He was a seer and Hesiod calls him an augur (oionistes οἰωνιστής) who read omens in the flight of birds.
[3][4][5] Asbolus foresaw the Centaurs' battle against the Lapiths at Pirithous' wedding, and unsuccessfully attempted to prevent them from attending.
The above is mentioned in Ovid's Metamorphoses, ...Asbolus the prophet who had warned, Though no one heard him, all his friends To give way, not to fight [the Lapithae].
He cried to Nessus, "You need not run; you shall be saved till that Fine day Hercules' arrow strikes your back."
It resulted in a bloodbath in which Pholus and Chiron, as well as Nessus, met their deaths at Heracles' hands.