in *Natural History*, a small poisonous kind of serpent. It is said to be thus denominated from the Greek *aepos*, a shield, in regard to the manner of its lying convolved in a circle, in the centre of which is the head, which it exerts or raises like the umbo or umbilicus of a buckler. This species of serpent is very frequently mentioned by authors, but so carelessly described that it is not easy to determine which, if any, of the species known at present may properly be called by this name. It was with the asp that Cleopatra is said to have dispatched herself, and prevented the designs of Augustus, who intended to have carried her captive to adorn his triumphal entry into Rome. But the fact is contested: Sir Thomas Brown places it in the list of vulgar errors. The indications of that queen's having used the ministry of the asp were only two almost insensible pricks found in her arm; and Plutarch says that the cause of her death is unknown. Lord Bacon makes the asp the least painful of all the instruments of death. He supposes it to have an affinity to opium, but to be less disagreeable in its operation. See Reptilia.

ASPAZIA OF MILETUS, a celebrated courtezan who settled at Athens under the administration of Pericles. She was of admirable beauty: yet her wit and eloquence, still more than her beauty, gained her extraordinary reputation among all ranks in the republic. Her conversation was so entertaining and instructive, that notwithstanding the dishonourable commerce she carried on in female virtue, persons of the first distinction, male and female, resorted to her house as to an academy. It is said that she even numbered Socrates among her hearers. She captivated Pericles in such a manner that he dismissed his own wife in order to espouse her; and by her universal knowledge, irresistible elocution, and intriguing genius, she in a great measure influenced the administration of Athens. She was accused of having excited, from motives of personal resentment, the war of Peloponnesus. The companions of Aspasia served as models for painting and statuary, and themes for poetry and panegyric. Nor were they merely the objects, but, as is said, the authors, of some literary works, in which they established rules for the behaviour of their lovers, particularly at table; and explained the art of gaining the heart and captivating the affections.