In 1607 appeared at Geneva the first Protestant Ital- ian version — that of (Jiovanni Diodati (La Biblia : Cioe I Libri del Vecchio e del Xvoro Testctmenio [sm. folio]). To this are appended brief marginal notes. This ver- sion was made directly from the original texts, and stands in high esteem for fidelity. It has been repeat- edly reprinted. Being in the plain Lucchese dialect, it is especially adapted for circulation among the common people. It is that now adopted by the Bible Societies. Aversion affecting greater elegance, but by no means so faithful, is that of Antonio Martini, archbishop of
ITALIC VERSION
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ITALY
Florence. The N. T. appeared at Turin in 17G9, and the O. T. in 1779, both accompanied with the text of the Vulgate, and with copious notes, chiefly from the fathers. This work received the approbation of pope Pius VI. It is made avowedly from the Vulgate, and is in the pure Tuscan dialect. Repeated editions have appeared; one, printed at Livorno (Leghorn), and those issued by the l^ritish and Foreign Bible Society (Lond. 1813, 1821), want tlic notes, and have consequently been j)lacc(l in the index of prohibited books. To read and circulate this book, though bearing the papal sanction, was, till lately, a grave offense, as the well-known case of the JNIadiai in Florence i)rovcs. — Kitto, s. v. See Veiisions.
Italic Version (Vetus Ilala), the usual name of the old Latin version of the Scriptures, used prior to the days of Augustine and Jerome, and probably made in Northern Africa in the 2d century. The Italic, howev- er, is properly a_ revision of this old Latin version, which was in use in Northern Italy, or around INIilan. Frag- ments of it have been preserved by Blanchini and Saba- tier (Eadie, Kccles. Diet. s. v.). Portions containing the books of Leviticus and Numbers have been published by Lord Ashl)urnham (London, 1870) from an ancient Codex in his library. See Latix Versions.
It'aly ('IraXia, of uncertain etymology), the name of the country of which Rome was the capital (Acts xviii, 2; xxvii, 1, G; Ilcb. xiii, 24). This, like most geographical names, was differently applied at different periods. In the earliest times the name "//«/y" in- cluded only the little peninsula o( Calabria (Strabo, v, 1). The country now called Italy was then inhabited by a number of nations distinct in origin, language, and gov- ernment, such as the Gauls, Ligurians, and Veneti on the north, and the Pelasgi, Sabines, Etrurians, etc., on the south. But, as the power of Rome advanced, these nations were successively annexed to the great state, and the name " Itabf extended also, till it came to be applied to the whole country soutli of the Alps, and Polybius seems to use it in this sense (i, 6; 11,14). — Kitto. For the progress of the history of the word, see Smith's Dictionari/ of Classical Geography, s. v. From the time of the close of the republic it was employed as we employ it now, i. e. in its true geographical sense, as denoting the whole natural peninsida be- tween the Alps and the Straits of Jlessina. In the New Testament it occurs throe, or, indeed, more cor- rectly speaking, four times. In Acts x, 1, the Italian cohort at Cicsarea (»/ cj—Cipa >'/ icaXovftivij 'IraXiKi], A.V. '• Italian band"), consisting, as it doubtless did, of men recruited in Italy, illustrates the military relations of the imperial peninsula with the provinces. See Akmy. In Acts xviii, 2, where we are told of the ex- pulsion of Afpiila and Priscilla with their compatriots " from Italy," we arc reminded of tlie large Jewish pop- ulation which many authorities show that it contained. Acts xxvii, 1, where the beginning of St. Paul's voyage "to Italy' is mentioned, and the whole subsequent nar- rative, illustrate the trade which subsisted between the peninsula and otlier parts of the Mediterranean. Lastly, the words in Ileb. xiii, 24, "They of Italy (ol ottu rfi^ 'IraXiai;) salute you," whatever they may prove for or against this being the region in which the letter was Avritten (and the matter has been strongly argued both w.ays), are interesting as a specimen of the jirogress of Christianity in the West. — Smith. A concise account of the divisions and history of ancient Italy may be found in Anthon's Class. Diet. s. v. Italia. See Rojie.
Italy, JIoDERX, a kingdom in Southern Europe, with an area of 112,852 square miles, and a population in 1870 of 2(),50O,O0O inhabitants. The name originally belonged to the soutliern point of the Apennine ])eninsula alone; at the time of Thucydides it embraced the whole south- ern coast from the river Laus, on the Tyrrhenian Sea, to ^letapontium, on the Sicilian Straits; after the con- O'cst of Tarcntum by the Romans it was extended to
ill the country from the Sicilian Straits to the Arno or Rubicon ; Imally, at the time of Augustus, it came to be I of the whole of the peninsula. In a still wider sense it was, under Constantino, the name of one of tho four chief divisions of the Roman Empire, being subdi- vided into three (according to others into four or two) dioceses — Illyria, Africa, and Italy Proper. But this wider signiticance died out with the dissolution of the Roman Empire, and the name lias since been confined to the Apennine jieninsula. It denoted a country, the people of which gradually coalesced into one nation, united by the same language, literature, and habits, but which never, for any length of time, constituted one po^ litical commonwealth. Not until 1859 did the national aspirations for unity succeed in erecting by far the larger portion of the peninsula into the kingdom of Italy; in 18G(] Venetia was added, and in 1870 the incorporation of Rome completed the structure of national unity.