Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 2.djvu/780

714 age, dying, as is generally supposed, about 830 A.D., and left behind him a number of pupils, such as Thfdab, Ibn-el- Anberi, and Sukkari, who proved themselves worthy of their master.  ASMODEUS or, an evil demon who appears in later Jewish tradition, and concerning whom there has been much vague and fanciful speculation. The name, probably, means the destroying angel or the tempter, but the etymological grounds for neither of these are quite certain. He is sometimes called the prince of demons, and identified with Beelzebub; but there are many other fables regarding his origin. In the apocryphal book of Tobit occurs the well-known story of his love for Sara, the beautiful daughter of Raguel, whose seven husbands were slain in succession by him on their respective bridal nights. At last Tobias, by burning the heart and liver of a fish, drove off the demon, who fled to Egypt. From the part played by Asmodeus in this story, he has been often fami liarly called the genius of matrimonial unhappiness or jealousy. Le Sage makes him the principal character in his novel Le Diable Boiteux.  ASMONEUS, or, the first of the dynasty or family of the Asmoneans, who ruled over the Jews for about 130 years. His great-grandson was the celebrated Mattathias (died 167 B.C.), the first of the Maccabees; and the direct line of princes descended from him was closed in 37 B.C. by the execution of Antigonus. Agrippa Herodes I. and II. were connected with the Asmoneans through their ancestress, Mariamne, wife of Herod the Great.  ASOLO, the ancient Acelum, a fortified town of Northern Italy, in the province of Treviso, about 19 miles distant from the city of that name. It is built in a beautiful and healthy situation, and possesses a cathedral and the ruins of a Roman aqueduct. In the neighbourhood is the former palace of Catharine Cornaro, queen of Cyprus, now turned into a dairy. Not far off is the quarry of Ilocca. Population, 5437.  ASP (Vipera aspis), a species of venomous snake, closely allied to the common adder of this country, which it repre sents throughout the southern parts of Europe, being specially abundant in the region of the Alps. The term &quot;Asp&quot; ([ Greek ]) seems to have been employed by Greek and Roman writers, and by writers generally down to com paratively recent times, to designate more than one species of serpent ; thus the asp, by means of which Cleopatra is said to have ended her life, and so avoided the disgrace of entering Rome a captive, is now generally supposed to have been the cerastes, or horned viper ( Vipera Hassd- quistii), of Northern Africa, a snake about fifteen inches long, exceedingly venomous, and provided with curious horn-like protuberances over each eye, which give it a decidedly sinister appearance. The species, however, to which the word &quot;asp&quot; has been most commonly applied, is undoubtedly the haje (Naja haje) of Egypt, a poisonous snake, from three to four feet long, with the skin of its neck loose, so as to render it dilatable at the will of the animal, as in the cobra di capello of India, a species from which it differs only in the absence of the spectacle-like mark on the back of the neck. Like the cobra, also, the haje has its fangs extracted by the jugglers of the coun try, who afterwards train it to perform various tricks. The asp (Pethen, [ Hebrew ]) is mentioned in various parts of the Old Testament. This name is twice translated &quot;adder,&quot; but as nothing is told of it beyond its poisonous character and the intractability of its disposition, it is impossible accurately to determine the species which the sacred writers had in view.  ASPARAGUS, The young shoots of Asparagus officinalis (Nat. Ord. Liliaceæ) have from very remote times been in high repute as a culinary vegetable, owing to their delicate flavour and diuretic virtues. The plant grows wild on the south coast of England; and on the waste steppes of Russia it is so abundant that it is eaten by cattle like grass. In common with the marsh-mallow and some other plants, it contains a chemical principle called asparagin, to which it owes its medicinal qualities. The roots of asparagus were formerly used as an aperient medicine, and the fruits were likewise employed as a diuretic. Under the name of Prussian asparagus, the spikes of an allied plant, Ornithogalum pyrenaicum, are used in some places.  ASPASIA, a beautiful hetæra of Athens, celebrated in history by her connection with Pericles, was a native of Miletus, and settled in Athens, following the example of her countrywoman, Thargelia, who had become very famous during the time of the Persian wars. Her beauty, but still more her remarkable accomplishments, gained for her an extraordinary reputation, which was increased after her association with Pericles, who, having divorced his wife, united himself to Aspasia as closely as was possible under Athenian law, according to which marriage with a barbarian was illegal and impossible. Much of the administration of Pericles has been ascribed to her eloquent instruction and political sagacity, and her enemies did not scruple to lay to her charge the Samian and Peloponnesian wars. Although this exaggerates her power, yet her talents nmst have been extraordinary, for she drew to her house the most noble and learned in Athens, who were willing to learn from her. Even Socrates was not exempt from her influence. The political supremacy of Pericles, which exposed him to many assaults, attracted enmity to Aspasia. She was accused of impiety and other base crimes, and would pro bably have been condemned, had not the judges been swayed by the tears and entreaties of Pericles himself. After the death of that statesman s two sons by his lawful wife, he procured the passing of a law, by which the children of irregular marriages might be rendered legiti mate. His son by Aspasia was thus allowed to assume his father s name. After the death of Pericles, Aspasia is said to have formed a similar connection with one Lysicles, wealthy, but of ignoble birth, whom she raised by her instructions to a prominent place in the state. This episode is somewhat obscure, especially as Lysicles seems to have fallen in battle in 428, the year after the death of Pericles. Nothing further is known of the history of Aspasia.  ASPASIUS, a Peripatetic philosopher, and one of the most prolific commentators on Aristotle, flourished pro bably towards the close of the 1st century A.D., or perhaps during the reign of Antoninus Pius. His commentaries on the Categories, De Interpretatione, De Sensu, and other works of Aristotle, are frequently referred to by later writers, but have not come down to us. Certain com mentaries on Plato, mentioned by Porphyry in his life of Plotinus, have also been lost. Commentaries on the 2d, 4th, 7th, and 8th books of the Nicomachean Ethics, which pass under his name, were printed along with those of Eustratius and others by Manutius at Venice in 1536. They were translated into Latin by Felicianus in 1541, and have been frequently republished. The authenticity of part, and even of the whole, of these ethical commentaries has been disputed ; and recently some fragments of another commentary by Aspasius on the Ethics have been printed. See Classic. Jour., vols. xxviii., xxix. <section end="ASPASIUS"/> <section begin="ASPASIUS (2.)"/>ASPASIUS, a celebrated rhetorician and sophist, was born at Ravenna, and flourished during the early part of the 3d century A.D. He was the son (or, according to Suidas, the scholar) of the rhetorician Demetrianus ; and, after a careful training in all the branches of a rhetorician s art, began to teach at Rome. For many years he filled the chair of rhetoric which had been founded by Vespasian. He travelled extensively in the suite of the emperor, as<section end="ASPASIUS (2.)"/>