Dictionary of Greek and Roman antiquities. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

142 ASEBEIAS GRAPHE. ASILLA.
ai he-goat to the god, made a bag out of the skin, accusation. And if a minor, as represented in the
smeared it with oil, and then tried to dance upon declamation of Antiphon, could be prosecuted for
it. The various accidents accompanying this at- murder (qpdvou), a crime considered by the early
tempt afforded great amusement to the spectators. Greeks more in reference to its cereInonial polI-Ie who succeeded was victor, and received the lution than in respect of the injury inflicted upon
skin as a reward. (Schol. ad Aristoph. Plut. 1130; society, it can hardly be concluded that perPlat. Synrp. p. 190; Virg. Georg. ii. 384; Pollux, sons under age were incapable of committing, or
ix. 121; Hesych. s. s.'ACKWAlc"ooTEs; Krause, suffering, for this offence. (Antiph. Tetral. ii
Gymsnastik und Agonistik d. Hellenen, p. 399, who p. 674.)
gives a representation of it from all ancient gem, The magistrate, who conducted the previous exwhich is copied in the above cut.) amination (&vaKplpois) was, according to Meier
ASEBEIAS GRAPHE (&(oEgefas yparp), was (Att. Proc. pp. 300, 304, n. 34) invariably the king
one of the many forms prescribed by the Attic archon, but whether the court into which he brought
laws for the impeachment of impiety. From the the causes were the areiopagus, or the common
various tenor of the accusations still extant, it may heliastic court, of both of which there are several
be gathered that this crime was as ill-defined at instances, is supposed (Meier, Att. Proc. p. 305)
Athens, and therefore as liable to be made the to have been determined by the form of action
pretext for persecution, as it has been in all other adopted by the prosecutor, or the degree of corncountries in which the civil power has attempted petency to which the areiopagus rose or fell at the
to reach offences so much beyond the natural limits different periods of Athenian history. From the
of its jurisdiction. The occasions, however, upon Apology of Socrates we learn that the forms of the
which the Athenian accuser professed to come for- trial upon this occasion were those usual in all
ward may be classed as, first, breaches of the cere- public actions, and that, generally, the amount of
monial law of public worship; and, secondly, the penalty formed a separate question for the diindications of that, which in analogous cases of casts after the conviction of the defendant. For
modern times would be called heterodoxy, or some kinds of impiety, however, the punishment
heresy. The former comprehended encroachment was fixed by special laws, as in the case of persons
upon consecrated grounds, the plunder, or other iniuring the sacred olive trees, and in that meninjury of temples, the violation of asylums, the in tioned by Andocides (De Myst. p. 110).
terruption of sacrifices and festivals, the mutilation If the accuser failed to obtain a fifth of the votes
of statues of the gods, the introduction of deities of the dicasts, he forfeited a thousand drachmae,
not acknowledged by the state, and various other and incurred a modified &rtlla. The other forms
transgressions peculiarly defined by the laws of the ot prosecution for this offence were the &Trayoayc
Attic sacra, sutch as a private celebration of the (Dem. c. Androt. p. 601. 26), i6pyi7rLS (Meier, Att.:Eleusinian mysteries and their divulgation to the Proc. p. 246), /vIELZLS (Andoc. De 11Myst. p. 8),
uninitiated, injury to the sacred olive trees, or arpoeoAX (Libanius, Argume. ad Dem. in Mlid. 509,
placing a suppliant bough (giesEpiCa) on a particular 0), and in extraordinary cases cr'ay'yeAL'a (Andoc.
altar at an improper time. (Andoc. Deilyst. p. 110.) De 1lyst. p. 43); besides these, Demosthenes menThe heretical delinquencies may be exemplified tions (c. Androt. p. 601) two other courses that an
by the expulsion of Protagoras (Diog. Lalrt. ix. accuser might adopt, 8LrKdcgerEaL rpbs EbvloXarLcas,
51, 52) for writing " that he could not learn and ppierLy rpps hbv 3acLXeca, of which it is diffiwhether the gods existed or not," in the persecu- cult to give a satisfactory explanation. [J. S. M.]
tion of Anaxagoras (Diog. Lalrt ii. 12), like that ASIARCI-IAE (&nridpXae), were, in the Roman
of Galileo in after-times, for impugnling the received province of Asia, the chief presidents of the reopinions about the sun, and the condemnation of ligious rites, whose office it was to eaihibit games
Socrates for not holding the objects of the public and theatrical amusements every year, in honour of
worship to be gods. (Xen. Apol. Soc.) The va- the gods and the Roman emperor, at their own
rietv of these examples will have shown that it expense, like the Roman aediles. As the exhiis imlpossible to enumerate all the cases to which bition of these games were attended with great
this sweeping accusation might be extended; and, expense, wealthy persons were always chosen to
as it is not upon record that religious Athens fill this office; for which reason, Strabo says,
(Xen. Rep. Asth. iii. 8) was scandalised at the pro- some of the inhabitants of Tralles, which was one
fane jests of Aristophanes, or that it forced Epicu- of the most wealthy cities in Asia, were always
rus to deny that the gods were indifferent to hu- chosen asiarchs. They were ten in number, seman actions, it is difficult to ascertain the limit at lected annually by the different towns of Asia,
which jests and scepticism ended, and penal im- and approved of by the Roman proconsul; of
piety began. these, one was the chief asiarch, and frequently
With respect to the trial, any citizen that pleased but not always, resided at Ephesus. Their office
o BouhXA/evos-which, however, in this as in all lasted only for a year; but they appear to have
other public actions, must be understood of those enjoyed the title as a mark of courtesy for the rest
only who did not labour under an incapacitating of their lives. In the other Roman provinces ii
disi'ranchisement (ariLea) - seems to have been a Asia, we find similar magistrates corresponding to
competent accuser; but as the nine archons, and the Asiarchae in proconsular Asia, as for instance
the areiopag'ites, were the proper guardians of the the Bithyniarchae, Galatarchae, Lyciarchae, &c.
sacred olives (poplai, oa-cKOi, Lysias, Ilepl ToO (Strab. xiv. p. 649; Acts, xix. 31., with the.sjwcoi, p. 282), it is not impossible that they had notes of Wretstein and Kuinoel; Euseb. H. E. iv.
also a power of official prosecution upon casually 1 5; Winer, Biblisc/hes Realwiirterbuch, art. Adiardiscovering any injury done to their charge. c/len.)
The cases of Socrates, Aspasia, and Protagoras. ASILLA (i'tANXa), a wooden pole, or yoke,
may be adduced to show that citizens, resident held by a man either on his two shoulders, or
aliens, and strangers, were equally liable to this more commonly on one shoulder only, and used for