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AGATHOCLES.
AGA
Agathocles, I. one of the boldest adventurers of
antiquity. His history is principally drawn from Dio-
dorus Siculus (books nineteen and twenty, and frag-
ments of book twenty-one), and from Justin (books
twenty-two and twenty-three). They derived their
accounts from different sources, and differ, therefore,
especially in the history of his youth. Agathocles
was the son of Carcinus, who, having been expelled
from Hhegium, resided at Therme in Sicily. On ac-
count of a mysterious oracle, he was exposed in his
infancy, but was secretly brought up by his mother.
At the age of seven years the boy was again received
by his repentant father, and sent to Syracuse to learn
the trade of a potter, where he continued to reside,
being admitted by Timoleon into the number of the
citizens. He was drawn from obscurity by Damas, a
noble Syracusan, to whom his beauty recommended
him, and was soon placed at the head of an army sent
against Agrigentum. By a marriage with the widow
of Damas, he became one of the most wealthy men of
Syracuse. Under the dominion of Sosistratus, he was
obliged to fly to Tarentum, but returned after the death
of the latter, usurped the sovereignty, in which he es-
tablished himself by the murder of several thousand of
the principal inhabitants, and conquered the greater
part of Sicily (317 B. C. ). He maintained his power
twenty-eight years, till 289 B. C. To strengthen his
authority in his native country, and to give employment
to the people, he endeavoured, like Dionysius, to drive
the Carthaginians from Sicily. Having been defeated
by them, and besieged in Syracuse, he boldly resolved
to pass over into Africa with a portion of his army.
Here he fought for four years, till 307, generally with
success. Disturbances in Sicily compelled him to
leave his army twice, and at his second return into
Africa he found it in rebellion against his son Archa-
gathus. He appeased the commotion by promising
the troops the booty they should win; but, being de-
feated, he did not hesitate to give up his own sons to the
vengeance of his exasperated soldiery, and expose these
latter, without a leader, to the enemy. His sons wero
murdered ; the army surrendered to the Carthaginians.
He himself restored quiet to Sicily, and concluded a
peace 306 B. C. , which secured to both parties their
former possessions. He then engaged in several hos-
tile expeditions to Italy, where he vanquished the
Bruttii and sacked Crotona. His latter days were
saddened by domestic strife. His intention was, that
his youngest son, Agathocles, should inherit the throne.
This stimulated his grandson Archagathus to rebellion.
He murdered the intended heir, and persuaded Mffinon,
a favourite of the king's, to poison him. This was done
by means of a feather, with which the king cleaned his
teeth after a meal. His mouth, and soon his whole
body, became a mass of corruption. Before he was
entirely dead he was thrown upon a funeral pile. Ac-
cording to some authors, he died at the age of seventy-
two years; according to others, at that of ninety-five.
Before his death, his wife Texena and two sons were
sent to Egypt. His son-in-law, Pyrrhus, king of Epi-
rus, inherited his influence in Sicily and Southern Italy.
Agathocles possessed the talents of a general and a
sovereign. He was proud of his ignoble descent.
His cruelty, luxury, and insatiable ambition, however,
accelerated his ruin. (Justin, 22, 1, seqq. --Id. , 23,
1, scqq. --Polyb. , 12, 15. --Id. , 15, 35-- Id. , 9, 23,
etc. )--II. A son of Lysimachus, taken prisoner by
? ? the Gete. He was ransomed, and married Lysandra,
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? AGE
in this country and in upper Hungary. (Compare
Rmcll, Geogr. of Herod. . , p. 83, scqq. --Manner! , 4
p. 104. -- Ntcbuhr, Verm. Schrift. , 1, p. 377, &c. )
Scymnus of Chios, however, makes them to have dwell
oathe Palus Mieotis. The name perhaps, after all, is
I mere appellative, and may have been applied by dif-
ferent authors to different tribes. What serves to
Krengthen this opinion is the feet, that the latter half
of the term Agathyr^i frequently occurs in other na-
tional designations, such as Idanlhyrsi, Thyrsagctce,
npiigela, Tkyrsi, <<5cc. The reference probably is
to the god Tyr, another name for the sun. What
Herodotus (4, 104) states respecting this race, that
they were accustomed to array themselves in very
handsome attire, to wear a great number of golden or-
naments, lo have their women in common, and to live,
in consequence of this last-mentioned arrangement,
like brethren and members of one family, is received
with great incredulity by many. (Compare Vaiclcc-
teer, Herod. , ed. \\Tesscl. , p. 328, n. 31. ) All this,
however, clearly shows their Asiatic origin, and con-
nects them with the nations in the interior of the east-
era continent. The community of wives seems to have
been a remnant, in some degree, of an early Buddhis-
tic system The civilized habits of the Agathyrsi are,
it all events, worthy of notice, and favour the theory
of those who see in them a fragment of early civiliza-
tion, emanating from some highly cultivated race, and
fnbcequently shattered by the inroads of the Scythians
and other barbarous tribes, (Kilter. Vorhal. , 286, . <<? /? /. )
AGAUE ('Ajauj? ), or. with the ReuchUnian pronun-
ciation, AGAVE. I. daughter of Cadmus, and wife of
Echion. by whom she had Pentheus. Her son suc-
eecded his grandfather in the government of Thebes.
While he was reigning, Bacchus came from the cast,
and sought to introduce his orgies into his native city.
The women all gave enthusiastically into the new re-
ligion, and Mount Cithteron rang to the frantic yells of
the Bacchantes. Pentheus sought to check their fury;
bat, deceived by the god, he went secretly and ascend-
ed a tree on Cithteroi i. to be an ocular witness of their
revels. While here, he was descried by his mother
and aunts, to whom Bacchus made him appear to be a
wild beast, and he was torn to pieces by them. This
adventure of Pentheus has furnished the groundwork
of one of the finest dramas of Euripides, his Bacchae.
(Apollo! . 3, 4, 4. --Id. , 3, 5, l. --Ovid, Met. , 3, 514,
K>(H--- Hygm. , F. , 184. --Knghtley't Mythology, p.
2W. )--11. A. tragedy of Statins, now lost. (Jin. , 7,
87 >--111. A daughter of Danaus. She slew her hus-
band Lycus, in obedience to her father's orders. (Apol-
loi. , 2, 1, 5. >--IV. A Nereid. (Apollod. , 1, 2, 7. )
AGDESTIS. I. a genius or deity mentioned in the
legends of Phrygia, and connected with the mythus of
Cybele and Atys. An account of his origin, as well
as other particulars respecting him, may be obtained
from Pausanias (7,17). He was an androgynous de-
ity, and appears to be the same with the Adagoiis of
the ancient writers. (Creuzer, Symbolik, vol. 2, p.
48. --Compare the note of Guigniay. 1. )--II. One of
the summits of Mount Dindymus in Phrygia, on which
Atys was said to have been buried. (Pausan. , I, 4. )
AGELADAB, I. an excellent statuary, and illustrious
also as having been the instructer of Phidias, Poly-
cJetus, and Myron. His parents were inhabitants of
Arjos, according to Pausanias (34,8), and he himself
was bom there, probably about B. C. 540. The par-
ticular time, however, -when he lived, has given rise
? ? to much discussion. Sillig. after a long and able ar-
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? AGE
AGESILAUS.
(8, 24, 4) v'ho relates the same story, calls the chil-
dren of Phegcus Temcnus, Axion, and Alphesibcea.
--VI. A son of the Trojan Antenor, and of Thcano, a
priestess of Minerva. (II, 6, 298. ) He appears as
one of the bravest of the Trojans, and as leader in the
storming of the Grecian encampment. He hastens
with other Trojans to the assistance of Hector when
prostrated by Ajax, and, being encouraged by Apollo,
he engages in combat with Achilles, whom he wounds.
As, however, danger threatened him in this conflict,
Apollo assumed Agenor's form, in order that, while
Achilles turned against the god, the Trojans might be
able to escape to the city. (//. , 21, sub fin. --Hygin. ,
Fab. , 112. ) According to Pausanias (10,27,1), Age-
nor was slain by Ncoptolcmus, the son of Achilles,
and was represented by Polygnotus in the great paint-
ing in the Lesche of Delphi.
Agknokidks, a patronymic of Agcnor, designating a
descendant of an Agenor, such as Cadmus, Phineus,
and Perseus.
Aoesander, I. or Agesilaus, from uyciv and uvijp
or Aauc, a surname of Pluto or Hades, describing him
as the god who carries away all men. (Callim. , Hymn,
in Pallad. , 130. -- Spanh. , ad loc. --Hcsych. , s. v. --
JEschyl. ap. Athen. , 3, p. 99. ) Nicander (ap. Athen. ,
15, p. 684) uses the form 'Hyeallaoc. --II. A sculp-
tor, a native of the island of Rhodes. His name oc-
curs in no author except Pliny (H. Ar. , 36, 5, 4), and
we know of but one work which he executed; it is a
work, however, which bears the most decisive testi-
mony to his surpassing genius. In conjunction with
Apollodorus and Athenodorus, he sculptured the group
ofLaocoon. (Vid. Laocoon. ) This celebrated group
was discovered in the year 1506, near the baths of Ti-
tus on the Esquiline Hill: it is now preserved in the
Museum of the Vatican. A great deal has been writ-
ten about the age when Agcsandcr flourished, and vari-
ous opinions have been formed on the subject. Winck-
elmann and Muller, forming their judgment from the
style of art displayed in the work itself assign it to the
age of Lysippus. Miillcr thinks the intensity of suf-
fering depicted, and the somewhat theatrical air which
pervades the group, show that it belongs to a later
age than that of Phidias. Leasing and Thiersch, on
the other hand, after subjecting the passage of Pliny
to an accurate examination, have come to the conclu-
sion, that Agesandcr and the other two artists lived in
the age of Titus, and sculptured the group expressly
for that emperor; and this opinion is pretty generally
acquiesced in.
Thiersch has written a great deal to
show that the plastic art did not decline so early as is
generally supposed, but continued to flourish in full
vigour from the time of Phidias uninterruptedly down
to the reign of Titus. Pliny was deceived in saying
that the group was sculptured out of one block, as the
lapse of time has discovered a join in it. It appears from
an inscription on the pedestal of a statue found at Nct-
tuno (the ancient Antium), that Athenodorus was the
son of Agcsander. This makes it not unlikely that
Polydorus also was his son, and that the father execu-
ted the figure ofLaocoon himself, his two sons the re-
maining two figures. (Lessing, Laokoon. -- Wmckel-
mann, Gesch. de Kunst, 10,1, 10. --Thiersch, Epochen
tier llilfUini. il. p. 318, &c. -- Muller, Archaol. dcr
Kunst, p. 152:)
Agesianax, a Greek poet, of whom a beautiful frag-
ment, descriptive of the moon, is preserved in Plutarch
? ? (De facie in orb. Luna, p. 920. ) It is uncertain wheth-
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? AGESIJLAtJS.
joal,ifnotiiole commander at the battle of Mantineia.
Totte ensuing winter must probably be referred his
? juteisyto the coast of Asia, and negotiations formon-
ej with the revolted satraps, alluded to in an obscure
puage of Xenopbon (Agesilaus, 2, 26, 27); and, in
peiforaunce, perhaps, of some stipulation then made, he
OMMil, in the spring of 361, with a body of Lacede-
monian mercenaries, into Egypt. Here, after display,
ing much of his ancient skill, he died, while preparing
for hu voyage home, in the -winter of 361-60, after a
Efe of above eighty years, and a reign of thirty-eight.
HUbody was embalmed in wax. and splendidly buried
at Sparta.
Referring to our sketch of Spartan history, we find
Agesilaus shining most in its first and last period, as
commencing and surrendering a glorious career in
Asia, . -,. ! >? . ! 11 extreme age, maintaining his prostrate
country. From Coroneia to Leuctra we see him part-
Ij unemployed, at times yielding to weak motives, at
times joining in wanton acts of public injustice. No
one of Sparta's great defeats, but some of her had pol-
icy, belongs to him. In what others do, we miss him;
in what he does, we miss the greatness and consisten-
cy belonging to unity of purpose and sole command.
No doubt he was hampered at home; perhaps, too,
from a man withdrawn, when now near fifty, from his
chosen career, great action in a new one of any kind
took! not be looked for. Plutarch gives, among nu-
merous apophthegmata, his letter to the ephors on his
recall: "\\ e have reduced most of Asia, driven back
the barbarians, made arms abundant in Ionia. But
since you bid me, according to the decree, come home,
I (hall follow my letter, may perhaps be even before it.
For my command is not mine, but my country's and
her allies'. And a commander then commands truly
? ccording to right when he sees his own commander
ia the laws and ephors, or others holding office in the
state. " Also, an exclamation on hearing of the battle
of Corinth: "Alas for Greece! she has killed enough
of her sons to have conquered all the barbarians. " Of
hi-s courage, temperance, and hardiness, many instan-
ces are given: to these he added, even in excess, the
len Spartan qualities of kindness and tenderness as
a father and a friend. Thus we have the story of his
riding across a stick with his children ; and, to gratify
his son's affection for Oleonymus, son of the culprit,
he saved Sphodnas from the punishment due, in right
and policy, for nis incursion into Attica in 378. So,
too,the appointment of Pisander. (Vid. Pisander. ) A ,
letter of his runs, " If Nicias is innocent, acquit him I
fcc that; if guilty, for my sake; any how, acquit him. "
From Spartan cupidity and dishonesty, and mostly,
even in public life, from ill faith, his character is clear.
In person he was small, mean-looking, and lame, on
which last ground objection had been made to his ac-
cestion, an oracle, curiously fulfilled, having warned
Sparta of evils awaiting her under a " lame sovereign-
ty. " In his reign, indeed, her fall took place, but not
through him. Agesilaus himself was Sparta's most
perfect citizen and most consummate general; in many
? ays, perhaps, her greatest man. (Xen. , HeU. , 3,3, to |
the end ; AgcsHnus. --Diod. , 14,15. --Paus. , 3, 9, 10. |
--Pint, and C. Nepos, in Vita. --Plut. , Apophthegm. )
--til. A Greek historian, who wrote a work on the
earir history of Italy ('IraXt/eu), fragments of which
<<re preserved in Plutarch (Parallcla, p. 312) and Sto-
iwns. (Florilcfr. , 9, 27, 54, 49, 65, 10, ed. Gaisf. )--
IV. A brother of Themistocles, who went into the Per-
? ? ? an camp, and stabbed one of the body-guards instead
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? AG I
AGIS.
him next in B. C. 195, when he was at the head of the
Lacedemonian exiles, who joined Fiamininua in his
attack opon Nabis, the tyrant of Lacedsmon. (lav. ,
34, 86. ) He formed one of an embassy sent about
B. C. 183 to Rome by the Lacedemonian exiles, and,
with his companions, was intercepted by pirates and
killed. (Polyb. , 24. 11. )
Agksistbate. Vtd. Agis IV.
Aoktor ('Ayyrup),& surname given to several gods:
for instance, to Jupiter at Lacedsmon (Stob. , Sntu ,
42): the name seems to describe Zeus as the leader
and ruler of men; but others think that it is synony-
mous with Agamemnon (vid. Agamemnon): to Apol-
jo (Eurip. , Med. , 426), where, however, Elmsley and
others prefer uyrJTup: to Mercury, who conducts the
souls of men to the lower world. Under this name
Mercury had a statue at Megalopolis. (Paua. , 8, 31,
4 4. ) .
Agobnus Urbicus, a wnter on the science of the
Agrimensores. (Diet, of Ant. , p. 38. ) It is uncertain
when he lived; but he appears to have been a Chris-
tian, and it is not improbable, from some expressions
which he UBes, that he lived at the latter part of the
fourth century of our era. The extant works ascribed
to him are: "Aggeni Urbici in Juliuin Frontinum Com-
mentarius," a commentary upon the work " De Agro-
rum Qualitate," which is ascribed to Frontinus; "In
Julium Frontinum Commentariorura Liber secundus
qui Diazographus dicitur;" and " Commentariorum de
Controversiis Agrorum Pars prior et altera. " The
last-named work Niebuhr supposes to have been writ-
ten by Frontinus, and in the time of Domitian, since the
author speaks of " prestantissimus Domitianus ;" an
expression which would never have been applied to
this tyrant after his death. (Hut. of Rome, vol. 2, p.
621. )
Aggrammes, called Xandrames (Savdpupnc) by Di-
odorus, the ruler of the Gangarids and Prasii in India,
was said to be the son of a barber, whom the queen
had married. Alexander was preparing to march
against him, when he was compelled by his soldiers,
who had become tired of the war, to give up farther
conquests in India. {Curt. , 6, 2. --Diod. , 17, 93, 94.
--Arrian, Anab. , 5, 26, Stc. --Plut. , Alex. , 60. )
Agias ('Ayiac), I. a Greek poet, whose name was
formerly written Augias, through a mistake of the first
editor of the Exccrpta of Proems. It has been cor-
rected by Thiersch in the Acta Philol. Monac. , 2, p.
584, from the Coitex Monacensis, which in one pas-
sage has Agias, and in another Hagias. The name
itself does not occur in early Greek writers, unless it
be supposed that Egias or Hegias ('liyiac) in Clemens
Alexandrinus (Strom. , 6, p. 622) and Pausanias (1,
2, v 1) are only different forms of the same name.
He was a native of Trcezen, and the time at which he
wrote appears to have been about the year B. C. 740.
His poem was celebrated in antiquity, under the name
of Nooroi, i. c, the history of the return of the Achaean
heroes from Troy, and consisted of five books. The
poem began with the cause of the misfortunes which
befell the Acheans on their way home and after their
arrival, that is, with the outrage committed upon Cas-
sandra and the Palladium; and the whole poem filled
up the space which was left between the work of the
poet A minus and the Odyssey. The ancients them-
selves appear to have been uncertain about the author
of this poem, for they refer to it simply by the name
? ? of fioaroi, and when they mention the author, they
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? AGIS.
j with Procles), succeeded his father Archida
musB. C. 427, and reigned a little more than 28 years
& lie summer of B. C. 426, he led an army of Pelo
fanaesians and their allies as far as the isthmus, wit
lie intention of invading Attica; but they were deterret
from advancing farther by a succession of earthquake
which happened -when they had got so far. (Thucyd.
3,89) In the spring- of the following year he led an
army into Attica, but quitted it fifteen days after he
hail entered it. (Thucyd. . , 4, 2, 6. ) In B. C. 419, the
Argives, at the instigation of Alcibiades, attacked Epi
(haras; and Agis, with the -whole force of Lacede
mon, set out at the same time, and marched to the
frontier city. Leuctra. No one, Thucydides tells us
knew the purpose of this expedition. It was probably
to mike a diversion in favour of Epidaurus. { 7'//. -. ? ,'
fill, vol. 3, p. 342. ) At I^euctra the aspect of the
sacrifices deterred him from proceeding. He therefore
led his troops back, and sent round notice to the allies
to be ready for an expedition at the end of the sacred
month of the Carnean festival; and when the Argives
repeated their attack on Epidaurus, the Spartans again
marched to the frontier town, Caryte, and again turned
lack, professedly on account of the aspect of the vic-
tims. In the middle of the following summer (B. C.
413). the Epidaurians being still hard pressed by the
Argives, the Lacedemonians, with their" whole force
MM gome allies, under the command of Agis, invaded
Argolis. By a skilful manoeuvre, he succeeded in in-
tercepting the Argives, and posted his army advanta-
geously between them and the city. But just as the
battle was about to begin, Thrasyllus, one of the Ar-
gire generals, and Alciphron came to Agis, and prc-
vailea on him to conclude a truce for four months.
Agis, without disclosing his motives, drew off his army.
On his return he was severely censured for having thus
thrown away the opportunity of reducing Argos, espe-
cially as the Argives had seized the opportunity afford-
ed by his return, and taken Orchomenos. It was pro-
posed to pull down his house, and inflict on him a fine
of 103,000 drachmas. But, on his earnest entreaty,
th? y contented themselves with appointing a council
of war, consisting of 1O Spartans, without whom he
was not to lead an army out of the city. (Thucyd. ,
5, 54, 57, &e. ) Shortly afterward they received in-
telligence from Tegea, that, if not promptly succoured,
the party favourable to Sparta in that city would be
compelled to give way. The Spartans immediately
sent their whole force under the command of Agis.
H>> restored tranquillity at Tegea, and then marched
to Mantincia. By turning the waters so as to flood
the lands of Mantineia, he succeeded in drawing the
army of the Mantineans and Athenians down to the
level ground. A battle ensued, in which the Spartans
were victorious. This was one of the most important
battles everfought between Grecian states.