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

82 AGRIPPINUS.
course. At last, her death was resolved upon
by Nero, who wished to repudiate Octavia and
marry Poppaea, but whose plan was thwarted
by his mother. Thus petty feminine intrigues
became the cause of Agrippina's ruin. Nero
invited her under the pretext of a reconciliation
to visit him at Baiae, on the coast of Campania.
She went thither by sea. In their conversation
hypocrisy was displayed on both sides. She
left Baiae by the same way; but the vessel was
so contrived, that it was to break to pieces
when out at sea. It only partly broke, and Agrippina saved herself by swimming to the shore;
her attendant Acerronia was killed. Agrippina
fled to her villa near the Lucrine lake, and informed her son of her happy escape. Now, Nero
charged Burrus to murder his mother; but Burrus
declining it, Anicetus, the commander of the fleet,
who had invented the stratagem of the ship, was
compelled by Nero and Burrus to undertake the
task. Anicetus went to her villa with a chosen
band, and his men surprised her in her bedroom.
"Ventrem feri" she cried out, after she was but
slightly wounded, and immediately afterwards expired under the blows of a centurion. (A. D. 60.)
(Tac. Ann. xiv. 8.) It was told, that Nero went
to the villa, and that he admired the beauty of the
dead body of his mother: this was believed by
some, doubted by others. (xiv. 9.) Agrippina left
commentaries concerning her history and that of
her family, which Tacitus consulted, according to
his own statement. (lb. iv. 54; comp. Plin. Hist.
Nat. vii. 6. s. 8, Elenchus, vii. &c.)
There are several medals of Agrippina, which
are distinguishable from those of her mother by
the title of Augusta, which those of her mother
never have. On some of her medals she is represented with her husband Claudius, in others with
her son Nero. The former is the case in the one
annexed. The words on each side are respectively,
AGRIPPINAE AVGVSTAE, and TI CLAVD. CAESAR.
AVG. GERM. P.M. TRIB. POT. P.P.
(Tac. Ann. lib.xii. xiii. xiv.; Dion Cass. lib. lix.lxi.; Sueton. Claud. 43, 44, Nero, 5, 6.) [W.P.]
AGRIPPI'NUS, Bishop of Carthage, of
venerable memory, but known for being the first
to maintain the necessity of re-baptizing all
heretics. (Vincent. Lirinens. Commonit. i. 9.) St.
Cyprian regarded this opinion as the correction of
an error (S. Augustin. De Baptismo, ii. 7, vol. ix.
p. 102, ed. Bened.), and St. Augustine seems to
imply he defended his error in writing. (Epist. 93,
c. 10.) He held the Council of 70 Bishops at
Carthage about A. D. 200 (Vulg. A. D. 215, Mans.
A. D. 217) on the subject of Baptism. Though he
erred in a matter yet undefined by the Church, St.
Augustine notices that neither he nor St. Cyprian
thought of separating from the Church. (De
Baptismo, iii. 2, p. 109.) [A. J. C.]
AGRIPPI'NUS, PACO'NIUS, whose father
was put to death by Tiberius on a charge of treason. (Suet. Tib. 61.) Agrippinus was accused at

AGRON.
the same time as Thrasea, A. D. 67, and was banished from Italy. (Tac. Ann. xvi. 28, 29, 33.)
He was a Stoic philosopher, and is spoken of with
praise by Epictetus (ap. Stob. Serm. 7), and Arrian.
(i. 1.)
A'GRIUS (CAyptos), a son of Porthaon and.
Euryte, and brother of Oeneus, king of Calydon in
Aetolia, Alcathous, Melas, Leucopeus, and Sterope.
He was father of six sons, of whom Thersites was
one. These sons of Agrius deprived Oeneus of
his kingdom, and gave it to their father; but all of
them, with the exception of Thersites, were slain
by Diomedes, the grandson of Oeneus. (Apollod.
i. 7. ~ 10, 8. ~ 5, &c.) Apollodorus places these
events before the expedition of the Greeks against
Troy, while Hyginus (Fab, 175, comp. 242 and
Antonin. Lib. 37) states, that Diomedes, when he
heard, after the fall of Troy, of the misfortune of
his grandfather Oeneus, hastened back and expelled
Agrius, who then put an end to his own life; according to others, Agrius and his sons were slain
by Diomedes. (Comp. Paus. ii. 25. ~ 2; Ov. Heroid. ix. 153.)
There are some other mythical personages of the
name of Agrius, concerning whom nothing of interest is known. (Hesiod. Theog. 1013, &c.; Apollod.
i. 6. ~2, ii.. ~ 4.) [L. S.]
AGROE'CIUS or AGROE'TIUS, a Roman
grammarian, the author of an extant work " De
Orthographia et Differentia Sermonis," intended as
a supplement to a work on the same subject, by
Flavius Caper, and dedicated to a bishop, Eucherius. He is supposed to have lived in the middle
of the 5th century of our era. His work is printed
in Putschius' " Grammaticae Latinae Auctores
Antiqui," pp. 2266-2275. [C. P. M.]
AGROETAS ('Aypoiras), a Greek historian,
who wrote a work on Scythia (isuSvOucc), from the
thirteenth book of which the scholiast on Apollonius (ii. 1248) quotes, and one on Libya (Atevic),
the fourth book of which is quoted by the same
scholiast. (iv. 1396.) He is also mentioned by
Stephanus Byz. (s. v. "AureA7os.). [C. P. M.]
AGRON (Aypwv). 1. The son of Ninus, the
first of the Lydian dynasty of the Heracleidae.
The tradition was, that this dynasty supplanted a
native race of kings, having been originally entrusted with the government as deputies. The
names Ninus and Belus in their genealogy render
it probable that they were either Assyrian governors, or princes of Assyrian origin, and that their
accession marks the period of an Assyrian conquest. (Herod. i. 7.)
2. The son of Pleuratus, a king of Illyria. In
the strength of his land and naval forces he surpassed all the preceding kings of that country.
When the Aetolians attempted to compel the Medionians to join their confederacy, Agron undertook to protect them, having been induced to do
so by a large bribe which he received from Demetrius, the father of Philip. He accordingly sent tc
their assistance a force of 5000 Illyrians, whc
gained a decisive victory over the Aetolians.
Agron, overjoyed at the news of this success, gave
himself up to feasting, and, in consequence of his excess, contracted a pleurisy, of which he died. (B.c
231.) He was succeeded in the government b3
his wife Teuta. Just after his death, an embassl
arrived from the Romans, who had sent to mediate
in behalf of the inhabitants of the island of Issa.
who had revolted from Agron and placed themu