a sanctuary or place of refuge where criminals shelter themselves from the hands of justice. The word is compounded of the privative particle \(\alpha\) and \(\omega\), \(i\) hurt; because no person could be taken out of an asylum without sacrilege. The asyla of altars and temples were very ancient, and likewise those of tombs, statues, and other monuments of considerable personages. Thus, the temple of Diana at Ephesus was a refuge for debtors, the tomb of Theseus for slaves. Among the Romans, a celebrated asylum was opened by Romulus between the mounts Palatine and Capitoline, in order to people Rome, for all sorts of persons indiscriminately, fugitive slaves, debtors, and criminals of every kind. The Jews had their asyla, the most remarkable of which were the six cities of refuge, the temple, and the altar of burnt-offerings. It was customary among the heathens to allow refuge and impunity even to the vilest and most flagrant offenders: some out of superstition, and others for the sake of peopling their cities. We even read of asylums at Lyons and Vienne among the ancient Gauls; and there are some cities in Germany which still preserve the ancient right of asylum. Hence, on the medals of several ancient cities, particularly in Syria, we meet with the inscription \(\Lambda \Sigma \Upsilon \Lambda \Omega I\), to which is added \(\Pi \Delta \Lambda \Omega I\). This quality of asylum was given them, according to M. Spanheim, in regard to their temples, and to the gods revered by them. The emperors Honorius and Theodosius granting the like immunities to churches, the bishops and monks laid hold of a certain tract or territory, without which they fixed the bounds of the secular jurisdiction; and so well did they manage their privileges, that convents in a little time became next akin to fortresses, where the most notorious villains were in safety, and braved the power of the magistrate. These privileges were extended not only to the churches and churchyards, but also to the bishops' houses, whence the criminal could not be removed without a legal assurance of life, and an entire remission of the crime. The reason of the extension was, that they might not be obliged to live altogether in the churches, &c., where several of the occasions of life could not be decently performed. But at length these asyla or sanctuaries were also stripped of most of their immunities, because they served to make guilt and libertinage more bold and daring. In England, particularly, they were entirely abolished. See SANCTUARY.

ASSYMETRY, the want of proportion between the parts of any thing; being the contrary of symmetry. Or, it is the relation of two quantities which have no common measure, as between 1 and \(\sqrt{2}\), or the side and diagonal of a square.