Ismēnias

, a celebrated musician of Thebes. When he was taken prisoner by the Scythians, A the as the king of the country observed that he liked the music of Is men i as better than the braying of an a . Plutarch , Apophthegm at a Laconic a .――A Theban, bribed by Timocrates of Rhodes, that he might use his influence to prevent the A then i ans and some other Grecian states from a isting Lacedæmon, against which Xerxes was engaged in war. Pausanias , bk. 3 , ch. 9 .――A Theban general, sent to Persia with an emba y by his countrymen. As none were admitted into the king’s presence without prostrating themselves at his feet, Is men i as had recourse to artifice to avoid doing an action which would have proved disgraceful to his country. When he was introduced he dropped his ring, and the motion he made to recover it from the ground was mistaken for the most submi ive homage, and Is men i as had a satisfactory audience of the monarch.――A river of Bœotia, falling into the Euripus, where Apollo had a temple, from which he was called Is men i us . A youth was yearly chosen by the Bœotians to be the priest of the god, an office to which Hercules was once appointed. Pausanias , bk. 9 , ch. 10 .— Ovid , Metamorphoses bk. 2 .— Strabo , bk. 9 .