66 



AGATHO AGE. 



and very beautiful in the East Indies, where, how- 

 it is confoundi d with onyx. It is cut into 

 I, mortars, snuff-boxes, cups, rinsjs, seals handles 

 for kimcs ami forks hilts lor swords, lieads, smcll- 

 injj-liuxis, &c. It was highly valued by the an- 

 5, who executed many fine works with it. The 

 collection- of Brunswick and Dresden are remark- 

 nble for beautiful specimen- of this kind. Great me- 

 dicinal virtues were formerly attributed to the agate, 

 but it is now rejected from medical practice. Agate 

 sometimes contains figures bearing a striking resem- 

 tii Mime regularly-sliaped object, either na- 

 tural or artificial, e. g. a man, a circle, an animal, 

 \c. This kind is the most prized. These figures 

 may, however, be produced oy artificially staining 

 the stone, so that stories of wonderful figures found 

 on agates are not to be implicitly believed. 



A ATHO ; an Athenian, distinguished both as a 

 tragic and comic writer. We know only the names 

 of some of his pieces. He is said to have been too 

 partial to antithesis. As a tragic poet, he was once 

 crowned at the Olympic games. He was a friend of 

 Socrates and Euripides, and was the first who wrote 

 on fictitious subjects. He was distinguished also 

 for musical talent. 



AGATHOCLES was one of the boldest adventurers 

 of antiquity. His history is principally drawn from 

 Diodorus Siculus, books 19 and 20, and fragments of 

 l>ook 21, and from Justin, books 22 and 23. They 

 derived their accounts from different sources, and* 

 ditFcr, therefore, especially in the history of his 

 youth. Agathocles was the son of Carcinus who, 

 liaving been expelled from Rhegium, resided at 

 Thermae, in Sicily. On account of a mysterious 

 oracle, he was exposed in his infancy, but was se- 

 cretly brought up by his mother. At the age of 

 se\en years, the boy was again received by his re- 

 pentant father, and sent to Syracuse to learn the 

 trade of a potter, where he continued to reside, be- 

 ing admitted by Timoleon into the number of the 

 citizens. He was drawn from obscurity by Damas, 

 a noble Syracusan, to whom his beauty recommend- 

 ed him, and was soon placed at the head of an army 

 sent against Agrigentum. By a marriage with the 

 widow of Damas, ne became one of the most wealthy 

 men of Syracuse. Under the dominion of Sosistra- 

 tus, he was obliged to fly to Tarentum, but returned 

 after the death of the latter, usurped the sovereignty, 

 in which he established himself by the murder of se- 

 veral thousands of the principal inhabitants, and con- 

 quered the greater part of Sicily, 317 B. C. He 

 maintained his power twenty-eight years, till 289 B.C. 

 To strengthen his authority in his native country, and 

 to give employment to the people, he endeavoured, 

 like Dionysius, to drive the Carthaginians from Si- 

 cily. Having been defeated by them, and besieged 

 in Syracuse, he boldly resolved to pass over to Af- 

 rica with a portion of his army. Here he fought for 

 four years, till 307, generally with success. Distur- 

 bances in Sicily compelled him to leave his army 

 twice, and, at his second return into Africa, he found 

 it in rebellion against his son Archagathus. He ap- 

 peased the commotion by promising the troops the 

 booty they should win ; but, being defeated, he did 

 not hesitate to give up his own sons to the ven- 

 geance of the exasperated warriors, and expose these 

 latter, without a leader, to the enemy. His sons 

 were nmrdered ; the army surrendered to the Car- 

 thaginians. He himself restored quiet to Sicily, and 

 concluded a peace, 306 B. C., which secured to both 

 parties their former possessions. He then engaged 

 in several hostile expeditions to Italy, where he van- 

 quished the Brutii, and sacked Crotona. His latter 

 days were saddened by domestic strife. His inten- 

 tion was, that his youngest son, Agathocles, should 



inherit the throne. This stimulated his grandson, 

 Aivha^itlitis, to reln-lliou. He murdered the in- 

 tended heir, and persuaded Maiiion, a favourite of 

 tin- kiiifj, to poi-on him. This was done by means 

 of a feather, with which the king cleaned his teeth 

 after a meal. Hi- mouth, and sixni his whole body, 

 became a mavs nf corruption. Before he was en- 

 tirely dead, he was thrown upon a funeral pile. 

 According to some authors, he died at the aee oi 

 72 years ; according to others, at that of H5. lit fore 

 his death, his wife, Tcxena, and two son-, were sent 

 to Egypt. His son-in-law, Pyrrhus, king of Kpinis, 

 inherited his influence in Sicily and southern Italy. 

 Agathocles possessed the talents of ^ eeneral ami a 

 soNcreign. He was proud of his ignoble descent. 

 His cruelty, luxury, and insatiable ambition were the 

 occasion of his ruin. 



AGATHOD.EMON (Greek) ; a beneficent spirit, op- 

 posed to cacotieemon, an evil spirit. Ancient writers 

 give this name to a kind of serpent revered by the 

 Egyptians. 



AGE, in law ; the time when the law allows per- 

 sons to do acts, which, for want of years, they were 

 prohibited from doing before. Some of the rules of 

 the common law of England in regard to age, are 

 as follow : fourteen years in a .man, and twelve in 

 a woman, is the age of discretion for consenting to 

 marriage. At fourteen, a minor may choose a guar- 

 dian. Vwenty-one years is the full age. A person 

 under the age of twenty-one may make a purchase, 

 but may disagree to it, if he chooses, on reaching his 

 full age. No one can be chosen a member of par- 

 liament under the age of twenty-one years, nor or- 

 dained a priest until the age of twenty-four years, nor 

 made a bishop before he is thirty years old. In mar- 

 riages, when either of the parties is under twenty- 

 one years, and is not a widower or widow, the con- 

 sent of the parents or guardians of such minor is re- 

 quired, if the marriage is in pursuance of a licen-e ; 

 or, if it be in pursuance of bans published, the parent. 

 or guardian may, at the time of the publication of 

 the bans, declare in church his dissent to such mar- 

 riage, and prevent its taking effect The age for 

 serving in the militia is from sixteen to forty-five 

 years. Coke's 1 Inst. 78. The following are some 

 of the provisions of the Code Napoleon with regard to 

 age : forty years are required for a member of the 

 legislature, thirty for a judge, juror, or elector, and 

 twenty-two to discharge any office in the courts. To 

 contract marriage, it requires that the man should be 

 at least eighteen years old, and the woman fifteen. 

 But marriage is not valid without the consent of pa- 

 rents (or, in case of their death, ot the other relations 

 in the ascending line, who take their place), until the 

 man is twenty-five, and the woman twenty-one years 

 old, and even then it is necessary to give the parents 

 or other relations notice. A person adopting must 

 be as much as fifty years old, and at least fifteen years 

 older than the person adopted, unless the latter has 

 saved the life of the former, in which case it is only 

 necessary that the person adopting should be of full 

 age, and older than the person adopted. (See Adop- 

 tion.) Full age is fixed at twenty-one years for both 

 sexes. At sixteen years, a minor can make a will. 

 Witnesses, in a strict sense, must be of full age. 

 Under fifteen years of age, a person can only affirm, 

 without an oath. An innocent debtor of seventy 

 years and upwards cannot be deprived of his personal 

 liberty. If a criminal is" under sixteen years, and 

 the jury find that he has acted without a proper sense 

 of his guilt, he is acquitted, except that he may be 

 confined, for a limited time, in a house of correction. 

 These are the provisions of the French code. In the 

 United States of America, the rules of the English 

 law respecting age have, in most cases, been adopted 



