Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 01.djvu/248

AGATHON. the chorus songs mere interludes, disconnected in theme from the dialogue. He is ridiculed in Aristophanes' Thesmophoriazusæ. About thirty short fragments of Agathon are preserved.

AGATHON. The title of a philosophical novel by Wieland (q.v.), published in ITOfi. Its hero (Agathon) is a Platonist. and the theme of the book is the proper mean in human life be- tween asceticism and sensuality.

AG'ATIZED WOOD. See ; and.

AGAU, a-gou'. An Hamitic people of Abyssinia, supposed to represent the aboriginal inhabitants of the highlands of that country. The Agau tribes are scattered in various parts of the kingdom, one district, in Amhara, southwest of Lake Tsana. bearing the name of Agaumeder. The Agau language is widely diffused among the common people of Abyssinia.

AGAVE, a-ga've (Gk. fem. of ayavoc, ugauos, noble, high-born), Cex'tury Plaxt. A genus of plants belonging to the natural order Amaryllidacea>. and having a tubular perianth with a six-partite limb, and a coriaceous, many- seeded capsule. They are herbaceous plants, of remarkable and beautiful appearance. There iire a number of species, all natives of the warmer parts of America. By unscientific persons they are often confounded with Aloes (q.v.) ; and Agave Americana is generally known by the name of'^ American Aloe. The agaves have either no proper stem, or a very short one, bearing at its summit a crowded head of large, fleshy leaves, which are often spiny at the margin. From the midst of these shoots up the straight, upright scape, sometimes 20 feet high, and at the base several inches in diameter, along which are small, appressed. lanceolate bracte;v, with a terminal 7)anicle, often bearing as many as 4000 flowers. Tn South America these plants often flower in their eighth year, but in hot-houses not until they have reached a very advanced age ; whence arises the gardeners' fable of their flowering only once in a hundred years. After flowering, in some species, the plant dies down to the ground, but the root, continuing to live, sends up new shoots. The best known species is Agave Americana, of which there are several varieties with striped or margined leaves, which was first brought from South America to Europe in 1561, and being easily propagated by suckers, is era- pkiyed for fences in Italian Switzerland, and has become naturalized in Nai)les, Sicily, and the north of Africa. By maceration of the leaves, which are .5 to 7 feet long, are obtained coarse fibres, which are used in America, under the name of maijuey, for the manufacture of thread, twine, rope«, hammocks, etc. This fibre is also known as Pita flax. It is now produced to some extent in the south of Europe. It is not very stiong or durable, and if exposed to moisture it soon decays. The ancient Mexicans employed it for the preparation of a coarse kind of paper, and the Iralians use it for oakinn. The leaves, cut into slices, are used for feeding cattle. An- other species, Agave Mexicana. is particularly described by Humboldt on account of its utility. M'lien the innermo.st leaves have been torn out, a jnicc ((intinues to flow for a considerable time, Aliich, liy iiispissation, yields sugar, and which wlicn diluted with water and sulijcctc'cl to four or live ilays' fermentation becojncs an agreeable but intoxicating drink, called piil/j»e. Pulque is also produced from a number of other species, especially from Agave atrovirens. and a distilled liquor, mescal, is a product of species of this plant. Agave rigida sisalana, a native of Yuca- tan, yields an important fibre which, under the name of Sisal hemp, is extensively used for cord- age. A few species of the genus Agave are known from Tertiary rocks of Europe. Consult: George Englemann. Botanical M'orks (Cambridge, Mass., 1887); A. Isabel Mulford, Tlic Agaves of the Vnited States (St. Louis, 1890) ; Academy of Science, St. Louis, Transactions ( St. Louis 187.5).

AGA'VE. The mother of the Theban King Pentheus (q.v.), whom, according to the Greek legend, she and other frenzied Bacchantes tore in pieces for his opposition to the new orgies of Dionysus. She was the daughter of Cadmus and the wife of Echion.

AGDE, agd. An ancient French town in the department of TOrault, on the river Herault, two and a half miles from the Mediterranean Sea (Map: France, K 8). To the north, under the walls of the town, flows the Languedoc Canal. The Herault is navigable, and admits vessels of 400 tons burden. Agde has trade communication with Italy, Spain, and Africa, but its chief activity is in its coasting trade. It carries on a large and prosperous traffic in coal, wine, oil, gi'ain, silk, etc., and manufactures soap and verdigris. The general aspect of the place is sombre, on account of the black volcanic rock of ^^•hich the houses are built and with which the streets are paved. It possesses a naval academy and a college. Its most conspicuous building is the Cathedral of St. ^fitienne, for Agde has been the seat of a bishopric since the beginning of the Middle Ages. The town was founded by the Greeks of Massilia. and its first name was Agathe. Pop., 1890, 7007; 1901, 7920.

AGE. A term employed to designate successive epochs in the history of the human race. In the Greek mind, the life of the race was likened to that of the individual—hence the infancy of the former might easily be imagined to be, like that of the latter, the most beautiful and serene of all. Hesiod mentions five ages—the Golden, simple and patriarchal; the Silver, voluptuous and godless; the Brazen, warlike, wild, and violent: the Heroic, an aspiration to- ward the better: the Iron, in which justice, piety, and faithfulness had vanished from the earth, the time in which Hesiod fancied that he himself lived. Ovid closely imitates the old Greek, except in one particular — he omits the Heroic Age. This idea, at first perhaps a mere poetic comparison, gradually worked its way into prose, and finally became an element of scientific philosophy. These ages were regarded as the divisions of the great world-year, Mhich would be completed when the stars and planets had performed a revolution round the heavens, after which destiny would repeat itself in the same series of events. Thus mythology was brought into connection with astronomy. The Golden Age was said to be governed by Saturn : the Silver, by Jupiter; the Brazen, by Neptune, and the Iron, by Pluto. Many curious calculations were entered into by ancient writers to ascertain the length of the heavenly year and its various divisions. The greatest discrepancy prevailed, as might naturally be expected; some maintaining that it was 3000, and others as many as 18,000, solar years.