Page:A new and general biographical dictionary; containing an historical and critical account of the lives and writings of the most eminent persons in every nation v1.djvu/144

 io8 A G A T H I A S. any fuch conclufion can be drawn from Suidas's account, only that he was in general an advocate, or *' Scholaflicus," as he is called, from having ftudied the law in the fchools ap- pointed for that purpofe. In his youth he was ftrongly in- clined to poetry, and publifhed fame fmall pieces of the gay and amorous kind, under the title of Dapbniaca : he tells us likewife, that he was author of a collection of epigrams writ- ten by divers hands, a great part of which are prelumed to be extant in the Greek " Anthologia," where however he calls D * himfelf Agatblus. There have been doubts about his religion : Voilius and others have fuppofed him a P^gHn ; and they have concluded this chiefly from a pafFagc in the third book of hi; htfrory, where, giving a reafon wjiy the fortrefs of Qno- goris in Colchis was called, in his time, St. Stephen's Fort, he fays, that this firft Chriftian martyr was ftoned there, but ufes the word <pzir} t they fay as if hedid not himfelf believe what might think it neceflary to relate. But this is by no means conclufive; and Fabricius fuppofes him, upon much better grounds, to have been a Chriftian, becaufe he more than once gives very explicitly the preference to the dodtrine of Chrift- ians: and in the firft book he fpeaks plainly of the Chriftians as embracing the moft reasonable fyftem of opinions, -nj He wrote an hiftory of Judinian's reign in five books, at the defire of Eutychianus, fecretary of ftaie, who was his in- timate friend, and probably furniihed him with many rare and important materials for the purpofe. It begins at the 26th year of Juftinian's reign, where Procopius ends; and, Lib.vi.c. 24. as Evagrius fays, was carried down to the flight of Cofroes the younger to the Romans, and his reftoration by Mauritius : but the fame Evagrius adds, that the work was not then pub- lifhed. It was printed in Greek with Bonaventure Vulca- nius's Latin verfion and notes at Leyden, 1594? in 4to j and at Paris in the King's printing houfe, 1660, in folio. Agric.Epift. AGRIPPA (HENRY CORNELIUS), a man of conficlerable xxvi.ii.b.vjj. learning, and a great magician according to report, in the 'fixiteemh century, was born at Cologn, the i4th of Septem- 'ber, 1486, of a noble family. He was very early in the fer- vice of the emperor Maximilian : cl:ed at firft as his fecre- tary, but being no lefs formed for the fword than the pen, he afterwards took to the profefiion of arms and fcrved that em- peror feven years in Italy, where he diftinguifhed himfelf in feveral engagements, and received the honour of knighthood for his gallant behaviour. To hi; military honours he was defirous