A G N 



was Ignorant of certain things, and particularly of tlie time 



of the day of judgment. 



Eulogius, patriarch of Alexandria, afcribes this doftrine 

 to certain folitaries in tlie neighbourliood of Jenjfalem, who, 

 in defence hereof, allcdged divers texts of liie New Tella- 

 mcnt, and, among others, this of St. Mark, cliap. xiii. ver. 

 32. " Of that day and hour knowctli no man ; no not the 

 anj-cls who are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father 

 onfy." 



The ancient Arians, and the modern Unitarians, uriretliis 

 and fimilar paffages as arguments agai.ill the deiiy of Chrill. 

 To which it has been rephed, by means of a diilinelion to 

 which the others object, tliat Ciirili;, as a man, did not 

 know the day of judgment ; or, tliat lie was not commilfioncd 

 to gratify tlie curioilty of his difciplcs in this refpedi, by 

 revealing it to them. Accordingly Dr. Macknight ( Har- 

 mony, p. 520.) obi'erves, that th-c word oiviv (Mark xiii. 32.) 

 has the force of the Hebrew conjugation Hipliil ; and oii'a, 

 in the fenfe of this conjugation, figiiifies to iiuiie another to 

 know, or to declare. And he reads the text, " But of that 

 day, and hour, none maktthyou to know ;" ;'. e. none hath 

 power to make you know it. Neither man, nor angel, nor 

 even the Son himfelf can reveal the day and hour of the de- 

 ftrudion of Jerufalem to you ; becaufe the Father hath de- 

 termined that it (liould not be revealed. 



AGNOIA, a word ufed by Ph^ic'mns, when a perfoil 

 m a fever does not know his acquaintance. When a 

 rigor accompanies this fymptom, Hippocrates fays it is 

 dangerous. 



Agnomen, in ylnllqinty, an epithet given to a perfon, 

 either by way of praife, or dilpraife, or from fome remark- 

 able event, which became, as it were, an additional name, 

 but peculiar to the perfon, and not defcendible to his ilTi'e. 

 Thus, one of the Scipios was named Afr'icanus, and the 

 other Afiaticus, from the brave atchievements which the 

 one performed in Africa, and the other in Afia. 



The agnomen was the third in order of the three Roman 

 names. — Thus in Marcus Tullius Cicero, Marcus is the 

 priznomen, Tullius the nomen, and Cicero the agnomen. 



Others think the agnomen to have been the fourth or ho- 

 norary name, fuperadded on account of fome extraordinary 

 aftion or virtue. Thus, in the cafe of Lucius Cornelius Sci- 

 pio Afiaticus, Lucius was the prasnomen, Cornelius the no- 

 men, Scipio the furname or cognomen, and Afiaticus the 

 agnomen. But many of the ancient authors, as Livy, 

 Cicero.and Valerius Maximus, call the fourth name cognomen. 

 Some imagine agnomen and cognomen to have been the 

 fame, as they generally are, except in cafes of adoption. 



It was a cuilom among the Romans, for a perfon, when 

 adopted into another family to lay afide all his other names, 

 and only retain his family-name, to which he added the 

 fr^nomen, nomen, and cognomen of the adopter. 



Thus P. Cornelius Scipio, being adopted by Q^Cacihus 

 Metellus, laid afide \ui prsnomen Publius, and nomen Cor- 

 nelius, and was called Q^. Ca;cilius Metellus Scipio. 



AGNON, in Ancient Geog'-aphy, a fountain of Greece, 

 in Arcadia, which derived its name from the nymph Agno, 

 who had been the nurfe of Jupiter. It is faid that the 

 v.-ater of this fountain rofe in a cloud and then deicended 

 in rain. 



AGNONE,orANGi.ONA,in Geography, ■iXaw^ri ofNaplfs, 

 in the Abruzzo citra ; nine miles fouth fouth-eall of Ci\i.a 

 Borella. 



AGNONIA, a town of Thrace, near Amphipolis, 

 founded by Agnon the Athenian, who conduiled hither a 

 colony. Steph. Byz. 



Agnos, a borough of Attica, belonging, fays Steph. 

 33yz. to the tribe of Demetriades, but according to Suidas to 



A G N 



the tribe of Acamantidcs, and adigned fcy others to thtf 

 tribe of Attalides. 



AGNOS, in Ichthyology, a natnc given by Athensetu, 

 and many of the other Greek wntcrs, to that filh called 

 caUyonymus or uranoscopus. 



AGNOTES, ill jtne'unt Geography, a people of Gaul, 

 whole fituation is not precifely known. M. d'Anville places 

 them in Britanny, north-well of the Ofifmii : and he fays 

 that the wellern part of the diocefe of Leon lias ftiU pre- 

 fervcd in one of the dillri£ts of the diocefe the name oi Ack. 



AGNUS Cajlus, the chufte tree, in Bolnns, a fpccies of 

 ViTKx. This is a native of Sicily, where it affects humid 

 and fhady places; but has been lo long ago as 1 570, in- 

 troduced into the gardens of this countrv, where it bears 

 the cold of winter in the open ground. This plant was fa- 

 mous among the ancients as a fpecilic for the prefervation 

 of challlty, and tiie preventing of all venereal delires, pollu- 

 tions, &c. 



The Greeks call it afw,-, chtijle ; to which has fincc been 

 add^d the reduplicative cri/lus, v. d. chafle, chnjie. 



The Athenian ladies, who made prof .(Tion of chaility, 

 lay upon leaves of ngnus cajlus, during the feall of Ceres. 

 Pliny Hilt. N. lib. xxiv. c. 9. See Cere alia. The feeds, 

 vvliich have long been medicinally ufed, and were formerly 

 admitted as an article of the Materia Medica, are of a round 

 hgure and about the fize of pepper ; they have a pungent 

 acrid talle, and an unpleafant aromatic fmell ; from tlie days 

 of Diofcorides they have been much celebrated for their 

 efficacy in fubduing the inclination natural betv.-een the 

 fexes ; and from their ufcfiilnela to thofe that lead a mo- 

 nailic life, they have been called monVs pepper. Thcfe feeds, 

 fo far from poffelfmg an antiaphrodiliac virtue, have had 

 an oppofite ([uality afcribcd to them by modern writers. 

 Their aromatic pungency favours this opinion, which is 

 confirmed by the ftatement of Bergius, who fays that they 

 are carminative and emmenagogue. In this iiland they dt> 

 not promife much medical advantage. 



The Ihrub is alfo called agnon, -vitcx, fometimes cleagncn, 

 lygon, and hgi's. 



Agkvs Dei, in ihe Romi/l Cl.'urch, dinotes a cake of wax 

 ftampcd with the figure of a lamb, fiipporting the banner 

 of the crols, confecrated in the due form by the pope, to 

 be diflributed in prefcnts among the people, and iuppofed 

 to have great virtues annexed to it. 



The name literally fignifies Laml/ of Got/: this being fup- 

 pofed an image or reprefentation of the Lamb of Gnd, who 

 took gway the fins of the world. 



They cover it up with a piece of ftufF, cut in form of a 



heart, and carry it very devoutly in their proceffions . 



The Romilh priefts, and rehgious, derive coniiderable pe- 

 cuniary advantage from felling thcfe Agnus Dei's to fome, 

 and prefenting them to oth.ers. The pope provides a re- 

 gular fiipply, by confccrating once in feven years : thev are 

 dillributed by the maftcr of the wardrobe : and received by 

 the cardinals, and other prelates, witli great rcveience, in 

 their caps and mitres. — This ceremony they pretend to de- 

 rive from an ancient cuflom of the church, wiicrein part of 

 the pafchul taper, confecrated on Holy Thurfday, was 

 diflributed among the people, to perfume their honfe':, 

 fields, &c. in order to drive away devils, and to preferve 

 them from florms and tempcfls. 



Other imaginary virtues are likcwife attributed to them. 

 See concerning the origin of Agnus Dei's, Jour, des Scav. 

 torn. xxxi. p. 252. Mem. de Trev. ann. 1722. p. 201c. 

 Their virtues, Adt. Erud. Lipf. Supp. torn. iv. p. 224. 

 Their myilic meanings, Du Pin. Bibl. Ecclcf. torn, xviii. 

 p. 6X. The order of confccrating them, Magri. Notiz. 

 de Vocjb. Etcief. ui voc. 



5 Some 



