Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 1.djvu/405

Rh ASP AST us. only, but her superior qualities of mind and cha- racter, that he made her his favourite wife, giving her the name of "wise." She is said to have fre- quently aided him with her advice, the adoption of which he never regretted ; and they lived toge- ther with great mutual affection till the death of the prince at the battle of Cunaxa. She then fell into the hands of Artaxerxes, and became his wife. (Plut. Peric. 24, Artcuv. 26 ; Ael. V. H. xii. 1 ; Xen. Anab. i. 10. § 2.) When Dareius, son of Artaxerxes, was appointed successor to the throne, he asked his father to surrender Aspasia to him. The request, it seems, could not be refused, as coming from the king elect ; Artaxerxes, therefore, gave her up, on finding that she herself consented to the transfer ; but he soon after took her away again, and made her priestess of a temple at Ecba- tana, where strict celibacy was requisite ; and this gave rise to that conspiracy of Dareius against his father, which was detected, and cost him his life. (Plut. Artcux:. 27 — 29 ; Just. x. 2.) Her name is said to have been "Milto," till Cyrus called her "Aspasia" after the mistress of Pericles (Plut. Peric. 24 ; Atlien. xiii. p. 576, d.) ; but "Milto" itself seems to have been a name expressive of the Ijeauty of her complexion. (Ael. V. II. xii. 1, where we are favoured with a minute description of her appearance.) [E. E.] ASPA'SIUS ('AoTrao-jos). 1. Of Byblus, a Greek sophist, who according to Suidas (s. v. 'Aa-- irda-ios) was a contemporary of the sophists Adri- anus and Aristeides, and who consequently lived in the reign of M. Antoninus and Commodus, about A. D. 180. He is mentioned among the commentators on Demosthenes and Aeschines ; and Suidas ascribes to him a work on Byblus, medita- tions, theoretical works on rhetoric, declamations, an encomium on the emperor Hadrian, and some other writings. All these are lost with the ex- ception of a few extracts from his commentaries. (Ulpian, ad Demosth. Lejytin. p. ll ; Phot. Bibl. p. 492, a., ed. Bekk. ; Schol. ad Ilcrmog. p. 260, &c.; Schol. ad Aeschin. c. Tim. p. 105.) 2. A PERIPATETIC philosopher, who seems to have lived during the latter half of the first cen- tury after Christ, since Galen (vol. vi. p. 532, ed. Paris), who lived under the Antonines, states, that he heard one of the pupils of Aspasius. Boe- thius, who frequently refers to his works, says that Aspasius wrote commentaries on most of the works of Aristotle. The following commentaries are expressly mentioned : on De Interpretatione, the Physica, Metaphysica, Categoriae, and the Nicomachean Ethics. A portion of the commen- tary on the last-mentioned work of Aristotle (viz. on books 1, 2, 4, 7, and 8) are still extant, and were first printed by Aldus Manutius, in his col- lection of the Greek commentators on the Nico- machean Ethics. (Venice, 1536, fol.) A Latin translation by J. B. Felicianus appeared at Venice in 1541, and has often been reprinted. From Por- phyrins, who also states that Aspasius wrote com- mentaries on Plato, we learn that his commentaries <m Aristotle were used in the school of Plotinus. (Fabric BiU. Graec. iii. p. 264, &c.; Bnhle, A ristot. Op. i. p. 296.) 3. Of Ravenna, a distinguished sophist and rhetorician, who lived about A. d. 225, in the reign of Alexander Severus. He was educated by his father Demetrianus, who was himself a skilful rhetorician ; aftei wards he was also a pupil of ASPITALHJS. JS7 Pausanias and Hippodromus, and then travelled to various parts of the ancient world, as a companion of the emperor and of some other persons. He ob- tained the principal professorship of rhetoric at Rome, which he held until his death at an ad- vanced age. At Rome he also began his long rhetorical controversy with Philostiatus of Lemnos, which was afterwards continued by other dis- putants in Ionia. Aspasius was also secretary to the emperor, but his letters were censured by his opponent Pausanias, for their declamatory character and their want of precision and clearness. He is said to have written several orations, which, how- ever, are now lost. They are praised for their simplicity and originality, and for the absence of all pompous affectation in them. (Philostr. Vit. Soph. ii. 33 ; Eudoc. p. 66 ; Suidas, s. v. 'Aaird- cios.) 4. Of Tyre, a Greek rhetorician and historian of uncertain date, who, according to Suidas (s. v. 'AoTrao-ios), wrote a history of Epeirus and of things remarkable in that country, in twenty books, theoretical works on rhetoric, and some others. (Comp. Eudoc. p. 66.) [L. S.] ASPA'THINES ('A<r7ra0ti'7js), one of the seven Persian chiefs, who conspired against the Magi. He was wounded in the thigh, when the latter were put to death. (Herod, iii. 70, &c. 78.) He was the father of Praxaspes. (vii. 97.) ASPER, AEMI'LIUS, a Roman grammarian, who wrote commentaries on Terence (Schopen, de Terentio et Doriaio, ^c. p. 32, Bonn, 1821) and Virgil. (Macrob. iii. 5 ; Heyne's account of the ancient Commentators on Virgil, prefixed to liis edition of Virgil.) Asper is also quoted in the Scholia on Virgil, discovered by A. Mai. ( Virgil. Interp. Vet. Mediol. 1818.) This Asper must be distinguished from another grammarian of the same name, usually called Asper Junior, but who is equally unknown. The latter is the author of a small work entitled " Ars Grammatica," which has been printed in the collections of G'ranimatici I /lustres XIL, Paris, 1516 ; Tres Artis Grammat. Authores^ Lips. 1527 ; Grammat. Lot. AtictoreSy by Putschius, Hanov. 1605; Corpus Grammat. Lai, by Lindemann, vol. i. Lips. 1831. ASPER, JU'LIUS, bad been raised to the consulship, as had also his sons, by Caracalla, but was afterwards, without any apparent cause, de- prived of all his honours, and driven out of Rome by the same emperor, a. d. 212. (Dion Cass. Ixxvii. 5.) We learn from an inscription {ap. Fahrett. p. 494), that the consuls in A. D. 212 were both of the name of Julius Asper. Either the father or one of his sons was appointed go- vernor of Asia by Macrinus, but was deprived of this dignity on his journey to the province, on ac- count of some incautious words which offended the emperor. It is usually stated, on the authority of Dion Cassius, that Asper was killed by Elagabalus ; but Dion Cassius does not say this. (Dion Cass. Ixxviii. 22, IxxLx. 4.) ASPER, SULPI'CIUS, a centurion, cne of the conspirators against Nero, a. d. 6^^ met his fate with great firmness, when he was put to death after the detection of the conspiracy. (Tac. ^«n. XV. 49, 50, 68 ; Dion Cass. Ixii. 24.) ASPHA'LIUS or ASPHALEIUS {'A(T(piKios or 'Acr^aXeios), a surname of Poseidon, under which he was worshipped in several towns of Greece. It describes him as the g-od who grants 2c 2