1S1 



AGES OF THK WORLD. 



AGLAIA. 



valuable security, or power of attorney (or the transfer of stock, either 

 for safe Austody or for any special purp.**, without authority sells or 

 pledget, or in any manner convert* the nine to hi* own UM, he in guilty 

 of a misdemeanor punlahable with fourteen yean' transportation, or t.. 

 fine and imprisonment at the discretion of the co\irt. Uut this (I.*-* 

 not prevent hi* disposing of no much of any Mcuritiei or effeote on 

 which he him a lien or demand, as may be requisite for the satisfaction 

 thereof. It 1* also a misdemeanor, punishable in the name manner, if 

 a factor or agent employed to aril, and intrusted with the goods, or the 

 document*) relating to them, pledges either the one or tin- oih-r. as :i 

 county for any money borrowed or intended to I* borrowed, provided 

 uch sum of money in greater than the amount which was at the time 

 due to the agent from the principal, together with any acceptanon of 

 the agent on behalf nf his principal. (7*8 Ueo. IV. o. 29, s. 4!>, A<M 



The 546 Viet. c. 31t, entitled " An Act to amend the law rel. 

 advance* Ixinil flit mode to agent* entrusted with goods," facilitate 

 the practice of making advances on the security of guods or documcnta 

 to persons who are known to liave possession ..f them as agent*. Any 

 agent who is in the possession of goods, or of the documents of title to 

 them, is to be held in law as the owner, to tin -eliect of Hiving " validity 

 to any contract or agreement by way of pledge, lien, or security bond 

 filt made by any person with such agent." The agent may receive 

 back goods or documents which have been pledged for an advance, and 

 may replace them with others; but the lender's lien is not to extend 

 beyond the value at the time of the original deposit. The documents 

 which are heM to authorise the agent in disposing of pro|>erty rcpre- 

 : l>y them, and the transference of which is a sufficient security 

 to the lender, are "any bill of lading, India-warrant, dock-warrant, 

 warehouse-keeper's certificate, warrant or order for the delivery of 

 goods, or any other document used in the ordinary course of business 

 as proof of the possession or control of goods, or authorising or pur- 

 ]Hirting to authorise, either by indorsement or delivery, the poneconor 

 f -ucli document to transfer or receive goods thereby represente<l." 

 Any agent who is in possession of such documents in the mode in 

 which the act mentions, is considered to be in possession of the goods, 

 and all pledges of such document* are pledges of the goods. An adVaJtee 

 of money on the delivery of the goods or documents, pursuant to a 

 written agreement to make such delivery. is valid, although the delivery 

 of the goods or documents do not take place till after the advance. A 

 contract by the agent's clerk, or any person acting for him, is binding. 

 An agent who, contrary to his instructions and for his own benefit, 

 grants a fraudulent security, is liable to a very severe punishment. 

 There are provisions in the Act for enabling the owner to redeem his 

 goods while they remain unr-old, on satisfying the person who holds 

 them as a security ; and for protecting the principal in the case of the 

 agent's bankruptcy. 



AOE8 OF THK WORLD. In the mythology of the Greek and 

 Roman poeta, the history of the world was divided, into four ages, the 

 golden, the silver, the brazen, and the iron ; as, for instance, Hesiod 

 in his poem entitle! Works and Days,' and by Ovid, in his ' Meta- 

 morphoses.' The golden ;e_'e. when Saturn reigned, is represented as 

 having been that of perfect innocence and happiness ; from which the 

 others have gradually degenerated more anil more, the iron age, or 

 that which now subsists, being the most wicked and mi.-i-rab], 

 Sometimes these age* are s]>kcn of aa merely no many successive 

 periods in the history of Italy. Saturn having been driven out of 

 heaven by his son Jupiter, is snpjiosod to have sought an asylum in 

 that country, where, in return for the protection he received from 

 King Janus, he tnught him and hi-< people agriculture, and the other 

 art* of cultivated life. According to this latter mode of telling the 

 story, it will be observed, the golden age is represented as consisting in 

 the triumph of civilisation over previous liiirUirisui: whereas the Matt 

 :i Keeins intended to indicate that the primeval state of man was 

 th.it in which he enjoyed the greatest felicity mid purity, and that he 

 lias been rather corrupted than improved by what is called civilisation. 

 The two statement*, therefore, may IK- taken as expressing two opposite 

 theorie* or opinions which have divided speculators upon this suhji-ct 

 down even to our own day. The disagreement among the fabulist*, 

 however, b only with regard to the original condition of man : it seems 

 to have been admitted on linth sides that a gradual declension Ix.th 

 nf the happiness and virtue of the world has been going on ever since 

 the age of gold. The golden age is that of which the most complete 



pictures have been drawn ; indeed it may be said to be the only in f 



the four of which the description is at all distinct. The age of inni 

 was deemed to hare Commenced long before Mental's day. who !i\.-l 

 probably at least 8600 yean ago; it was, in fact, merely a general name 

 for the existing order of things, as distinguished from some imaginary 

 >s state. But neither that immediately preceding state, designated 

 the age of brans, nor its forerunner, the age of silver, is to be found 

 dherimin it'-d in the poetic painting by anything more than *<nnc Might 

 varieties of shade, of the golden age, when universal harmony prc. 

 vailed throughout the living creation, and the bounteous earth yielded 

 her increase untillud, we have various descriptions from the pens of 

 modern a* well a* of ancient poets. The reader of Italian poetry will 

 recollect in particular the celebrated chorus at the end of the first act 

 of TOMO'S ' Aniinta,' and the imitation of it at tho.ndof the fourth 

 'luarini's ' Portor Kid...' 



AGIO, a term generally used to denote the percentage di " 



existing between the value* of the current and itandard monies of any 

 place. The metallic currency of wealthy state* generally consist* of it* 

 own coin exclusively, and it is in the j.iwrr of the state to pr. vent the 

 degradation of that coin Mow the standard, so that no calculai 

 agio, strictly so called, are rendered necessary. In smaller sta' 

 currency seldom entire!;, up ,,f 



the dipt, worn, and diminished coins of the i -,IM,- 



with which the inhabitant* have dealings. I'nder these > |. 

 banks were, at different tiuiex, art.il.lish.-d by th 

 Venice, Hamburg, Genoa, Amsterdam. Ac., which, mid. r th- 

 of the state, should be at all times K.mul to receive dcjiosiU, and to 

 make payment*, according to some stain Inn I value. The m.,< 

 obligation* of these banks being better than the fliietuatii. 



.'iy. ln-:irs H premium equivalent to the 

 deteriorntion, and this preniium'w called the agio of tin- Kink. 



To facilitate his money dealings, every merchant trading in a place 

 where the deterioration of the currency is thus rein 

 an account with the bank for the purpose of |yiug the draft* of his 

 foreign corresix indents, which drafts are always stipulated to I. 

 in bank or standard money. The practice Mug thus niiivei al. the 

 commercial money payment* of the place are usually managed without 

 the employment of coin, by a simple traii.-fer in the book- 

 from the account of one merchant t.. that of another. The pi 

 convenience which this plan of making their ]>aynicnt.s all 

 chants, who would otherwise be obliged, when dint -barging obli. 

 incuned in standard money, to undergo troublesome and expensive 

 examinations of the various coins in use, cause* the moiiev of the hank 

 to bear a small premium al>ve its inn in 



in circulation, so that the agio of the bank does not usually f 

 exact measure of that superiority. 



The term Agio is also used to signify the rate of premium wl 

 given when a person having a claim which he can legally demand in 

 only one metal, elect* to ! (aid in another. Thus i l\eri. 



the only legal standard, and jiayments can 1* demanded only in 

 silver coin, a circumstance which is found to In- so practical^ 

 venient, that the receiver will frequently pay a small premium in 

 to obtain gold coin, which is more easily trans) mr-tal >le ; this premium 



t||, '!-io Mil gllld. 



AGLAI A. One of the group i if small planet* revolving between Mars 

 and Jupiter. [ASTEROIDS.] 



AGRARIAN LAW won the general title of any law among the 

 Romans which related to the ager jmlilicu*, or pnbli" -domain. As the 

 subject of Agrarian laws constitutes perhnp i.-mcnt 



in the history of the Roman republic, and as an ntt. 

 their application has pervaded, till of late yea. ik upon the 



subject, especially the popular writings of II Ac., it 



seems desirable to place In-fore the general reader a brief account ..f 

 those more correct views which liave been established by the iv- 

 of Heyne, Nielmhr. and Saviguy. 



Kvi-r since the revival of letters it has l>een a universal error to look 

 ii|K.n the agrarian laws, with which the names of the Cracchi and 

 others were connected, as attempts to limit the amount of I 

 pro|-rty that any individual might hold ; and such an int-ci 

 private right* would indeed afford strong ground for condemning any 

 statesman who could be the author of such a proposition, ami an 

 wheie such a projKisitioii could be favourably received, h 

 of the L-icat French Revolution, there were indeed |ioliti. 

 who, following the advice of Macchiavdli and M 

 willing to enact an agrarian law of thin extravagant nai 

 much sirens was laid upon the examples of Human li 

 in Man-li 17'.':., availed himself of the op|mrtunity ofl'envd to him" by 

 the installation of a new in the University . 



to address to that body a ]ia|ier entitled ' Lege* agraritc peotif i 



-iles '(see his ' Opnseula,' vol. iv. p. :).11 I. in which he suocean- 

 fully contended that the laws so called among the Romans, in*' 

 interfering with private pr..|M-rty. solely applied to the lands 

 public domain. Heeren and Hegewisch carried the inquiry farther ; 

 bat for the fullest ami most satisfactory in, 

 subject we are indebted to Nielmhr and his friend Sa- 



As the victorious amis of the Romans extended their a'uthoii- -. 

 one state of Itnly after another, the right ..f Ml them "a title 



to the lands of the conquered ; but. except in cases of strong provoca- 

 tion, as in the defection of Capua in the second I'unic w 

 the el. -mi in v of the i-oni|Ucrors to restore a |rt of ti 1,1 the 



unfortunate owners. Yet a portion would pi rhaps I 

 and added to the public domain. With regard to the d 

 the territory an acquired, we will not go back to an car! i. 



-. ian constitution, which gave to the i>lrbn, or commoi> 

 share in the government . though an Inferior one, with thi 

 The di -position nt the coii<|uei-isl land W.TJ< then, we may ]ierh.-i; 

 fourfold. Part wan given in full property t,, religions uses, and p 

 sold by tlici|iircstors for the supply of the treasury. The pi 



he in-ist in" 



i and npial |Nirtions in full ownershiji, never perhai 

 seven jugers (that is. 1 twe.-n four and the acres) to each indi- 

 These land" were often [riven under the form ..I .1 enlom. 



stnte sending a l-o.l\ of (In- riti/.eiis ti , up;, i 'town. 



or t" found a new one. In all caws tin- boundaries of lands BO a 



