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208 AGRIONIA AGRIPPIXA Concord and of the Olympian Jupiter, of which gigantic ruins remain. Shortly after its foun- dation it was ruled by the tyrant Phalaris, and in the following century by Theron (488 to 472). Temple of Concord, Agrigentum. It was repeatedly involved in hostilities with Carthage, and in 405 B. C. was razed to the ground by an army of that nation. It was re- built by Timoleon, and in 210 became perma- nently subject to Rome, growing to be one of the most prosperous of the cities of Sicily, with a great trade in corn, wine, and oil. The Sara- cens captured it in A. I). 825, and kept posses- sion of it till 1086. (See GIROENTI.) AGRIOMA, a yearly festival in honor of Bac- chus Agrionius, anciently held at Orchomenus, Boeotia, exclusively by women and priests. The women would make a pretended search for the god, and finally desist, saying he had escaped to the muses. Then all would assemble at a repast, and amuse themselves by guessing rid- dles; whence collections of riddles, charades, &c., have been called "Agrionia?." But the most remarkable part of the festival was the pursuit of a band of virgins by a priest with a drawn sword, who killed the one he caught as a sacrifice, in memory of the sacrifice of a boy by the daughters of Minyas in a Bacchic fury. In later times the killing was omitted. AGRIPPA. I. llrrodcv See HEROD. II. Marcus Vlpsanins, a Roman general and statesman, born in 63 B. C., of an obscure family, died in March, 12 B. C. He was a schoolmate of Octavius (afterward Octavianus and Augustus), at Apol- lonia in Illyria, and was his chief instrument in establishing the empire. After the murder of Julius Ctesar, Agrippa accompanied Octavius to Rome, prosecuted Cassius, and received the oath of fidelity from the legions which had de- clared for Octavius. In 40 he took Perusia from Lucius Antonius after a long siege, and Sipontum from Mark Antony. In 88 he aided Octavianus by his victories in Gaul. In 37, after converting the Lucrine lake into a harbor, he created a fleet, with which the next vf ear he decisively defeated Sextus Pompey a^Mylae and Naulochus. In the subsequent war against Antony he also commanded the fleet, and chiefly contributed to the great victory at Ac- tium in 31. He accompanied Augustus to the war against the Cantabrians in Spain in 25; and in 19, being in command there, he entirely subdued them, after having in the same year pacified the Gauls, and constructed four great roads and the ' aqueduct at Nimes. Agrippa was praetor in 41, consul (with Octavianus) in 37, 28, and 27, ffidile in 33, and tribune from 18 till his death. During his sedileship he made great public improvements at his own expense, constructing and restoring aqueducts, erecting splendid buildings, &c. ; and in his third consulship he built the Pantheon. In 16, after a journey to Jerusalem on the invitation of Herod the Great, he founded Berytus (Bey- rout). He died suddenly on his return from a successful mission to tranquillize Pannonia. Agrippa was married first to Pomponia, daugh- ter of T. Pomponius Atticus; afterward (about 28) to Marcella, niece of Augustus; and in 21 to Julia, Augustus's daughter, Marcella having been divorced at the emperor's desire. His sons Cains and Luoius by Julia were adopted by Augustus, but they both died young. His posthumous son Agrippa was also adopted by Augustus, but was afterward banished for life to the island of Planasia on account of his savage disposition, and on the accession of Ti- berius, A. D. 14, was put to death. AGRIPPA VON M I 1 1 Mllini. Heinrirh Corne- lius, a German philosopher, born at Cologne, Sept. 14, 1486, died at Grenoble, Feb. 18, 1535. He was a linguist, statesman, soldier, physician, theologian, and chemist. Having engaged in some peasant insurrections in the south of France, he retreated to Paris, where he held public discourses, and the reputation he thus acquired gained him a professorship of theology at D61e. Accused of heresy, or more probably magic, he fled to England in 1510, whence, how- ever, he returned to Cologne, and afterward | became secretary of the emperor Maximilian. He fought in a campaign against the Venetians, and was knighted on the field. Tired of this employment, he applied himself to the study of physic, lectured publicly at Pavia, held an office in Metz, and then returned to Germany. At the invitation of Henry VIII. and Francis I., he visited both England and France. He was an ardent student of alchemy and the occult sciences, in reference to which he insisted that the writings of adepts were not to be read for a literal, but for a mystical meaning. His work De Incertitudine et Vanitate Scientiarum (Paris, 1531) is a satire on the state of knowl- edge at the period in which he lived. AGRIPP1NA. I. Youngest daughter of Agrippa and Julia, and wife of Germanicus, born before 12 B. C., died A. D. 33. She was a woman of great ability, beauty, and virtue. She accom- panied Germanicus in his campaigns, and once, in his absence, took the command and saved the army by preventing the breaking down of a bridge over the Rhine in a panic. After the death of Germanicus in Asia she brought home