Dictionary of Greek and Roman antiquities. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

AGER, AGER. 29
&ysXa'rot), to accompany them to the chase, and tortes): Ager Divisus et Assignatus; Ager mensura
to punish them when disobedient. He was ac- comprehensus; Ager Arcifinius. He defines the
countable, however, to the state, which supported Arcifinius, as above stated. The Ager mensura
the agela at the public expense. All the members comprehensus appears to signify a tract, of which
of an tgela were obliged to marry at the same the limits were defined by measurement, which
time. When they ceased to belong to an agela, was given in the mass to some community (C2ejuts
they partook of the public meals for men (a'apeza) mnodus universus civitati est assignatus), of which
[SYssITIA]. These institutions were afterwards he mentions two examples.
preserved in only a few states of Crete, such for Ager Divisus et Assignatus was public land
instance as Lyctus. (Ephorus, ap. Strab. x. p. 480, that was assigned or granted to private persons.
&c.; Heracl. Pont. c. 3.; Hick, Creta, iii. p. 100, The verb divido, or some forn of it, is used by Livy
&c.; Miiller, Dor. iv. 5. ~ 3; Hermann, Grieclh. (iv. 51, v. 30) to express the distribution of the
Staatsalterthiibnze, ~ 22; Wachsmuth, Hellen. land. The word assiano indicates the fixing of
Altertleumzskunde, vol. i. p. 362, 2d ed.; Krause, Die the signa or boundaries. Ager Quaestorius wwas
Gynzsnastik z. Agonistik d. ilellenen, p. 690, &c.) public land, which was sold by the quaestors (pp.
At Sparta the youths left their parents' houses at 2, 14, ed. Goes.), in square patches, each side of
seven years of age and entered the /oiat. which was the length of ten linear actus: the square
AGE'MA (&y?7ua from dayw), the name of a consequently contained 100 quadrati actus or fifty
chosen body of troops in the Macedonian army, jugera.
consisting of horse-soldiers and foot-soldiers, but Ager Limitatus was public land marked out by
usually of the former. It seems to have varied in limites for the purpose of assignment to coloni or
number; sometimes it consisted of 150 men, at others. The limites were drawn with reference
other times of 300, and in later times it contained to the heavens (p. 150, ed. Goes.); and this mode
as many as 1000 or 2000 men. (Diod. xix. 27, of dividing the land was founded on the old Etrnscan
28: Liv. xxxvii. 40.; xliii. 51. 58; Curt. iv. 13; doctrine, for the Etruscans divided the earth into
Polyb. v. 25, 65, xxxi. 8; Hesych. and Suid. s. v.; parts, following the course of the sun by drawing,Eustath. ad Od. i. p. 16l99, 62.) a line from east to west, and another from south to
AGER is the general term for a district or tract north. This was the foundation of the limites of a
of country, which has some definite limits, and be- templum, a term which means the celestial vault,
longs to some political society. Ager Romanus is and also so much of the earth's surface as the augur
the old territory of the Romans. Agri, in the could comprehend in his view. This was the
plural, often means lands in the country as opposed to foundation of the Roman Limitatio of land. A
town: "est in agris,"means "he is in the country:" line (limes) was drawn through a given point from
"' mittere in agros," a phrase that occurs in speak- east to west, which was called the Decumanus,
ing of the agrarian laws, means to assign portions of originally Duocirnanus * (according to Hyginus), be~
the Ager Publicus to individuals. (Liv. vi. 17, cause it divides the earth into two parts: another
x. 21.) line was drawnfrom southto north, which was called
Terra is an indefinite term: it is a whole coun- Cardo, " a mundi cardine." The length of these
try without reference to political limits, as Terra two chief limites would be determined by the limits
Italia. of the land which was to be divided. The points
Ager Publicus was the property of the Roman from which the two chief limites were drawn varied
state, part of the Publicuim. Ager Privatus was according to circumstances. Those which were pathe property of individuals. Some remarks on the rallel to the Decumanus were Prorsi, direct; those
general division of land into Publicus and Privatus, which were parallel to the Cardo were Transversi,
and on the nature of land that was Sacer and Reli- transverse. The limes was therefore a term applied
giosus, are contained in the article on the Agrarian to a boundary belonging to a tract of land, and the
Laws. Ager Occupatorius is land occupied by a centuriae included in it, and is different from finis,
victorious people when the conquered people had which is the limit of any particular property. The
been driven out (Rei Ag4rariec Auctores, p. 45, Decumani, Cardines, and other limites of a district
ed. Goes.): the possessiones [AGRAaRIAE LEGEs] form an unchangeable kind of network in the midst
-were included in the Ager Occulpatorius. Such of the changeable properties which have their several
land as was restored to those who had lost it by fines (Rudorff). The distance at which the limites
conquest, was called RPedditus. The Ager Occu- were to be drawn, would depend on the magnitude
patoriuswas also calledAgerArcifinius orArcifinalis, of the squares or centuriae, as they were called, into
so denominated " ab arcendis hostibus " (p. 38. ed. which it was proposed to divide the tract. The
Goes.). But the terms Ager Arcifinius and Occu- whole tract might not be square: sometimes the
patorius do not appear to be exactly equivalent, Decumani Limites would be only half as long as the
though some of the writers on the Res Agraria Cardines (p. 154. ed. Goes.). Every sixth limes,
make them so. Ager Arcifinius appears to express reckoning from the Decumanus <and including it,
the whole of a territory, which had only some was wider than the intermediate limites, and these
natural or arbitrary boundary, and was not defined wider limites served as roads, but they were not
by measurement (qui nullcs mensura continetur; included under the term of Viae Publicae, though a
Frontinus.) Such were the scattered portions of limes and a via publica might sometimes coincide.
the Roman Ager Publicus. The Ager Occupatorius (Hyginus. ed. Goes. p. 163.) The narrower limites
might signify so much of the public land included were called Lineprii in the provinces, but in Italy
in the Arcifinius as was held by possessors (occupatus), or, as Niebuhr explains it, the term Occu- - Duocimanus, according to IHyginus, was
patorius was confined to the public land, strictly so changed into Decimamus; " Decumanus," says
called, and designated the tenure under which it Niebuhr, "6 probably from making the figure of a.Was held. cross, which resembles the numeral X, like decusFrontinus divides lands into three heads (quali- satus." Neither explanation is satisfactory.