23G 
ASYLA. — EXPIATION OF MURDEll* 
head, unless redeemed by the captain. It is also customary, at the 
launching of new ships, to baptize the vessel, by breaking a bottle of 
wine or other liquor upon her, just as she is going off the stocks. 
ASYLA. 
The Asyla of altars and temples were very ancient; and likewise 
those of tombs, statues, and other monuments of considerable person- 
ages. 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 people indiscri- 
minately worshipped the god Asylceus, 
The Jews had their Asyla ; the most remarkable of which were the 
six cities of refuge, the temple, and the altar of burnt-offerings ; which 
protected those who had incurred the lash of the law, but not for 
any deliberate crime. But it was customary among the Heathens to 
allow refuge and impunity even to the vilest and most flagrant offen- 
ders ; some out of superstition, and others for the sake of peopling their 
cities. They had an idea that a criminal who fled to the temple or 
altar, submitted his crime to the punishment of the gods, and that it 
would be impiety in man to take vengeance out of their hands. It 
was by this means and with such inhabitants, that Thebes, Athens, 
and Rome were first stocked. We even read of Asyla at Lyons 
and Vienna, among the ancient Gauls ; and there are some cities in 
Germany, which still preserve the ancient right of Asylum. The 
emperors Honorius and Theodosius granting the like immunities to 
churches, the bishops and monks laid hold of a certain tract or ter- 
ritory, without which they fixed the bounds of their secular juris- 
diction ; and so well did they manage their privileges, that convents 
in a little time became next akin to fortresses, where the most noto-» 
rious villains were in safety, and braved the power of the magistrate. 
These privileges at length were extended, not only to the churches 
and church-yards, but also to the bishops’ houses ; whence the cri- 
minal could not be removed without a legal assurance of life, and 
an entire remission of the crime. The reason of this extension was, 
that they might not be obliged to live together in the churches, &c. 
where several of the occasions of life could not be decently per- 
formed. But at last these Asyla were stripped of most of their immu-p 
nities, because they served to make guilt more daring. In Britain 
particularly, they were entirely abolished, as protecting criminals, 
although there still remained some privileged places of refuge for 
debtors ; such was the abbey of the Holy Rood House, near Edin- 
burgh, and its precincts. 
Expiation of Murder. 
In conformity with the Jewish and eastern opinions on this subject, 
if the crime of blood lay on any member of a family, he or she was 
said to have begotten or brought forth an Erynnis to the house. 
But although the blood-avenger underwent incalculable difficulties, 
and spent an incredible time in hunting down his victim, a commu* 
