AGO 
AGOGE, ad). among ancient muficians, a fpecies of 
modulation, wherein the notes proceed by contiguous de¬ 
grees. 
AGON, f among the ancients, implied any difpute or 
conteft, whether it had regard to bodily exercifes or the 
accompliihments of the mind; and therefore poets, mufi¬ 
cians, painters, &c. had their agones, as well as the ath¬ 
letic. Games of this kind were celebrated at mod of the 
heathen feftivals, with great folemnity, either annually, 
or at certain periods of years. 
Agon alfo fignified one of the minifters employed in 
the Heathen facrifices, and whole bulinefs it was to ftrike 
the victim. The name is fuppofed to have been derived 
from hence, that Handing ready to give the ftroke he alked, 
Agon'? or Agone? 45 Shall I ftrike?”, 
AGON ALES, yi an epithet given to the Salii. 
AGONALIA,/ in Roman antiquity, feftivals celebra¬ 
ted in honour of Janus, or the god Agonius, whom the 
Romans invoked before undertaking any affair of itnpor- 
^AGONALIS CIRCUS, now La Piazza Navona, a 
long, large, beautiful, ftreet, in the heart of Rome, 
adorned with fountains, and the obelilk of Caracalla, ftill 
retaining the form of that circus. The reafon ot the 
name Agonalis is either unknown or doubtful. Ovid feenis 
to derive it from the agones, or lolemn games, there cele¬ 
brated ; fuppofed to have been the Ludi Apohnares, or 
AEliaci, inftituted by Auguftus-: whence the circus was 
called Apollinaris; alfo Alexandrmus, from the emperor 
Alexander Severus, who either enclofed or repaired the 
circus. 
AGONE, adv. [ agan, Sax.] Ago; part. 
AGONISM,/ [ayfcmoy.o?, Gr.] Contention fora prize. 
AGONISMA,/ in antiquity, denotes the prize given 
to the viftor in any combat or difpute. 
AGONIST,/. Gr. ] A contender for prizes,. 
AGONISTARCH A,/, [from otyw, combat,-and 
chief.] In antiquity, feems to have been much the fame 
with Agonotheta; though fome fuggeft a .difference) 
making it the office of the former to prefide at and diredt 
the private exercifes of fheathletas. . 
AGONISTES,/ [ay&mrac, Gr.] A prize-fighter; one 
that contends at any public folemnity for a prize., Milton 
has fo ftyled his tragedy, becaufe Sampfon was called out 
to divert the Philiftines with feats of ftrengtb. 
AGONIST 1 CAL, adj. Relating to .prize-fighting. 
AGONISTICI,/ in church-hiftory, a name,given.by, 
Do.natus to fuch of his difciples as he Tent to fairs, mar¬ 
kets, and other public places, to propagate his doctrine ; 
for which reafon they were alfo called Circuitores , Circelli- 
ones, Catropitce, Coropitm, and at Rome Montcnfes. 
AGONIUM, f. in Roman antiquity, was ufed for the 
day on which the rex facrorum facrificed a victim, as well as 
for the place where the games were celebrated, otherwife 
called agon. 
To AGONIZE, v. n. [from dgonizo, low Lat. aywn^u^ 
Gr. agonifer, Rr.] To feel agonies; to be in exceifive 
pain: 
Doft thou behold my poor diftradted heart. 
Thus rent with agonizing love and rage, 
And alk me what it means? Rodie. 
AGONOTHETA, or Agonothetici, f. [ccy^and 
Gr.] In Grecian antiquity, was the preftdent. or 
fuperintendant of the facred games; who not only defray¬ 
ed the expences attending them, but inlpedled the man¬ 
ners and difeipline of the athletse, and adjudged the prizes 
to the vidtors. 
AGONY,/ [«y«iq Gr. agon, low Lat. agonie, Fr.] The 
pangs of death ; properly the laft conteft between life and 
death. Any violent or exceflive pain .of body or mind. 
It js particularly ufed in devotions for our Redeemer’s 
conflict in the garden. 
A G K. 263 
Much of the terror of death confifts in the pangs and 
convulfions wherewith the agony feems attended ; though 
we have reafon to. believe that the pain in fuch cafes is 
ordinarily not extremely acute ; a courfe of pain and fick- 
nefs having ufually ftupified and indifpofed the nerves for 
any quick fenfations. However, various means have been 
thought of for mitigating the agony of death. Lord Ba¬ 
con confiders this as a part of the province of a phyfician; 
and that not only when fuch a mitigation may tend to a re¬ 
covery, but alfo when, there being no hopes of a recove¬ 
ry, it can only tend to make the paffage out of life more 
calm and eafy. Complacency in death, which Auguftus 
fo much defired, is certainly no fmall part of happinefs. 
Accordingly the author laft cited ranks euthanafia, or the 
art of dying ealily, among the defiderata of fcience; and 
does not even feemto difapprove of the courfe Epicurus 
took for that end, 
- HincJlygias ebrius haufit aquas. 
Opium has been applied for this purpofe, with the ap- 
plaufe of fome, but tiie condemnation of more. 
AGON YCL 1 TZE, or Agonyclites, f. in church- 
hiftory, a feet of Cliriftians, in the feventh century, who 
prayed always Handing, as thinking it unlawful to kneel. 
AGOOD, adv. [from a and good.] Inearneft; not fic- 
titioufly. Not m life. 
AGORZEUS, adj. in heathen antiquity, an appellation 
given to fuch deities as had ftatues in the market-places; 
particularly Mercury, whofe ftaiue was to be feen in almoft 
ev'ery public place. 
AGORANOMUS, f. a magiftrate of Athens, who had 
the regulation of weights and rneafures; the price? of pro- 
Vilions, &c. To thele a certain toli or tribute was paid by 
all who brought any thing to fell in the market. 
AGOSTA, a fea-port of Sicily, moltly fwallowed up 
by an earthquake in 1763. 
AGOUTI, or Aguti. See Mus. 
AGRA, the capital to\Vn of a province of the fame 
name, in Indoftan, and in the dominions of the Great 
Mogul. It is looked p.pon as- the largeft city in thefe 
parts, and is in the form of a half-moon. A man on 
horfeback can hardly ride round it in a day. It is fur- 
rounded with a wall of red Hone, and with a ditch 100 
feet wide. The palace is prodigioully large,'and the fe- 
raglio commonly contains above 1600 women. There are 
upwards of 800 baths in this town; but that which tra¬ 
vellers moft admire, is the fnaui'oleum of one of the Mo¬ 
gul’s wives, which w , as t;venty. years in building. The 
indigo of Agra is the molt valuable of all that comes from, 
the Eaft Indies. This town is fealed on the river Jemma, 
about fifty miles above its confluence with the Tehemel,: 
and is 300 miles N. E. of Surat. Lat. 26. 29. N. Ion. 
79. 12.E. 
To AGRACE, v. a. [from a and grace. ] To grant fa¬ 
vours to; to confer benefits upon: a word not now in ufe.. 
AGRAMMATIST, f. [from a, priv. and yp«/x/2»y 
a letter.] An illiterate man. 
AGRARIAN LAWS,/ among the Romans, thofe re¬ 
lating to the divilion and diftribution of lands;, of which 
there were a great number; but that called the Agrarian 
Law , by way of eminence, was publilhed by Spurius Caf- 
fius, about the year of Rome 268, for dividing the con¬ 
quered lands equally among- all the citizens, and. limiting 
the number of acres which each citizen might enjoy.-— 
The Roman lands .were of feveral kinds; fome conquer¬ 
ed from the enemies, and not yet brought to the public 
account; others brought indeed to the public, but clan- 
deftinely ufurped bv private great men ; laftly, others pur t 
chafed, with the public money, in order to be divided. 
Agrarian laws, either, for dividing hinds taken from' the 
enemy, or the public lands, or thofe purchafcd with the* 
public money, were eafily palled without diftitrbance; but 
thofe-whereby private rich men were.to be deprived of 
their lands, and the common people put in poifellion of. 
3 what 
