Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume I.djvu/203

 AGATHA entering a silicious solution. Change of tem- perature and pressure account for the crys- talline interior, and the various strata are evi- dently aggregations, usually concentric. The veins of color are sometimes polygonal, when, from resemblance to the angles of a fortress, it is called fortification agate. AGATHA, Saiut, a Christian martyr of Paler- mo. Her beauty attracting the attention of Quintianus, the pagan governor of Sicily, he made overtures to her. Enraged at their re- jection, he subjected her to the most cruel tor- tures, and she died in prison, Feb. 5, 251. AGATHARCHIDES, or Agatharchns, a Greek ge- ographical writer, a native of Cnidos in Asia Minor, who flourished about 130 B. C., and was guardian to one of the kings of Egypt dur- ing his minority. Of his numerous works, frag- ments of a description of the Erythraean sea alone remain. AGATHARCHUS, an Athenian artist of the early part of the 5th century B. C., said to have in- vented scene painting, and to have painted a scene for ^Eschylus. Scene painting was, how- ever, not generally used until the tune of So- phocles. AGATIIIAS, a Byzantine writer of the 6th cen- tury, surnamed Scholasticus on account of his extensive legal knowledge, born in Myrina, in Asia Minor. He received his early education at Alexandria, and hi 554 went to Constantinople, where he practised as an advocate and won re- nown as a poet and historian. Of his writings, about 90 poems are extant, as well as a history of the government of Justinian, which was in- tended for a continuation of Procopius. It was first published in 1594, and afterward with Me- buhr's amendments in 1828. AGATHOCLES, a Syracusan adventurer and military despot, died in 289 B. C. Ho was the son of a potter in the Sicilian town of Thermae, an exile from southern Italy, and in early life worked at his father's trade, then became a leader of banditti, and afterward a soldier under Damas, a prominent Syracusan, with whom he subsequently served as a chiliarch or commander of 1,000 men, in the war with Ag- rigentum. On the death of Damas Agathocles married his widow, and thereby became one of the wealthiest citizens of Syracuse. He obtained an ascendancy in the democratic party, was twice driven into exile, but re- turned, and after terrible bloodshed became autocrat of Syracuse in 317 B. C. Debts were abolished, and the property of the rich was confiscated and distributed among the peo- ple. He aimed to drive the Carthaginians out of Sicily, and annex the whole island to the state of Syracuse; but he was defeated by Marnilcar, the Carthaginian governor, near Hi- mera, and shut up in Syracuse on the land side. The sea being open to him, he carried the war into Africa in 310, burvit his ships on landing, .ind obtained many successes over the Cartha- ginian troops and cities. The subject allies of Syracuse in Sicily revolted, headed by the AGAVE 179 powerful city of Agrigentum, and placed them- selves under command of Dinocrates, a Syra- cusan Greek. Agathocles hurried home, but achieved nothing decisive in Sicily, and re- turned to Africa, where he found his troops mutinous from want of pay. His eloquence- saved him. Defeated by the Carthaginians, he and his sons fled to the coast, leaving the army to look out for itself (307). The sons were caught and massacred by the troops, who then made terms with the Carthaginians. Agatho- cles escaped to Sicily, made peace with the Carthaginians, turned his energies against the revolters, defeated them, butchered thousands after they had laid down their arms on promise of amnesty, and took Dinocrates into his ser- vice. He next set on foot an expedition against the Bruttii in Italy, laid the Lipari islands under contribution, made himself mas- ter of Crotona on the peninsula, and had ad- vanced far toward raising Sicily to a great naval power when he died. AGATHON, a tragic poet of Athens, a friend of Euripides, born about 447 B. C., died about 400. He won his first dramatic triumph in 416. Aristophanes ridicules his affectations, and brings him on the stage in a woman's dress. Plato and Aristotle speak well of his talents, but the latter remarks the mild, humane spirit of his tragedies as a sign that the vigor of the ancient drama was departing. He went with Euripides to the Macedonian court in 407, and fixed his abode in the palace of King Arche- laus. The dinner which Agathon gave to cel- ebrate his dramatic victory was made by Plato the groundwork of his Symposium. Of his writings a few fragments only are extant. Wieland made Agathon the hero of a philo- sophical novel. AGAVE, a genus of plants of the order am- aryllidacea, known as American aloes. The plant produces a circle of stitt* erect, fleshy leaves, often 7 to 10 inches long and 5 to 7 inches thick at the base, growing on the top of a short, woody trunk, bearing flowers in a long, terminal, woody spire. There are seve- ral species, but only one merits especial notice. The agave Americana, American aloe (called maguey in South America and mescal in Mex- ico), has a short cylindrical stem, terminating in a circular cluster of hard, fleshy, spiny, sharp-pointed, bluish-green leaves, each of which lives for many years, so that but few have withered when the plant has arrived at its maturity. It is a popular error that this only occurs at the expiration of a hundred years, when the tree flowers, and again lies dormant, so far as its efflorescence is concern- ed, for another century; The American aloe varies in the period of its coming to maturity, according to the region in which it grows, from 10 to 70 years. In hot climates, otherwise favorable to its rapid development, it grows quickly, and early attains its perfect state. In colder countries, where it is cultivated as an exotic, it often requires the full period popularly