=Ismene.= Daughter of Œdipus and Jocasta, and sister to Antigone. She insists upon sharing her sister’s punishment for having buried their brother Cleon in defiance of their father’s prohibition.—Sophocles’ _Antigone_. =Isme´ne and Isme´nias=, a love story in Greek by Eustathius, in the twelfth century. It is puerile in its delineation of character, and full of plagiarisms; but many of its details have been copied by D’Urfé, Montemayor, and others. Ismenê is the “dear and near and true” lady of Ismenias. ⁂ Through the translation by Godfrey of Viterbo, the tale of _Ismenê and Ismenias_ forms the basis of Gower’s _Confessio Amantis_, and Shakespeare’s _Pericles, Prince of Tyre_. =Isme´no=, a magician, once a Christian, but afterwards a renegade to Islam. He was killed by a stone hurled from an engine.—Tasso, _Jerusalem Delivered_, xviii. (1575). =Isoc´rates= (_The French_), Esprit Fléchier, bishop of Nismes (1632-1710). =Isoline= (3 _syl._), the high-minded and heroic daughter of the French governor of Messi´na, and bride of Fernando (son of John of Procĭda). Isoline was true to her husband, and true to her father, who had opposite interests in Sicily. Both fell victims to the butchery called the “Sicilian Vespers” (March 30, 1282), and Isoline died of a broken heart.—S. Knowles., _John of Procida_ (1840). =Isolt= (_Isolde, Iseult_). There are two ladies connected with Arthurian romance of this name: one, Isolt “the Fair,” daughter of Anguish, king of Ireland; and the other Isolt “or the White Hands,” daughter of Howell, king of Brittany. Isolt _the Fair_ was the wife of Sir Mark, king of Cornwall, but Isolt _of the White Hands_ was the wife of Sir Tristram. Sir Tristram loved Isolt _the Fair_; and Isolt hated Sir Mark, her husband, with the same measure that she loved Sir Tristram, her nephew-in-law. Tennyson’s tale of the death of Sir Tristram is so at variance with the romance, that it must be given separately. He says that Sir Tristram was one day dallying with Isolt _the Fair_, and put a ruby carcanet round her neck. Then, as he kissed her throat: Out of the dark, just as the lips had touched. Behind him rose a shadow and a shriek— “Mark’s way,” said Mark, and clove him thro’ the brain. Tennyson, _The Last Tournament_. (See ISOND.)