AGO 



ACONNA, m Gi-o^r,ij>l>y, a kingcloir. of Africn, on the 

 Gold Coail, extends from the Devil's iNloimt, which I'epanitcs 

 it from A. roil, and llrclches along the feacoall to the village 

 Anonfa, on the frontiers of /Iqiuimbof, th-oiigh a fpaec of 

 fixteen miles, bounded on the North by Songiiay, and on 

 the South by the ocean. It aboinuls in towns and villages 

 along the fea, the chief of which are Dajon, Polder, Mango, 

 Winiba, and Simpa, befides feveral others. It is laid to be 

 lieh in gold mines, the gold of which the Negroes galhtr 

 in the fund afier a heavy fall of rain ; but the natives iiave 

 0|)pofed opening the mines for fear of being difpoiFefrcd of 

 their territory- by the Eurupeans. Agonna furpaires Acron 

 in extent and population, and is equal to it in teilility and 

 beauty. It has the advantage of a large frefli-water river, 

 Well lh>cked with fi{h and oyllers. The Enghlh have built 

 a fort in the middle of Agonna, at a village called Simpa 

 or Winiba, but the fort is nut of any great llrength. The 

 village is populous, and the inliabitauts indurtrio\i3 in fifliing 

 and in agriculture ; for they breed a great number of cattle, 

 which they fell to their neighbours. At a fmall diftance is 

 I'arku, a village once frequented by the French, where the 

 language that is uniform along the Gold Coall changes into 

 a different dialed, and a little farther it becomes altogether 

 new. 



This, according to Barbot, is the chief town in the king- 

 dom of Agonna ; and he fays, that the furrounding country 

 is fertile, pleafant, and well adapted for the ellablifhment of 

 a faiStory. The Englifh had formerly great influence here ; 

 but the Dutch have gained advantage, and built a triangular 

 fort at Barku, mounted with I 2 pieces of cannon. When 

 Bofman wrote, Agonna was governed by a queen, who was 

 diftinguifhed by extraordinary talents. But though (he did 

 not chufe to Ihare her power with a hufband, fhe was no 

 ftranger to the fofter paflions ; and contrived means of in- 

 «lulging them, by a fucceflion of tlavcs, and as fome fay, by a 

 ■umber of lovers at a time. N. lat. 5" 6'. W. long. i°. 

 Mod. Un. Hid. vol. xiii. p. 445. 



AGONOTHETA, compounded of afiv, combat, and 

 St-n?, he who d'tjpojes, in AnUqu'itf, a magiftrate chofen 

 among the Greeks, to prefide, and to be the fuperin- 

 tendant of the lacred games, or combats : and whofe pro- 

 vince it was to regifler the name and country of each cham- 

 pion, to defray the expcnces of the games, and to adjudge 

 the prizes to the conquerors. 



Among the Romans, the like officer was denominated de- 

 J-.gnalor, and muneranus . 



Middle-age writers ufually confound agoniftt, the com- 

 batants at the games, with the agonothft^, or prefidents of 

 them. 



The agonothetae had alfo the immediate charge of the 

 iifcipline and morals of the athletae. They examined, and 

 admitted them into the fociety or order, or expelled them 

 from it. During the combats, the agonothetas were clothed 

 in purple, and rode in a triumphant manner through the 

 circus, holding in their hands an ivory fceptre with an eagle 

 en it. Juvenal. Sat. xi. 192. 



Van Dale has an exprefs diflertation on the agonothetae. 



The name agonotheta is ftill retained in fchools and acade- 

 mic, for him who defrays the charge of the prizes dif- 

 tributed. The founders of prizes are perpetual agono- 

 thetae. 



AGONOS, in Phyjic, a Greek word fignifying barren. 

 Hippocrates applies it to women who have no children, 

 though they might have them, if the impediment were re- 

 moved. 



AGONUS, in Ichthphgyy a name ufed by authors, for 



AGO 



the fi(b called by fome furachus, by others clak'u, nnd by 

 others furdeUn, 



It is in many particidars verj- like the u'laufa, or (had, 

 called the mother of herrings, but fmaller, never arriving at 

 more than a foot in length : and is always lean and lank in 

 fpring, and fat in autumn. But the diftinClior.s between it 

 and the iiLtuJii, if real, are fo very I mall, that Mr. Ray, and 

 many of the molt accurate naturalilb, have fufpected it tite 

 fame filh, only in a different Hate. 



AGONY, Agon I A, denotes tlie extremity of pain, or 

 a difcafe, when nature makes her lail effort, or flruggle, to 

 throw off the evil that opprefTes her. 



The Word is formed from the Greek ^'.'^^v, certamn, com- 

 bat ; this being a kind of ihite between life and death. 



Much of the terror of death confills in the pangs and 

 convulfions wherewith the agony fecms attended ; though we 

 have reafon to believe, that the pain in fuch cafes is, ordi- 

 narily, not extremely acute ; a courfe of pain and iicknefs 

 having ufually fUipificd, and indifpofcd the nerves for any 

 quick fenfations. However, various means have been thought 

 of for mitigating the agony of death. Lord Bacon cou- 

 fiders this as part of the province of the phyfician, and that 

 not only when fuch a mitigation may tend to a recoveiy, but 

 alfo when there being no farther hopes of a recovery, it can 

 only tend to make the paffage out of life more calm and 

 tafy. Accordinglv, he ranks euthanajia, or the art of 

 dying cafily, among the dcjiderata of feicnce : and does not 

 even feem to difapprove of the courfe Epicurus took for 

 that end. — " Hinc llyglas ebrius haufit aquas." De Augm. 

 Sc. lib iv. c. 4. 



Opium has been applied for this purpofe, with the ap- 

 plaufe of fome, but the condemnation of more. 



Baglivi promifed a treatife exprefs, De Medicina Agori- 

 zantium, or the method of treating perfons in the agonies of 

 death. But perhaps one of the bcfl receipts for this end, is 

 that of Mr. Patin, r;z. abjlinence from all medicines. 



Our Saviour's agony in the garden has perplexed fevernl 

 commentators ; and fome learned perfons feem ftudioufly to 

 have avoided the term agony in their tranflations, as Beza, 

 Le Clerc, and Lenfant ; and in the tranflations of the 

 Syriac verfion by Tremellius, Troftius and others, we have 

 timor, or fear, for agony. Dr. Lardner (vol. xi. p. 86) fuggeifs 

 that yEVy/^svo.; tv ayaviz, (Luke xxii. 44) might be tranflaled 

 b.'ing under great concern. The cffeft of this agony has beert 

 differently explained. Many expolitors have thought with 

 M. Le Clere, that the expreflion oi Jpa;; uvlhi ro-o Bfoiifiot 

 aifxcrio;, only implies, that the drops of Jvieat were large ami 

 clammy, like clots of gore. Grotius undei ftands the expreflion 

 metaphorically, as denoting exceiTive fweat ; but Dr. Whitby 

 (in loc.) obfervcs, that Ariftotle (Hift. Anim.lib. iii. c. 19. 

 Oper. tom. I. p.8o9.De part. An. lib. iii. c. 5. Oper.tom. 1. p. 

 1008) and Diodorus Sieulus (lib. xvii. Oper. tom. ii. p. 230) 

 mention bloodv fweats, as attending fome extraordinary agony 

 of mind. Leti alfo, in his life of pope Sixtus V. p. 200, 

 and Sir John Chardin, in his Hiitory of Perfia, vol. i. p. 

 126, mention a fimilar phenomenon ; to which Dr. Jackfoii 

 (Works, vol. ii. p. 819) adds another from Thuanus, hbv 

 X. p. 221. See Doddridge's Family Expofitor, vol. ii. p. 



517- 



Bartholinus (de Cruce, p. 184. 193) produces examples of 

 fweats that have been aftually mixed with blood. So does 

 Maldonat in Matt. xxvi. 37. The pofTibihty of this cir- 

 cuniflance is afcertained by a fa<fk well known in hiftory, i'/c. 

 that Charles IX. of France died of a malady, in which his 

 blood gulhed out of all the pores of his body. Voltaire 

 (Univ. Hift. chap. J42)dcfcrib€sit thus ; " Charles IX. die J 



iu 



