A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

ASPASI US.
only, but her superior qualities of mind and character, that he made her his favourite wife, giving
her the name of "wise." She is said to have frequently aided him with her advice, the adoption
of which he never regretted; and they lived together 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, Artax. 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 lie soon after took her away
again, and made her priestess of a temple at Ecbatana, 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. Artax. 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; Athen. xiii. p. 576, d.); but "Milto"
itself seems to have been a name expressive of the
beauty of her complexion. (Ael. V. H. xii. 1,
where we are favoured with a minute description
of her appearance.) [E. E.]
ASPA'SIUS ('Asrdoaios). 1. Of BaBLus, a
Greek sophist, who according to Suidas (s. v. 'Ao7r&ados) was a contemporary of the sophists Adrianus 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, meditations, theoretical works on rhetoric, declamations,
an encomium on the emperor Hadrian, and some
other writings. All these are lost with the exception of a few extracts from his commentaries.
(Ulpian, ad Demosth. Leptin. p. 11; Phot. Bibl.
p. 492, a., ed. Bekk.; Schol. ad Hermog. 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 century 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. Boethius, 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 commentary 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 collection of the Greek commentators on the Nicomachean Ethics. (Venice, 1536, fol.) A Latin
translation by J. B. Felicianus appeared at Venice
in 1541, and has often been reprinted. From Porphyrius, who also states that Aspasius wrote commentaries on Plato, we learn that his commentaries
on Aristotle were used in the school of Plotinus.
(Fabric. Bibl. Graec. iii. p. 264, &c.; Buhle, Aristot.
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; afterwards he was also a pupil of

ASPHALI US. 387
Pausanias and IIippodromus, and then travelled to
various parts of the ancient world, as a companion
of the emperor and of some other persons. He obtained the principal professorship of rhetoric at
Rome, which he held until his death at an advanced age. At Rome he also began his long
rhetorical controversy with Philostratus of Lemnos,
which was afterwards continued by other disputants in lonia. 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, however, are now lost. They are praised for their
simplicity and originality, and for the absence of
all pompous affectation in them. (Philostr. Vit.
Sop&. ii. 33; Eudoc. p. 66; Suidas, s. v. 'Aoarrdamos.)
4. Of TYRE, a Greek rhetorician and historian
of uncertain date, who, according to Suidas (s. v.
'Arndaestos), 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 ('Ao-rae1vs), 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 Donato, &c. p. 32, Bonn, 1821) and
Virgil. (Macrob. iii. 5; Heyne's account of the
ancient Commentators on Virgil, prefixed to his
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 Granmmatici
Ilsustres XII., Paris, 1516; Tres Artis Grammat.
Authores, Lips. 1527; Grammat. Lat. Auctores, by
Putschius, Hanov. 1605; Corpus Grammat. Lat.
by Lindemann, vol. i. Lips. 1831.
ASPER, JU'LlUS, had been raised to the
consulship, as had also his sons, by Caracalla, but
was afterwards, without any apparent cause, deprived 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.
Fabrett. 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 governor of Asia by Macrinus, but was deprived of
this dignity on his journey to the province, on account 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.
lxxviii. 22, lxxix. 4.)
ASPER, SULPI'CIUS, a centurion, cne of the
conspirators against Nero, A. D. 66, met his fate
with great firmness, when he was put to death
after the detection of the conspiracy. (Tac. Ann.
xv. 49, 50, 68; Dion Cass. Ixii. 24.)
ASPHA'LIUS or ASPHALEIUS ('AcpdiaXos
or 'Aorareisros), a surname of Poseidon, under
which he was worshipped in several towns of
Greece. It describes him as the god who grants
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