and Asclepius; a poem of thanks for the assistance rendered to Sparta by Asclepius against Philip, when he led an army against Sparta to put down the monarchy. The offer of assistance was made by the god himself to the youthful poet, who had entered the Asclepieum to pray for recovery from illness, and communicated the good news to the Spartans. The Philip referred to is identified with (a) Philip II. of Macedon, who invaded Peloponnesus after the battle of Chaeronea in 338, or (b) with Philip III., who undertook a similar campaign in 218.
Wilamowitz-Möllendorff, who characterizes Isyllus as a “poetaster without talent and a farcical politician,” has written an elaborate treatise on him (Kiessling and Möllendorff, Philosophische Untersuchungen, Heft 9, 1886), containing the text with notes, and essays on the political condition of Peloponnesus and the cult of Asclepius. The inscription was first edited by P. Kavvadias (1885), and by J. F. Baunack in Studien auf dem Gebiete der griechischen und der arischen Sprachen (1886).
ITACOLUMITE, the name given to a variety of porous yellow sandstone or quartzose schist, which occurs at Itacolumi, in the southern portion of Minas Geraes, Brazil. This rock is of interest for two reasons; it is believed to be the source of the diamonds which are found in great numbers in the district, and it is the best and most widely known example of a flexible sandstone. Itacolumite is yellow or pale-brown, and splits readily into thin flat slabs. It is a member of a metamorphic series, being accompanied by clay-slate, mica schist, hornblende schist and various types of ferriferous schists. In many places itacolumite is really a coarse grit or fine conglomerate. Other quartzites occur in the district, and there is some doubt whether the diamantiferous sandstones are always itacolumites and also as to the exact manner in which the presence of diamond in these rocks is to be accounted for. Some authorities hold that the diamond has been formed in certain quartz veins which traverse the itacolumite. It is clear, however, that the diamonds are found only in those streams which contain the detritus of this rock.
On the split faces of the slabs, scales of greenish mica are visible, but in other respects the rock seems to be remarkably pure. If a piece which is a foot or two long and half an inch thick be supported at its ends it will gradually bend by its own weight. If it then be turned over it will straighten and bend in the opposite direction. Flakes a millimetre or two thick can be bent between the fingers and are said to give out a creaking sound. It should be noted that specimens showing this property form only a small part of the whole mass of the rock. Flexible rocks have also been reported and described from North and South Carolina, Georgia, Delhi, and from the north of England (Durham). They are mostly sandstones or quartzites, but the Durham rock is a variety of the magnesian limestone of that district.
Some discussion has taken place regarding the cause of the flexibility. At one time it was ascribed to the presence of thin scales of mica which were believed to permit a certain amount of motion between adjacent grains of quartz. More probably, however it is due to the porous character of the rock together with the interlocking junctions between the sand grains. The porosity allows interstitial movement, while the hinge-like joints by which the particles are connected hold them together in spite of the displacement. These features are dependent to some extent on weathering, as the rocks contain perishable constituents which are removed and leave open cavities in their place, while at the same time additional silica may have been deposited on the quartz grains fitting their irregular surfaces more perfectly together. Most of the known flexible rocks are also fine-grained; in some cases they are said to lose their flexibility after being dried for some time, probably because of the hardening of some interstitial substance, but many specimens kept in a dry atmosphere for years retain this property in a high degree.
(J. S. F.)
ITAGAKI, TAISUKE, Count (1837- ), Japanese statesman, was born in Tosa in 1837. He distinguished himself originally as one of the soldier politicians who contributed so much to the overthrow of feudalism and the restoration of the administrative power to the throne. After taking a prominent part in subduing the resistance offered by a section of the shogun’s feudatories to those changes, he received cabinet rank in the newly organized system. But in 1873 he resigned his portfolio as a protest against the ministry’s resolve to refrain from warlike action against Korea. This incident inspired Itagaki with an apprehension that the country was about to pass under the yoke of a bureaucratic government. He became thenceforth a warm advocate of constitutional systems, though at the outset he does not seem to have contemplated anything like a popular assembly in the English sense of the term, his ideas being limited to the enfranchisement of the samurai class. Failing to obtain currency for his radical propaganda, he retired to his native province, and there established a school (the Risshi-sha) for teaching the principles of government by the people, thus earning for himself the epithet of “the Rousseau of Japan.” His example found imitators. Not only did pupils flock to Tosa from many quarters, attracted alike by the novelty of Itagaki’s doctrines, by his eloquence and by his transparent sincerity, but also similar schools sprang up among the former vassals of other fiefs, who saw themselves excluded from the government. In 1875 no less than seven of these schools sent deputies to hold a convention in Osaka, and for a moment an appeal to force seemed possible. But the statesmen in power were not less favourable to constitutional institutions than the members of the Aikoku Kō-tō (public party of patriots), as Itagaki and his followers called themselves. A conference attended by Kido, Okubo, Inouye, Ito, Itagaki and others entered into an agreement by which they pledged themselves to the principle of a constitutional monarchy and a legislative assembly. Itagaki now accepted office once more. Finding, however, that his colleagues in the administration favoured a much more leisurely rate of progress than he himself advocated, he once more retired into private life (1876) and renewed his liberal propagandism. It is in the nature of such movements to develop violent phases, and the leaders of the Aikoku-sha (patriotic association), as the agitators now called themselves, not infrequently showed disregard for the preservation of peace and order. Itagaki made the mistake of memorializing the government at the moment when its very existence was imperilled by the Satsuma rebellion (1877), and this evident disposition to take advantage of a great public peril went far to alienate the sympathies of the cabinet. Recourse was had to legislation in restraint of free speech and public meeting. But repression served only to provoke opposition. Throughout 1879 and 1880 Itagaki’s followers evinced no little skill in employing the weapons of local association, public meetings and platform tours, and in November 1881 the first genuine political party was formed in Japan under the name of Jiyū-tō, with Itagaki for declared leader. A year later the emperor announced that a parliamentary system should be inaugurated in 1891, and Itagaki’s task might be said to have been accomplished. Thenceforth he devoted himself to consolidating his party. In the spring of 1882, he was stabbed by a fanatic during the reception given in the public park at Gifu. The words he addressed to his would-be assassin were: “Itagaki may perish, but liberty will survive.” Once afterwards (1898) he held office as minister of home affairs, and in 1900 he stepped down from the leadership of the Jiyū-tō in order that the latter might form the nucleus of the Seiyū-kai organized by Count Ito. Itagaki was raised to the nobility with the title of “count” in 1887. From the year 1900 he retired into private life, devoting himself to the solution of socialistic problems. His countrymen justly ascribe to him the fame of having been the first to organize and lead a political party in Japan.