committed suicide by hanging. There is evidently some analogy, in both form and meaning, between the Latin term oscilla and the Greek dokihia, and the common derivations given in either case cannot be correct. (Consult the etymology given by Servius, ad Virg., l. c.) accident that befell him. We have some fragments | garded as a kind of funeral offering to those who had of his writings remaining, an edition of which was given by Gumpert, with a preface by Grüner, Vimar., 1794, 8vo. Asclepiades was the founder of a school, which enjoyed great celebrity among the ancients. Stephanus of Byzantium gives the names of several of his pupils (s. v. Δυρράχιον). A scholar of his, not mentioned by the latter, namely, Themisto, was the chief of the sect of the Methodists, as they were termed. (Biogr. Univ., vol. 2, p. 564. Sprengel, Hist. Med., 2, p. 3, seqq.) ASCLEPIODORUS, I. an Athenian painter, contemporary with Apelles, who praised the former for the symmetry of his productions, and yielded him the palm in delineating the relative distances of objects. Mnaso, a tyrant of antiquity, employed him to paint the twelve deities (Dii majores), and paid him 300 minas (over $5277) for each. (Pliny, 35, 10.)-II. A statuary, one of those, according to Pliny (34, 8), who excelled in representing the philosophers. (Sillig, Dict. Art.. s. v.) ASCLEPIODOTUS, a native of Alexandrea, the disciple of Jacobus in medicine and of Proclus in eclectic philosophy, in both of which he acquired a distinguished reputation. Damascius gave a long account of him in the Life of Isidorus, of which Suidas and Photius have preserved fragments. In medicine he surpassed his instructer, and is said to have re-established the use of white hellebore, with which he made some very successful cures. He was well acquainted also with the virtues of plants, and with the history of animals; and made great progress also in the musical art. Some wonderful stories are likewise related of him, which would seem to place him in a class of Thaumaturgists. He wrote a commentary on the Timæus of Plato, which is now lost. (Photius, Cod., 242, vol. 2, p. 343, seqq.) ASCOLIA, a festival in honour of Bacchus, celebrated by the Athenian husbandmen, who generally sacrificed a goat to the god, because that animal is a great enemy to the vine. They made a bottle or bag with the skin of the victim, which they filled with wine, smearing at the same time the outer surface with oil. On this they endeavoured to leap with one foot, and he that first fixed himself was declared victor, and received the bottle as a reward. This was called doкwhiε, жapù TOÙ ¿πì Tòv úσкòv üÂÂεØÐαi, from leaping upon the bottle, whence the name of the festival is derived. It was also introduced into Italy under the name of Vinalia, on which occasion the rustics put on hideous masks of bark, and invoked Bacchus in joyful strains. They also hung up, at the same time, little images on a lofty pine. These images they called Oscilla. (Schol. ad Aristoph., Plut., 1129.-Virg., Georg., 2, 387, seqq.) Spence gives engravings from several gems, on which figures are represented, called oscilla or alúpa. They are found also in the paintings at Herculaneum, and in Mercurialis (Art. Gymn., 3, 8, p. 217). Spence attributes the origin of this rite to the popular belief, that when Bacchus turned his face towards the fields, their fertility was assured. Hence they exposed these small figures to the winds, that they might be free to turn in any direction. Some writers think that the oscilla were the same with phallic symbols (compare Serv. ad Virg., l. c.), but this opinion now finds few, if any, supporters. (Turneb., Ado., 3, 20. — Rolle, Recherches sur le culte de Bacchus, vol. 1, p. 312.) The Athenians had their festival of oscilla, which they termed alúpat, and which was said to have been instituted in memory of Erigone; and hence Varro (ap. Serv. ad En., 12, 603) gives another singular explanation to the custom of suspending oscilla. According to him, a rope was suspended at either extremity from a beam or tree, and in this way a swing was formed, to which a little image or oscillum was suspended. The movement of this swing to and fro, with the image attached, was re- | ASCONIUS Pediānus, a grammarian, born at Patavium, a little before the commencement of our era (Madvig, de Pediani Comment. Disp. Crit., p. 16), and who is known to modern times by his commentary on the orations of Cicero. The statement of Philargyrius, that Asconius had heard Virgil in his youth, deserves no credit whatever (ad Virg., Eclog., 3, 106), since it is contradicted in effect by the remark of St. Jerome, who informs us that Asconius, in the 73d year of his age, and in the 7th of Vespasian's reign, suffered the loss of his sight, but still lived for twelve years after this. (Hieron., in Chronic. Euseb., ad Olymp. ccxiii., 3.) Just as little credit is due to the supposition of there having been two individuals named Asconius, an earlier one, who was the friend of Livy and Virgil, and wrote a commentary on Cicero's orations, and a later one, who was an historical writer. All antiquity knows but one Asconius Pedianus. (Jos. Scal., Animadv. ad Euseb., Chron., p. 183, ed. 1.-p. 200, ed. 2.)-Few particulars have reached us relative to Asconius. He composed a work in defence of Virgil, now lost (Donat. in Vit. Virg., 16, 64), and another on the life of Sallust, which also has not reached us. He wrote likewise a commentary on the Orations of Cicero, for the use of his own son (ad Orat. pro Milon., 6), some portions of which have reached our day. The importance of these makes us feel the more sensibly the loss of the other parts. (Madvig, p. 72, seqq.) We have fragments of the commentary on nine orations of Cicero: the Divinatio, three of those against Verres, the oration for Cornelius, the oration in tog. candid., that against Piso, and those for Scaurus and for Milo. The character of this commentary is in general historical, and Asconius appears in it as a man well acquainted with the history and earlier constitution of Rome. Frequently he is our only authority for certain facts, since the sources from which he has drawn, in such cases, no longer exist. His Latinity is tolerably pure and correct, and comparatively free from the barbarisms of a declining tongue; always excepting the commentaries on the Verrine orations, which are thought by the learned to have been the work of a later writer, who lived shortly after Servius and Donatus, and who probably derived his materials from some commentary of Asconius, now lost. It is to this same later writer, and not to Asconius, that Niebuhr assigns the scholia found by Mai, in 1841, in the Ambrosian palimpsest. (Nicb. ad Front., Op., ed. Beroin., p. xxxiv.-Bahr, Gesch. Röm. Lit., vol. 1, p. 539, seqq.) ASCRA, a town of Boeotia, situate on a rocky summit belonging to Helicon. It could boast of considerable antiquity, having been founded, as the poet Hegesinous, quoted by Pausanias (9, 29), asserts, by Ephialtes and Otus, sons of Aloeus. What rendered the place, however, most remarkable, was its having been the residence of Hesiod. The poet was not a native of Cyme, but his father came from Cyme to Ascra, his native city, as he himself informs us (Op. et D., v. 635, seqq.). He does not give us a very favourable idea of the climate of the place. From his birthplace Ascra, Hesiod is commonly called the As crean bard. Pausanias reports, that in his day only one tower remained to mark the site of Ascra (9, 29). Dr. Clark imagined that the village of Zagora represents Ascra; but Sir W. Gell is inclined to identify it with an ancient tower he observed on a lofty, bare, conical rock; which agrees with the topography of Strabo, who places it to the right of Helicon, and about forty stadia from Thespiæ. Greece, vol. 2, p. 207, seqq.) (Cramer's Ancient ASCULUM, I. Piccrum, a city of Picenum, so named to distinguish it from the Asculum of Apulia. It was situate in the interior, on the river Truentus, and some distance to the southwest of Firmum. Strabo describes it as a place of great strength, surrounded by walls and inaccessible heights. It was the first city to declare against the Romans when the Social war broke out, and its example was followed by the whole of Picenum. Aзculum sustained, in the course of that war, a long and memorable siege against Pompey, who finally, however, compelled the place to surrender, and caused several of the chiefs of the rebels to be beheaded. (Liv., Epit., 76.. Vell. Paterc., 2, 21. Florus, 3, 18.-Appian, Bell. Civ., 1, 38.—Plut., Vit. Pomp.) We learn from Pliny (3, 13) that Asculum was a Roman colony, and regarded as the chief city of the province. It is now Ascoli. II. Apulum, a city of Apulia, to which the epithet Apulum was attached to distinguish it from Asculum in Picenum. It was situate in the interior of Daunia, near the confines of Samnium, and is supposed to be represented by the modern town of Ascoli, which is about six miles to the southwest of Ordona. It was under the walls of this place that Pyrrhus encountered a second time the Roman army, after having gained a signal victory in Lucania. The action was attended with no advantage to either side. (Florus, 1, 18. Plut., Vit. Pyrrh. Frontin., Strateg., 1, 3.) Frontinus, who classes it among the colonies of Apulia, terms it Ausclum. This is probably the correct orthography, as may be seen from coins, the inscription on which is AYCAION, and AYCKA. (Cramer's Ancient Italy, vol. 2, p. 288.) ASDRUBAL. Vid. Hasdrubal. Asi, or As (in the old Scandinavian Esir or Esir, the plural form of As), a general appellation given, in the mythology of northern Europe, to the deities that came in with Odin from the East. Including this latter divinity they were twelve in number, according to some, thirteen (Magnusen, Boreal. Mythol. Lex., p. 720), and there was the same number of female deities or Asynia. While some are inclined to see in the Asi merely an Asiatic colony, wandering in from the vicinity of the Don, others, with much more propriety, find in the name a curious chain of connexion between the early religions of the Eastern and European worlds. The term As, in fact, appears to have been an old appellation for deity, and meets us in numerous quarters, under various though not very dissimilar forms. Thus, in the Coptic, Os is said to signify "Lord" or "Deity;" in the old Persian, good deities or spirits were called Ized, while by Berosus the gods are termed Isi. (Kanne, System der Ind. Myth., p. 228.) Again, in Sanscrit we have Isha, "a lord" or "master," the feminine of which, Ishana, reminds us at once of Asynia, a female deity, or Asa. Among the ancient Gauls, the supreme Being was denominated Esus or Hesus, a name that connects the Druidical worship with the East; while among many nations of Finnish origin, in Asiatic Russia, we have such terms for deity as Eis, Ess, Essi, and Oss. (Magnusen, p. 719, note.Heyd, Etymol. Versuch., Tubingen, 1824.) It is curious to connect with this the account given by the Roman writers, that in the Etrurian language Esar signified" God." (Sueton., Aug., 97.Dio Cass., 56, 29. Hesych., s. v. Aloot. Müller, Etrusk., vol. 2, p. 81.) We may compare with this the old augural doctrine among the Etrurian priesthood, that the gods had their home or dwelling in the north, by which we see Scandinavia and Etruria brought singularly into contact. (Serv. ad Æn., 2, 693. Dion. Hal., 2, 5.-Plut., Quæst. Rom., 78.-Müller, Etrusk., vol. 2, p. 126.)-Again, the traditions in the north of Europe are uniform, that the Asi came in from the east or rather southeast, and mention is made of a country called Asa-land, and its metropolis Asgard, in the vicinity, or to the east, of the Tana's, from which Odin and the As are said to have come into Europe. (Saga Olafs Trygg. Ed. Skalh., 2, 49. Havn., 2, 183. Append. Ed. Jun., ed. Rask., p. 354.-Magnusen, p. 287, 293.) We see here, at once, the striking analogy between Asen-land and Asia, and may easily suppose that by the former is meant merely a part of the latter, and that the name Asia itself means nothing more than the "land of the Asi," or "the Holy Land" (“Asa, Asia, solum divinum, sacra terra.". Hickes, Thes. Ling. Septentr., 1, p. 193). As Odin and Buddha are the same deity (vid. Odinus), the worship of the Asi is to be referred to the remote East as its native home, and Asgard near the Tanaïs must be regarded as merely one of many sacerdotal stations where this worship was observed, and whence colonies were sent forth. Traces of the root from which these names are derived may be found in several geographical appellations connected with the country around the Tanais. Thus we have Caucasus (Cauc-asos, i. e., the mountain of the Asi), the river Phasis (Ph-asis, i. e., the holy stream), the name Amazonius, sometimes applied to the Tanaïs (Am-azonius, i. e., Am-azon), and we find it retained even in the modern term Az-oph. (Ritter, Vorhalle, p. 465.)-Many other curious analogies present themselves. Pausanias (3, 2, 45) makes mention of an ancient city in Laconia, named Las (L-as), which had succeeded a still earlier city of the same name, that had stood on Mount Asia (As-ia), and amid the ruins of this latter place were the remains of a temple of Minerva Asia (As-ia, i. e., Asynia). Pausanias adds that Minerva Asia had also a temple among the Colchians. We may compare with this the Doric form of the name of the goddess, as appearing in Aristophanes, 'Acavā (Asana, i. e., Asa-na or Asynia). There was also in Crete a very ancient sanctuary of Jupiter Asius. (Steph. Byzant., p. 181, ed. Berk.) The Greek adjective votos (hos-ios), “sacred," may be traced to the same source, as well as the earlier form of the Latin term ara, "an altar," namely, asa (as-a.-Aul. Gell., 4, 3). We may even carry our speculations into the Hebrew tongue, and connect with our subject the term Az, “mighty” or strong," and the appellation Azazel (Asa-el), given to an idol or false deity. (Consult Gesen., Lex. Hebr., s. v.)—If an etymology be sought for the name Asi, we may find it in the Sanscrit verb as, "to be," the participle of which, namely, sant, is analogous to the Greek v, and reminds us of Zúv, one of the old Greek names for Jupiter or the Supreme Being. The Asi, ther., are the "Beings," kar' ¿¿oxýv. 66 ASIA, I. one of the three parts of the ancient world, separated from Europe by the Ægean, the Euxine, the Palus Mæotis, the Tanais or Don, and the Dwina; from Africa by the Red Sea and Isthmus of Suez. Asia is in its extent the largest continent, and in its situation the most favoured by nature. Its square contents amount to 14,000,000 miles. In comparison with other countries it has advantages, and especially over Africa. These advantages consist in the character of its broken shore, the fruitful islands which lie around it, its numerous gulfs that enter far into the land, its large rivers, and its few deserts in the interior. There are two principal chains of mountains extending from west to east. In the north, the Altai, which in antiquity was still without a name; in the south, the range of Taurus. Branches of both are the Caucasus, between the Black and Caspian Seas; the Imaus, along the golden desert (the desert of Cobi); the Paropamisus, on the northern side of India; the Uralian chain, in antiquity still without a name, unless these are the Rhiphæan mountains of the ancients. Of the chief rivers, four flow from 1 north to south; the Euphrates and Tigris into the Bochart, in modern days, has traced the appellation to Persian Gulf, the Indus and Ganges into the Indian Asi, a Phoenician word according to him, signifying Sea: two flow from east to west, the Oxus, now Gi-"a middle part," or something intermediate, and hence hon, and the laxartes, now Sirr. Asia may therefore be divided into Northern Asia, the country north of the Altai range: Middle Asia, the country between the ranges of Altai and Taurus: and Southern Asia, the country south of Taurus.-Northern Asia lies between 76° and 50° of latitude (Asiatic Russia and Siberia). This in antiquity was very little known, yet not entirely unknown. Dark but true traditions respecting it may be found in the father of history, Herodotus-Middle Asia, the country between 50° and 40° north latitude, comprehending Scythia and Sarmatia Asiatica (the Great Tartary and Mongolia), is almost one immeasurable unproductive prairie, without agriculture and forests, and, therefore, a mere pasture-land. The inhabitants leading pastoral lives (Nomades), are without cities and fixed places of abode; and therefore, instead of political union, have merely the constitution of tribes.-Southern Asia, comprising the lands from 40° north latitude to near the equator, is entirely different in its character from the countries of Middle Asia: it is, both in soil and climate, possessed of advantages for agriculture, and, in comparison with the other countries of the earth, it is rich in the costliest and most various products.-The early commerce of the world, especially of the east, was originally through Asia. The natural places of depôt in the interior were on the banks of the large rivers; on the Oxus, in Bactria; on the Euphrates, at Babylon. The natural places of depôt on the coast were the western coast of Asia Minor and Phoenicia, where arose the series of Grecian and Phoenician cities-Asia from the first, as at present, contained in its interior empires of immense extent, by which they are distinguished from those of cultivated Europe, as well as by their constitution. They often underwent revolutions, but their form remained the same. For this causes must have existed, lying deep and of wide influence, and which, notwithstanding these frequent revolutions, still continued to operate, and always gave to the new empires of Asia the organization of the old ones. The great revolutions of Asia (with the exception of that of Alexander) were occasioned by the numerous and powerful nomadic nations which occupied a great part of that continent. Compelled by accident or necessity, they left their places of abode, and founded new empires, while they passed through and subjected the fruitful and cultivated countries of Southern Asia, until, unnerved by luxury and effeminacy, consequent on the change in their habits of life, they in their turn were in like manner subjected. From this common origin may be explained in part the great extent, in part the rapid rise and the usually short continuance of these empires. The development of their national form of government must, for the same reason, have had great resemblance; and the constant reappearance of despotism in them is to be explained partly from the rights of conquerors, and partly from their great extent, which rendered a government of satraps necessary. To this we must add, that the custom of polygamy, prevailing among all the great nations of inner Asia, ruined the mutual relations and obligations of domestic life, and thus rendered a good constitution impossible. For a domestic tyrant is formed instead of a father of a family, and despotism at once gains its foundation in private life. (Heeren's History of the States of Antiquity, p. 14, seqq., Bancroft's transl.) As early as the time of Herodotus, we find the name of Asia employed to designate this vast continent. The Greeks, as we learn from that historian, pretended that it was derived from Asia, the wife of Iapetus. The Lydians, on the other hand, deduced the name from Asius, one of their earliest kings. (Herod., 4, 45.) he makes Asia mean the continent placed between meant by Asia in the legal sense of the term as employed by the Romans, and is the same with what the Greek writers of the Roman era call Asia Proper, or ἡ ἰδίως καλουμένη 'Ασία (Strab., 626), in which sense we find the word Asia used in the New Testament. (Acts, 2, 9.) In another passage, however (Acts, 16, 6), we find a distinction made between Phrygia and Asia. So, again, in the Book of Revelations, which is addressed to the seven churches of Asia, the name appears to be confined to that portion of ancient Lydia which contained Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamus, Sardis, &c. (Cellarius, de Sept. Eccles. Asia, inter Dissert. Acad., p. 412. - Cramer's Asia Minor, vol. 1, p. 3.)-III. One of the Oceanides. She married Iapetus, and became by him the mother of Atlas, Prometheus, Epimetheus, and Menatius. (Apollod., 1, 2.-Heyne, ad loc.) ASIA PALUS (the 'Aotos λepov of Homer), a marsh in Lydia, formed by the river Cayster, near its mouth. It was the favourite haunt of swans and other waterfowl. (Hom., Il., 2, 470.-Virg., Georg., 1, 483.Id., Æn., 7, 699.—Ovid, Met., 5, 386.) Near it was another marsh or lake, formed in like manner by the river, and called Selinusia Palus. Both belonged to the temple of Ephesus, and were a source of considerable revenue. (Cramer's Asia Minor, vol. 1, p. 361.) ASIANA, one of the later divisions of Asia Minor. Towards the decline of the Roman empire, Asia Minor was divided into two dioceses or provinces, called Asiana and Pontica, each governed by a lieutenant named Vicarius. (Notit. Imper., 1.—Cod. Theod., 5, tit. 2.) ASIATICUS, I. the surname of one of the Scipios (Lucius Cornelius), obtained by him for his conquests in Asia. (Vid. Scipio V.)-II. A senator, put to death by Claudius, on a false charge made at the instigation of Messalina, who was desirous of seizing upon the gardens of Lucullus, which were in his possession. (Tac., Ann., 11, 1, seqq.) ASINĂRUS, a river of Sicily, running into the sea to the north of Helorum. It is now called Fiume di Noti, from the little town of Noto on its northern bank. (Mannert, Geogr., vol. 9, pt. 2, p. 240.) ASINE, I. a town of Argolis, northwest of Hermione, on the Sinus Argolicus, or Gulf of Nauplia. -II. Another in Messenia, southwest of Messene, founded by the inhabitants of the former place, when driven from their city by the Argives. ASINIUS, I. Pollio. (Vid. Poilio.)-II. Gallus, son of Asinius Pollio, was consul A.U.C. 748. He married Vipsania, the repudiated wife of Tiberius, a step which gave rise to a secret enmity on the part of the latter towards him. He starved himself to death, either voluntarily, or, what is more probable, having been ordered by the emperor to destroy himself. Asinius published in his lifetime a parallel between his father and Cicero, in which he assigned to the former a marked superiority over the latter. (Tac., Ann., 1, 76.—Id. ib., 6, 23.—Plin., Ep., 7, 4.)-III. Quadratus, an historian of the third century of our era, who wrote a history of the Greeks, Romans, and Parthians, down to the time of Philip the Arabian, under whose reign he lived. IV. Capito, a grammarian, who wrote a book of Epistles. Some read Sinnius for Asinius. (Aul. Gell., 5, 20.) ASIUS, I. a son of Dymas, brother of Hecuba. He assisted Priam in the Trojan war, and was slain by Idomeneus. (Hom., Il., 2, 352. Id. ib, 12, 15.Id. ib., 13, 384.)—II. Son of Imbracus, accompanied Eneas to Italy. (Virg., Æn., 10, 122.)-III. A name given to a mythic personage in the legends of Lydia. Consult remarks under the articles Asi and Asia.--IV. A poet of Samos, who wrote about the genealogy of ancient heroes and heroines. (Pausan., 7,4.) ASIUS CAMPUS, a place near the Cayster, and in the vicinity of the Asia Palus. (Vid. Asia Palus.) ASOPIADES, a patronymic of acus, son of Ægina a daughter of Asopus. (Ovid, Met., 7, 484.) ASOPIS, I. a daughter of the Asopus. II. A daughter of Thespius, mother of Mentor. (Apollod., 2, 7.) Asõpus, I. a river of Thessaly, rising in Mount Eta, and falling into the Sinus Maliacus. It flows through a gorge in the mountain enclosing the Trachinian plain. (Herod., 7, 199. Strab., 428.)—II. A river of Boeotia, rising in Mount Citharon near Platæa, and flowing into the Euripus. It separated the territories of Platæa and Thebes, and also traversed in its course the whole of Southern Boeotia. Though generally a small and sluggish stream, yet after heavy rains it could not easily be forded. (Thucyd., 2, 5.) It was on the banks of the Asopus that the battle of Platea was fought. (Herod., 9, 43.) This river still retains the name of Asopo. The plain along its northern bank was called Parasopias. (Cramer's Ancient Greece, vol. 2, p. 217.)-III. A river of Achaia, rising in the Argolic mountains, on the frontiers of Arcadia, near Cyllene, and falling into the Corinthian gulf a little below Sicyon. The part of the Sicyonian territory which it watered was called Asopia. (Strab., 382. - Pausan., 2, 5.) On its banks were celebrated the games which Adrastus instituted in honour of Apollo. (Pind., Nem., 9, 20.) The neighbouring people believed that this river was none other than the Mæander of Asia Minor, which, emptying into the sea near Miletus, passed under the waters of the Mediterranean, and re-appeared in Achaia as the Asopus. (Pausan., i. c.)—İV. A son of Oceanus, or, according to others, of Neptune, and god of the last-mentioned stream. His daughter Egina was carried off by Jupiter, and the father, on seeking her, was struck by a thunderbolt, and driven back to his watery abode. Hence, say some of the ancient mythologists, coals were seen borne along on the surface of the Asopus. (Apollod, 3, 12, 5. — Heyne, ad lcc.) ASPARAGIUM, a town of Illyricum, on the southern bank of the Apsus (or Ergent), about 34 miles south of Dyrrachium. (Cæs., Bell. Civ., 4, 13.) ASPASIA, I. a celebrated female, a native of Miletus, which place was early and long renowned as a school for the cultivation of female graces. She came as an adventurer to Athens, in the time of Pericles, and, by the combined charms of her person, manners, and conversation, completely won the affections and esteem of that distinguished statesman. Her station had freed her from the restraints which custom laid on the education of the Athenian matron; and she had enriched her mind with accomplishments which were rare even among men. Her acquaintance with Pericles seems to have begun while he was still united to a lady of high birth, before the wife of the wealthy Hipponicus. We can hardly doubt that it was Aspasia who first disturbed this union, although it is said to have been dissolved by mutual consent. But, after parting from his wife, who had borne him two sons, Pericles attached himself to Aspasia by the most intimate relation which the laws permitted him to contract with a foreign woman: and she ac quired an ascendency over him which soon became notorious, and furnished the comic poets with an inexhaustible fund of ridicule, and his enemies with a ground for serious charges. The Samian war was ascribed to her interposition on behalf of her birthplace; and rumours were set afloat, which represented her as ministering to the vices of Pericles by the most odious and degrading of offices. There was perhaps as little foundation for this report as for a similar one in which Phidias was implicated (Plut., Vit. Pericl., c. 13); though among all the imputations whom the Persians called Anaitis. This station re quired her to pass the rest of her days in chastity. (Plut., Vit. Artax.) Justin, however, says that Artaxerxes made her one of the priestesses of the sun. (Just., 10, 1.-Elian, V. H., 12, 1.—Plut., Vit. Artax. ASPENDUS, a city of Pamphylia, lying for the most part on a rocky precipice, on the banks of the river Eurymedon. (Arrian, 1, 27.-Zosim., 5, 16.—Scylax, p. 39.) Strabo makes it to have been well-peopled, and founded by an Argive colony.-On this latter head, however, Scylax is silent. The city of Aspendus was a flourishing place even before the expedition of the younger Cyrus. (Xen., Anab., 1, 2, 12.) It was here that the Athenian patriot Thrasybulus terminated his life. Being off the coast, he levied contributions from the Aspendians, who, seizing an opportunity when he was on shore, surprised him in his tent at night, and slew him. (Xen., Hist. Gr., 4, 8. - Corn. Nep., Thrasyb., c. 4.) Hierocles (p. 682) makes mention of Aspendus under the name of Trimupolis, where we must read Primupolis. The site of Aspendus has not yet been explored, but it would easily be discovered by ascending the banks of the Eurymedon. (Mannert, Geogr., vol. 6, pt. 2, p. 125.) ASPHALTĪTES LACUS. Vid. Mare Mortuum. ASPIS, I. a town of the Contestani, in Hispania Tarraconensis, northwest of Ilicis, which lay above Carthago Nova on the coast. It is now Aspe, a village in Valencia.-II. An island on the coast of Ionia, opposite Lebedus. It was called by some Arconnesus. (Strab., 643.) The modern name is Carabash.—III. A town of Africa Propria. (Vid. Clupea.) brought against Pericles, this is that which it is the most difficult clearly to refute. But we are inclined to believe that it may have arisen from the peculiar nature of Aspasia's private circles, which, with a bold neglect of established usage, were composed not only of the most intelligent and accomplished men to be-Xen, Anab., 1, 10.-Athen., 15, p. 576.) found at Athens, but also of matrons, who, it is said, were brought by their husbands to listen to her conversation. This must have been highly instructive as well as brilliant, since Plato did not hesitate to describe her as the preceptress of Socrates, and to asGert that she both formed the rhetoric of Pericles, and composed one of his most admired harangues, the celebrated funeral oration. (Plat., Menex., 4-vol. 6, p. 148, ed. Bekk.) The innovation, which drew women of free birth and good condition into her company for such a purpose, must, even where the truth was understood, have surprised and offended many; and it was liable to the grossest misconstruction. And if her female friends were sometimes seen watching the progress of the works of Phidias, it was easy, through his intimacy with Pericles, to connect this fact with a calumny of the same kind. There was another rumour still more dangerous, which grew out of the character of the persons who were admitted to the society of Pericles and Aspasia. No persons were more welcome at the house of Pericles than such as were distinguished by philosophical studies, and especially by the profession of new philosophical tenets. The mere presence of Anaxagoras, Zeno, Protagoras, and other celebrated men, who were known to hold doctrines very remote from the religious conceptions of the vulgar, was sufficient to make a circle in which they were familiar pass for a school of impiety. Such were the materials out of which the comic poet Hermippus, laying aside the mask, formed a criminal prosecution against Aspasia. His indictment included two heads: an offence against religion, and that of corrupting Athenian women to gratify the passions of Pericles. The danger was averted; but it seems that Pericles, who pleaded her cause, found need of his most strenuous exertions to save Aspasia, and that he even descended, in her behalf, to tears and entreaties, which no similar emergency of his own could ever draw from him. (Athen., 12, p. 589.)-After the death of Pericles, Aspasia attached herself to a young man of obscure birth, named Lysicles, who rose through her influence in moulding his character to some of the highest employments in the republic. (Thirlwall's Greece, vol. 3, p. 87, seqq. Compare Plut., Vit. Pericl.- Xen., Mem., 2, 6 Max. Tyr., 24, p. 461.-Harpocr., p. 79.-Aristid., 2, p. 131.)— II. Daughter of Hermotimus, and a native of Phocæa in Asia Minor. She was so remarkable for her beauty, that a satrap of Persia carried her off and made her a present to Cyrus the Younger. Her modest deportment soon won the affections of the prince, who lived with her as with a lawful spouse, and their union be- ASSYRIA, a country originally of small extent, but came celebrated throughout all Greece. Her name afterward greatly enlarged. It was bounded, accordat first was Milto (vermilion), which had been given ing to Ptolemy, on the north by part of Armenia and her in early life on account of the brilliancy of her Mount Niphates; on the west by the Tigris; on the complexion. Cyrus, however, changed it to Aspasia, south by Susiana; and on the east by part of Media calling her thus after the female companion of Peri- and the mountains Choatra and Zagros. The country cles. (Vid. Aspasia I.) After the death of the prince, within these limits is called by some of the ancients she fell into the hands of Artaxerxes, who for a long Adiabene, and by others Aturia or Atyria. Assyria time vainly sought to gain her affections. She only is now called Kurdistan, from the descendants of the yielded at last to his suit through absolute necessity. ancient Carduchi, who occupied the northern parts. When the monarch declared his son Darius his suc- The Assyrian was one of the first and greatest empires cessor, the latter, as it was customary in Persia for of Asia. It is generally supposed to have been foundan heir to ask a favour of him who had declared him ed by Ashur or Assur, son of Shem, who went out such, requested Aspasia of his father. Aspasia was of Shinar, driven out, as it appears, by Nimrod, and accordingly sent for, and, contrary to the king's ex-founded Nineveh, not long after Nimrod had estabpectation, made choice of Darius. Artaxerxes therefore gave her up, in accordance with established custom, but soon took her away again, and made her a priestess of Diana at Ecbatana, or of the goddess ASPLEDON, a town of Boeotia, about twenty stadia to the northeast of Orchomenus. It derived its name from Aspledon, the son of Neptune, according to Pausanias (9, 38), and is mentioned by Homer. (I., 2, 511.) The name, at a later period, was changed to Eudielos, from its advantageous situation. (Strabo, 416.) Pausanias, however, affirms that in his time it was deserted on account of the scarcity of water. Dodwell is of opinion, that the site of Aspledon is marked by a tower, on an insulated hill, about two miles and a half to the northeast of Orchomenus, near the range of hills which enclose the lake and plain on that side. (Dodwell's Tour, vol. 1, p. 233.) ASSA, a town of Macedonia, on the Sinus Singiticus. (Herodot., 7, 122.) ASSARICUS, a Trojan prince, son of Tros by Callirhoë. He was father to Capys, the father of Anchises. (Homer, Il., 20, 239.) Assos, a town of Mysia, on the coast, west of Adramyttium, founded by a colony from Lesbos. It was the birthplace of Cleanthes, the stoic; and is mentioned also in the Acts (20, 13). The modern site is called Beriam Kalesi. (Leake, p. 128.) lished the Chaldean monarchy and fixed his residence at Babylon. This is the commonly received account of the origin of the Assyrian empire, founded on the Mosaic history as given in the text of our Bible; but |