was Agis IV, who succeeded to the throne in 244 B.C., and reigned four
years. He attempted a reform of the abuses which had crept into the
State--his plan comprehending a redistribution of the land, a division of
wealth, and the cancelling of all debts. Opposed by his colleague Leonidas,
advantage was taken of his absence, in an expedition against the Aetolians,
to depose him. Agis at first took sanctuary in a temple, but he was
treacherously seized and strangled, after going through the form of a
trial.
AGISTMENT (from the Lat. _ad_, to, and Fr. _giste_, lodging), a term
designating the pasturing of horses, cattle, or sheep of another. See
_Bailment_.
AGITATORS, an alternative form of _Adjutators_, a name given to the
representatives elected in 1647 by the different regiments of the English
parliamentary army.
AGLAIA (a-gl[=a]'ya), wife of Hephaistos, in Greek mythology, one of the
three Graces, the other two being Euphrosyne and Thalia.
AGLOSSA, a sub-order of anurous amphibia, the frogs, without a tongue.
AGNANO ([.a]-ny[:a]'n[=o]), until 1870 a lake of Italy, west of Naples,
occupying probably the crater of an extinct volcano, but now drained.
AG'NATES, in the civil law, relations on the male side, in opposition to
_cognates_, relations on the female side.
AGNELLO PASS, see _European War_.
AGNES, St., a virgin martyr who, according to the story, suffered martyrdom
because she steadfastly refused to marry Sempronius, the prefect of Rome,
and adhered to her religion in spite of repeated temptations and threats,
A.D. 303. She was first led to the stake, but as the flames did not injure
her she was beheaded. Her festival is celebrated on 21st Jan. For
superstitions connected with St. Agnes' Eve see Keats's poem _The Eve of
St. Agnes_. Tintoret's most remarkable picture is _The Martyrdom of St.
Agnes_.
AGNES, St., the most southerly of the Scilly Islands. A lighthouse was
erected here as early as 1680; another on the Wolf Rock near the island was
completed in 1858.
AGNESI ([.a]-ny[=a]'s[=e]), Maria Gaetana, a learned Italian lady, born at
Milan in 1718. In her ninth year she was able to speak Latin, in her
eleventh Greek; she then studied the oriental languages, and at the age of
thirteen mastered Hebrew, besides French, Spanish, and German. She was
called the 'Walking Polyglot'. She next studied geometry, philosophy, and
mathematics. She was appointed, in 1750, professor of mathematics in the
University of Bologna, ultimately took the veil, and died in 1799. Her
sister, Maria Theresa, composed several cantatas and three operas.
[Illustration: Agni--Moore's _Hindoo Pantheon_]
AG'NI, the Hindu god of fire, second only to Indra, and one of the eight
guardians of the world, and especially the lord of the south-east quarter.
He is celebrated in many of the hymns of the Rig Veda. He is often
represented as of a red or flame colour, and rides on a ram or a goat. He
is still worshipped as the personification of fire, and the friction of two
sticks for procuring the temple fire is still regarded as the symbol of
Agni's miraculous rebirth.
AGNOETAE, a monophysitic sect of the sixth century.
AGNOLO, Baccio d' (b[.a]ch'[=o] d[.a]n'yo-l[=o]), a Florentine wood-carver,
sculptor, and architect; designed some of the finest palaces, &c., in
Florence, such as the Villa Borghese, the Palais Bartolini, &c.; born 1460,
died 1543.
AGNO'MEN (Lat.), an additional name given by the Romans to an individual in
allusion to some quality, circumstance, or achievement by which he was
distinguished, as _Africanus_ added to P. Cornelius Scipio.
AGNONE ([.a]-ny[=o]'n[=a]), a town of S. Italy, province of Molise, famous
for the excellence of its copper wares. Pop. 6000.
AGNOSTICS (ag-nos'tiks; Gr. _a_, not, _gign[=o]skein_, to know), a modern
term invented by Huxley in 1869 and applied to those who disclaim any
knowledge of God, the origin of the universe, immortality, &c. The
agnostics, or adherents of this doctrine, hold that the mind of man is
limited to a knowledge of phenomena and of what is relative, and that,
therefore, the infinite, the absolute, and the unconditioned, being beyond
all experience, are consequently beyond its range. Agnosticism is therefore
the attitude of 'solemnly suspended judgment', and cannot be identified
with atheism. The agnostics do not deny the existence of a Divine Being,
but merely maintain that we have no scientific ground for either belief or
denial.--BIBLIOGRAPHY: Sir Leslie Stephen, _An Agnostic's Apology_; R.
Flint, _Agnosticism_; J. Ward, _Naturalism and Agnosticism_.
AGNUS CASTUS, a shrub, _Vitex Agnuscastus_, nat. ord. Verbenaceae, a native
of the Mediterranean countries, with white flowers and acrid, aromatic
fruits. It had anciently the imagined virtue of preserving chastity--hence
the term _castus_ (Lat., chaste).
AGNUS DEI (d[=e]'[=i]; Lat., 'the Lamb of God'), a term applied to Christ
in _John_, i, 29, and in the Roman Catholic liturgy a prayer beginning with
the words 'Agnus Dei', generally sung before the communion. The term is
also commonly given to a medal, or more frequently a disk of wax, round,
oblong, or oval, consecrated by the pope, stamped with the figure of a lamb
supporting the banner of the cross; supposed to possess great virtues, such
as preserving those who carry it in faith from accidents, &c. Jean Chatel,
the assassin of Henri IV, was found covered with such medals.
AGON'IC LINE (Gr. _a_, not, and _g[=o]nia_, an angle), in terrestrial
magnetism a name applied to the line which joins all the places on the
earth's surface at which the needle of the compass points due north and
south, without any declination. See _Magnetism_.
AG'ONY COLUMN, a column in the advertising sheet of some of the daily
journals, in which disappearances, losses, mysterious appeals and
correspondence, and generally any advertising eccentricity appear.
AG'ORA, the market-place of a Greek town, corresponding to the Roman
_forum_. The Agora of Athens is situated in a valley partially enclosed by
the Acropolis, Areopagus, Pnyx, and Museum.
AGOS'TA. See _Augusta_.
AGOUARA ([.a]-g[u:]-[:a]'r[.a]), a name given to the crab-eating racoon
(_Proc[)y]on cancriv[)o]rus_) of S. America.
AGOULT ([.a]-g[:o]), Marie de Flavigny, Comtesse d', a French writer of
fiction, history, politics, philosophy, and art; daughter of Vicomte de
Flavigny; born at Frankfort in 1805, died at Paris 1876. She contributed
many articles to the _Revue des Deux-Mondes_, &c., under the pseudonym of
_Daniel Stern_, and wrote _Lettres Republicaines_ (1848); _Histoire de la
Revolution de 1848_; _Esquisses Morales et Politiques_; _Trois Journees de
la Vie de Marie Stuart_; _Florence et Turin_ (a series of artistic and
political studies); _Dante et Goethe_; dialogues, and numerous romances,
&c.
AGOUTA (a-g[:o]'ta), _Solen[)o]don paradoxus_, an insectivorous mammal
peculiar to Hayti, of the tanrec family, somewhat larger than a rat. It has
its tail devoid of hair and covered with scales, its eyes small, and an
elongated nose like the shrews. Another species (_S. cub[=a]nus_) belongs
to Cuba.
AGOUTI (a-g[:o]'ti), the name of several rodent mammals, forming a family
by themselves, genus Dasyprocta. There are eight or nine species, all
belonging to S. America and the W. Indies. The common agouti, or
yellow-rumped cavy (_D. agouti_), is of the size of a rabbit. It burrows in
the ground or in hollow trees, lives on vegetables, doing much injury to
the sugar-cane, is as voracious as a pig, and makes a similar grunting
noise. Its flesh is white and good to eat.
AGRA ([:a]'gra), a city of India, in the United Provinces, on the right
bank of the Jumna, 841 miles by rail from Calcutta. It is a well-built and
handsome town and has various interesting structures, among which are the
imperial palace, a mass of buildings erected by several emperors; the Moti
Masjid or Pearl Mosque (both within the old and extensive fort); the mosque
called the Jama Masjid (a cenotaph of white marble); and, above all, the
Taj Mahal, 'a dream in marble', a mausoleum of the seventeenth century,
built by the Emperor Shah Jehan (1628-58) for his favourite queen, Mumtaz
Mahal. It is made of white marble, and is adorned throughout with exquisite
mosaics. Its cost is estimated at L800,000, and 20,000 workmen, under the
direction of Austin of Bordeaux, were engaged on it for twenty-two years.
There are several Protestant and Roman Catholic churches, a government
college, and three other colleges or high schools, besides a medical
college. Agra has a trade in grain, sugar, &c., and some manufactures,
including beautiful inlaid mosaics. It was founded in 1566 by the Emperor
Akbar, and was a residence of the emperors for over a century. Pop.
185,449. The Agra division has an area of 10,078 sq. miles, and a pop. of
5,007,900.
AGRAFFE', a sort of ornamental buckle, clasp, or similar fastening for
holding together articles of dress, &c., often adorned with precious
stones.
AGRAM, or ZAGREB, a city in Yugo-Slavia, capital of the former Hungarian
province of Croatia and Slavonia, near the River Save; contains the
residence of the ban or governor of Croatia and Slavonia, Government
buildings, cathedral (being the see of a Roman Catholic archbishop),
university, theatre, &c.; carries on an active trade, and manufactures
tobacco, leather, and linens. Pop. 79,038.
AGRA'PHIA. See _Aphasia_.
AGRARIAN LAWS, laws enacted in ancient Rome for the division of the public
lands, that is, the lands belonging to the State (_ager publicus_). As the
territory of Rome increased, the public land increased, the land of
conquered peoples being always regarded as the property of the conqueror.
The right to the use of this public land belonged originally only to the
patricians or ruling class, but afterwards the claims of the plebeians on
it were also admitted, though they were often unfairly treated in the
sharing of it. Hence arose much discontent among the plebeians, and various
remedial laws were passed with more or less success. Indeed an equitable
adjustment of the land question between the aristocracy and the common
people was never attained.
AGRAVAINE, Sir, one of the knights of the Round Table.
AGREEMENT OF THE PEOPLE. See _Levellers_.
AGRIC'OLA, Gnaeus Julius, lived from A.D. 37 to 93, a Roman consul under
the Emperor Vespasian, and governor in Britain, the greater part of which
he reduced to the dominion of Rome; distinguished as a statesman and
general. His life, written by his son-in-law, the historian Tacitus, gives
the best extant account of Britain in the early part of the period of the
Roman rule. He was the twelfth Roman general who had been in Britain, but
was the only one who effectually subdued the southern portion of it and
reconciled the Britons to the Roman yoke. This he did by teaching them the
arts of civilization and to settle in towns. He constructed the chain of
forts between the Forth and the Clyde, defeated Galgacus at the battle of
Mons Graupius, and sailed round the island, discovering the Orkneys.
AGRIC'OLA, Georg (originally Bauer, that is, peasant = Lat. _agricola_),
born in Saxony 1490, died at Chemnitz 1555, German physician and
mineralogist. Though tinged with the superstitions of his age, he made the
first successful attempt to reduce mineralogy to a science, and introduced
many improvements in the art of mining. A complete edition of his works was
published at Basel in 1550 and 1558.
AGRICOLA, Johann, the son of a tailor at Eisleben, was born in 1492, and
called, from his native city, _master of Eisleben_ (_magister Islebius_);
one of the most active among the theologians who propagated the doctrines
of Luther. In 1537, when professor in Wittenberg, he stirred up the
Antinomian controversy with Luther and Melanchthon. He afterwards lived at
Berlin, where he died in 1566, after a life of controversy. Besides his
theological works he composed a work explaining the common German proverbs.
AGRICOLA, Johann Friedrich, German musician and composer, born near
Altenburg 1720, died at Berlin 1774; pupil of Sebastian Bach; wrote several
operas, including _Iphigenia in Tauris_. He wrote under the pseudonym of
'Olibrio'.
AGRICOLA, Rodolphus, German scholar, born at Groningen 1443, died at
Heidelberg 1485. After travelling in France and Italy he was appointed
professor of philosophy at Heidelberg, and did good service in
transplanting the revived classical learning into Germany.
AG'RICULTURE is the art of cultivating the ground, more especially with the
plough and in large areas or fields, in order to raise grain and other
crops for man and beast; including the art of preparing the soil, sowing
and planting seeds, removing the crops, and also the raising and feeding of
cattle or other live stock. This art is the basis of all other arts, and in
all countries coeval with the first dawn of civilization. At how remote a
period it must have been successfully practised in Egypt, Mesopotamia, and
China we have no means of knowing, but there is sufficient evidence of
agriculture having attained considerable development many centuries before
the Christian era. Egypt was renowned as a corn country in the time of the
Jewish patriarchs, and had probably been so for centuries before. The
hieroglyphics on ancient monuments furnish records of the early development
of agriculture in Egypt and of the use of the plough and other agricultural
implements. The advanced methods of the Egyptians and Syrians were
introduced into Europe by the Saracens. Land culture also attained a more
or less considerable development in ancient China and Hindustan. Among the
ancient Greeks the implements of agriculture were very few and simple.
Hesiod, who wrote a poem on agriculture as early as the eighth century
B.C., mentions a plough consisting of three parts, the share-beam, the
draught-pole, and the plough-tail, but antiquarians are not agreed as to
its exact form. The ground received three ploughings, one in autumn,
another in spring, and a third immediately before sowing the seed. Manures
were applied, and the advantage of mixing soils, as sand with clay or clay
with sand, was understood. Seed was sown by hand, and covered with a rake.
Grain was reaped with a sickle, bound in sheaves, thrashed, then winnowed
by wind, laid in chests, bins, or granaries, and taken out as wanted by the
family, to be ground. Agriculture was highly esteemed among the ancient
Romans, and very full accounts are contained in the works of Pliny, Virgil,
Cato, Varro, and Palladius. The Romans used a great many different
implements of agriculture. The plough is represented by Cato as of two
kinds, one for strong, the other for light soils. Varro mentions one with
two mould-boards, with which, he says, "when they plough, after sowing the
seed, they are said to ridge". Pliny mentions a plough with one
mould-board, and others with a coulter, of which he says there were many
kinds. Fallowing was a practice rarely deviated from by the Romans. In most
cases a fallow and a year's crop succeeded each other. Manure was collected
from various sources, and irrigation was practised on a large scale.
The Romans introduced their agricultural knowledge among the Britons, and
during the most flourishing period of the Roman occupation large quantities
of corn were exported from Britain to the Continent. During the time that
the Angles and Saxons were extending their conquests over the country
agriculture must have been greatly neglected; but afterwards it was
practised with some success among the Anglo-Saxon population, especially,
as was generally the case during the Middle Ages, on lands belonging to the
Church. Swine formed at this time a most important portion of the live
stock, finding plenty of oak and beech mast to eat. The feudal system
introduced by the Normans, though beneficial in some respects as tending to
ensure the personal security of individuals, operated powerfully against
progress in agricultural improvements. War and the chase, the two ancient
and deadliest foes of husbandry, formed the most prominent occupations of
the Norman princes and nobles. Thriving villages and smiling fields were
converted into deer forests, vexatious imposts were laid on the farmers,
and the serfs had no interest in the cultivation of the soil. But the monks
of every monastery retained such of their lands as they could most
conveniently take charge of, and these they cultivated with great care,
under their own inspection, and frequently with their own hands. The
various operations of husbandry, such as manuring, ploughing, sowing,
harrowing;, reaping, thrashing, winnowing, &c., are incidentally mentioned
by the writers of those days; but it is impossible to collect from them a
definite account of the manner in which those operations were performed.
While there is much in the writings of the old English chroniclers
concerning the tenure of land, upon which subject the _Domesday Book_ gives
much enlightenment, there is a great lack of information as to the manner
in which the land was cultivated. Information began to be recorded in the
middle of the thirteenth century, but only one treatise is known to have
been written, namely, _La Dite de Husbanderye_, an essay in Norman French
by Walter de Henley. This work was superseded by another treatise, the best
of the early works on the subject, and published in the reign of Henry VIII
(in 1523) by Sir A. Fitzherbert, judge of the Common Pleas. It is entitled
the _Book of Husbandry_, and contains directions for draining, clearing,
and enclosing a farm, for enriching the soil, and rendering it fit for
tillage. Lime, marl, and fallowing are strongly recommended. The subject of
agriculture attained some prominence during the reign of Elizabeth. The
principal writers of that period were Tusser, Googe, and Sir Hugh Platt.
Tusser's _Five Hundreth Pointes of Good Husbandry_ (first complete edition
published in 1580) conveys much useful instruction in metre, but few works
of this time contain much that is original or valuable. The first half of
the seventeenth century produced no systematic work on agriculture, though
several on different branches of the subject. About 1645 the field
cultivation of red clover was introduced into England, the merit of this
improvement being due to Sir Richard Weston, author of a _Discourse on the
Husbandry of Brabant and Flanders_, to whom also belongs the credit of
first growing turnips in England. The Dutch had devoted much attention to
the improvement of winter roots, and also to the cultivation of clover and
other artificial grasses, and the farmers and proprietors of England soon
saw the advantages to be derived from their introduction. Potatoes had been
introduced during the latter part of the sixteenth century, but were not
for long in general cultivation. A number of writers on agriculture
appeared in England during the Commonwealth, the most important works on
the subject being Blythe's _Improver Improved_ and Hartlib's _Legacy_. The
former writer speaks of a rotation, or rather alternation of crops, and
well knew the use of lime, as also of other manures. In the eighteenth
century the first name of importance in British agriculture is that of
Jethro Tull, a gentleman of Berkshire, who began to drill wheat and other
crops about the year 1701, and whose _Horse-hoeing Husbandry_ was published
in 1731. Tull was a great advocate of the system of sowing crops in rows or
drills with an interval between every two or three rows wide enough to
allow of ploughing or hoeing to be carried on. This enabled the ground to
be cleared with crops still growing, thus obviating the necessity for 'bare
fallow' and leading to the _four-course_ or Norfolk Rotation of Charles,
second Viscount Townshend, the first agriculturist to cultivate turnips on
a large scale. After the time of Tull and Townshend no great alteration in
British agriculture took place till Robert Bakewell and others effected
some important improvements in the breeds of cattle, sheep, and swine in
the latter half of the eighteenth century. The raising and maintenance of
live stock, especially of sheep, was a characteristic of English farming
from a very early time, and for several centuries the country had almost a
monopoly in the supply of wool. To Bakewell we owe the well-known breed of
Leicester sheep. By the end of the century it was a common practice to
alternate green crops with grain crops, instead of exhausting the land with
a number of successive crops of corn. A well-known writer on agriculture at
this period, and one who did a great deal of good in diffusing a knowledge
of the subject, was Arthur Young. Scotland was for a long time behind
England in agricultural progress. Great progress was made during the
eighteenth century, however, especially in the latter half of it, turnips
being introduced as a field-crop, and new implements such as the
swing-plough and the thrashing-machine coming into general use. The
construction of good roads through the country also gave agriculture a
great impulse. During the wars caused by the French revolution (1795-1815)
the high price of agricultural produce led to an extraordinary improvement
in agriculture all over Britain. The establishment of the institution
called the National Board of Agriculture was also of very great service to
British husbandry at this period. Though a private association, it was
assisted by an annual parliamentary grant, and prizes were given by it for
the encouragement of experiments and improvements in agriculture. It
existed from 1793 to 1816.
Among other societies which have greatly furthered the progress of
agriculture in Britain, the chief in existence at the present day are the
Smithfield Club, inaugurated in 1798; the Royal Agricultural Society of
England, established in 1838; the Highland and Agricultural Society of
Scotland, founded in 1783; and the Royal Agricultural Society of Ireland,
instituted in 1841. The objects of these and similar societies are such as
the following: To encourage the introduction of improvements in
agriculture; to encourage the improvement of agricultural implements and
farm buildings; the application of chemistry to agriculture; the
destruction of insects injurious to vegetation; to promote the discovery
and adoption of new varieties of grain, or other useful vegetables; to
collect information regarding the management of woods, plantations, and
fences; to improve the education of those supported by the cultivation of
the soil; to improve the veterinary art; to improve the breeds of live
stock, &c. Shows are held, at which prizes are distributed for live stock,
implements, and farm produce.