Chapter Arzina to Aspen of A by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

Asclepiadics or Asclepiadic Metre. A Greek and Latin verse, so called from Asclepiades, the inventor. Each line is divided into two parts.

The first ode of Horace is Asclepiadic. The first and last two lines run thus, and in the same metre: -

Dear friend patron of song, sprung from the race of kings;
Thy name ever a grace and a protection brings ...
My name, if to the lyre haply you chance to wed,
Pride would high as the stars lift my exalted head.
E. C. B.

Ascodrogites (4 syl.). Certain heretics who said "they were vessels full of new wine" (Greek, askos). By new wine they meant the Gospel. (Matt. ix. 17.)

Ascot Races A very fashionable "meet," run on Ascot Heath, Berkshire (6 miles from Windsor). The best horses of all England compete, and at a somewhat more advanced age than at the "great classic races" (q.v.).

Ascræan Poet or Sage. Hesiod, the Greek didactic poet, born at Ascra, in Boeotia. Virgil calls him the "Old Ascræon." (Eclogues, vii. 70.)

Asgard The fortress of the Asir or the Northern gods, the Olympos of Scandinavian mythology. It is said to be situated in the centre of the universe, and accessible only by the rainbow-bridge (Bifrost). The word As means a "god," and gard an "enclosure," our "yard." Odin was priest of Asgard before he migrated to the Lake Logur or Moelar Sea

Ash Tree or "Tree of the Universe." (See Yggdrasil.)

Ash Wednesday The first Wednesday in Lent, so called from an ancient Roman Catholic custom of sprinkling ashes on the heads of those condemned to do penance on this day.

The ashes were those of the palms burnt on Palm Sunday. The pessimi were sprinkled with ashes, the less offending were signed on the forehead with the sign of the cross, the officiating minister saying, "Memento, homo, quia pulvis es, et in pulverem reverteris." The custom, it, is said, was introduced by Gregory the Great.

Ashmolean Museum Presented to the University of Oxford in 1682 by Elias Ashmole. Sometimes called the Tradescant, because it belonged to the Tradescant family.

Ashtaroth The goddess-moon in Syrian mythology, called by Jeremiah (vii. 18, xliv. 17, 25) "the queen of heaven." Goddess of the Zidonians.

"Mooned Ashtaroth,
Heaven's queen and mother both."
Milton: The Hymn.

Ashur The highest god of the Assyrians. It had the head of an eagle and four wings, but the body of a man.

"Out of that land went forth Asshur, and builded Nineveh." - Gen. x. II.

Asinus Asinus asinum fricat (Latin, "one ass rubs another"), that is, we fraternise with persons like ourselves; or, in other words, "Birds of a feather flock together." The allusion needs no explanation.

Asir [See Æsir .]

Ask The vulgar Ax is the more correct (Saxon, axian, to ask). In assenting to Bills, the king used to reply, "Be it as it is axed." Chaucer says in the Doctor of Medicine's Tale, "For my werke nothing will I axe." Launfal, 1027, has, "Ho that wyll there axsy justus." Other quotations could easily be added.

Ask and Embla. The Adam and Eve made by Odin, one from ash-wood and the other from elm.

Aslo (See Horse .)