Chapter Invisibles to Irena of I by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

Invisibles to Irena

Invisibles (1) The Rosicrucians were so called, because they never dared to appear in public.
   (2) The disciples of Osiander, Flaccius, Illiricus, etc., who denied the perpetual visibility of the Church. (Sixteenth century.)

Invulnerability
   Stones taken from the cassan plant, which grows in Panter, renders the possessor invulnerable. (Odoricus in Hakluyt.)
   A dip in the river Styx rendered Achilles invulnerable. (Greek fable.)
   Medea rendered Jason, with whom she had fallen in love, proof against wounds and fire by anointing him with the Promethean unguent. (Greek fable.)
   Siegfried (2 syl.) was rendered invulnerable by anointing his body with dragon's blood. (Nibelungen Lied.)

Iol (pron. Yol). The Danish word for Christmas; the same as Yule.

"The savage Dane
At Iol more deep the mead did drain."
Sir W. Scott: Marmion.

Ionian Mode A species of church music in the key of C major, in imitation of the ancient Greek mode so called.

Ionic Accomplishments Gesture and dress.

Ionic Architecture So called from Ionia, where it took its rise. The capitals are decorated with volutes, and the cornice with dentils. The shaft is fluted; the entablature either plain or embellished.

"The people of Ionia formed their order of architecture on the model of a young woman dressed in her hair, and of an easy, elegant shape; whereas the Doric had been formed on the model of a robust, strong man." - Vitruvius.

Ionic School or Ionic Philosophers. Thales, Anaximander, Anaximenes, Heraclitos, and Anaxagoras were all natives of Ionia, and were the earliest of the Greek philosophers. They tried to prove that all created things spring from one principle; Thales said it was water, Anaximenes thought it was air or gas, Anaxagoras that it was atoms, Heraclitos maintained that it was fire or caloric, while Anaximander insisted that the elements of all things are eternal, for ex nihilo nihil fit.

Iormungandur The serpent that encompasses the whole earth, according to Scandinavian mythology.

Iota or Jot: A very little, the least quantity possible. The iöta [i] is the smallest letter of the Greek alphabet, called the Lacedemonian letter. (Hebrew, Yod [`], the smallest Hebrew letter.)

"This bond doth give thee here no jot of blood."
Shakespeare: Merchant of Venice. iv. l.

Iphicles' Oxen
Quid hoc ad Iphicli boves? What has that to do with the subject in hand? So in L'Avocat the judge had to pull up the shepherd every minute with the question, "Mais, mon ami, revenon à nos moutons." Iphiclos or Iphicles was the possessor of large herds of oxen, and Neleus (2 syl.) promised to give his daughter in marriage to Bias if he would bring him the oxen of Iphicles, which were guarded by a very fierce dog. Melampos contrived to obtain the oxen for his brother, but being caught in the act, he was cast into prison. Melampos afterwards told Astyocha, wife of Iphicles, how to become the mother of children, whereupon Iphicles gave him the coveted herd, and his brother married the daughter of Neleus. The secret told by Melampos to Astyocha was "to steep the rust of iron in wine for ten days, and drink it." This she did, and became the mother of eight sons. (Odyssey, xi.; Iliad, xiii. 23; Apollodoros, i. 9; Pausanias, iv. 36.)
    When Tressilian wanted Dominie Holiday to tell him of a smith who could shoe his horse, the pedagogue kept starting from the point, and Tressilian says to him: -

"Permit me to ask, in your own learned phrase, Quid hoc ad Iphycli boves, what has that to do with my poor nag?" - Sir W. Scott: Kenilworth, chap. ix.

    Another similar phrase is "Quid ad Mercurium? Ti proz tou Ermhu
   Another is "Io Hecuba? ' What has that to do with Hecuba?

Iphicratensians The best trained and bravest of the Greek soldiers were so called from Iphicrates, an Athenian general. (See Fabian Soldiers.)

Iphigeni'a Daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra. Her father having offended Artemis (Diana) by killing her favourite stag, vowed to sacrifice to the angry goddess the most beautiful thing that came into