the tragic poet, was born at Athens. The time of his birth is not exactly ascertained; some suppose that it was in the 65th, others in the 70th Olympiad; but according to Stanley, who follows the Arundelian marbles, he was born in the 63rd Olympiad. He was the son of Euphorian, and brother to Cyneirus and Aminias, who distinguished themselves in the battle of Marathon, and the sea-fight of Salamis, at which engagements Æschylus was likewise present. In this last action, according to Diodorus Siculus, Aminias, the younger of the three brothers, commanded a squadron of ships, and fought with so much conduct and bravery, that he sunk the admiral of the Persian fleet, and signalized himself above all the Athenians. To this brother our poet was, upon a particular occasion, obliged for saving his life: Ælian relates, that Æschylus being charged by the Athenians with certain blasphemous expressions in some of his pieces, was accused of impiety, and condemned to be stoned to death: They were just going to put the sentence in execution, when Aminias, with a happy presence of mind, throwing aside his cloak, showed his arm without a hand, which he had lost at the battle of Salamis in defence of his country. This sight made such an impression on the judges, that, touched with the remembrance of his valour, and with the friendship he showed for his brother, they pardoned Æschylus. Our poet, however, resented the indignity of this prosecution, and resolved to leave a place where his life had been in danger. He became more determined in this resolution when he found his pieces less pleasing to the Athenians than those of Sophocles, though a much younger writer. Some affirm, that Æschylus never sat down to compose but when he had drunk liberally. He wrote a great number of tragedies, of which there are but seven remaining: and notwithstanding the sharp censures of some critics, he must be allowed to have been the father of the tragic art. In the time of Thespis, there was no public theatre to act upon; the strollers driving about from place to place in a cart. Æschylus furnished his actors with masks, and dressed them suitably to their characters. He likewise introduced the buffkin, to make them appear more like heroes.—The ancients gave Æschylus also the praise of having been the first who removed murders and shocking sights from the eyes of the spectators. He is said likewise to have lessened the number of the chorus. M. Le Fevre has observed, that Æschylus never represented women in love in his tragedies; which, he says, was not suited to his genius; but, in representing a woman transported with fury, he was incomparable. Longinus says, that Æschylus has a noble boldness of expression; and that his imagination is lofty and heroic. It must be owned, however, that he affected pompous words, and that his sense is too often obscured by figures: this gave Salamis occasion to say, that he was more difficult to be understood than the Scripture itself. But notwithstanding these imperfections, this poet was held in great veneration by the Athenians, who made a public decree that his tragedies should be played after his death. He was killed in the 69th year of his age, by an eagle letting fall a tortoise upon his head as he was walking in the fields. He had the honour of a pompous funeral from the Sicilians, who buried him near the river Gela; and the tragedians of the country performed plays and theatrical exercises at his tomb.—The best edition of his plays is that of London, 1663, folio, with a Latin translation and a learned commentary by Thomas Stanley.

ÆSCHYNOMENE, BASTARD SENSITIVE PLANT, in Botany. See Botany Index.

ÆSCULAPIUS, in the heathen mythology, the god of physic, was the son of Apollo and the nymph Coronis. He was educated by the centaur Chiron, who taught him physic; by which means Æsculapius cured the most desperate diseases. But Jupiter, enraged at his restoring to life Hippolitus, who had been torn in pieces by his own horses, killed him with a thunderbolt. According to Cicero, there were three deities of this name: the first, the son of Apollo, worshipped in Arcadia, who invented the probe, and bandages for wounds; the second, the brother of Mercury, killed by lightning; and the third, the son of Arifippus and Arinoe, who first taught the art of tooth-drawing and purging. At Epidaurus, Æsculapius's statue was of gold and ivory, with a long beard, his head surrounded with rays, holding in one hand a knotty stick, and the other entwined with a serpent; he was seated on a throne of the same materials as his statue, and had a dog lying at his feet. The Romans crowned him with laurel, to represent his descent from Apollo; and the Philistians represented him as beardless. The cock, the raven, and the goat, were sacred to this deity. His chief temples were at Pergamus, Smyrna, Trica a city in Ionia, and the isle of Coos; in all which votive tablets were hung up, showing the diseases cured by his affluence. But his most famous shrine was at Epidaurus; where, every five years, games were instituted to him, nine days after the Isthmian games at Corinth.

ÆSCULUS, the Horse-chesnut, in Botany. See Botany Index.

ÆSOP, the Phrygian, lived in the time of Solon, about the 50th Olympiad, under the reign of Croesus the last king of Lydia. As to genius and abilities, he was greatly indebted to nature; but in other respects not so fortunate, being born a slave and extremely deformed. St Jerome, speaking of him, says he was unfortunate in his birth, condition in life, and death; hinting thereby at his deformity, fervile state, and tragical end. His great genius, however, enabled him to support his misfortunes; and in order to alleviate the hardships of fervitude, he composed those entertaining and instructive fables which have acquired him so much reputation. He is generally supposed to have been the inventor of that kind of writing; but this is contested by several, particularly Quintilian, who seems to think that Hesiod was the first author of fables. Æsop, however, certainly improved this art to a very great degree; and hence it is that he has been accounted the author of this sort of productions:

Æsopus auctor quam materiam reperit, Hanc ego polivi veribus senariis.

Mine is the task, in easy verse, The tales of Æsop to rehearse. The first master whom Æsop served, was one Carasius Demarchus, an inhabitant of Athens; and there, in all probability, he acquired his purity in the Greek tongue. After him he had several masters; and at length came under a philosopher named Idmon or Iadmon, who enfranchised him. After he had recovered his liberty, he soon acquired a great reputation amongst the Greeks; so that, according to Meziriac, the report of his wisdom having reached Croesus, he sent to enquire after him, and engaged him in his service. He travelled through Greece, according to the same author; whether for his own pleasure, or upon the affairs of Croesus, is uncertain; and passing by Athens soon after Pisistratus had usurped the sovereign power, and finding that the Athenians bore the yoke very impatiently, he told them the fable of the frogs who petitioned Jupiter for a king. The images made use of by Æsop are certainly very happy inventions to instruct mankind; they possess all that is necessary to perfect a precept, having a mixture of the useful with the agreeable.

Æsop the fabulist (says Aulus Gellius) was deservedly esteemed wise, since he did not, after the manner of the philosophers, rigidly and imperiously dictate such things as were proper to be advised and persuaded; but framing entertaining and agreeable apologies, he thereby charms and captivates the human mind."—Æsop was put to death at Delphi. Plutarch tells us, that he came there with a great quantity of gold and silver, being ordered by Croesus to offer a sacrifice to Apollo, and to give a considerable sum to each inhabitant: but a quarrel arising betwixt him and the Delphians, he sent back the money to Croesus; for he thought those for whom the prince designed it, had rendered themselves unworthy of it. The inhabitants of Delphi brought an accusation of sacrilege against him; and pretending they had convicted him, threw him headlong from a rock. For this cruelty and injustice, we are told they were visited with famine and pestilence; and consulting the oracle, they received for answer, that the god designed this as a punishment for their treatment of Æsop: they endeavoured to make an atonement, by raising a pyramid to his honour.

Æsop, Clodius, a celebrated actor, who flourished about the 67th year of Rome. He and Roscius were contemporaries, and the best performers who ever appeared upon the Roman stage; the former excelling in tragedy, the latter in comedy. Cicero put himself under their direction to perfect his action. Æsop lived in a most expensive manner, and at one entertainment is said to have had a dish which cost above eight hundred pounds; this dish, we are told, was filled with singing and speaking birds, some of which cost near 50l. The delight which Æsop took in this sort of birds proceeded, as Mr Bayle observes, from the expense. He did not make a dish of them because they could speak, according to the refinement of Pliny upon this circumstance, this motive being only by accident; but because of their extraordinary price. If there had been any birds that could not speak, and yet more scarce and dear than these, he would have procured such for his table. Æsop's son was no less luxurious than his father, for he dissolved pearls for his guests to swallow. Some speak of this as a common practice of his; but others mention his falling into this excess only on a particular day, when he was treating his friends. Ho race * speaks only of one pearl of great value, which he dissolved in vinegar, and drank. Æsop, notwithstanding his expenses, is said to have died worth above 160,000l. When he was upon the stage, he entered into his part to such a degree, as sometimes to be seized lib. ii. 239, with a perfect ecstacy: Plutarch mentions it as reported of him, that whilst he was representing Atreus deliberating how he should revenge himself on Thyestes, he was so transported beyond himself in the heat of action, that with his truncheon he smote one of the servants crossing the stage, and laid him dead on the spot.

ÆSTIMATIO CAPITIS, a term met with in old law books for a fine anciently ordained to be paid for offences committed against persons of quality, according to their several degrees.

ÆSTIVAL, in a general sense, denotes something connected with, or belonging to, summer. Hence, æstival sign, æstival solstice, &c.

ÆSTUARIA, in Geography, denotes an arm of the sea, which runs a good way within land. Such is the Bristol channel, and many of the friths of Scotland.

ÆSTUARIES, in ancient baths, were secret passages from the hypocaustum into the chambers.

ÆSTUARY, among physicians, a vapour bath, or any other instrument for conveying heat to the body.

ÆSYMNIUM, in antiquity, a monument erected to the memory of the heroes by Æsymnus the Megarean. He, consulting the oracle in what manner the Megareans might be most happily governed, was answered, If they held consultation with the more numerous: whom he taking for the dead, built the said monument, and a senate-house that took within its compass the monument; imagining, that thus the dead would assist at their consultations. (Pausanias).