ASPASIA. Among the accounts that have come down to us of Aspasia, daughter of Axiochus, we have no certain intelligence of the dates of her birth or death. She belonged to a family of some note in Miletus, and was early distinguished for the graces of her mind and person. She came to Athens with the tide of Asiatic immigration, which marked the era in Greece succeeding the Persian war, and by her beauty and accomplishments soon attracted the attention of the leading men in that city. She engaged the affections of Pericles, and he is said to have divorced his former wife in order to marry her. Their union was harmonious throughout: he preserved for her to the end of his life the same tenderness: she remained the confidant of the statesman's schemes and the sharer of his troubles. Their house was the resort of the wisdom and wit of Athens. Orators, poets, and philosophers came to listen to the eloquence of Aspasia; and in their conversation, which turned upon the politics, literature, and metaphysics of the age, they paid deference to her authority We hear from Plato, who offers a high tribute to her genius, that she formed the best speakers of her time, and chief among them, Pericles himself. The sage Socrates was a frequent visitor at her saloon, drawn thither, it is insinuated, by the double attraction of eloquence and beauty. Anaxagoras, Pheidias, and the restless Alcibiades were numbered among her admirers, and we may credit the imagination of Savage Landor for a successful revival of the other names which adorned that illustrious circle. The envy which assailed the administration of Pericles, was unsparing in its attacks on his mistress. Jealousy of foreigners and dislike of female influence combined to offend the prejudices of the mass. Her fearless speculation aroused their superstitious zeal. She shared the impeachment, and narrowly escaped the fate, of her friend Anaxagoras. She was accused by Hermippus of disloyalty to the gods, and of introducing free women into her house, to gratify the impure tastes of Pericles. He himself pleaded her cause, and, on this occasion alone, he is said to have abandoned his accustomed majesty of demeanour, and burst into tears before the assembled populace. The passionate appeal was triumphant, and Aspasia was acquitted. But she was still at the mercy of the comedians. All manner of nicknames were invented to suit her relationship with the Athenian Jove,—and all manner of tales were told of her intriguing spirit and corrupt morals. Those lampoons are preserved for us in some of the verses of Aristophanes, and the gossip of later writers. She is charged with inducing Pericles to undertake the war against Samos, in order to befriend Miletus, her native city, and with obtaining the decree against the Megareans, to avenge the abduction of two light girls in her train. This latter statement rests for its sole authority on two lines of the Acharnanians, in which there is a joke on the word ἀσπάσιας, but no amount of similar authority could justify such an interpretation of Greek history. (For the real occasion of these wars, see the article Pericles.) Aspasia is also accused of filling Greece with courtezans, and of corrupting the morals of Athens, by giving in her own life a conspicuous example of license. To explain the origin of those reports, we need but refer to the state of female society at that time in Attica. The regular wives of Athenian citizens were kept from interference with public life, with a rigour only less strict than that of an Eastern harem. They lived in secluded apartments at home, and had little knowledge of social affairs or general interests. The Hetæræ, among less distinctions, had the advantages of vivacity, freedom of thought, and a considerable degree of mental culture. Their society was undoubtedly more attractive and more sought after by many of the distinguished men of the time. "The wife for our house and home," says Demosthenes; "the Hetæra for our solace and delight." We have in the table-talk of Athenæus abundant specimens of the wit and the manners of this class of women; and we see from his account the wide range of character and position which their common name included. Her free and various conversation—her talents and ambitious spirit, with the variety of those admitted to her social circle, led Aspasia to be classed with the Hetæræ; but we have no reliable evidence of any moral infidelity on her part, either before or after her union with Pericles. If we admit Athenæus and the comedians as authorities on which to found our judgment of character, we must immensely lower our estimate of Socrates, and the noblest names of Greece. If not, neither can we take their account of Aspasia as historical. It is unfair to estimate the morals of one age by the highest standard of another; but it is still more unfair to take our impression of the great politicians of any age or country from the writers of political squibs. Aspasia had one son, named after his father, Pericles: he was made a citizen of Athens on the abrogation of the old law, which withheld from political rights the children of aliens. She survived Pericles by some years, and is reported to have married an obscure Athenian, Lysicles, whom she raised by her example and precept to be one of the leaders of the republic. We have a doubtful fragment of her poetry, quoted by Athenæus, and the oration in the Menexenus is attributed to her dictation. We cannot, however, draw from this any certain conclusion as to its authenticity. The authorities regarding Aspasia are fully collected in Bayle; but the best historical account of her is to be found in the sixth volume of Grote. Among more imaginative sketches we may refer to Miss Lynn's "Amymone," for a glowing picture of the union of beauty and wisdom, with nobility of soul, which characterized the great Ionian.—J. N.
ASPASIUS of Ravenna, a celebrated sophist, son and pupil Demetrianus, and principal teacher of eloquence at Rome, lived about the beginning of the third century b.c. The orations ascribed to him are no longer extant.
ASPASIUS, a celebrated Greek philosopher, and author of commentaries on the ethics of Aristotle, lived about a.d. 80.
ASPASIUS de Byblos, an ancient teacher of rhetoric, and author of certain treatises on that subject, a work on Byblos, and a panegyric on the Emperor Hadrian, lived, according to Suidas, in the latter half of the second century.
ASPEGREN, Gustaf Carsten, a Swedish naturalist, was born at Carlskrona on 17th August, 1791, and died on 11th July, 1828. He was the son of a baker, and it was intended at first that he should follow his father's trade. But his fondness for natural history led him to devote himself to the study of it. He formed a small botanic garden, and made a valuable museum. He became a correspondent of the chief scientific men in Europe. He assisted Nilsson in the Fauna of Sweden, Wahlenberg in its Flora, and Agardh in its Algæ, and he published works on the plants of his native country.—J. H. B.
ASPELIN, David, a Swedish scholar and poet, was born 2nd August, 1780, and died at Tolg, 25th August, 1821.
ASPELMAYER or ASPELMEYER, Franz, a celebrated musician, ballet composer to Joseph II. of Austria, and author of several musical works, was born about the beginning of the eighteenth century, and died at Vienna, 9th August, 1786.
ASPER, Caius-Julianus, a favourite of the Emperor Caracalla, to whom he was recommended by the dignity of his character and manners, lived about the year 220 a.d.
ASPER, Æmilius, a Latin grammarian, who wrote commentaries on Terence and Virgil, is supposed by Lindemann to have lived about the beginning of the sixth century.
ASPER, Hans, a Swiss painter, born at Zurich in 1499. He was a pupil of the younger Holbein, whose style he successfully imitated. Although highly estimated throughout his native country, where even a medal was struck in his honour, yet he failed in obtaining a more substantial support, so that, after a most laborious career, he died in utter distress in 1571.
ASPER. See Aspre.
ASPERTINI, Amico, an Italian historical painter, born at Bologna in 1474. He was a pupil of Francis Francia, but painted on the principle of eclecticism, making the tour of Italy, to copy here and there whatever most pleased him, forming afterwards a style of his own. Vasari gives an amusing portrait of Amico, whom Lanzi pronounces "a compound of pleasantry, eccentricity, and madness." He was called Amico da duc Penelli, or Two-brush Amico, from his being able to paint with both hands at the same time. Lanzi, however, quotes Guercino, as stating that Aspertini handled two pencils in the sense of painting sometimes for low prices, or out of despite and revenge; while at other times he wrought carefully and well for friends and liberal patrons. His "Pietà," in the church of S. Petronio (Bologna), is an example of his whimsical style, while the specimens of his art in S. Martino and elsewhere are highly commendable.—A. M.
ASPETTI, Tiziano, a sculptor of Padua, born in 1565; died 1607. His mother was the sister of Titian. Aspetti was a pupil of Sansovino, and produced many beautiful works in marble and bronze at Padua, Florence, and Pisa. Vasari mentions a Tiziano Padovano; but in a note to the English edition of Vasari, published by Bohn in 1851, the Tiziano da Padova, spoken of by Vasari, is stated to be identical with Tiziano Minio of Padua,
