ASS 
ASSAIL'ANT,/. [ajfailant, Fr.] We that attacks; in 
Opposition to defendant. — 1 he lame was lowell encountei- 
ed by the defendants, 'that the obftinacy of the ajjailants 
did but increafe the lofs. Hayward ; 
Assait.ant, adj. Attacking; invading. 
ASS AIL'ER,/. One who attacks another. 
ASSAM', a country of Alia, bounded on the north by 
Thibet, on the calf by Hindoftan, on the loath by Mec- 
ley ; the ealfern boundaries are not known. 
Assam', a town of Alia, in the province of Diarbe- 
kir, forty miles from Diarbek. 
ASSANCALEE', a ftrong town in Armenia, near the 
river Arras, in tlte road between Erzerum and Erivati, 
and noted for its hot-baths. It Hands on a high hill; the 
walls are built in a fpiral line all round the rock, and are 
{'lengthened with fqtiare towers. The ditches are about 
two faihoms over, cut out of hard rock. Lat. 39. 46.N. 
Ion. 41. 30. E. 
ASSAPA'NIC, /. The Virginian flying-fqturrel. 
ASS A'RIUM,/. a Email copper coin, being a part or 
diminutive of the as.' The word ov is uleu by Sui- 
das indifferently with oQoXoq and vogucjto denote a Email 
piece of money ; in which he is followed by Cujacius, who 
defines aco-uyo'j by minimus ceris nummus. We find men¬ 
tion of the alfarion in the gofpel of St. Matthew, chap. x. 
verfe 29. 
ASSARLI', a town of Euponean Turkey, in the pro¬ 
vince of Romania, forty-four miles eaft-fouth-eaft of Fi- 
lippopoli. 
AS'SARON, or Omer ,f. a meafure of capacity, fn ufe 
among the Hebrews, containing five pints. It was the 
meafure of manna which God appointed for every Ifraeli-te. 
ASSART',/! \_ajfartuin , Lat. from ajfartir, Fr. to make 
plain. Ajfartum elf quod redachim eft ad culturam. Fleta , 
lib. iv. c.21. And the word ajfartum is by Spelman de¬ 
rived from cxertum, to pull up by the roots : for fometimes 
it is wrote ejfart. Others derive it from exaratum , or ex- 
arturn, which lignifies to plow or cut up.] Manwood, in 
his Foreft Laws, fays'; it is an ©{Fence committed in the fo- 
reft, by pulling up the.woods by the roots, that are thick¬ 
ets and coverts for the deer, and making the ground plain 
as arable land ; this is efteemed the greateft trefpafs that 
can be done in the foreft to vert or venifon, as it contains 
in it wafte and more; for, whereas waftc of the foreft is 
but the felling down the coverts which may grow up again, 
aflart is a plucking them up by the-roots, and utterly de- 
ftroying them, fo that they can never afterwards fpring up 
again. But this is no’offence if donewith licence; and a 
man may, by writ of ad quod damnum, fue out a licence to 
aflart ground in the foreft, and fit it for tillage. Reg.Orig. 
257. Hence are lands Called aflarted : and formerly aflart 
rents were paid to the crown for foreft lands aflarted. See 
ftat. 22 Car. 11 . c. 6. 
ASSAS'SIN,/! \_ajfajfm, Fr.] A murderer; one that 
kills by treachery, or ludden violence : 
Here hir’d ajfajjins for their gain invade, 
And treach’rous pois’ners urge their fatal trade. Creech. 
The word ajfajjtri is faid to have been brought from the 
Levant, where it took its rife from a prince of the family 
of the Arjacidtz , popularly called Ajfajjins , living in a caftle* 
between Antioch and Damafcus, and bringing up a num¬ 
ber of armed vaflals, ready to pay every obedience to his 
commands. Thefe he employed in murdering the princes 
with whom he was at enmity. But, according to Mr. Vol- 
ney, the word hajjdjjin (from the root hajs, “to kill, to af- 
faflinate, to liften, to furprife”) in the vulgar Arabic fig- 
nific-s “robbers of the night,” perfonswho lie in ambufh 
to kill: and is ttniverfally underftood in this fenfe at Cairo, 
and in Syria. Hence it was applied to the Batenians, who 
flew by furprife. There was a certain law of nations, an 
opinion received in all the republics of Greece and Italy, 
whereby he that aflaflinated an ufurper of the fupreme 
power was declared a virtuous man. At Rome especially, 
ASS a 
after the expullion of the kings, the law was formal and 
Eolemn, and inflances of it admitted. The commonwealth 
armed the hand of any citizen, and created him magiftrate 
for that moment. 
Assassins, a tribe or clan ini Syria, called alfo 1 fmae - 
Hans, and Batanijis or Batenians. Thefe people probably 
owed their origin to the Karmatians, a famous heretical 
left among the Mahometans, who fettled in Perlia about 
the year 1090 ; whence, in procefs of time, they lent a co¬ 
lony into Syria, where they became polEcfled of a conlide- 
rable tract of land among the mountains of Lebanon, ex¬ 
tending itfelf from the neighbourhood of Antioch to Ba- 
mafeus. The firft chief and legiflalor of this remarkable 
tribe appears to have been Haifan Sabah, who by his arti¬ 
fices made fanatical and implicit (laves of his fubjetts. 
Their religion was compounded of That of the Magi, the 
Jews, the Chriftians, and the Mahometans ; but the capi¬ 
tal article of their creed was to believe that the Holy Ghoft 
relided in their chief; that his orders proceeded from God 
himfelf, and were real declarations of his divine pleafure. 
To this monarch the orientals gave the name of jeheik ; a 
dignity which, inftead of being hereditary, was confirmed 
by election. 
This chief, from his exalted refidence on the futnmit of 
mount Lebanon, was called the Old Man of the Mountain ; 
who, like a vindictive deity, with the thunderbolt in his 
hand, lent inevitable death to all quarters; fo that kha* 
lifts, emperors, fultans, kings, princes, Chriftians, Maho¬ 
metans, and Jews, execrated and dreaded his languinary 
power, from the ftrokes of which there was no fecurity. 
At the leaft fuggeftion that this man had threatened the 
death of any potentate, all immediately doubled their 
guards, and took every other precaution in their power. 
It is known that Philip Auguftns king of France, on a 
premature advice that the fcheik intended to have him af- 
faflinated, inftituted a new body-guard of men cliftiriguifh- - 
ed for their activity and courage, called fergens d'arm-s, 
with brafs clubs, bows, and arrows ; and he himfelf never 
appeared without a club, fortified either with iron or gold, 
Moll fovereigns paid fecretly a penfion to the fcheik, how¬ 
ever fcandalous and derogatory it might be to the luftre 
of majefty, for the fafety of their perfons. The knights 
templars alone dared to defy his fecret machinations and 
open force. 
This favage prince was fnrnifhed with refources unknown 
to all other monarchs, even to the moft defpotic tyrant. 
His fubjedts would proftrate themfelves at the foot of his 
throne, requefting to die by his hand, or order, as a favour 
by which they were Eure of palling into paradife. On them 
if danger made any impreffion, it was an emulation to prefs 
forward; and, if taken in any enterprife, they went to the 
place of execution with a magnanimity unknown to others. 
Henry count of Cha'mpaigne, who married Ifabella daugh¬ 
ter of Arriaury king of Jerufalem, palling over part of the 
territory of the Aflaflins in his way to Syria, and talking' 
highly of his power, their chief came to meet him : “Are 
your fubjedfs (faid the Old Man of the Mountain) as t ea-' 
dy in their fubmilfion as mine ?” and, without flaying for 
an anfvver, made a (ign with his hand, when ten young men 
in white, who were Handing on an adjacent tower, inftant-%, 
ly threw themfelves down. On another occafion, fulraiF 
Malek-Shah fummoning the fcheik to fnbmit himfelf to 
his government, and threatening him with the power of 
his arms, fliould he hefitate to comply; the latter, very 
compofedly turning himfelf towards his,guards, faid to 
one of them, “ Draw your dagger, and plunge it into your 
bread;” and to another, “ Throw yourfelf headlong from 
yonder rock.” H.is orders were no fooner uttered than they 
were obeyed : and all the anfwer he deigned to give the 
fultan’s envoy was, “ Away, fycophant, to thy matter,- and 
let him know I have many thoufand fubjecls of the fame 
difpolition.” Men fo ready to deftroy themfelves, were 
equally alert and refolute in being the minifters of death to 
others. At tlie command of their fovereign, they made no' 
difficulty of /tabbing any prince, even on ills throne; and, 
being 
