Chapter Asmodeus to Astoreth of A by Brewer's Readers Handbook

Asmodeus to Astoreth

Asmodeus, a “diable bon-homme,” with more gaiety than malice; not the least like Mep histophelês. He is the companion of Cleofas, whom he carries through the air, and shows him the inside of houses, where they see what is being done in private or secrecy without being seen. Although Asmodeus is not malignant, yet with all his wit, acuteness, and playful malice, we never forget the fiend even when he is most engaging.

(Such was the popularity of the Diable Boileux, by Lesage, that two young men fought a duel in a bookseller’s shop over the only remaining copy—an incident worthy to be recorded by Asmodeus himself.)

Miss Austen gives us just such a picture of domestic life as Asmodeus would present could he remove the roof of many an English home.—Encyc. Brit. (art. “Romance”).

(Asmodeus must not be confounded with Asmonœus, surnamed “Maccabæus.” See HAMMER.)

Asotus, Prodigality personified in The Purple Island (1633), by Phineas Fletcher, fully described in canto viii. (Greek, asótos, “a profligate.”)

Aspasia, a maiden, the very ideal of ill-fortune and wretc hedness. She is the troth-plight wife of Amintor, but Amintor, at the king’s request, marries Evadne. Women point with scorn at the forsaken Aspasia, but she bears it all with patience. The pathos of her speeches is most touching, and her death forms the tragical event which gives name to the drama.—Beaumont and Fletcher: The Maid’s Tragedy (1610).

Asphaltic Pool (The), the Dead Sea. So called from the asphalt or bitumen abounding in it. The river Jordan empties itself into this “pool.”—Milton: Paradise Lost, i. 411 (1665).

Asphodel, in the language of flowers, means “regret.” It is said that the sp irits of the dead sustain themselves with the roots of this flower. It was planted by the ancients on gr aves, and both Theophilus and Pliny state that the ghosts beyond. Acheron roam through the meadows of Asphodel, in order if possible to reach the waters of Lethê or Oblivion. The asphodel was dedicated to Pluto. Longfellow strangely enough crowns his angel of death with amaranth, with which the “spirits elect bind their resplendent locks,” and his angel of life with asphodel, the flower of “regret” and emblem of the grave.

He who wore the crown of asphodels…
[said] “My errand is not death, but life”…
[but] The angel with the amaranthine wreath
Whispered a word that had a sound like death.
   —Longfellow: The Two Angels.

Aspramont, a place mentioned by Ariosto in his Orlando Furioso, in the department of the Meuse (1516).

Jousted in Aspramont and Montalban [Montauban].
   —Milton: Paradise Lost, i. 583 (1665).

Aspramonte, in sir W. Scott’s Count Robert of Paris (time, Rufus).

The old knight, father of Brenhilda.

The lady of Aspramonte, the knight’s wife.

Brenhilda of Aspramonte, their daughter, wife of count Robert.

Asrael or Azrael, an angel of death. He is immeasurable in height, insomuch that the space between his eyes equals a 70,000 days’ journey.—Mohammedan Mythology.

Ass (An), emblem of the tribe of Issachar. In the old church at Totnes is a stone pulpit, divided into compartments, containing shields decorated with the several emblems of the Jewish tribes, of which this is one.

Issachar is a strong ass, couching down between two burdens.—Gen. xlix. 14.