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AcRiON, jn Entomology, a diviiion of the unogat\ 

 claJs of iiileds in the fyftem of Fabricius, comprehending five 

 fpccies, and many varieties, whicli arc rct'trred to the genus 

 of LiBELLULA in the Liiinxan fyftem, by Gmelin. They 

 we characlerifed by having their wings creft when qui- 

 tfcent, eves remote, and the exterior lacinix of the hp 

 1)ifid. 



AGRIONIA, Ar.RiANiA or AORASIA, in Jn/iguify, 

 fealh inllituted at Argos, in lionour of a daughter of 

 Proitus. Plutarch, in "defcribing this ftaft, fays, that tiie 

 women fearched here for Bacchus, and not finding him, 

 they rehnquiihcd tlicir purfuit, faying, that he was gone to 

 the mufts. 'lacy fuppcd together, and after their repall 

 jnopofed to one another oenigmas. Tlicfe myfterics figni- 

 fied, that lei'.rning and tiie mufes ought to accompany good 

 clicer ; and that a veil is thrown over excefs on inch occa- 

 fions by tlie mufes. This feaft was celebrated in the 

 night, and thofe who attended it were decorated with a 

 n-arland of ground-ivy. It was probably the fame that was 

 celebrated at Thtbes, in honour of the dead. At Or- 

 chemenes, no women, who belonged to a family, become 

 odious on account of any barbarous aftion, were allowed 

 to attend this feaft. 



AGRIOPHAGI, compounded of ayfioj -zi'i/J, and 

 ^a"/ii, I en.', in Antiquily, a name given to thofe who 

 fed on wild beafts. Pliny places them in Ethiopia. 

 Ptolemy refers them to India, on this fide the Ganges, 

 and aferibes the appellation to the people whom he calls 



AGRIORIGANUM, in Bolany, wild marjoram. 



AGRIOSELINUM, fignifies w/A/ parsley. 



AGRIPALMA, a name given to mother-wort. 



AGRIPENNE, in Ornithology, a name given by Buffon 

 to the EMBER iz A oryzivora, of the Linnxan fyftem. 



AGRIPO, in Geography, a peninfula, commonly called 

 Negropont. 



AGRIPPA, a name applied, among the ancients, to 

 children born in an unufual or irregular manner ; paiticu- 

 larly fuch as come with the feet foremofb, inftead of the 

 head. 



They were called agrippt, according to Pliny, on ac- 

 count of their being (<rgre parti) born ivith dlfficiilty. Sal- 

 mafuis derives it from the Greek ayfEu, venart, and "wo<;, 

 tquus, q. d. a hunter of horfes. 



Daventer has a particular chapter of agr'tppas, or infants 

 coming v;ith their feet foremoft, which, according to him, 

 is one of the moft convenient and fafe ways for a mature 

 birth. 



Agrippa gives the denomination to an unguent, de- 

 fcribed in the Antidolar'ium Nicola':, and in feveral other 

 dilpenfatories, fuppofed, by fome, to have been invented 

 by Agrippa, king of Judaea, but, as others fufpeft, by 

 Julius Agrippa, a Roman phyiician. 



Agp.ippa, in Biography, an aftrouomer of Bithynia, 

 lived towards the dole of the firft century. Ptolemy in 

 his Almageft; informs us, that Agrippa obferved a con- 

 junftion of the moon with the Pleiades on the 29th of 

 November, in the fourth yeai' of the 217th olympiad, or 

 A. D. 92. 



Agrippa, Henry Cornelius, a phyiician, philofopher and 

 divine, of various and great attainments, but of an eccen- 

 tric difpofition, which expofed him to as great viciflltiides 

 of fortune, was born at Cologne, September 14th, A. D. 

 i486, of a noble family, which had been long in the fer- 

 vice of the houfe of Auilria. In early life, he was fecre- 

 tary to the emperor Maximilian, and continued his military 

 Icrvicc in the army for feven years. As a foldicr he dif- 



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tingullhed himfelf by his valour, and obtained the honour 

 of Knighthood : nor was he Id's diftinguiftied by his ap- 

 plication to literature and fcience. Of eight languages, 

 which he acquired in his youth, fix were fo familiar to 

 him, that he could even ufe them fluently in public dif- 

 courfe. Soon after he forfook the military profelfion, he 

 obtnitied ihe united academic honours of dodlor in law and 

 ph) fic. The jihilofoplier's ftone, as it was called, or the 

 art of tranfmuting bafer metals into gold, engaged his at- 

 tention ; and in the purfuit of it, he had no doubt of 

 commanding the admiration of the multitude, and the pa- 

 tronage of princes. With thefe romantic views he com- 

 menced his travels; and in 1507, being then in the 2ifl: 

 year of his age, he vilited Fiance, and in the following 

 year fpent fome time in Spain. Upon his return to France, 

 he refided at the college of Dole in Burgundy, and read 

 public leftures in divinity ; in confequence of which he 

 was appointed regent with a fakir)-. Notwithilanding his 

 popularity, as a public Icfturer, the freedom and novelty 

 of fome things which he advanced alarmed the monks, and 

 rendered it neceffary for him to fuvrender his office at Dole. 

 In 15 10 he paffed over from France into England, and 

 during his ifay in London, publiflicd a treatile on the 

 epiftles of St. Paul. His next remove was to his native 

 city, where for fome fliort time he read Icftures in fcho- 

 laltic theology : he afterwards refumed his military llation 

 in the emperor's army in Italy ; but he was foon induced 

 by Cardinal de St. Croix to abandon this connexion, and 

 to attend as a theologian at the council of Pifa. After 

 the diffolution of this affembly, he read leflurcs in divinity, 

 fometimes at Turin, and fometimes at Pavia. But he 

 was conftrained by the difficulty of procuring decent fub- 

 fiftence for his wife and fon, to whom he was afleftionately 

 attached, to leave Pavia, and to try what his friends at 

 Cologne could do for him. In 1518, their interference 

 availed in procuring for him the office of fyndic, advocate, 

 and orator of the city of iVIentz. Here he provoked the 

 enmity of the monks, partly by maintaining the tlangerous 

 error, that St. Anne, the mother of the Virgin Maiy, had 

 only one huft>and, whereas it was the popular opinion that 

 flie had three ; and partly, by exerting himfelf in the vin- 

 dication of a poor woman, who had been accufed to the- 

 inquifition of witchcraft. In 1520, he left Mentz, and 

 returned to Cologne, where he loit his wife in 1521. Reft- 

 lefs in his temper, he removed to Geneva ; and here, in 1522, 

 married a fecond wife, whom he fupparted by the praftice 

 of phyfic, as long as he continued in this city ; but in 

 1523, he exercifed his profeffion at Friburg in Switzer- 

 land, and in 1524, fettled at Lyons, as phyiician to the 

 mother of Francis I. This lady, apprehending that he 

 could, by his Aftrological talents, predift future events, 

 defired to be informed concerning the affairs of France. 

 Agrippa was difgufted by the application : the princefs, 

 difpleafed by his refufing to fatisfy her curiofity, difcon- 

 tinued his penfion, and this circumftance involved him in 

 new difficulties. His next fettlement was at Antvvei-p, 

 where his lingular talents attrafted general notice, and pro- 

 cured for him various offers of diftinguifhed patronage. Iiv 

 1529, he was honoured with invitations fram Henry VII I. 

 of England, the chancellor of the emperor, an Italian 

 maixjuis, and Margaret of Auflria, miftrefs of the Nether- 

 lands. He accepted the propofal of the latter, and be- 

 came hiiloriographer to the emperor Charles V. Agrippa's 

 eccentric genius would not allow him to enjoy at eafc the 

 honour and emolument to which he was intitled. In 1530, 

 he publilhed " a Treatife on the vanity of the Sciences," 

 which was a fevere fatire on the monks, theologians, preach- 

 3 crsy' 



