ACHTESSBAU, HENRI FRANCOIS D 1 . 



superior titfc. A rivalry sprang up between I 

 tamft by the ambtgnoos conduct of Augustus, me 

 Us severe illness In n.r. S2, when, apparently on his < 

 y seat Us itat to Agripp*. On the recovery of 



tosnrtpUon. "M. Agripp* L. F. Co*. 

 MBMtoa AogttttaM ill to* rwnwtioti of 

 had the honour of reprMenting the 



II the mifcrtuaiM Julia and Mwcellua, 

 out as the ruutiiMui of Augustas. Tet the 

 upon hoiedUMi dsiesnt, was not yet 

 M; and the splendid deedi of Agrippa, 

 with Marcella. gave him in some 

 reen them, which 

 us, more especially 

 n his death-bed, he 



i itaf to Agripp*. On the recovery of the emperor, 

 wd Us mBnenos, and Agripp* WM sent by Augustus 

 exile m y/vwnot of Syria. Death in a few months 

 removed Us rival, sad he WM not merely recalled to Rome, hut, at the 

 rsmsM> of the ouiueiui. divorced his wife Marcella to marry the young 

 widow Julia. In r. 10 h* finally subdued the Cantabri, who had 

 gain been in srms for more than two year*. Agrippa was now looked 

 upon M the undoubted suctessur of Augustus ; and in the following 

 fated in the imperial dignity as to share the 

 i the emperor for five years. In B.C. 17 he pro- 

 time to the Kart, where his administration seems to 

 satisfaction, more especially among the Jewish 

 who benefit*! largely by bis protection. On his return he 

 d the tnbunirian power fo'r a second period of five yean. His 

 last military duty WM to quell in insurrection smong the Ponnonians, 

 for which his messoos WM sufficient After this expedition he 

 itUsfpod to Campania, where he died suddenly in March, B.C. 12. His 

 family by Julia were Cains and t.ucim, whom Augustus adopted, 

 Julia. Agrippin*. and Agripp* Postuinii., born, as his name imports, 

 after the death of hi* father. It has been observed that every 

 oo* of tacM CUM to premature end. (Appian, Plutarch, Dion, 



: 



AORIPI'IXA, the daughter of M. Vipsanins Agrippa and Julio, the 

 only child of Augustus, married Oermanieus, the son of Drums, and 

 nephew of Tiberius, to whom she bore nine children. Of these three 

 died in their infancy, but among the remaining six were Caligula, 

 afterwards emperor, and the second Agrippina, the mother of Nero. 

 On the death of Augustus, A.n. 14, Oermanieus and his wife were 

 with the army on the banks of tho Rhine, where they had much 

 difficulty in restraining the soldiery from proclaiming Germanicus in 

 opposition to his uncle. On this occasion Agrippina, by her deter- 

 mined bearing, showed herself worthy of her descent from Augustus, 

 and the following yew she had an opportunity of evincing the same 

 spirit, in a panic occasioned by report that the army of Cacina had 

 been eat off by Armminf, and that the victorious Germans were on 

 the point of crowing the Rhine and invading Oaul. It was proposed 

 to destroy th* bridge ; but Agrippina, in the absence of her husband, 

 unissilsj the disgraceful expedient, and herself received the worn-out 

 troop* of Caeina, supplying them with clothing, and all that was 

 necessary tor th* enre of their wounds. In A.D. 17 Agrippina accom- 

 panied her hnsband to the East, and WM with him in Syria when he 

 Ml victim, as be snspocted, to the srts of the emperor and his 

 mother, Livie, Disregarding his entreaty that she would restrain her 

 rMsntmont, she proceeded to Italy, and landing at Brundi.ium with 

 tWO ?f.^ <r cbiWrr0 ' nd '"""g herself the funenl urn of Oennani- 

 CM, seemed to court th* attention of tho people, who received her in 

 Two pnetortsn cohorts, sent by Tiberius for the purpo.e, 

 nfed her to Rome, where she wss met by the consuls, the 

 . and a larf* body of the dtiwns. The subsequent tenor of 

 her oodoet WM rach M to exasperate Tiberius, and when her cousin 

 idia Pulebr* (A.O. Jl was about to be the object of prosecution 

 **J*lfsd by th* emperor, sb* ventured to express her resentment 



!*"^l^J W T^'" l>OBMMtlr * d '*" A nppina had now remained 

 in widowhood for seven years, when she o.kcd bis permission to 

 choose another hmsband. But Tiberius knew too well that the bus- 

 lnd of Afrippin* would b* a dangerous enemy, and he parted from 

 ntboat giving any answer. The artifice* of Sejanus completed 



th*t Ttbssfr* intended to remove herby poison, and Agrippina fatally 

 rorby opwdy exhibiting her suspicion.. She was 



'. Her two el,le.t ons, Nero and Dnmis, 

 Inonu'. (Tacitus ; Suetonius.) 

 ' th * <l ** l ^I^ 0f " 1n " 1 . ict " "d **> Agrippina of 







*. 28, to Cn. 



^ e had a son, who at fint bore the 



5 torwm ** ld * r tl>tof Nero became Kmpe 

 Xl *'*? *" i0 ' her 5S 



from 



gln a widow, and now directed her 

 of IKT uncl-, the Kmprror Clsudiu.. 



""^ *" nmprror <Jlsu<1i 

 WM held to fa* incoftaous, bnt on the death 



Meesalioa it was legalised by a decree of the senate, and Agrippina 

 became the fifth wife of the emperor. Her fint object was to secure 

 to her own son those expectations to which Britoimicus, the son of 

 Claudius by the infamous Measalina, was more equitably entitlnl. 

 The marriage of Domitius to Outarm, daughter of the emperor, and 

 hii adoption by the emperor himself, from which ho derived the name 

 of Nero, at once placed him shore Brltannicus ; and in th- year 54 

 Agrippina completed the object of her ambition by poisoning her 

 imperial hnsband. Her power over her son, who was now at the 

 head of the empire, soon disappeared; and though for a time she 

 partially recorered it by means of an incestuous intercourse with him, 

 the beauty of I'oppsca destroyed eren this influence ; and in the sixth 

 year of bis reign Nero determined, under the encouragement of 

 Poppies, to rcmoYR bis mother by her own arts. But it was not easy 

 to poison one, who, familiar herself with poison, was ever on her 

 gnarJ. Nero therefore changed his course. After an unsuccessful 

 attempt to effect her death near Bajeo by means of a vessel with a 

 false bottom, she was dispatched by assassin, in March in the year CO. 

 Her last words, as she presented herself to the sword of her 

 murderer were, "Ventrem feri," strike the womb (which pare birth 

 to such a son). To enumerate all her debaucheries, murders, and 

 other crimes, would require a much larger space than we think it 

 necessary to assign to them. Agrippina wrote some commentaries 

 concerning henelf and hrr family, which Tacitus says he consulted. 

 They are alto quoted by Pliny, vii. 8. (Tacitus ; Suetonius ; Dion.) 



AOUE33EAU, HKNRI FRANCOIS V, a chuncellor of France. 

 He was born Norember 27, 1668, at Limoges, the principal town of 

 the then province of Limousin, and now the chief town of tho depart- 

 ment of Hante-Vienne. His father, who was intendant of that 

 province, devoted himself to the education of his sou. The abilities 

 of Agnesseau brought him early into notice. At the age of twenty- 

 one he was admitted an advocate at the ChAtelet ; and, three months 

 after, he was mode one of the three advocates general It has been 

 said that this high office was conferred upon him through the recom- 

 mendation of his father, in whom Louis XI V., the then reigning 

 monarch, placed great confidence. During ten years that he 

 the situation, be obtained the great reputation which secured U< 

 future elevation. 



In the year 1700 he was appointed Procureur-Ge'n<?ral (Solicitor- 

 General). His opposition to the registration in parliament of the 

 papal bull Unigemtus, which he considered as an assumption of the 

 papacy inconsistent with the rights of the French nation, nnd de- 

 structive of the independence of the Galilean church, hod nearly 

 caused his disgrace with the king. But he maintained his position 

 by the force of his talents and integrity. He employed his authority 

 as Prccureur-Gc'ne'ral in most coses wisely and honeatly. He reformed 

 the system of the management of public hospitals; improved tho 

 discipline of courts of justice; and instituted a quicker mode in the 

 investigation of criminal coses previous to their being brought to 

 judgment. Agnesseau aspired through life to the high but difficult 

 reputation of a legal reformer : and it is in this particular that his 

 character has the greatest claim upon our respect. His principal 

 objects were to define the limits of particular jurisdictions ; to intro- 

 duce uniformity in the administration of justice through the vnriuux 

 provinces; and to secure the right to the subject of a just testa- 

 mentary disposition of his property. His praiseworthy attempts were 

 resisted no doubt by all those whose mistaken interests suggested to 

 them that the attainment of justice ought to bo kept expensive and 

 uncertain, instead of being rendered cheap and secure. He is said 

 to have confessed that he did not go so for as he wished, because he 

 did not like to reduce the profits of his professional brethren. This 

 was a mistake even in mere worldly policy ; for when law, as Wrll 

 as any other article of exchange, is dear and worthless, the purchasers 

 will be few. D'Aguesseau was not much before his age, probably, in 

 the knowledge of political economy, or he yielded to popular clamour. 

 During the famine which afflicted France in 170!), ho carried on 

 vigorous prosecutions against what were called forestallers and mono- 

 polists, that is, holders of corn a class of persons who, by equali-ing 

 th" price of corn, by buying in times of plenty, and selling at a profit 

 in times of scarcity, have done the only thing which could relieve 

 the pressure of bad harvests upon the people. 



In 1717 Agucsseau succeeded Vov.in in the chancellorship. His 

 appointment to this high office by the Regent (Due d'Orh'ans), in 

 the minority of Louis XV., gave genenl satinfiiction. However bo 

 did not retain it long, for he was dismissed and exiled the following 

 year, on account of his opposition to Law's financial system. His 

 perception of the fallacy of this adventurer's schemes for substituting 

 fictitious wealth for real capital showed that in some points of 

 political philosophy his views were sound. His recall, two years 

 afterwards, at the moment of the great crisis brought about by Law's 

 . was a signal triumph for Agues-can. His l,i,'h sense ot 

 integrity and justice would not allow him to hear of a national bank- 

 ruptcy : ho moisted on making good the government obligations, or 

 at least allowing those who held its paper to lose only :i i 

 part; and, by thus preventing a bankruptcy, he contribt:' 

 degree to restoring general confidence. 



New agitations were again raised on account of the bull Unigenitus, 

 the registering of which parliament still opposed. Agucssoau, by 



