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The Roman armies, in their marches, were divided into primum Agmen, anfwering to our vanguard ; medium Agmen, our main-battle ; and pojiremum Agmen, the rear-guard. The order of their march was thus : after the firft iignal with the trumpets, &c. the tents were taken down, and the bagagge packed up ; at the fecond figpal, the baggage was to be leaden on the horfes and carriages ; and at the third fignal, they were to begin their march. Firft came the extraordinarii \ then the auxiliaries of the firft wing, with their baggage ; thefe were followed by the legions. The cacavalry marched either on each fide, or behind.
Ac; men pilatum, that difpofed in a narrow oblong form, or column ; being withal clofe and compact ; thus called, as refembling the figure of apila, or peer. Vegetius compares it to that of a broach, or fpit. This form was chiefly ufed in marching without their baggage, through bad ways, and clofe countries. V. Pitifc. Lex. Ant. T. i. p. 61. V°jf- Etym.
Agmen quadratum, that ranged fomewhat in a fcjuare form ; being the method ordinarily obferved in the Roman armies. This was alfo called Agmen grave, by the Greeks TflpqwHC T«|« \ The three lines, or columns, in which the army ufuall/ marched, were confidently more in length, or breadth, than in depth : but as the baggage marched, fomewhat in the fame order, the whole approached to the figure of a fquare b . — [• V. Baxt. Gloff. p. 69. b Pitifc, loc. ctt ]
Agmen is alfo ufed for any number of perfons, or even ani- mals, moving or advancing in fome regular order. V. Sai- nts/, de Re Milit. c. 17.
AGNANTHUS, in botany, the name given by V-aillant to a genus of plants, called afterwards cornutie, by Plunder and Linnaeus. Sec Cornutia.
AGNEL, an antient French gold coin, firft ftruck under the reign of St. Louis, worth about twelve fols, fix dealers. V. Le Blanc. Hift. Monn. de France, ap. Act Erud. Lipf.
Sup
T.
3- P
Trev. Di£t. Univ. T. 1. p. 204.
The Agnel is alfo called fometimes Mouton d'or, and Agnel d'or.
The denomination is fuppofed to have arifen from the figure of a lamb, or ftieep, ftruck on one fide. AGNELET, an antient French filver coin, firft ftruck under Philip le Bel, worth about twenty fols. Trev. Diet. Univ. T. 1. p. 205. AGNOETISM, the diftingtufhingdoflrine, or fyftem, of the Agnoeta. SeeAGNOET-ffi, Cycl.
r l 'here feems to have been two kinds of Agnoeti/m, and Agnoeta, though ufually confounded. The firft founded by Theophronius, auEunomian, under the empire of Valcns, who quitted his party, taught fome erroneous tenets concerning God's prefcience, and its difference from knowledge : the latter, founded by Themif- tius the deacon of Alexandria. As to all which, the curious may confult Obfcrv. Halcnf. T. 1. obf. 15. Fabric. Bibl. Grace. T. 8. 1. 5. c. 18. Hkeph.Callijl. Hift. Ecclcf. 1. 18. c. 11, 18, 45, 49, 50. Pratteol. Elencb. Hasref. 1- I- p- 19. AGNOMEN, {Cycl.) — There have been great difputes among antiquaries, concerning the Agnomina of the Romans. Bcfides the notion delivered in f the Cyclopedia, divers others have been ftai ted. The generality of grammarians fpeak of the Agnomen as a fourth name fuperadded to the cognomen, or third name, on account of fome extraordinary action, virtue, or the like : as A/ricanus, in Publius Cornelius Scipio Afri- canus ; Creticus, in Quintus Csecuius Metellus Creticus ; Faslix, in Lucius Cornelius Sylla Fcelix, Sic. Cantel. Di(f. 1. ad Valer. Max. Jour, des Scav. T. 8. p. 19- Nouv. Meth. Lat. p. 597.
But what refutes this notion, is, that thefe, and other names after the cognomen, or family name, are frequently called, by an- tient writers, cognomina; and not Agnomina. This led Sigonius to conclude the Agnomen and cognomen to be the fame thing; notwithftandingthatCiccroexpicflydiftinguifhesthem. Others following Robortellus, take the Agnomen to be the fame with the nomen gentile* or that belonging to the Agnati ; which appears ftill farther from the truth. A late author decides the difficulty, by making the Agnomen to be generally the fame with the cognomen, though not always, but only in cafes of adoption.
According to this fyftem, Agnomen is the name which a per- fon adopted retains after his adoption. It was a cuftom a- mong the Romans, for a perfon, when adopted into another family, to lay afide all his other names, and only retain his family name, to which lie added the prssnomen, nomen, and cognomen of the adopter. Thus P. Cornelius Scipio, being adopted by Q± Csecilius. Metellus, laid afidc his pr&nomen Publius, and nomen Cornelius, and was called Q. Cascilius Metellus Scipio. So alfo L. Calpurnms Pifo, being adopted by M. Pupius, was called M. Pupius Pifo. And M. Junius Brutus, being adopted by Q^ Servilius Caepio, was called Q. Servilius Ca-pio Brutus. It follows, that Pifo and Brutus are here real Agnomina, as being Agitata, or belonging to the proper family of the perfon ; whereas the other three are foreign, or Superadded on account of adoption. V. P. Scrv* Mifccll. c. 8. Pitifc. Lex. Ant. T. 1. p. 62. feq. See Adoption and Adoptive* Cycl. and Suppl.
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AGNOS, in ichthyology, a name given by Athenaus, and many other of the Greek writers, to that fifli called cailya- nymus, or urano/cspus. It is a fpecies of the tracbinus, and is diftinguifhed, by Artedi, from the reft of that genus, by the name of the tracbinus with a great number of beards grow- ing from the lower jaws. AGNUS cajlus, (Cycl.) is alfo called agnon, vitcx, fometimes elaagnon, /al'ix amerina, lygon, lygus.
There are divers fpecies of it. Pliny mentions two, \\\t greater, called alfo the white kind, and the lej/er, or block. Miller fpeaks of four; only one of which, called by botanifts, vitcx filiis angujlioribus, canabh motto di/pofith, is pretty common in Englifh gardens ; the reft are rare.
The Agnus cajlus is a fmall fbrub, which fhoots fevcral long, flender, flexible branches, covered with an afh coloured rind ; its leaves are long, narrow, pointed, and lanuginous, difpofed like thofe of hemp ; its feed round, about the bignefs of pep- per, and having a pungent aromatic tafte. Whence the French fometimes call it zvild pepper. It grows in wafte grounds, about the banks of rivers, and contains a great deal of fait and oil, but little phlegm. Agnus cajlus was efteemed facred to Ceres, and is fometimes reprefented on medals, in her hand.
To obviate loofe defires, fome of the Italian religious, to this day, not only fill the pillows they lye on with the leaves, blofloms, and feed of the fame, but alfo tye fome of its branches about their middle. Some of the nunneries in France are alfo faid to rear this plant in their gardens, for the fame purpofe. M. de la Barmondiere, curate of the feminary of St. Sulpice at Paris, ufed to have conferves and electuaries made of the Agnus cajlus, which he diftributed among his difciples, as he found occafion. Yet by its fmell and tafte, as well as its operation as a diuretic and emmenagogue, one would rather fufpeft that it Ihould have a contrary effeft. Vid. Plin. Hift. Nat. 1. 24. c. 9. Hardouin. Not. ad loc. Levari, Tr. des Drog. p. 18. Chomel, Didt, CEcon. T. 1. p. 39. Mill. Gard. Dift. in voc. Burggr. Lex. Med. T. 1. p. 350. feq. Mem. Acad. Infcrip. T. 5. p. 53. Mem. de Trev, an. 1703. p. 258. Jour, des Scav. T. 45. p. 413. It. T. 47. p. 438. Phil. Tranf. N°. in. p. 249. Eve/. Sylv. c. 20. §. 28. AGNUS Dei ( Cycl. ) — The manufacture, or preparation of Agnus Dei's is carried on in the Vatican ; and the Bernar- dins are the operators. A late traveller found a number of them hard at work in one apartment ; fome kneading the pafte, others rolling it, others ftamping it, &c„ In the next rooms were long tables full of Agnus Dei's, of all fizes, in prodigious number, ready for the papal benediction. Vid. Mem. of Liter. T. 5. p. 272.
The origin of Agnus Dei's is ufually referred to the time of Conftantin, or that of St. Chryfoftorn, or of pope Zofimus, i.e. to the fourth or fifth century. Though P. de Vitry will have it much older ; and pretends, that it came from apoftolieal tradition.
It feems antiently to have been a cuftom for Chriftians, to have thefe waxen images put in their coffins with them : accordingly the tomb of the emprefs, wife of Honorius, who died in the middle of the fifth century, being difcovered in 1544, there is faid to have been found in it an Agnus Dei. V. Mem. deTrev. an. 1728. p. 1538. The ceremony of confecrating the Agnus Dei's bears Tome affinity to that of baptifm, and is accordingly called by. that name a . Onuphrius Panvinius deduces its origin from that facrament b .— -f* Jour, des Scav. T. 37. p. 371. b DziPin, Bibl. Ecclef. T, 16. p. 99.] See Baptism. In the Ordo Romanus it is faid, that on Eafter Saturday, the archdeacon of Rome pours melted wax into a veflel, mixes a little oil with it, and after bleffing it, pours it into moulds graven with the image of a Iamb, to be kept till the Sun- day in Albis, and then diftributed by him to the people, to be burnt in their houfes as a prefervative from ill accidents. But of late days, this office is performed by the pope himfelf, and that not every year, as of old ; but the firft year of his pontificate, and every feventh year afterwards 3 . The Agnus Dei's are received from the pontiff by the cardinals in their caps, and by the other prelates in their mitres, &?*, with the ut- moft veneration ; it being held a profanation to touch them with hands. At the fame time parcels of them are fentas a prefent to all the princes of the Romifti communion. A brief, or order of pope Sixtus Vth. fent with a box of Agnus Dei's to the Doge of Venice, has been publifhed by the journaHfts of that city : wherein we have an authentic account of the der- fign, Ufe, £?V. of Agnus Dei's. — They are made of pure white virgin wax, fays the brief, to denote the humanity of Chrift, born of an immaculate virgin ; the figure of the lamb imprefled on them, reprefents that unfpotted Iamb, who fuf- fered for us upon the crofs. They are baptized or dipped by the pope in holy water, wherein balfam had been firft put, to reprefent the report of a good name, which a chriftian is to purchafe by the innocence of his converfation, as alfo chrifm, by which charity the greateft of all virtues is figured. The immerfion is accompanied with prayers, whereby the pontiff befeeches God to fanctify thefe images, and inrufe his hea- venly
