A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

66 AGATHON.
he was a little above thirty years of age: in honour
of which Plato represents the Symposium, or banquet, to have been given, which he has made the
occasion of his dialogue so called. The scene is
laid at Agathon's house, and amongst the interlocutors are, Apollodorus, Socrates, Aristophanes,
Diotima, and Alcibiades. Plato was then fourteen
years of age, and a spectator at the tragic contest,
in which Agathon was victorious. (Athen. v. p.
217, a.) When Agathon was about forty years of
age (a. c. 407), he visited the court of Archelaus,
the king of Macedonia (Aelian, V. H. xiii. 4),
where his old friend Euripides was also a guest at
the same time. From the expression in the Ranae
(83), that he was gone is AeaKaopwv evwxiav, nothing
certain can be determined as to the time of his
death. The phrase admits of two meanings, either
that he was then residing at the court of Archelaus,
or that he was dead. The former, however, is the
more probable interpretation. (Clinton, Fast. Hell.
vol. ii. p. xxxii.) He is generally supposed to
have died about B. c. 400, at the age of fortyseven. (Bode, Geschichte der dram. Dichtkunst, i.
p. 553.) The poetic merits of Agathon were considerable, but his compositions were more remarkable for elegance and flowery ornaments than force,
vigour, or sublimity. They abounded in antithesis and metaphor, " with cheerful thoughts and
kindly images," (Aelian, V. H. xiv. 13,) and he
is said to have imitated in verse the prose of Gorgias the philosopher. The language which Plato
puts into his mouth in the Symposium, is of the
same character, full of harmonious words and softly
flowing periods: an ihalov u'iOga 4'oqnri l'Eovros.
The style of his verses, and especially of his lyrical
compositions, is represented by Aristophanes in his
Thesmophoriazusae (191) as affected and effeminate, corresponding with his personal appearance
and manner. In that play (acted B. c. 409), where
he appears as the friend of Euripides, he is ridiculed
for his effeminacy, both in manners and actions,
being brought on the stage in female dress. In
the Ranae, acted five years afterwards, Aristophanes
speaks highly of him as a poet and a man, calling
him an dyaOds aroir 'rs Kcal woOewds vrois ( l(ots.
In the Thesmophoriazusae (29) also, he calls him
'AydOwv 6d K eud0. In some respects, Agathon
was instrumental in causing the decline of tragedy
at Athens. He was the first tragic poet, according
to Aristotle (Poet. 18. ~ 22), who commenced the
practice of inserting choruses between the acts, the
subject-matter of which was unconnected with the
story of the drama, and which were therefore
called ig&o'At a, or intercalary, as being merely
lyrical or musical interludes. The same critic
(Poet. 18. ~ 17) also blames him for selecting too
extensive subjects for his tragedies. Agathon also
wrote pieces, the story and characters of which
were the creations of pure fiction. One of these
was called the " Flower" ("AvOos, Arist. PoEt. 9.
~ 7); its subject-matter was neither mythical nor
historical, and therefore probably "neither seriously
affecting, nor terrible." (Schlegel, Dram. Lit. i.
p. 189.) We cannot but regret the loss of this
work, which must have been amusing and original.
The titles of four only of his tragedies are known
with certainty: they are, the Thyestes, the Telephus, the- Aerope, and the Alcmaeon. A fifth,
which is ascribed to him, is of doubtful authority.
It is probable that Aristophanes has given us
extracts from somne of Agathon's plays in the

AGAVE.
Thesmophoriazusae, v. 100-130. The opiniol that
Agathon also wrote comedies, or that there was a
comic writer of this name, has been refuted by
Bentley, in his Dissertation upon the Epistles of
Euripides, p. 417. (Ritschl, Commentatio de Agatlhonis vita, Arte et Tragoediaruma reliquiis, Halae,
1829, 8vo.) [R. W.]
A'GATHON ('Aya'yOwv), of Samos, who wrote
a work upon Scythia and another upon Rivers.
(Plut. de Fluv. p. 1156, e. 1159, a; Stobaeus,
Serm. tit. 100. 10, ed. Gaisford.)
AG'ATHON ('AydOwv), at first Reader, afterwards Librarian, at Constantinople. In A. D. 680,
during his Readership, he was Notary or Reporter at the 6th General Council, which condemned the Monothelite heresy. He sent copies
of the acts, written by himself, to the five Patriarchates. He wrote, A. D. 712, a short treatise,
still extant in Greek, on the attempts of Philippicus Bardanes (711-713) to revive the Monothelite error, Conciliorum Nova Collectio a Mansi,
vol. xii. p. 189. [A. J. C.]
AGATHO'STHENES ('AyaOoo-atv7s), a Greek
historian or philosopher of uncertain date, who is
referred to by Tzetzes (ad Lycophr. 704, 1021.
Olil. vii. 645) as his authority in matters connected with geography. There is mention of a work
of Agathosthenes called " Asiatica Carmina"
(Germanicus, in 'Arat. Phaen. 24), where Gale
(Votae in Parthen. p. 125, &c.) wished to read
the name Aglaosthenes; for Aglaosthenes or Aglosthenes, who is by some considered to be the same
as Agathosthenes, wrote a work on the history
of Naxos, of which nothing is extant, but which
was much used by ancient writers. (Hygin. Poet.
Astr. ii. 16; Eratosth. Catast. ii. 27; Pollux. ix.
83; Athen. iii. p. 78; Plin. H. N. iv. 22.) [L. S.]
AGATHO'TYCHUS ('AyaeorvXos), an ancient
veterinary surgeon, whose date and history are unknown, but who probably lived in the fourth or
fifth century after Christ. Some fragments of his
writings are to be found in the collection of works
on this subject first published in a Latin translation
by Jo. Ruellius, Veterinariae Medicinae Li6bri duo,
Paris. 1530, fol., and afterwards in Greek by
Grynaeus, Basil. 1537, 4to. [W. A. G.]
AGATHYLLUS ('A-yaOAXos), of Arcadia,
a Greek elegiac poet, who is quoted by Dionysius
in reference to the history of Aeneas and the foundation of Rome. Some of his verses are preserved
by Dionysius. (i. 49, 72.)
AGATHYRNUS ('A'ydOvpvos), a son of
Aeolus, regarded as the founder of Agathyrnum
in Sicily. (Diod. v. 8.) [L. S.]
AGA'VE ('Ayaui'). 1. A daughter of Cadmus,
and wife of the Spartan Echion, by whom she
became the mother of Pentheus, who succeeded his
grandfather Cadmus as king of Thebes. Agave
was the sister of Autonog, Ino, and Semele (Apollod. iii. 4. ~ 2), and when Semele, during her
pregnancy with Dionysus, was destroyed by the
sight of the splendour of Zeus, her sisters spread
the report that she had only endeavoured to conceal her guilt, by pretending that Zeus was the
father of her child, and that her destruction was a
just punishment for her falsehood. This calumny
was afterwards most severely avenged upon Agave.
For, after Dionysus, the son of Semele, had traversed the world, he came to Thebes and compelled
the women to celebrate his Dionysiac festivals on
mount Cithaeron. Penthous wishing to prevent