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AGONISTIC, Agonipca, the fcience of what relates to the combats, or Agones of the ancients.
Li which fenfe, AgonijYu amounts to much the fame with Athletic, and makes a branch of" Gymnajlics. The president du Faur, or Faber, lias publifhcd a learned work on the fubje£t of AgonijUcs % much applauded by feve- ral critics 1 '. Lydius has alio a work entitled the Agonijlica facra, being an explication of fuch paffages of fcripture, and especially in St. Paul's epiftles, as relate or allude to the an- .tient manner of combating. — A late author pafies a fevere cenfure on it, as wholly ftollen from du Faur c . Yet it has been republished with additions by Lomier d . — [/ Agonifticon, feu de Re Athlctica Ludifque vetcrum, Lugd. 1595- f°l- b Baillet, Jugcm. des Scav. T. 2. P. 2. p. 131. fcq. c V.Rcim- man. Catal. Bibl. Theol. p. 361. d An extraS of the addi- tions is given in Aft. Erud. Lipf. an. 1700. p. 536. feq.] Agonistic, AyoMfMtw, is alfo ufed among antient phyficians for cold fpring water.
1 he reafon of the denomination is taken from the plentiful ufe of that element in the ftate of an acute eryfipelaceous fever, wherein water was fuppofed to combat and ftruggle with the febrile heat. Gorr. Def. Med. p. 4. Cajl. Lex. Med. p. 25. AGONISTICI (Cyc/.)—St. Auguftin fometimes calls this feci by the name Agoniftrii,
The Agoniflici are alfo the fame with thofe otherw'ne called CircuitoreS) Cerceliiones, Catropita, Core-pita;, and at Rome Montenfes. AGONIUM, in Roman antiquity, was ufed for the day whereon the Rex facrorum facrificed a victim. The fame name was alfo given to the place wherein the games were antiently ce- lebrated. Pitifc. Lex. Ant. T. 1. p. 64. AGONOTHKTA (Cycl.) amounts to the feme with what was otherwise called 'EWawJixof, HeUanod'tcm \ fometimes alfo Mfymneta, Brabettta, Agonareba, Agmodica, and Athloiheta. Some make a difference between the Atblotbeta, and Agono- theta ; urging that the latter prefided only at the fcenic games, and the former at the gymnic, but the diftindhon teems with- out foundation. V. Fabri Agonift. 1. 1. c. 18. Pitifc. Lex. Ant. T. 1. p. 64.
Middle age writers ufually confound Agonijlce, the comba- tants at the games, with the Agonothetes, or prefidents of them. Aquin. Lex. Milit. T. 1. p. 34. The Agonotbcta had the immediate charge of the manner of life, difcipline, and morals of the Athlcta. It was they who examined, and admitted, or expelled them the fociety, or order a . During the combats, the Agonotbetes were clothed in purple, and rode in a triumphal manner thro' the circus, holding in their hands an ivory fceptre, with an eagle on it, — At firft there was only one Agonotbeta j in the fifth olym- piad, a fecond was added, and in the twenty-fifth olympiad. (even more. — Of thefe, three had the direction of the horfe- races 5 as many of the Pentathlos ; and the reft of the other exercifes \ — Van Dale has a diilertation exprefs on the Ago- mtbetce c . — [ a V. Mem. Acad, lnfcrip. T. 2. p. 310. b Vid. Scalig. Poet. I. 1. c. 24. Potter. Archseol. I. 2. c. 21. T. 1. p. 441. c Diflert. 7. de Agonothet. Hcllanod. &c. V. Act, Erud. Lipf. 1703. p. 90. feq.]
The name Agonotbeta is ftill retained in fchools, and acade- mies for him who defrays the charge of the prizes diftributed. The founders of prizes are perpetual Agonotbeta. Trev. Di&. Univ. T. 1. p. 207. feq. AGONUS, in zoology, a name ufed by the generality of au- thors, for the fifh called by fome Sarachus, by others Chal- ets, and by others Sardella.
It is in many particulars very like the Ah ufa or {had, called the mother of herrings, but fmalier, never arriving at more than a foot in length ; and is always lean and lank in fpring, and fat in autumn. But the diftinctions between it and the Alaufa, if real, . are fo very fmall, that Mr. Ray, and martyof the raoft accurate naturalifts, have fufpe£ted it the fame fifh, only in a different ftate. Ray's Ichthyograpb. p. 226. AGONY (Cycl.) — Much of the terror of death confifts in the pangs and convulfions wherewith the Agony feems attended ; tho' we have reafon to believe, that the pain in fuch cafes is ordinarily not extremly acute ; a courfe of pain and ficknefs haying ufually ftupified, and indifpofed the nerves for any quick fenfations. However various means have been thought of for mitigating the Agony of death. Lord Bacon confiders this as part of the province of a phyfician, and that not only, when fuch a mitigation may tend to a recovery, but alfo when there being no further hopes of a recovery, 'it can only tend £0 make the pafliige out of life more calm, and eafy. Since complacency in death, which Auguftus fo much defired, is no fmall part of happinefs ; our phyficians, when a patient is def- perate, make it a point of confeience to give him over, when they ought rather to be endeavouring to make him depart with more cafe and tranquility. Accordingly the author Iaft cited ranks Euthanafia, or the art of dying eafily among the drfukrata of fcience ; and does not even fecm to difapprove of the courfe Epicurus took for that end. Bacon, de Augm. Scient. 1, 4. c. 2.
Him Stygias ebrius baujit aquas.
Opium has been applied for this purpofe, with the applaufe of fome, but the condemnation of more. V. Ephcm. Germ. Dec. 2. An. 1. p. 41.
Baglivi promifed a treatife exprefs, de Medieina Agonizan- tium, or the method of treating thofe in the agonies of death a . Some think a medicine might be found out, which would al- leviate the pains of death, without accelerating it, or which might even tend at the fame time to retard it b . But per- haps one of the beft recipe's for this end, is that of M. Fa- tin, viz. abftinence from all medicines. — [■ V. Bagliv. de Medic. Solid. Can. 45. Aft. Erud. Lipf. 1707. p. 341. h Shaw, Treat, of Incur. Difeaf. p. 17.] The method ufed by the Perfians is certainly very innocent, if it be not effectual : they make a practice of redeeming cap- tive birds, and reftoring them to liberty, as a fure means of rendering their own migration into another ftate eafy. Olear. Itin. Perf. 1. 5. c. 22.
Among the Armenians, when a perfon is w the Agony of death, [o that there is no hopes left, they think it an office of humanity to put him out of his pain, by laying him in a certain fituation, to haften his pafliige ; and by clofing his eyes and mouth, to prevent his breathing. V. Bibl. Univ. T. 1. p, 290.
AGOR/EUS, in antiquity, an appellation given to thofe deities, who had ftatucs in the public markets or For a. The word is Greek, formed of «y^«, market, in which fenfe, we meet with Mercury Agcraus, af Athens, Slcyon, Thebes, and Sparta, &c. Minerva Agor&a, «yGg«i«, was in extraordi- nary veneration among the Lacedemonians. V. Hederic. Lex. Mythol. Suicer. Thef. T. 1. p. 65. fcq.
AGORANOMUS {Cycl .)— The Agoranomi , at Athens, were ten in number, five belonging to the city, and as many to the Piraeus j tho* others make them fifteen in all, of which they aflign ten to the city. To thefe a certain toll or tribute was paid, by all who brought any thing to fell in the market. They had the care of the vendibles, except corn, and were efpecially concerned to fee that no man wronged, or any way over-reached, another in buying or felling. Potter, Ar- chasol. Attic, T. 1. 1. 1. c. 15. p. 83.
AGRARLE Stationes, in the antient military art, corps of guards pofted in the fields, and in the open air. V. Aquin. - Lex. Milit. T. 1. p. 35.
Thefe are alfo called fimply Agraries, which in the text of Vegetius is corruptly written Angaria. Yurneb. Adverf. 1. 4. c. 7.
AGRARiiE Naves was ufed forveffels placed to keep watch, or guard. V. Aquin. lib. cit. p. 34.
AGRARIAN, (Cycl.) in a general fenfe, fomething relating to fields or lands. Calv. Lex. Jur. p. 56. The word is originally Latin, Agrarius, formed of Ager* a field.
There are feveral antient writers extant, on Agrarian affairs, which have been collected together, and divers times publifhed under the title of Auetorcs lege/que ret Agrar'ue, five finium regundorum. The principal are Siculus Flaccus, Sex. Julius Frontinus, Agenus Urbicus, Hyginus, Varro, &c. An ac- count of the editions, with the titles, &c. of each is given by Fabricius. V. Fabric. Bibl. Lat. T. 2. I. 4. c. 11.
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The Roman lands were of divers kinds, fome conquered from the enemies, and not yet brought to the public account ; others brought indeed to the public, but clandeftinely ufurped by private great men : laftly, others purchafedwith the pub- lic money in order to be divided. Agrarian laws, either for dividing lands taken from the enemy, or the public lands* or thofe purchafed with the public money, were eafily pafled without difturbance ; but thofe whereby private rich men, were to be outed of their lands, and the common people put in pofleffion of what had been held by the nobility, were never attempted without great difturbances. Pitifc. Lex. Ant. T. 1. p. 56. feq. Machiav. Difc. in Liv. 1, 1. c. 37. Hoffm. Lex. Univ. T. 1. p. 114. Mem. de Trev. 1719. p. 764.
We have two orations of Cicero ftill extant, de Lege Agraria, againft a law of this kind propofed by P. Servilius Rullus, in in the year of Rome 691. V. Fabric. Bibl. Lat. T. 1. 1. r, c.8.§.i 7 .
Several have pleaded for the neceflity of Agrarian laws, among us. William Sprigge 3 , or as ibnie fay, Fr. Ofborne, has written exprefsly on the fubjecl b . — [ a V. Cat. Lett. T. r. p. 283. feq. * Mod. Plea, for Commonw. csV. the expedi- ency of an Agrarian law. Lond. 1659. 4 . V. IVooel, Ath. Oxon. T. 2. p. 997.]
But the author who feems to have entered deepeft into the nature and ufe of Agrarian laws, is Harrington ; he fhews that the ballance of property in a ftate cannot be fixed but by laws, and the laws whereby fuch a provifion is made are Agrarian laws. Now thefe are neceffary to the ftability of government, becaufe governments will, according to the diverfe ballance of property, be of diverfe or contrary natures, that is monarchical, or popular. Thus monarchy requires of the ftandard of property, that it be vaft or great ; and of Agrarian laws, that they hinder recefs or diminution, at leaft in fo much as is thereby intailed upon honour. " # But popular government requires, 3 that
