IAMBLICHUS IBERIA 141 in Arabic, and the 32d and last in Persian and Turkish. The Greek 'I<5ra is the 9th letter, but 10th numeral sign, and is sometimes subscribed to three vowels, thus, (z, 5, tj. The sound of this letter ia the highest in the vocal scale, the coun- terpart of that of D (00). This sound (not as pronounced in mine, but as in pique or pin) is symbolic, in many words of all languages, of what is little, thin, slim, swift, shrill, light, flit- ting ; this property is mentioned by Plato. It is uttered through a broad but very thin inter- stice, which the tongue leaves between itself and the hard palate by being closely raised to- ward it and pressed against the molar teeth, while the larynx is raised higher than in the formation of any other vocal. Hence it is con- sidered as a palatal by John "VVallis, and as a dental by 0. Amman. Modern Greeks pro- nounce t/, u, 01, v, and m like i ; whereas the ancients made at, , 01, and vt diphthongal, giv- ing to the v a sound like that of the German u, and to the ? that of German a. The Romans used I both as a vowel and as a consonant; since they, as well as the Egyptians, Hebrews, and Greeks, knew no such sounds as the French and English give to J (zh and dzK). The Ital- ian language is impaired in its beauty by the frequency of I in its grammatic formations. In Italian it is also .used for softening the pro- nunciation of e, g, and c. In Spanish manu- scripts an initial I is always written Y, for which I is substituted in printing except where it has the consonant sound, as in yerbo,. In English the diphthongal sound in mine (Ger. mein) is taken for the long sound of I, and its genuine long sound is transferred to E, as in mete. The latter sound, long and short, is written in many different ways, some only in single words ; as in be, lee, sea, people, key, ccecal, fcetus, seize, mien, marine; pin, sieve, forfeit, build, lynx, women, busy, tortoise. Its English long sound is written in 10 ways, as in mile, aisle, lie, height, guide, my, ay, eye, buy, rye. In many words, like bird, stir, I has the sound of U in fur. The consonantal sound of I is represented by J in Italian and in German and other Teutonic languages, and by Y in French, Spanish, Portuguese, English, &c. (See J, and Y.) It was formerly the practice to class words in I and J together in dictionaries and other al- phabetical works ; but this is now nearly aban- doned in all languages. In Latin abbreviations, I stands for invwtus, in, inferi, lulius, lunius, &c. ; I. 0. for iuris consultus, &c. During the lethargy of literature I was used to denote 100 ; but in the Roman numeration it stands for 1. When placed before another numeral it is sub- tracted, and when following is added ; as IV, 4; VI, 6. On French coins it denotes Li- moges as the place of coinage. In music, I is the name of the 9th tie on the neck of the lute and of various old musical instruments. Kirnberger, Fasch, and other organists deno- ted by it a by-tone between a sharp and J flat. lAMBUOIIlS, a Neo-Platonic philosopher, born in Chalcis, Coele-Syria, flourished in the first half of the 4th century A. D. lie was a pupil of Anatolius and Porphyry, and after the death of the latter became the head of the school in Syria. His pupils and contempora- ries styled him the "most divine teacher," and declared him the equal of Plato. Little is known of his life, except that ho made an ex- cursion annually to the hot springs of Gadara, and that miraculous acts were ascribed to him, which reveal the tendency of the Neo-Platonic school at this time to combine the thaumaturge with the philosopher. He had thoroughly studied the systems of Plato and Pythagoras, and the theology and philosophy of the Chal- deans and Egyptians, and his speculations pre- sent a confusion of Hellenic and oriental ideas. The extant books of his work on the Pytha- gorean philosophy have been published under different titles ; the last edition of the 1st (which contains the life of Pythagoras) and 2d is by Kiessling (Leipsic, 1813-'15), of the 3d by Fries (Copenhagen, 1790), of the 4th by Tennulius, &c. (Arnhem, 1668), and of the 7th by Ast (Leipsic, 1817). His work on Egyptian mysteries was published by Thomas Gale (Oxford, 1678). It was translated into English by Taylor the Platonist (Chiswick, 1821), who also translated the "Life of Py- thagoras" (London, 1818). IBARRA, an inland town of Ecuador, capital of the province of Imbabura, 55 m. N. by E. of Quito ; pop. about 14,000. It is delightfully situated in the fertile plain of Imbabura, a short distance N. of the volcano of that name. The streets are wide and regular, and many of the houses well built, generally of adobes. The chief buildings are the governor's residence, the parish church in the public square, the hos- pital, and a beautiful pantheon. There are a college or Latin school and a number of pri- mary and grammar schools in buildings for- merly used as convents. Sugar of excellent quality is manufactured; also cotton and wool- len stuffs, very fine laces, hats, brandy, cordials or liqueurs, and sweetmeats ; and there are extensive salt works. The city was almost totally destroyed by an earthquake in 1868. IBERIA. I. The ancient Greek name of Spain. The aboriginal Iberi, from whom the name was derived, seem to have occupied the entire pen- insula from the strait of Gibraltar to the Py- renees, until the date of the Carthaginian in- vasion. They are also said to have occupied southern Gaul as far as the Rh6ne, where they bordered upon the Ligurians. Ticknor in his "History of Spanish Literature " says : "The Iberians are the oldest of the occupants of the Spanish soil, and the people who, since we can go back no further, must be by us regarded as the original inhabitants of the peninsula. They appear, at the remotest period of which tradi- tion affords us any notice, to have been spread over the whole territory, and to have given to its mountains, rivers, and cities most of the names they still bear ; a fierce race, whose power has never been entirely broken by any
