A G N
Venly virtue into them, that they who keep and cany them worthily, and with faith, may have their fins wafhed away, and moreover, that ftorms, hail, whirlwinds, thunder, &c. may be prevented from injuring them, that evil (pints may be expelled, that no mifchief may befall them, no corruption of the air, no falling ficknefs, no fire may molcft them; that women with child may be preferved with their young : in fine, that all may be fecured from innundations of water, fud- den death, and all calamities. It is wifely added, that tho' we arc not to doubt, but in confequence of thefe prayers, tbofe powers are actually communicated to them ; yet thro' the want of faith in the pone/Tors, they have not always the full effecT: "—[■' Du Pin. Bibl. Ecclef. T. 18. p. 69. b V. Giorn. dc Letter, d' ItaL T. 17. p. 435. feq. See alfo further con- cerning the origin of Agnus Dei's, Jour des Scav. T. 31. p. 252. Mem. de Trev. an. 1722. p. 2010. Their virtues, A€t. Erud. Lipf. Supp. T. 4. p. 224. Their myftic meanings, Vu Pin, Bibl. Ecclef. T. 18. p. 68- The order of confe- crating them, Magri, Notiz. de Vocab. Ecclef. in voc] Some authors alfo fpeak of a kind of metalline Agnus Dei% hung to chapelets, or pater-nofters. Schmid. Lex. Ecclef. The Agnus Dei is faid to have been firft. brought into the miflal, by pope Sergius I. Jour, des Scav. T. 31. p. 1 101. Agnus Scythicus, in natural hiftory, a kind of Zoophyte, or plant animal, faid to grow in Tartary, refembling the figure and ftruflure of a lamb. See Zoophyton, Cycl. The Agnus Scythicus, or Scythian lamb, is alfo called Agnus VegetabiUs, the vegetable lamb ; Agnus Tarturicus, the Tar- tarian lamb; and by the people of the country, Borometz, Bora?netz, or Boranetz.
The ufual account given of this extraordinary production is, that the Tartars fow in their ground a feed refembling that of melon, but lefs oblong ; from whence arifes a plant called by them Borometz, /. e. lamb, growing almoft to the height of three feet, and having feet, hoofs, ears, and the whole head, excepting horns refembling that animal. In lieu of horns it has a peculiar fort of hair, not unlike horns ; it is covered with a fine thin fkin, which being pulled off, is worn by the natives as a cover for the head. The pulp within rcfembles that of the Gammarus ; and when wounded, a li- quor ouzes out like blood. It lives as long as there is grafs and herbage around it; but when thefe are confumed, it waftes and dies. Add, that wolves are fond of it, while no other beafts will feed on it. V. Card, de Subtil. Exerc. 1 8 1 ■ Sec. 29. feq.
Deufmgius a feems to have been the firft, who enquiring more narrowly into this vegetable monfter, fufpe&ed the whole for a fable. Hi's reafons are, 1. that no credible au- thor attefts the having ever feen it, for as to what Wormius b relates from the travels of Eovald de Kleifs, the elector of Brandenburgh's ambahador, who had a dried plant fhewn him by a Tartar, to which grew a fruit, like the above defcribed, covered with a curly fleece, it is no hard matter to conceive, how that minifter might have been impofed on ; and as for the fkins ftill in feveral mufeums of Virtuofi, they may be accounted for otherwife. 2. That Kempfer s when in the country, making diligent enquiry concerning the place where the Borometz grew, could hear of nothing like it. — £ a Deuftng. dc Agno Vegetabili. Ext. in Fafcic. Dili'. Select, p. 598. feq.
- Worm. Muf. p. 190.]
Kempfer gives a probable account of the origin of this fable of the Scythian lamb : there is a peculiar kind of fheep bred in the provinces near the Cafpian, remarkable for the finenefs, foftnefs, and beauty of their fkins ; which on that account are much coveted for ornaments in apparel. The rich to diftinguifh themfelves, procure the fkins of the youngeft lambs, which are much fuperior to thofe of the grown fheep ; and their luxury in this refpe£fc is carried fo far, that the dams are often killed while with young, for the fake of abortive fkins ; the hair of which the fkinners of that country have a way of forming into a fine clofe down. By this means, after cutting off the extremities, the fkin has fcarce any ap- pearance of leather, but refembles rather a kind of vellum covered with a lanugo, which might well enough pafs among the ignorant for that of a melon. This is ufed for the lining of mitres, and fometimes of gowns, robes, and the like. What confirms this account is, that the name Borometz ap- pears to be a corruption of the Mufcovite Boranetz, cailed by the Poles Baranek, whofe root in the Sclavonic, is Baran, which fignifies a fheep, or ram. Kempf. Obferv. de Agno Scythico, feu fruflu Borometz. Ext. in Diff. Inaug. & inAmaen. Exotic, r'afc. 3. Obf. 1.
As to the plants fhewn under this denomination, in fome re- pofitories of rarities, they appear to be originally the roots, or ftalks of certain vegetables, probably of the capillary kind, covered with a woolly mofs, which naturally bearing rcfem- blance to the figure of a lamb, have been helped out and ' brought near to itby art and the addition of new parts. Much as thofe Homunculi, or figures of men, of which Charletans make parade, are made out of the roots of Mandragoras, and Bryony ; Sir Hans Sloane % and Breynius b , give us the figures, and defcriptions of fuch Borometz' s in their collections. It is from thefe plants that the Indian mofs is gathered, fa- mous for its ufe in fraunching blood. Deufmgius, Kempfer, Suppl. Vol. I.
AGO
Breynius, and Libavius have 'written cxprefsly on the AgUit Scytbicus '.—[' V. Phi). Tranf. N°. 287. p. 861. » Diif Hi Agno Vegetabili Scythico, in Phil. Tranf. N°. 39c. p. 353. feq, e HM.Agni Scytbici. For further particulars teeKircbi <ic Art. Magnet, p. 504. feq. Bacon. Hift. Natur. Cent. 7. n. 609. Licet, de Spontan. Vivent. Ortu. c. 45.] GOGA, in natural hiftorjr, a ditch or drain for carrying off the water from a mine. Plin. Hift. Nat. 1. 33 c. 4. The word feems of Greek origin, derived from xyiyn, duclus, of ccya, ihtco, I draw. Tho' Hardouiu >, rather than not oppofe Salmafius b , will have it derived from the antient Spa- mfb; alledging that in fome MSS. it is written" Agangas,
M. Durand ', adopts this conjeaure [» Hardouin. Not. ad
Plin. loc. cit. b Sahnaf. Exerc. Plin. p. 1-076. c Durand. Hift. Nat. d'or lie. ap. Bibl. Rail'. T. 3. p. 32.]
AGOGE, Ay-jiy,,, in the antient mufic, a fpecies of modulation, wherein the founds or notes proceed by continuous degrees of the fcale, both riling and felling. As when we fing, re, mi, fa, fol, la; la, fol, fa, mi, re.
Agoge anfwers to what the Latins call Duclus, and the Itali- Cmducimmto, and di grado : it (lands contradiftiuguifhed from Place, Petteia, &c.
Agoge makes the firft part of the Melopaeia, or art of mo- dulating.
There are three fpecies or cafes of this modulation ; firft when the founds follow each other from grave to acute, *'. e. rifing as in ringing, BCDE. This the Latins call duclus rectus, and the Italians CondudmentQ retto.
The fecond, when they go from acute to r;rave, i. e. falling, as in the notes E D C B, called by the amients duclus rever- tens, and by the mordern Italians Canducimcnto ritornante. The third when they rile by flats and fall by fharps, as in D, E, F Jharp, G, or, vieeverfa, asinG, F natural, FJlat,D. This the antients call duclus circumcurrens, and the Ita- lians conducimento cireoncorrente. Euclid. Introd. Harmon, p. 22. Arijlid. guintil. deMclop. 1. 1. p. 28. Mem. Acad. Infcnp. T. 7. p. 275. 277, and Male, on Muf. c. 14. § 4. p. 542. Brojf. Difl. Muf. in voc,
AGON (Cycl.) — Agon Adrienalis, was that inftituted at Athens, by the emperor Adrian ; called alfo n««e W a, a , n«-
»rt?M»a, and O^tftst A^.awa.
Agon lfelajiicus, inftituted at Puzzuoli by the emperor Anto- ninus Pius, and held every fifth year. It was a facred com-' bat, and the viclors at it were called Hieronicx : they were to be received into the city, thro' a breach in the wall, made on purpofc. Aeon Mufaus, that wherein either poets, or muficians difputed for the prize ; fuch was that dedicated by Ptolemy to Apollo and the mufes, with rewards affigned to the writers who gained the viftory. Of this kind were alfo found in the Pythian, Nemxan and Ifthmian games ; alfo in the Olympic games, after Nero's time, who firft introduced a mufical Agon here j others were founded by the emperor Domitian, and others at Rome, Naples, Alba, 12c. We have an antient Greek writer extant, under the title of' «?»» 'Op, e a *«i 'Hrafc, the Agon of Homer and Hefiod, fuppofed to be a narrative of the difpute of thefe two poets, at the funeral of Amphidamas in Chalcis, before king Pani- dis brother of the deceafed, who gave the prize, a tripod, to Hefiod.— Many antient authors make mention of this combat, ibme moderns have fufpeeted the whole for a fiction, The learned Fabricius, tho' he fuppofes the book above-men- tioned, to have been framed by fome admirer of Hefiod ; yet allows the reality of fome fuch difpute, and thinks it might have happened when Homer was very okf, and Hefiod young. But this opinion is liable to chronological difficulties. V. Fabric. Bibl. Griec. T. I. 1. 2. c. 8. §. 2. p. 370, 37/. Agon Neronianus, a quinquennial combat, called alfo Nero- nian, from the name of its inftitutor, who here bore away the prize for playing on the harp, Citbara. Pitifc. Lex. Ant. T. 1. p. 63. Agon is alfo ufed for a place near the Tyber, otherwife Called circus fiamineus, wherein Curule games and combats were celebrated. Aquin. Lex. Milit. T: I, p. 34. Pitifc. Lex Ant. T. 1. p. 63. Agon is alfo ufed, by phyficians, for the ftrtiggle of death. V. Cajl. Lex. Med. Burggrav. Lex. Med. T. 1. See Agony, Cycl. and Suppl. AGONALIA (Cycl.) — -The Agonalia appear to have been held thrice in the year, viz. on the 5th of the ides of Ja- nuary, on the 1 2th of the calends of June, and the 3d of the ides of December. V. Struv. Antiq. Rom. c. 8. p. 352. feq. Urfat. de Not. Roman, ap. Thef. Ant. Grev. T. n, p. 541. AGONISMA, in antiquity, the palm or prize given the victor
in a game or combat. Aquin. Lex. Milit. T. I. p. 34. AGONISTARCHA, in antiquity, feems to have been much the fame with Agonotheta • ; though fome fuggeft a difference, making it the office of the former to prcfide at, and direcT: the private exercifes of the Atbleta, which they went thro - by way of praaice, before they made their appearance on the public theatres or amphitheatres K— [" Aquin. loc. c«. in voc Agonotheta. » Pitifc. Lex. Ant. T. 1. p. 64,] See Ago- notheta, Cyd. and Suppl.
I S AGO-
