Quintus Curtius iv. 1, 39, vi. 1; Arrian, Anabasis, ii. 13.
(4) Son of Eudamidas II., of the Eurypontid family, commonly
called Agis III. He succeeded his father probably in 245
B.C., in his twentieth year. At this time the state had
been brought to the brink of ruin by the growth of avarice and
luxury; there was a glaring inequality in the distribution of
land and wealth, and the number of full citizens had sunk to
700, of whom about 100 practically monopolized the land.
Though reared in the height of luxury he at once determined to
restore the traditional institutions of Lycurgus, with the aid
of Lysander, a descendant of the victor of Aegospotami, and
Mandrocleidas, a man of noted prudence and courage; even his
mother, the wealthy Agesistrata, threw herself heartily into
the cause. A powerful but not disinterested ally was found
in the king's uncle, Agesilaus, who hoped to rid himself
of his debts without losing his vast estates. Lysander as
ephor proposed on behalf of Agis that all debts should be
cancelled and that Laconia should be divided into 19,500
lots, of which 4500 should be given to Spartiates, whose
number was to be recruited from the best of the perioeci and
foreigners, and the remaining 15,000 to perioeci who could
bear arms. The Agiad king Leonidas having prevailed on the
council to reject this measure, though by a majority of only
one, was deposed in favour of his son-in-law Cleombrotus,
who assisted Agis in bearing down opposition by the threat of
force. The abolition of debts was carried into effect, but
the land distribution was put off by Agesilaus on various
pretexts. At this point Aratus appealed to Sparta to help the
Achaeans in repelling an expected Aetolian attack, and Agis
was sent to the Isthmus at the head of an army. In his absence
the open violence and extortion of Agesilaus, combined with the
popular disappointment at the failure of the agrarian scheme,
brought about the restoration of Leonidas and the deposition
of Cleombrotus, who took refuge at the temple of Apollo at
Taenarum and escaped death only at the entreaty of his wife,
Leonidas's daughter Chilonis. On his return Agis fled to the
temple of Athene Chalcioecus at Sparta, but soon afterwards
he was treacherously induced to leave his asylum and, after
a mockery of a trial, was strangled in prison, his mother and
grandmother sharing the same fate (241). Though too weak and
good-natured to cope with the problem which confronted him,
Agis was characterized by a sincerity of purpose and a blend of
youthful modesty with royal dignity, which render him perhaps
the most attractive figure in the whole of Spartan history.
See Plutarch's biography. Pausanias' accounts (ii. 8. 5, vii.
7. 3, viii. 10. 5-8, 27. 13) of his attack on Megalopolis,
his seizure of Pellene and his death at Mantinea fighting
against the Arcadians, Achaeans and Sicyonians are without
foundation (J. C. F. Manso, Sparta, iii. 2. 123-127). See also
Manso, op. cit. iii. 1. 276-302; B. Niese, Geschichte der
griechischen und makedonischcn Staaten, ii. 299-303. (M. N. T.)
AGISTMENT. To ``agist'' (from O. Fr. agister, derived
from gesir--Lat. jacere--to lie) is, in law, to take
cattle to graze, for a renumeration. ``Agistment,'' in the
first instance, referred more particularly to the proceeds of
pasturage in the king's forests, but now means either (a)
the contract for taking in and feeding horses or other cattle
on pasture land, for the consideration of a weekly payment
of money, or (b) the profit derived from such pasturing.
Agistment is a contract of bailment, and the bailer is bound
to take reasonable care of the animals entrusted to him;
he is responsible for damages and injury which result from
ordinary casualties, if it be proved that such might have been
prevented by the exercise of great care. There is no lien on
the cattle for the price of the agistment, unless by express
agreement. Under the Agricultural Holdings Act 1883, agisted
cattle cannot be distrained on for rent if there be other
sufficient distress to be found, and if such other distress
be not found, and the cattle be distrained, the owner may
redeem them on paying the price of their agistment. The tithe
of agistment or ``tithe of cattle and other produce of grass
lands,'' was formally abolished by the act of union in 1707,
on a motion submitted with a view to defeat that measure.
AGITATORS, or ADJUTATORS, the name given to representatives
elected in 1647 by the different regiments of the English
Parliamentary army. The word really means an agent, but it
was confused with ``adjutant,'' often called ``agitant,'' a
title familiar to the soldiers, and thus the form ``adjutator''
came into use. Early in 1647 the Long Parliament wished
either to disband many of the regiments or to send them to
Ireland. The soldiers, whose pay was largely in arrear,
refused to accept either alternative, and eight of the cavalry
regiments elected agitators, called at first commissioners,
who laid their grievances before the three generals, and whose
letter was read in the House of Commons on the 30th of April
1647. The other regiments followed the example of the
cavalry, and the agitators, who belonged to the lower ranks
of the army, were supported by many of the officers, who
showed their sympathy by signing the Declaration of the
army. Cromwell and other generals succeeded to some extent
in pacifying the troops by promising the payment of arrears
for eight weeks at once; but before the return of the generals
to London parliament had again decided to disband the army,
and soon afterwards fixed the 1st of June as the date on
which this process was to begin. Again alarmed, the agitators
decided to resist; a mutiny occurred in one regiment and the
attempt at disbandment failed. Then followed the seizure
of the king by Cornet Joyce, Cromwell's definite adherence
to the policy of the army, the signing of the manifestoes,
a Humble Representation and a Solemn Engagement, and the
establishment of the army council composed of officers and
agitators. Having, at an assembly on Thriplow Heath, near
Royston, virtually refused the offers made by parliament, the
agitators demanded a march towards London and the ``purging''
of the House of Commons. Subsequent events are part of the
general history of England. Gradually the agitators ceased to
exist, but many of their ideas were adopted by the Levellers
(q.v.), who may perhaps be regarded as their successors.
Gardiner says of them, ``Little as it was intended at the
time, nothing was more calculated than the existence of this
elected body of agitators to give to the army that distinctive
political and religious character which it ultimately bore.''
See S. R. Gardiner, History of the Great
Civil War, vols. iii. and iv. (London, 1905).
AGLIARDI, ANTONIO (1832- ), papal diplomatist, was born at
Cologno (Bergamo), Italy, on the 4th of September 1832. He
studied theology and canon law, and, after acting as parish
priest in his native diocese for twelve years, was sent by
the pope to Canada as a bishop's chaplain. On his return he
was appointed secretary to the Propaganda. In 1884 he was
created by Leo XIII. archbishop of Caesarea in partibus and
sent to India to report on the establishment of the hierarchy
there. In 1887 he again visited India, to carry out the terms
of the concordat arranged with Portugal. The same year he
was appointed secretary to the Congregation super negotiis
ecclesiae extraordinariis, in 1889 became papal nuncio at
Munich and in 1892 at Vienna. Allowing himself to be involved
in the ecclesiastical disputes by which Hungary was divided
in 1895, he was made the subject of formal complaint by the
Hungarian government and in 1896 was recalled. His services
were rewarded by a Cardinalate and the archbishopric of
Ferrara. In 1903 he was named vice-chancellor of the Roman Church.
AGNANO, LAGO DI, a circular lake, 5 m. W. of Naples,
Italy. It was apparently not formed until the middle ages,
as it is not mentioned by ancient writers; it was drained in
1870. It occupied the crater of an extinct volcano, 4 m. in
circumference. On the south bank are the Stufe di S. Germano,
natural sulphureous vapour baths, and close by is the Grotta
del Cane, from the floor of which warm carbonic acid gas
constantly rises to a height of 18 in., the fumes of which
render a dog insensible in a few seconds. It is mentioned
by Pliny (Nat. Hist. ii. 93). Remains of an extensive Roman
building and some statues have been discovered close by.
AGNATES (Agnati), in Roman law, persons related through
males only, as opposed to cognates. Agnation was founded on
the idea of the family held together by the patria potestas;
cognatio involves simply the modern idea of kindred.
AGNES, SAINT, a virgin martyr of the Catholic Church. The
legend of St Agnes is that she was a Roman maid, by birth a
Christian, who suffered martyrdom when but thirteen during
the reign of the emperor Diocletian, on the 21st of January
304. The prefect Sempronius wished her to marry his son,
and on her refusal condemned her to be outraged before her
execution, but her honour was miraculously preserved. When
led out to die she was tied to a stake, but the faggots would
not burn, whereupon the officer in charge of the troops drew
his sword and struck off her head. St Agnes is the patron
saint of young girls, who, in rural districts, formerly
indulged in all sorts of quaint country magic on St Agnes' Eve
(20th-21st January) with a view to discovering their future
husbands. This superstition has been immortalized in Keats's
poem, ``The Eve of St Agnes.'' St Agnes's bones are supposed
to rest in the church of her name at Rome, originally built
by Constantine and repaired by Pope Honorius in the 7th
century. Here on her festival (21st of January) two lambs
are specially blessed after pontifical high mass, and
their wool is later woven into pallia (see PALLIUM.)
AGNES OF MERAN (d. 1201), queen of France, was the daughter
of Bertold IV., duke of Meran in Tirol. She is called Marie
by some of the chroniclers. In June 1196 she married Philip
II., king of France, who had repudiated Ingeborg of Denmark in
1193. The pope espoused the cause of Ingeborg; but Philip
did not submit until 1200, when, interdict having been
added to excommunication, he consented to a separation from
Agnes. She died in July of the next year, at the castle of
Poissy, and was buried in the church of St Corentin, near
Nantes. Her two children by Philip II., Philip, count of
Clermont (d. 1234), and Mary, who married Philip, count of
Namur, were legitimized by Innocent III. in 1201 on the
demand of the king. Little is known of the personality
of Agnes, beyond the remarkable influence which she
exercised over Philip II. She has been made the heroine
of a tragedy by Francois Ponsard, Agnes de Meranie.
See the notes of Robert Davidsohn in Philipp II. August
von Frankreich und Ingeborg (Stuttgart, 1888). A
genealogical notice is furnished by the Chronicon of
the monk Alberic (Aubry) of Fontaines, (Albericus Trium
Fontium) in Pertz, Scriptores, vol. xxiii. pp. 872
f., and by the Genealogia Wettinensis, ibid. p. 229.
AGNESI, MARIA GAETANA (1718-1799), Italian mathematician,
linguist and philosopher, was born at Milan on the 16th of May
1718, her father being professor of mathematics in the university
of Bologna. When only nine years old she had such command of
Latin as to be able to publish an elaborate address in that
language, maintaining that the pursuit of liberal studies
