AST 



AST 



quedion upon which he dehbcratcd was, what courfe he 

 fhould take; and whether he (hould fly to Brutus or to 

 Cafliiis, or to S. Pompeius; but, after all his deliberations, 

 none of them pleafed him fo much as the expedient of 

 dying; fo that, as Plutarch fays, he h^d fome thoughts of 

 returning to the city, and killing himfelf in Cxfar's houfe ; 

 in order to leave the guilt and curfe of his blood upon 

 Csefar's perfidy and ingratitude: but the importunity of his 

 fcrvants induced him to fail forwards to Cajeta, where he 

 landed to repofe himfelf in his Formian villa, about a mile 

 from thecoall; " weary of life and the Tea, and declaring 

 that he would die ni that country which he had often 

 faved." Hither he was purfued by the foldiers that were 

 fent in quell of him; and though he fird into the woods, he 

 was overtaken and put to death.. Middl-.-ton's Cicero, vol. ii. 

 p. 495. 



AsTURA, in Gfo^rnpky,^ good harbour on the fouth-wefl 

 coaft of Italy, about tv.i.-!ve or fourteen leagues fuuth-eall 

 from the mouth of the Tiber, at the bottom of a bay eall 

 from port Neptune, and nearly ea!l from mount Cercclli. 



ASTURAGAMICOSK,' a hke of Lower Canada, 

 eightv-one leagues north-eall of Quebec. N. lat. 50° 25'. 

 W. long. 67'' 2;'. 



ASTUR.IA, in /Inc'it-nt Geography, a kingdom of Spain, 

 fubdued by the Roman emperor Augullus, after the people 

 had long refilled, in connedlion with theCautabrians, repeated 

 attempts to reduce them under the Roman yoke. But at 

 length the diltrefs of famine was fo great, that they deter- 

 mined to fmrender; upon which the Cantabrians, who, 

 defperate as their fituation was, were refolved to renew their 

 efforts, fell upon them, and compelled io,oco of them to 

 feek an afylum in the Roman intrenchments. Tiberius, 

 however, refufcd to admit th.;m into the camp; fo that 

 defpairing of relief, fome fell upon their own fwords, others 

 threw themfelves into the flames which they had kindled 

 for this purpofe, and others dilpatched themfelves bv poilon. 

 The furviving Afturlans collected all their llrength agaiuil 

 the next campaign; but the utmoft efforts of their valour 

 and dcfpair proved fruitlefs. Weakened by repeated de- 

 feats, they were under the necefhty of fubmitting to the 

 Roman power, till the fubverfion of that empire by the 

 Goths. In the beginning of the eiglith century Don 

 Palayo reftored the Spanish monarchy in the AlUirias. 

 Ailuria, tiie capital of the Afiurians, was, in ar.cient lim?.s 

 the famous' " Colonia Augulla," mentioned by Pliny. 

 This place divided the Allures into Auguiljni and Tranf- _ 

 montarii. The fevcnth Roman legion, iutitlcd " Augulla 

 Gemina," was fettled between the Aflurian fea and the 

 capital of this dillridt, called " Afturia Augufta," now 

 AsTORCA. The country derives its name from the river 

 Adura, and is now denominated " Allurias." It was 

 formerly celebrated by the poecs for the gold it produced. 



ASTURTAS, in Geogriiphv, the ancient AJlui'm, a pro- 

 vince of Spain, about fortyeifrht leagues long, and eighteen 

 broad; bounded on the eall by Bifcay, on the foutli by Old 

 Callile and Leon, on the well by Galicia, and on tiie nortii 

 by the bay of Bifcay. It is ufnally divided into two parts 

 or diftridls called Ailuria of Oviedo, and Ailuria of San- 

 tillane; and hence it derives its plural name Allurias. The 

 country is geueiallv mountainous and rugged; and towards 

 the fouth are the mountains which branch from the P\ renees, 

 and feparate it from Old Callile and Leon; thefc are co- 

 vered with extenfive forefts. The foil, however, produces 

 3 fufficiency of corn, great quantities of fruit, and excellent 

 wine. Its horfes are in great elleem, and maintain tiicir 

 reputation from the time of the Romans, who preferred 

 them to aU the other horfts in Spain. The i.nbabitants, 



who value themfelves even at this day on the purity of their 

 blood, and their defcent from the ancient Goths, are poor, 

 but honed, generous, brave, and laborious. The principal 

 towns are Oviedo, Santillaiie, and San Andero. The eldeil 

 fon of the king of Spain takes the title of the prince of 

 Afturias, and hears the arms of the country. 



ASTURICANI, in ylndent Geography, a people of 

 Afiatic Sarmatia. Ptolemv. 



ASTURASPES, a name formerly given to a river of 

 Alivflinia, now called Mareb. It is one of the rivers repre- 

 fcnted by the ancients as forming the ifland of Mtroe. 



ASTY, a village of Egypt, mentioned by Dicdorus 

 Siculus ; in the vicinity of Canopus, according to Steph. 

 Byz. 



ASTYAGES, in Biography, king of the Medcs, was 

 the foil of Cyaxares, according to Herodotus (1. i. c. 74.) 

 and Paufaiiias (1. v. c. 10. p. 398.) ; and began his reign, 

 according to Blair's tables, in the year 585 B. C. Sir Ilaac 

 Newton (Chron. apud Oper. t. v. p. 222.) fays, that Hero- 

 dotus, folltnved by Paufaiiias, has inverted the order of the 

 kings Ailyages and Cvaxarcs ; making Cyaxares to be the 

 fon and fucceffor of Phraortes, and the father and prede- 

 ceffor of Aftyages, the father of Mandaiie, and grand- 

 father of Cyrus. Confidering, he adds, that Cyaxares 

 reigned long, and that no author mentions more kmgs of 

 Media tlian one, called Aftyages ; and that ^^Lfchyhis, who 

 lived in thofe days, knew but of two great monarchs of 

 Media and Perfia, the father and the fon, older than Cyrus, 

 he concludes, that Ailyages, the father of Mandanc, and 

 grandfather of Cyrus, was the father and predecelTor of 

 Cyaxares ; and that the fon and fucceflbr of Cyaxares, wai 

 called Darius. Accordingly, he fays, that Aftyages began 

 his reign at the death of Phraortes, who was (lain by the 

 Affyrians in the year of Nabonaffer 1 1 1 ., or 637 B.C., 

 and reigned 26 years. According to Herodotus, Aftyages 

 married his daughter to a Perfian nobleman named Cam- 

 byfes. During her pregnancy he had a dream, fignifying 

 that the child that was to be born fhould rule over all Afia. 

 This prediction alarmed him ; and he determined to dellroy 

 the child. Harpagus, who was employed for this purpofe, 

 difobeyed th^ roval command, and intrulltd the nurture 

 and education of the infant Cyrus with one of the king's 

 heidfmen. When Cyrus was ten years old, Aftyages dif- 

 covered the fraud, and caufed the only fon of Harpagus to 

 be killed, and his flcfli to be ferved up to h'm in a banquet. 

 Harpagus for fome time diflembled his indignation at this 

 aft of barbarity, but waiting a favourable opportunity of 

 revenge, he called Cyrus, arrived at mai.hood, from Pcrfia, 

 whither he had been ftnt to his real parents, and afiiiled 

 him to rcvult againil his grandfather. Ailyages was de- 

 feated ; and caufed the Magi, who had led him to imagine 

 that the danger apprehended from his fon's revolt was at aa 

 end, to be all impaled. In a fecond engagement he was 

 defeated and made prifoner ; upon which he was dcpofed 

 by Cyrus, after having reigned 35 years, and the Medcs 

 were fubjefted to the Perfians. Aftyages was confined to 

 his palace, hut fiiffcred to clofe his life by a natural death. 

 Xenophon, in his " Cyropx-dia," a work which the beil 

 critics have confidercd more as a fiftion than a true hiftory, 

 reprefents Cyrus as having been openly educated at the court 

 of his grandfather Aftyages, who retained the crown till 

 his death, and was fucccded by his fon Cyaxares II. Af- 

 tyages has been rtckoued by fome the " Ahafuerus" of 

 fcriptui-e. Aiic. Un. Hift. vol. iv. p. 23. See MtDiA, and 

 Pfrsia. 



ASTYANAX, in Anc'unt H'ljlory, the only fon of 



Hedor and Audiomache. Calchas, "the foothfayer, pre- 



Z i djtled. 



