ASSERTOR, or ADSERTOR, contains the same root as the verb _adserere_, which, when coupled with the word _manu_, signifies to lay hold of a thing, to draw it towards one. Hence the phrase _adserere in libertatem_, or _liberali adserere manu_, applies to him who lays his hand on a person reputed to be a slave, and _asserts_, or maintains his freedom. The person who thus maintained the freedom of a reputed slave was called _adsertor_. The person whose freedom was thus claimed was said to be _adsertus_. The expressions _liberalis causa_, and _liberalis manus_, which occur in connection with the verb _adserere_, will easily be understood from what has been said. Sometimes the word _adserere_ alone was used as equivalent to _adserere in libertatem_. The expression _asserere in servitutem_, to claim a person as a slave, occurs in Livy. ASSESSOR, or ADSESSOR, literally one who sits by the side of another. Since the consuls, praetors, governors of provinces, and the judices, were often imperfectly acquainted with the law and forms of procedure, it was necessary that they should have the aid of those who had made the law their study. The assessors sat on the tribunal with the magistrate. Their advice or aid was given during the proceedings as well as at other times, but they never pronounced a judicial sentence. ASSĬDUI. [LOCUPLETES.] ASTRĂGĂLUS (ἀστράγαλος), literally, that particular bone in the ankles of certain quadrupeds, which the Greeks, as well as the Romans, used for dice and other purposes. [TALUS.] In architecture it signifies a certain moulding (the astragal) which seems to have derived its name from its resemblance to a string or chain of _tali_, and it is in fact always used in positions where it seems intended to bind together the parts to which it is applied. It belongs properly to the more highly decorated forms of the Ionic order, in which it appears as a lower edging to the larger mouldings, especially the _echinus_ (ovolo), particularly in the capital, as shown in the following woodcut. [Illustration: Astragalus. (Capital of an Ionic Column. Dilettanti Society, Ionian Antiquities.)] ASTRĂTEIAS GRĂPHĒ (ἀστρατείας γραφή), the accusation instituted at Athens against persons who failed to appear among the troops after they had been enrolled for a campaign by the generals. The defendant, if convicted, incurred disfranchisement (ἀτιμία) both in his own person and that of his descendants.