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»»<1 t-'^p, or to any rj the Afr;cr.n army, fi-om the grcat- 

 j"- -..iidrutlicr to till.' fucking child. Diiiocratcs, however, 

 wliom he had baniihid, gaiiifd fome temporaiy r.dvantagcs ; 

 but he was at Icntjtii fubducd ; and being of a fimilar dilpo- 

 jTtion 'vith AjrathoL-les liimfelf, admitted into his intimate 

 frierdihip and confidence. Having totally reduced the 

 ifland, except ihofe cities which, by a treaty, he had re- 

 ilortd to tlie Carthaginians, he padld over i'.ito Italy and 

 fubducd the Brutii. From Italy he crofTcd over to the 

 J,iri'i:T illands, and obtained a tribute of lOO talents of 

 gold : he alfo ftrippcd the templca, and fet fail for Syracufe 

 with 1 1 flilps laden with the gold and fpoils, which were all 

 lofl: in a ftorm, that excepted in which he himfelf efcaped. 

 He was rcfcrvcd for a more miferable end ; for, at the infti- 

 gation of his grandfon Archagathus, he was poifoned by 

 means of ail envenomed tooth-pick, prepared by one Moenon ; 

 and, ns liillory reports, if it may be credited, hurried away 

 to the funeral pile, and burnt whilll alive, in the 28th year 

 of his reign, and 72d, according to Diodorus Siculus, and 

 according to others, 95th of his age. 



Agathocles was dillinguithed by his intrepidity and va- 

 lour, and by a certain greatnefs of mind, which forbad his 

 being alhamed of his mean extra£lion, and .which induced 

 liim, at public entertainments, to ufe earthen-ware, whilft 

 his guclh were ferved in gold and filvcr plate ; alledging, 

 that though he wore a diadem, yet he was flill a potter. 

 Polybius (1. XV. p. 720. Ed. Cafaub.) deduces from the 

 mcannefs of his condition an argument to prove his capa- 

 city and talents ; and when Scipio Africanus was afkcd, 

 who were the mod prudent in the conduft of their affairs, 

 and moft iudicio\:flv buld in the execution of their defigns, 

 replied — Agathocles, and Dionyfius the elder. Neverthe- 

 lels, h:9 a<ils of cruelly were fo iiu.iierous and fo atrocious, 

 that they obfcure the luilre of his talents and exploits ; and 

 whilft we admire his conduct on many occafions, we cannot 

 forbear execrating his m.emoiy. Diod. Sicul. 1. xix. t. 2. 

 p. 317, &c. 1. XX. t. ii. p. 408, &c. p. 492. Ed. Wclfcl. 

 Jultin. 1. xxii. Anc. Univ. Hilt. vol. vi. p. 455. 470. 



AGATHOCLIS infiJ.r, in y/iinait Geography, two fmall 

 rflands of the Red Sea, plactd by M. d'Anville, at a fmall 

 diitance to tlie weft of Diofcorides, or Socotra ; and north- 

 eall of the cane Aromata. 



AGATHOD^MON, in Mythology, a beneficent ge- 

 nius, or D.^MOS. The word is compounded of a'y.^o;, 

 good, and y.MiuM, damon. This name was given to the divi- 

 nity, which the Eg)-ptians called Cneph, by the Greek 

 writers who travelled into Egypt ; and Vulcan was the 

 emblem imder which the Greeks reprefented Cneph in 

 their temples. The Egyptians gave alfo the fame name to 

 the Nile and to its fymbols. 



Among ancient writers, agathodicmon is a denomination 

 given to a kind of ferpents, bred up and revered by the 

 Egyptians, from an opinion of fome fanctity refiding in them. 



They are alfo called dragons, Dracones, or draciinciiJi, 

 and fabuloudy delcribed as having wings. — Thev appear to 

 tc the fame with thofe otherwife called sirenes. Lamprid. 

 in Heliog. cap. xxviii. Cafaub. Not. in Suet. ed. 2. Bochart. 

 Hiero. p. ii. lib. iii. cap. 14. We find upon the abraxas and 

 fome medals of Adrian the reprefentation of a ferpent, 

 bearing the head of Serapis inftead of its own : which is an 

 evident aUufion to the Serapis of the Nile, or divinity of 

 Canopus, and a fecond emblem of that river which was firft 

 reprefented by Agathodaemon. The head of the Agatho- 

 daemon is often covered with rays on the abraxas. The ap- 

 pendages to the head of the agathodsemons remind us of the 

 unguis cerajles of Linnaeus. 



Agathod^emok, in Biography, an artift of Alexandria, 

 prcpaj-ed a ftries of maps for the illuftration of Ptolemy's 



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Gi'O^raphy, in which tlie pofi'.ioii of all tV.e p'acea m?n- 

 tiontd by this eminent geograpi-.er, with their latitude and 

 longitude, is laid down precifcly according to his ideas. Fabr. 

 Bib. Giic. torn. ii. p. 412. 



AGATHONIS infula, in Anrlent Geography, an idand 

 of Africa, in the Arabian gulf; accoi-ding to Ptolemy, in 

 long. 65=" 15', and lat. 2<;° 20'. 



AGATHONISI, a fmall idand of the Grecian Archi- 

 pelago, about a league fouth of Samos. 

 . AGATHOS-D.T MON, was a name given by Ptolemy 

 to the left brancii of the Nile, which extended from the 

 upper part ot the Delta where was the town of Cercefura, 

 to the canopic mouth, fituate to the eaft of the tov.-n of 

 Canopus. This is alfo the name given by Steph. Bvz. to 

 an idand in the Indian fea. 



AGATHOPHYLLUM, in Botany, a name given by 

 Profefibr Martyn to the Ravensara of the Linnaean fyftem. 



AGATHOPOLIS, in Geography, an epifcopal city of 

 Thrace, under the archbifliopric of Adrianopolis. 



AGATHYRNUM, or Agathyrsum, in Jncient Geo- 

 graphy, a town of Sicily, built, according to Diodorus, (torn, 

 i. p. 337.) by Agathyrnus, the fon of -iEolus, in the time 

 of the Trojan war. It is iuppofed to have ftood near the 

 place now called San-Mareo, at a fmall diftance from the 

 promontory, called bv the Sicilians Capo d'Orlcmdo. 



AGATHYRSIANS, in Ancient Kijlory, the inhabitants 

 of a diftritt of Scythia, or European Sannatia, mentioned 

 by Herodotus (lib. iv. c. ir4. p. 328. Ed. Wefleling.) who 

 were very rich, and who had their women in common, for 

 the fake of binding the men more intimately to one another, 

 and preventing jealoufies and other ill eifefts of matrimony. 

 In other refpects they conformed to the culloms of the 

 Thi-acians. From Virgil (iEneid. iv. v. 146.) who calls them 

 " — [jicli Agathyrfi," it appears, that tl-eyhadthe common 

 practice of painting their bodies. They alfo are faid to have 

 ufed gold in their ornaments. They pretended to be de- 

 fcended from Agatliyrfis, the fon of Hercules the Libyan. 



AGATTON, in Geography, a town of the kingdom of 

 Benin, in Africa, fituate on a fmall eminence, forming an 

 idand, at the entrance of the river Formofa, near the fea. 

 It is more healthy than any other part of the country, find fur- 

 rounded with fruit trees. It has feveral circumjacent villages, 

 whole inhabitants refort to it at ever)- principal market, 

 which is held for five days. It was formerly veiy con- 

 fiderable, but has fuffered much from wars. N. lat. 6° 30'. 

 E. long. 5° 44'. 



AGATU, one of the Fox iflands, in the Northern Pa- 

 cific Ocean. 



AGATY, the name of a Malabar tree, bearing a fruit 

 in tafte and diape like the kidney-bean. Ray's Hift. 



AGAU, or Agaw, in Geography, a fmall kingdom of 

 Africa, dependent upon Abyflinia. It lies between the 

 lake Dembea and the Nile. 



AGAVA, in Ancient Geography, a town of Africa, 

 placed by Ptolemy in the Pentapolis, or Syrtis. 



AGAVE, formed from ctjavor, admirable, in Bofanv, a 

 genus of the hexandria monogynia clafs and order, of the 

 natui-al order of coronarid, and of the bromcli,e of jfufflcu. 

 Its characters are, that it has no calyx ; that the corolla is 

 one-petalled, and funnel-fiiaped, with a fix-parted equal 

 border, and lanceolate eredt parts ; the ftamina are filiform, 

 ere£t filaments, lonprer than the corolla ; the anthers linear, 

 Ihorter than the filaments and verfatile ; the piftillum is an 

 oblong germen, growing thinner towards both ends, inferior ; 

 the ftyle filiform, of the length of the ftamina, and three- 

 cornered ; the ftigma headed and three-cornered ; the peri- 

 caipium is an oblong, three-cornered, three-celled, three- 

 valved capfide j and the feeds are numerous. The fpecies 



enumerated 



