A G R. 



luxiir)- ,inU plciifiiro ; and fell a facrit'icc to the powsr of 

 their ciu'inics. Empcdoclcs attempted their relormation ; 

 and, as Diogenes Laertius informs us (1. 8. fegm. 63. toni. i. 

 p. 532. Ed. Meibom.), reproached them with devoting 

 themfelves every day to plealiire, as if they were to die on 

 the morrow, and with building their hoiifes, as if they 

 were to live for ever. They are commended, however, for 

 their hofpitality, for which they were no lefs diilinguiflied 

 than for their magnificence and luxury. Gellias, a rich 

 citizen, placed porters at his gate, to invite ftrangers to 

 take their repaft and reft in his houfe ; and he is laid to 

 have once entertained 500 horfemen with meat, drink, and 

 clothes. Phalaris, whofe name is familiar to moil readers, 

 on account of his cruelty, and the brazen bull in which he 

 tortured liis enemies, ufurped the fovcrcignty of Agri- 

 gentum, in the fecond year of the 52d olympiad, B.C. 57] ; 

 but having pon'eficd it for about 16 years, he ftarcd the 

 common fate of tyrants, and is faid by fome, to have been 

 put to death in his own bull. After his death, the Agri- 

 gcntines enjoyed their liberty about 50 years ; at the end 

 <jf which period, Thero adumcd the fovereign authority. 

 Under his government, whicii was jull and moderate, Agri- 

 gcntiun was tranquil and fecure ; and in confequence of his 

 union with his fon-in-law, Gelo, king of -Syracufe, in a 

 war againll the Carthaginians, Sicily was, for a time, deli- 

 vered from her African opprefTors. He was fucceeded by 

 Lis fon, Thralidaeus, who was deprived of the royal autho- 

 rity ; and Agrigentum was rellored to her old democratical 

 government. Its tranquillity was interrupted by Ducetius, 

 a chief of the mountaineer defcendants ot the Siculi ; but 

 rellored by the co-operation of the Syracufans. The union 

 of the Agrlgentines and Syracufans did not long continue ; 

 and the former, after an unfuccefsfiil conteft, were obliged 

 to fubmk to humiliating terms of peace. The enemies 

 with whom they next had to contend were the Cartha- 

 ginians ; who routed their armies, took their city, and 

 alnioll extirpated their race. The fituation of Agrigentum, 

 on that coall of Sicily which faced Africa, and its prodi- 

 gious wealth, induced Hannibal to open his campaign with 

 the fiegc of this city ; and the event was peculiarly dif- 

 trefEug to the inhabitants. Thofe who were able to remove, 

 during the progrefs of the fiegc, which lafted S months, 

 went to Gela ; thofe who were left behind were committed 

 to the fworj, by the orders of Imilcon ; and the riches of 

 a city, which had contained 200,000 inhabitants, and which 

 had never before been plundered, were rifled by the con- 

 <juerors. The city itfelf was reduced to ruins. This cala- 

 mitous event happened in the ijld olympiad, or about the 

 year B. C. 410. Agrigentum remained for 50 years bu- 

 r.ed under its own ruins, till Timoleon, after vanquilhing 

 the Carthaginians, and reiloring liberty to Sicily, collefted 

 the defcendants of the Agrigentines, and fcnt them to re- 

 eilabhlh the habitations of their ancellors. Such were the 

 vigour and fuccefs of their exertions, that Agrigentum was 

 loon in a condition to arrogate fupremacy over all the Sici- 

 lian republics. At length, they and their leader Xenodi- 

 cus, after fome favourable operations againll Agathocles, 

 who was fupported by tlie Carthaginians in his ufurpation 

 of the fovereignty of Syracufe, were reduced to the necef- 

 fity of humbly fueing to him for peace. This common- 

 wealth afterwards took a llrong part with Pyrrhus, king of 

 Epirus, in his attempt upon Italy ; and when he left Sicily 

 to the mercy of her enemies, threw itfelf into the arms of 

 Carthage. During the firll Punic war, Agrigentum was 

 the head-quarters of the Carthaginians; it was "defended by 

 2 numerous garrifon, under the command of Hanno ; and, 

 jtStcr refilling a blockade of feven or eight months, was at 



A C R 



lall furrendertd to the Conful L>Evinu3, in confequence of 

 the treachery of iSiutines, about the year beiore Chrilt, 198. 

 This oflicer being deprived of his commiffion by Hanno, 

 becaufe he envied and dreaded his increafing reputation, me- 

 ditated revenge ; and confpiring wi'.h the Numidians, who 

 were attached to him, againil Hanno, he placed himlelf at 

 their head, and liaving fcized one of the gates, put the 

 Romans in poflelFion of it. Hanno, and a few officers, 

 made their efcape ; but the reft of the army were murdered 

 by the guards, which Lsevinus had ported in all the avenues 

 to intercept their flight. The chiefs of the Agrigentines 

 were, by the conful's order, firft fcourged with rods, and 

 then beheaded. The common people were made flaves, 

 and fold to the btil bidder. The Ipoils of the pillaged 

 city were put up to fale, and the money returned to th." 

 public treafury. Livy, lib. xxvi. c. xl. tom. iii. p. 1138. 

 Ed. Drakcnb. Polybius, lib.i. p. 15 — 19. After this pe- 

 riod, Agrigentum is feldom mentioned in hiftoiy ; nor is it 

 cafy to afcertain the precife time of the dellrutlion of the 

 old city, and the building of the new one. See GiR- 



GEN'TI. 



The Agrigentines had a port to the caft of the mouth 

 of the fmall river, Agragas ; called Eniporhim ^i^ngenti- 

 iiorum. 



AGRIGINTINE fall, in Natural Hi/lory, a kind of 

 eatable fait, famous among the ancients for its not crackhng 

 in the fire as common taltdoes. It might probably owe this 

 quality to the finenefs of the powder, in form of which it 

 was generally ufed. 



AG R 1 1, in Anrait Geography, a people of Ethiopia, called 

 by the Greeks Cyiiamolgl. 



AGRILIA, a town of Gaul on the i-iver I/iger. 



AGRILIUM, a town of Alia Minor, in Bithynia, ta 

 the fouth-eall of Nicara. 



AGRIMONIA, Agrimony, in Bota>t\<, a genus of 

 the dodecanJiia digyrna clals and order, of the natural order 

 of Sentirc/iF, and of the Rofacecc of Juffieu. It charaflers 

 are, tliat t!ie calyx is a one-leafed, iive-cleft, acute, fmall, 

 fuperior, permanent perianthium, fenced with an outer 

 calyx ; the corolla has live, flat, emarginate petals, with the 

 claws narrow, inferted into the calyx ; the ftamina are 

 capillary iilaments, fliorter than the corolla, inferted into 

 the calyx ; the anthers fmall, twin and compreflcd ; the pif- 

 tillum is a germ inferior ; the ftyles llmple, of the length of 

 the ftamina ; the ftigmas obtufe ; no pericarpium ; the 

 calyx contrafted at the neck, and hardened ; the feeds are 

 two and roundifli. N. B. The number of ftamina is very 

 uncertain, 12, 10, 7. The agrimonia of Tournefort has the 

 outer calyx growing to the inner; two feeds ; ftamina 12 to 

 20 ; fruit fenced with briftles. The agrimonoides T. has 

 the outer calyx detached ; one feed ; ftamina about feven. 

 Of this genus there are live fpecies ; ik'z. \. A., eupatoria, 

 common agrimony, with ilem leaves pinnate ; the end-lobe 

 petiolate ; the fruits hifpid. Of this fpecies there are two 

 varieties ; A. minor, or white agrimony, and A. odorata, or 

 fweet-fcented agrimony. 2. A. reperu, creeping agrimony, 

 with ftem-leave» pinnate or winged ; the end- lobe feflile ; 

 the fruits hifpid. 3. A. decumbem, with leaves pinnate 

 hirfiite ; ftem procumbent ; fruits every way hifpid-hooked. 

 4. A. agrimonoides, three-leaved agrimony, with ttem-leavcs 

 tcrnate, and fruits fmooth. ^. A., par-vijlora, I mall-flowered 

 agrimony, with ftem-leaves pinnate, leaflets many and 

 lanceolate, petals half as long again as the calyx, and fruits 

 hifpid. The firft fpecies has a c^-lindrical, roughifli, hairy 

 ftem, from one to three feet high ; hairy leaves, covered 

 with riling dots, and fegments ending in fmall reddifti glands, 

 interruptedly pinnate ; compofed of li.-i or feven pairs of 



leaflets. 



