AGESILAUS—AGNATE.
of civilisation in the history of the human race. The
old poets and philosophers described these in har-
mony with what they conceived to have been the
moral and political condition of their ancestors.
The idea of a succession of A. presented itself at a
very early period to the Greek mind. The life of the
race was likened to that of the individual—hence
the infancy of the former might easily be imagined
to be, like that of the latter, the most beautiful
and serene of all. Hesiod mentions five A.—the
golden, simple and patriarchal ; the silver, voluptu-
ous and godless; the brazen, warlike, wild, and
violent ; the her01c an aspiration towards the better;
the iron, in which justice, piety, and faithfulness had
vanished from the earth, the time in which Hesiod
fancied that he himself lived. Ovid closely imitates
the old Greek except in one particula i
heroic age. This idea, at first perhaps a mere poetic
comparison, gradually worked its way into prose,
and finally became a portion of scientific philosophy.
These A. were regarded as the divisions of the
great world-year, which would be completed when
the stars and planets had performed a revolution
round the heavens, after which destiny would repeat
itself in the same series of events. Thus mythology
was brought into connection with astronomy. The
golden age was said to be governed by Saturn ; the
silver, by Jupiter ; the brazen, by Neptune ; and the
iron, by Pluto. Many curious calculations were
entered into by ancient writers to ascertain the
length of the heavenly year, and its various divisions.
The greatest discrepancy prevailed, as might natur-
ally be expected ; some maintaining that it was 3000,
and others, as many as 18,000 solar years. The
Sibylline books compared it to the seasons of the
solar year, calling the golden age the spri
and on the completnon of the cycle, the olf order
was renewed. The idea of a succession of A. is
so natural, that it has inwrought itself into the reli-
gious convictions of almost all nations. It is sanc-
tioned by Scripture, for it is symbolically adopted in
the Apocalypse to a certain extent; it also manifests
itself in the sacred books of the Indians. Modern
philosophy, at least in Germany and France, has
also attempted to divide human history into definite
A. or periods. Fichte numbers five, of which he
conceives that we are in the third; Hegel and
Auguste Comte reckon three, placing us in the last.
Fortunately, the course of history is not arrested
by such speculations, but proceeds in quiet indiffer-
ence to all metaphysical dogmatism.
AGESILA'US, king of Sparta (399—360 B.c.), was
elevated to the throne chiefly by the exertions of
Lysander. Being called upon by the Ionians to
assist them against Artaxerxes, he commenced a
splendid campaign in Asia; but was compelled by
the Corinthian war, in which several of the Grecian
states were allied against Sparta, to leave his con-
quest over the Persians incomplete, and return to
Greece. At Cheeronea (394 B.c.), he gained a victory
over the allied forces, and in 378 the war was
concluded by a treaty of peace in favour of Sparta.
Afterwards, in the Theban war, though hard pressed
by Pelopidas and Epaminondas, he bravely and ably
defended his country. He died in his 84th year. A.
is described as of small stature but commanding
aspect, blameless in his private character, and, in
public life, just, as far as his partiality for his own
country allowed. His biographers are Xenophon,
Plutarch, and Cornelius Nepos.
A'GINCOURT. See AZINCOURT.
A’GIO, an Ttalian word, signifying ‘accommoda-
tion,” was first used in Ttaly to denote the premium
taken by money-changers in giving gold for silver,
on account of the greater convenience of gold for
76
transport. The same word is now used to denote
the difference between the real and the nominal
value of money ; also the variations from fixed pars
or rates of exchange. It corresponds very nearly to
the English word ¢ premium.’
A’GIS, the name of several kings of Sparta. Men-
tion is made of a king A. as early as about 1000 years
B.C., who subdued the old inhabitants of Sparta,
and made the Helots vassals or slaves. Of the
others, A. L. reigned during the greater part of the
Pcloponnesmn war, from 420 to 397 B.o—A. IL
ascended the throne in 338 B.c. His hatred of the
Macedonian supremacy led him to form alliances
with several Persian satraps against Alexander the
Great. A.,after extending his conquests to almost all
the cities of Peloponnesus, fell in battle 330 B.c.—A.
III. came to the throne in 244 B.c., when the state
of Sparta had fallen into a ruinous condition throu%'h
long-continued war. Though only twenty years old
when he began to reign, he boldly resolved to restore
the old instibutions and severe manners of Sparta ;
but intrigues and self-interest in the higher classes
frustrated his designs. The riches of the state were
now in the hands of a few persons, while a great
majority of the people were in extreme indigence.
A., therefore, in accordance with the old laws of the
state, proposed a redistribution of landed estates by
lottery. The new ephorus, Agesilaus, who was rich
in landed property, hut burdened with many debts,
astutely proposed that first all debts should be can-
celled, and next the lands should be divided. The
first part of this plan was soon effected ; but great
hindrances were opposed to the carrying out of the
remainder. Meanwhile, the disappointed people
were easily persuaded that A. had endeavoured to
introduce measures inimical to the welfare of the
state. Pursued by his enemies, he fled for refuge
to a temple, but was betrayed by false friends into
the hands of the magistrates, who immediately
ordered him to be put to death by strangulation
(240 B.c.). His mother and his grandmother, who
had favoured his measures, were barbarously executed
in the same manner. Alfieri, the Italian poet, wrote
a powerful tragedy on the fate of A. III.
AGNA'NOQ, a small lake near Naples, is about
sixty feet in depth, and has no visible outlet.
The surrounding country is volcanic and mountain-
ous. Formerly, the lake was named Angwiano,
from the number of snakes in the neighbourhood.
On the right of Lake A. lies the Grotto del Cane—so
called from the stratum of carbonic acid gas, some
18 inches deep, which always covers the floor, and
which suffocates a dog (cane) or other small animal
taken into it—and on the left are found the natural
vapour-baths of San Germano, used for the cure of
gout, rheumatism, &c., but inferior in virtue to the
baths (Stufe di Nerone) at Baie. The volcanoes
surrounding the lake have been extinet since
1198 A.p. Further on the left from A. lies the lake
of Astront, which occupies the crater of an extinct
volcano, and is surrounded by beautiful woodlands.
A'GNATE (Lat. agnatus). Agnates, in the law
both of England and Scotland, are persons related
through the father, as cognates are persons related
through the mother. In the Roman law, both of
these terms had a somewhat different signification.
Agnates, by that system, were persons related
through males only, whilst cognates were all those in
whose connection, though on the father’s side, one
or more female links mturvened Thus, a br others
son was his uncle’s A., because the propinquity was
wholly by males; a sister's son was his cognate,
because a female was interposed in that relationship.
With us the intervention of females is immaterial,
provided the connection be on the male, or paternal,
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