Illustrated Companion to the Latin Dictionary/Asser

Illustrated Companion to the Latin Dictionary, and Greek Lexicon (Rich, 1849)

ASSER. In general, a small wooden beam, pole or post fixed in or upon anything (Liv. Caes. Tac.); whence the following more special meanings are deduced: —

1. The pole by which a palanquin (lectica) was carried on the shoulders of its bearers. (Suet. Cal. 58. Juv. iii. 245. Id. vii. 132. Mart. ix. 23. 9.) It was entirely separate from the conveyance, and must not be confounded with the shafts (amites), which were permanently affixed to the body of the carriage, or at least only removable upon occasion. The asser was passed under a thong (lorum, struppus) attached to these shafts, like the backband in single harness, and then raised upon the shoulders of the bearers (lecticarii), so that the whole weight of the carriage was suspended upon it. The subjoined engraving (Asser/1.1), which represents a Chinese sedan, from Staunton, will make the matter perfectly clear, in the absence of any known ancient example. It is assumed to coincide with the Roman model, from the light it throws upon the different terms employed in connection with these conveyances, and the simple and natural explanation it affords upon those points which scholars have failed to reconcile; besides that a moment's reflection will convince any one that a sedan could not be carried by six or eight men, as was frequently the case (hexaphoros, octaphoros), by any device so convenient as the one depicted.

2. An iron-headed beam suspended and worked like a ram on board ship, to damage the enemy's rigging. Veget. Mil. iv. 44.

3. Asser falcatus. A long pole, with a sharp and crooked iron head, used in sieges to mow down the garrison on the walls. Liv. xxxviii. 5.

4. Asseres. In architecture, the common rafters of a timber roof, over which the tiles are laid; marked h h in the plan which illustrates the word MATERIATIO. Externally they are represented by the ornaments called dentils DENTICULUS, 2.) in Ionic and Corinthian elevations. Vitruv. iv. 2. 1. and 5.

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  Asser/1.1