age of Justinian, of whose reign he published the history in five
books. Several of his epigrams are found in the _Anthologia_. His
history is a sequel of that of Procopius. The best edition is that
of Paris, folio, 1660.
=Agătho=, a Samian historian, who wrote an account of Scythia.――――A
tragic poet, who flourished 406 B.C. The name of some of his
tragedies are preserved, such as Telephus, Thyestes, &c.――――A comic
poet who lived in the same age. _Plutarch_, _Parallela minora_.――――A
son of Priam. _Homer_, _Iliad_, bk. 24.――――A governor of Babylon.
_Curtius_, bk. 5, ch. 1.――――A Pythagorean philosopher. _Ælian_,
_Varia Historia_, bk. 13, ch. 4.――――A learned and melodious musician,
who first introduced songs in tragedy. _Aristotle_, _Poetics_.――――A
youth of Athens, loved by Plato. _Diogenes Laërtius_, bk. 3, ch. 32.
=Agathŏclēa=, a beautiful courtesan of Egypt. One of the Ptolemies
destroyed his wife Eurydice to marry her. She, with her brother,
long governed the kingdom, and attempted to murder the king’s son.
_Plutarch_, _Cleomenes_.――_Justin_, bk. 30, ch. 1.
=Agathŏcles=, a lascivious and ignoble youth, son of a potter, who,
by entering in the Sicilian army, arrived to the greatest honours,
and made himself master of Syracuse. He reduced all Sicily under
his power, but being defeated at Himera by the Carthaginians, he
carried the war into Africa, where, for four years, he extended his
conquests over his enemies. He afterwards passed into Italy, and
made himself master of Crotona. He died in his 72nd year, B.C. 289,
after a reign of 28 years of mingled prosperity and adversity.
_Plutarch_, _Apophthegmata Laconica_.――_Justin_, bks. 22 & 23.――
_Polybius_, bk. 15.――_Diodorus_, bk. 18, &c.――――A son of Lysimachus,
taken prisoner by the Getæ. He was ransomed, and married Lysandra
daughter of Ptolemy Lagus. His father, in his old age, married
Arsinoe the sister of Lysandra. After her husband’s death, Arsinoe,
fearful for her children, attempted to murder Agathocles. Some say
that she fell in love with him, and killed him because he slighted
her. When Agathocles was dead, 283 B.C., Lysandra fled to Seleucus.
_Strabo_, bk. 13.――_Plutarch_, _Pyrrhus_ & _Demetrius_.――_Pausanias_,
bk. 1, chs. 9 & 10.――――A Grecian historian of Babylon, who wrote an
account of Cyzicus. _Cicero_, _de Divinatione_, bk. 1, ch. 24.――――A
Chian who wrote on husbandry. _Varro._――――A Samian writer.――――A
physician.――――An Athenian archon.
=Agăthon.= _See:_ Agatho.
=Agathonȳmus=, wrote a history of Persia. _Plutarch_, _de Fluviis_.
=Agathosthĕnes=, a poet, &c.
=Agathyllus=, an elegiac poet of Arcadia. _Dionysius of Halicarnassus_,
bk. 1.
=Agathynum=, a town of Sicily.
=Agathyrsi=, an effeminate nation of Scythia, who had their wives in
common. They received their name from Agathyrsus son of Hercules.
_Herodotus_, bk. 4, ch. 10.――_Virgil_, _Æneid_, bk. 4, li. 146.
=Agāve=, daughter of Cadmus and Hermione, married Echion, by whom
she had Pentheus, who was torn to pieces by the Bacchanals. _See:_
Pentheus. She is said to have killed her husband in celebrating the
orgies of Bacchus. She received divine honours after death, because
she had contributed to the education of Bacchus. _Theocritus_,
poem 26.――_Ovid_, _Metamorphoses_, bk. 3, li. 725.――_Lucan_, bk. 1,
li. 574.――_Statius_, _Thebiad_, bk. 11, li. 318.――_Apollodorus_,
bk. 3, ch. 4.――――One of the Nereides. _Apollodorus_, bk. 1.――――A
tragedy of Statius. _Juvenal_, satire 7, li. 87, &c.
=Agaui=, a northern nation who lived upon milk. _Homer_, _Iliad_,
bk. 13.
=Agāvus=, a son of Priam. _Homer_, _Iliad_, bk. 24.
=Agdestis=, a mountain of Phrygia, where Atys was buried. _Pausanias_,
bk. 1, ch. 4.――――A surname of Cybele.
=Agelades=, a statuary of Argos. _Pausanias_, bk. 6, ch. 8; bk. 7,
ch. 23.
=Agelastus=, a surname of Crassus, the grandfather of the rich Crassus.
He only laughed once in his life, and this, it is said, was upon
seeing an ass eat thistles. _Cicero_, _de Finibus_, bk. 5.――_Pliny_,
bk. 7, ch. 19.――――The word is also applied to Pluto, from the sullen
and melancholy appearance of his countenance.
=Agelāus=, a king of Corinth, son of Ixion.――――One of Penelope’s
suitors. _Homer_, _Odyssey_, bk. 20.――――A son of Hercules and
Omphale, from whom Crœsus was descended. _Apollodorus_, bk. 2,
ch. 7.――――A servant of Priam, who preserved Paris when exposed on
mount Ida. _Apollodorus_, bk. 3, ch. 12.
=Agendīcum=, now _Sens_, a town of Gaul, the capital of the Senones.
_Cæsar_, _Gallic War_, bk. 6, ch. 44.
=Agēnor=, king of Phœnicia, was son of Neptune and Libya, and brother
to Belus. He married Telephassa, by whom he had Cadmus, Phœnix,
Cilix, and Europa. _Hyginus_, fable 6.――_Silius Italicus_, bk. 1,
li. 15; bk. 17, li. 58.――_Apollodorus_, bk. 2, ch. 1; bk. 3, ch. 1.
――――A son of Jasus and father of Argus. _Apollodorus_, bk. 2, ch.
10.――――A son of Ægyptus. _Apollodorus_, bk. 2, ch. 1.――――A son of
Phlegeus. _Apollodorus_, bk. 3, ch. 7.――――A son of Pleuron, father
to Phineus. _Apollodorus_, bk. 1, ch. 7.――――A son of Amphion and
Niobe. _Apollodorus_, bk. 3, ch. 4.――――A king of Argos, father to
Crotopus.――――A son of Antenor. _Homer_, _Iliad_, bk. 21, li. 579.
――――A Mitylenean, who wrote a treatise on music.
=Agenŏrĭdes=, a patronymic applied to Cadmus, and the other
descendants of Agenor. _Ovid_, _Metamorphoses_, bk. 3, li. 8.
=Agerīnus=, a freedman of Agrippina, accused of attempting Nero’s
life. _Tacitus_, _Annals_, bk. 14, ch. 16.
=Agesander=, a sculptor of Rhodes under Vespasian, who made a
representation of Laocoon’s history, which now passes for the best
relict of all ancient sculpture.
=Agesias=, a Platonic philosopher who taught the immortality of the
soul. One of the Ptolemies forbade him to continue his lectures,
because his doctrine was so prevalent that many of his auditors
committed suicide.
=Agesilāus=, king of Sparta, of the family of the Agidæ, was son
of Doryssus and father of Archelaus. During his reign Lycurgus
instituted his famous laws. _Herodotus_, bk. 7, ch. 204.――_Pausanias_,
bk. 3, ch. 2.――――A son of Archidamus, of the family of the Proclidæ,
made king in preference to his nephew Leotychides. He made war
against Artaxerxes king of Persia with success; but in the midst of
his conquests in Asia, he was recalled home to oppose the Athenians
and Bœotians, who desolated his country; and his return was so
expeditious that he passed, in 30 days, over that tract of country
which had taken up a whole year of Xerxes’ expedition. He defeated
his enemies at Coronea; but sickness prevented the progress of
his conquests, and the Spartans were beat in every engagement,
especially at Leuctra, till he appeared at their head. Though
deformed, small of stature, and lame, he was brave, and a greatness
of soul compensated all the imperfections of nature. He was as fond
of sobriety as of military discipline; and when he went, in his 80th
year, to assist Tachus king of Egypt, the servants of the monarch
could hardly be persuaded that the Lacedæmonian general was eating
with his soldiers on the ground, bare-headed, and without any
covering to repose upon. Agesilaus died on his return from Egypt,
after a reign of 36 years, 362 B.C., and his remains were embalmed
and brought to Lacedæmon. _Justin_, bk. 6, ch. 1.――_Plutarch_ &
_Cornelius Nepos_, _Lives of Distinguished Romans_.――_Pausanias_,
bk. 3, ch. 9.――_Xenophon_, _Oratation for Agesilaus_.――――A brother
of Themistocles, who was sent as a spy into the Persian camp, where
he stabbed Mardonius instead of Xerxes. _Plutarch_, _Parallela
minora_.――――A surname of Pluto.――――A Greek who wrote a history of
Italy.
=Agesipŏlis I.=, king of Lacedæmon, son of Pausanias, obtained a great
victory over the Mantineans. He reigned 14 years, and was succeeded
by his brother Cleombrotus, B.C. 380. _Pausanias_, bk. 3, ch. 5;
bk. 8, ch. 8.――_Xenophon_, bk. 3, _Hellenica_.
=Agesipŏlis II.=, son of Cleombrotus king of Sparta, was succeeded by
Cleomenes II., B.C. 370. _Pausanias_, bk. 1, ch. 13; bk. 3, ch. 5.
=Agesistrăta=, the mother of king Agis. _Plutarch_, _Agis_.
=Agesistrătus=, a man who wrote a treatise entitled, _De arte
machinali_.
=Aggrammes=, a cruel king of the Gangarides. His father was a
hair-dresser, of whom the queen became enamoured, and whom she made
governor of the king’s children, to gratify her passion. He killed
them to raise Aggrammes, his son by the queen, to the throne.
_Curtius_, bk. 9, ch. 2.
=Aggrīnæ=, a people near mount Rhodope. _Cicero_, _Against Piso_,
ch. 37.
=Agĭdæ=, the descendants of Eurysthenes, who shared the throne of
Sparta with the Proclidæ. The name is derived from Agis son of
Eurysthenes. The family became extinct in the person of Cleomenes
son of Leonidas. _Virgil_, _Æneid_, bk. 8, li. 682.
=Agilāus=, king of Corinth, reigned 36 years.――――One of the Ephori,
almost murdered by the partisans of Cleomenes. _Plutarch_, _Cleomenes_.
=Agis=, king of Sparta, succeeded his father Eurysthenes, and, after a
reign of one year, was succeeded by his son Echestratus, B.C. 1058.
_Pausanias_, bk. 3, ch. 2.――――Another king of Sparta, who waged
bloody wars against Athens, and restored liberty to many Greek
cities. He attempted to restore the laws of Lycurgus at Sparta,
but in vain; the perfidy of friends, who pretended to second his
views, brought him to difficulties, and he was at last dragged
from a temple, where he had taken refuge, to a prison, where he was
strangled by order of the Ephori. _Plutarch_, _Agis_.――――Another,
son of Archidamus, who signalized himself in the war which the
Spartans waged against Epidaurus. He obtained a victory at Mantinea,
and was successful in the Peloponnesian war. He reigned 27 years.
_Thucydides_, bks. 3 & 4.――_Pausanias_, bk. 3, chs. 8 & 10.――――
Another, son of Archidamus king of Sparta, who endeavoured to
deliver Greece from the empire of Macedonia, with the assistance
of the Persians. He was conquered in the attempt, and slain by
Antipater, Alexander’s general, and 5300 Lacedæmonians perished with
him. _Curtius_, bk. 6, ch. 1.――_Diodorus_, bk. 17.――_Justin_, bk. 12,
ch. 1, &c.――――Another, son of Eudamidas, killed in a battle against
the Mantineans. _Pausanias_, bk. 8, ch. 10.――――An Arcadian in the
expedition of Cyrus against his father Artaxerxes. _Polyænus_, bk. 7,
ch. 18.――――A poet of Argos, who accompanied Alexander into Asia, and
said that Bacchus and the sons of Leda would give way to his hero,
when a god. _Curtius_, bk. 8, ch. 5.――――A Lycian, who followed Æneas
into Italy, where he was killed. _Virgil_, _Æneid_, bk. 10, li. 751.
=Aglāia=, one of the Graces, called sometimes Pasiphae. Her sisters
were Euphrosyne and Thalia, and they were all daughters of Jupiter
and Eurynome. _Pausanias_, bk. 9, ch. 35.
=Aglaonīce=, daughter of Hegemon, was acquainted with astronomy and
eclipses, whence she boasted of her power to draw down the moon from
heaven. _Plutarch_, _de Defectu Oraculorum_.
=Aglaŏpe=, one of the Sirens.
=Aglaŏphon=, an excellent Greek painter. _Pliny_, bk. 35, ch. 8.
=Aglaosthĕnes=, wrote a history of Naxos. _Strabo_, bk. 6.
=Aglauros=, or =Agraulos=, daughter of Erechtheus the oldest king of
Athens, was changed into a stone by Mercury. Some make her daughter
of Cecrops. _See:_ Herse. _Ovid_, _Metamorphoses_, bk. 2, fable 12.
=Aglaus=, the poorest man of Arcadia, pronounced by the oracle more
happy than Gyges king of Lydia. _Pliny_, bk. 7, ch. 46.――_Valerius
Maximus_, bk. 7, ch. 1.
=Agna=, a woman in the age of Horace, who, though deformed, had many
admirers. _Horace_, bk. 1, satire 3, li. 40.
=Agno=, one of the nymphs who nursed Jupiter. She gave her name to a
fountain on mount Lycæus. When the priest of Jupiter, after a prayer,
stirred the waters of this fountain with a bough, a thick vapour
arose, which was soon dissolved into a plentiful shower. _Pausanias_,
bk. 8, ch. 31, &c.
=Agnodĭce=, an Athenian virgin, who disguised her sex to learn
medicine. She was taught by Hierophilus the art of midwifery,
and when employed always discovered her sex to her patients. This
brought her into so much practice, that the males of her profession,
who were now out of employment, accused her, before the Areopagus,
of corruption. She confessed her sex to the judges, and a law was
immediately made to empower all free-born women to learn midwifery.
_Hyginus_, fable 274.
=Agnon=, son of Nicias, was present at the taking of Samos by Pericles.
In the Peloponnesian war he went against Potidæa, but abandoned his
expedition through disease. He built Amphipolis, whose inhabitants
rebelled to Brasidas, whom they regarded as their founder, forgetful
of Agnon. _Thucydides_, bks. 2, 3, &c.――――A writer. _Quintilian_,
bk. 2, ch. 17.――――One of Alexander’s officers. _Pliny_, bk. 33,
ch. 3.
=Agnonĭdes=, a rhetorician of Athens, who accused Phocion of betraying
the Piræus to Nicanor. When the people recollected what services
Phocion had rendered them, they raised him statues, and put to death
his accuser. _Plutarch_ & _Cornelius Nepos_, _Phocion_.
=Agōnālia= and =Agonia=, festivals in Rome, celebrated three times a
year in honour of Janus, or Agonius. They were instituted by Numa,
and on the festive days the chief priest used to offer a ram. _Ovid_,
_Fasti_, bk. 1, li. 317.――_Varro_, _de Lingua Latina_, bk. 5.
=Agōnes Capitolīni=, games celebrated every fifth year upon the
Capitoline hill. Prizes were proposed for agility and strength, as
well as for poetical and literary compositions. The poet Statius
publicly recited there his Thebaid, which was not received with much
applause.
=Agonis=, a woman in the temple of Venus, on mount Eryx. _Cicero_,
_Against Verres_, bk. 1.
=Agonius=, a Roman deity, who presided over the actions of men. _See:_
Agonalia.
=Agoracrĭtus=, a sculptor of Pharos, who made a statue of Venus for
the people of Athens, B.C. 150.
=Agoranŏmi=, ten magistrates at Athens, who watched over the city and
port, and inspected whatever was exposed to sale.
=Agorānis=, a river falling into the Ganges. _Arrian_, _de Indica_.
=Agoræa=, a name of Minerva at Sparta. _Pausanias_, bk. 3, ch. 11.
=Agoreus=, a surname of Mercury among the Athenians, from his
presiding over the markets. _Pausanias_, bk. 1, ch. 15.
=Agra=, a place of Bœotia where the Ilissus rises. Diana was called
Agræa, because she hunted there.――――A city of Susa――――of Arcadia
――――and of Arabia.
=Agræi= and =Agrenses=, a people of Arabia. _Pliny_, bk. 6,
ch. 28.――――Of Ætolia. _Livy_, bk. 42, ch. 34.
=Agrāgas=, or =Acragras=, a river, town, and mountain of Sicily;
called also Agrigentum. The town was built by the people of Gela,
who were a Rhodian colony. _Virgil_, _Æneid_, bk. 3, li. 703.――
_Diodorus_, bk. 11.
=Agraria lex=, was enacted to distribute among the Roman people all
the lands which they had gained by conquest. It was first proposed
A.U.C. 268, by the consul Spurius Cassius Vicellinus, and rejected
by the senate. This produced dissensions between the senate and
the people, and Cassius, upon seeing the ill success of the new
regulations he proposed, offered to distribute among the people the
money which was produced from the corn of Sicily, after it had been
brought and sold in Rome. This act of liberality the people refused,
and tranquillity was soon after re-established in the state. It was
proposed a second time A.U.C. 269, by the tribune Licinius Stolo,
but with no better success; and so great were the tumults which
followed, that one of the tribunes of the people was killed, and
many of the senators fined for their opposition. Mutius Scævola,
A.U.C. 620, persuaded the tribune Tiberius Gracchus to propose it a
third time; and though Octavius, his colleague in the tribuneship,
opposed it, yet Tiberius made it pass into a law, after much
altercation, and commissioners were authorized to make a division
of the lands. This law at last proved fatal to the freedom of Rome
under Julius Cæsar. _Florus_, bk. 3, chs. 3 & 13.――_Cicero_, _on the
Agrarian Law_.――_Livy_, bk. 2, ch. 41.
=Agraule=, a tribe of Athens. _Plutarch_, _Themistocles_.
=Agraulia=, a festival at Athens in honour of Agraulos. The Cyprians
also observed these festivals, by offering human victims.
=Agraulos=, a daughter of Cecrops. _See:_ Aglauros.――――A surname of
Minerva.
=Agrauonītæ=, a people of Illyria. _Livy_, bk. 45, ch. 26.
=Agre=, one of Actæon’s dogs. _Ovid_, _Metamorphoses_, bk. 3, li. 213.
=Agriānes=, a river of Thrace. _Herodotus_, bk. 4, ch. 9.――――A people
that dwelt in the neighbourhood of that river. _Herodotus_, bk. 5,
ch. 16.
=Agricŏla=, the father-in-law of the historian Tacitus, who wrote
his life. He was eminent for his public and private virtues. He
was governor of Britain, and first discovered it to be an island.
Domitian envied his virtues; he recalled him from the province he
had governed with equity and moderation, and ordered him to enter
Rome in the night, that no triumph might be granted him. Agricola
obeyed, and without betraying any resentment, he retired to peaceful
solitude, and to the enjoyment of the society of a few friends. He
died in his 56th year, A. D. 93. _Tacitus_, _Agricola_.
=Agrigentum=, now _Girgenti_, a town of Sicily, 18 stadia from the
sea, on mount Agragas. It was founded by a Rhodian, or, according
to some, by an Ionian colony. The inhabitants were famous for
their hospitality, and for their luxurious manner of living. In
its flourishing situation Agrigentum contained 200,000 inhabitants,
who submitted with reluctance to the superior power of Syracuse.
The government was monarchical, but afterwards a democracy was
established. The famous Phalaris usurped the sovereignty, which was
also for some time in the hands of the Carthaginians. Agrigentum
can now boast of more venerable remains of antiquity than any other
town in Sicily. _Polybius_, bk. 9.――_Strabo_, bk. 6.――_Diodorus_,
bk. 13.――_Virgil_, _Æneid_, bk. 3, li. 707.――_Silius Italicus_,
bk. 14, li. 211.
=Agrinium=, a city of Acarnania. _Polybius_, bk. 6.
=Agriōnia=, annual festivals in honour of Bacchus, celebrated
generally in the night. They were instituted, as some suppose,
because the god was attended with wild beasts.
=Agriopas=, a man who wrote the history of all those who had obtained
the public prize at Olympia. _Pliny_, bk. 8, ch. 22.
=Agriōpe=, the wife of Agenor king of Phœnicia.
=Marcus Agrippa Vipsanius=, a celebrated Roman, who obtained a victory
over Sextus Pompey, and favoured the cause of Augustus at the
battles of Actium and Philippi, where he behaved with great valour.
He advised his imperial friend to re-establish the republican
government at Rome, but he was overruled by Mecænas. In his
expeditions in Gaul and Germany, he obtained several victories, but
refused the honours of a triumph, and turned his liberality towards
the embellishing of Rome and the raising of magnificent buildings,
one of which, the Pantheon, still exists. After he had retired for
two years to Mitylene, in consequence of a quarrel with Marcellus,
Augustus recalled him, and, as a proof of his regard, gave him his
daughter Julia in marriage, and left him the care of the empire
during an absence of two years employed in visiting the Roman
provinces of Greece and Asia. He died, universally lamented,
at Rome in the 51st year of his age, 12 B.C., and his body was
placed in the tomb which Augustus had prepared for himself. He
had been married three times: to Pomponia daughter of Atticus, to
Marcella daughter of Octavia, and to Julia, by whom he had five
children――Caius, and Lucius Cæsares, Posthumus Agrippa, Agrippina,
and Julia. His son, Caius Cæsar Agrippa, was adopted by Augustus,
and made consul, by the flattery of the Roman people at the age
of 14 or 15. This promising youth went to Armenia on an expedition
against the Persians, where he received a fatal blow from the
treacherous hand of Lollius, the governor of one of the neighbouring
cities. He languished for a little time and died in Lycia. His
younger brother, Lucius Cæsar Agrippa, was likewise adopted by his
grandfather Augustus; but he was soon after banished to Campania,
for using seditious language against his benefactor. In the seventh
year of his exile he would have been recalled had not Livia and
Tiberius, jealous of the partiality of Augustus for him, ordered him
to be assassinated in his 26th year. He has been called ferocious
and savage; and he gave himself the name of Neptune, because he
was fond of fishing. _Virgil_, _Æneid_, bk. 8, li. 682.――_Horace_,
bk. 1, ode 6.――――One of the servants of the murdered prince assumed
his name and raised commotions. _Tacitus_, _Annals_, bk. 2, ch. 39.
――――Sylvius, a son of Tiberius Sylvius king of Latium. He reigned
33 years, and was succeeded by his son Romulus Sylvius. _Dionysius
of Halicarnassus_, bk. 1, ch. 8.――――A consul who conquered the
Æqui.――――A philosopher. _Diogenes Laërtius._――――Herodes, a son
of Aristobulus, grandson of the Great Herod, who became tutor to
the grandchild of Tiberius, and was soon after imprisoned by the
suspicious tyrant. When Caligula ascended the throne his favourite
was released, presented with a chain of gold as heavy as that which
had lately confined him, and made king of Judæa. He was a popular
character with the Jews: and it is said, that while they were
flattering him with the appellation of God, an angel of God struck
him with the lousy disease, of which he died, A.D. 43. His son,
of the same name, was the last king of the Jews, deprived of his
kingdom by Claudius, in exchange for other provinces. He was with
Titus at the celebrated siege of Jerusalem, and died A.D. 94. It was
before him that St. Paul pleaded, and made mention of his incestuous
commerce with his sister Berenice. _Juvenal_, satire 6, li. 156.
――_Tacitus_, bk. 2, _Histories_, ch. 81.――――Menenius, a Roman
general, who obtained a triumph over the Sabines, appeased the
populace of Rome by the well-known fable of the belly and the limbs,
and erected the new office of tribunes of the people, A.U.C. 261. He
died poor, but universally regretted: his funeral was at the expense
of the public from which also his daughters received dowries. _Livy_,
bk. 2, ch. 32.――_Florus_, bk. 1, ch. 23.――――A mathematician in the
reign of Domitian; he was a native of Bithynia.
=Agrippīna=, a wife of Tiberius. The emperor repudiated her to marry
Julia. _Suetonius_, _Tiberias_, ch. 7.――――A daughter of Marcus
Agrippa, and granddaughter to Augustus. She married Germanicus, whom
she accompanied in Syria; and when Piso poisoned him, she carried
his ashes to Italy, and accused his murderer, who stabbed himself.
She fell under the displeasure of Tiberius, who exiled her in
an island, where she died A.D. 26, for want of bread. She left
nine children, and was universally distinguished for intrepidity
and conjugal affection. _Tacitus_, bk. 1, _Annals_, ch. 2, &c.――
_Suetonius_, _Tiberias_, ch. 52.――――Julia, daughter of Germanicus
and Agrippina, married Domitius Ænobarbus, by whom she had Nero.
After her husband’s death she married her uncle the emperor Claudius,
whom she destroyed to make Nero succeed to the throne. After many
cruelties and much licentiousness she was assassinated by order of
her son, and as she expired she exclaimed, “Strike the belly which
could give birth to such a monster.” She died A.D. 59, after a life
of prostitution and incestuous gratifications. It is said that her
son viewed her dead body with all the raptures of admiration, saying,
he never could have believed his mother was so beautiful a woman.
She left memoirs which assisted Tacitus in the composition of his
annals. The town which she built, where she was born, on the borders
of the Rhine, and called _Agrippina Colonia_, is the modern Cologne.
_Tacitus_, _Annals_, bk. 4, ch. 75; bk. 12, chs. 7, 22, &c.
=Agrisius.= _See:_ Acrisius.
=Agrisope=, or =Agriope=, the mother of Cadmus. _Hyginus_, fable 6.