a district of Christianland and a diocese of Norway. It consists of three juridical places; namely, Acher, West Barum, and Ager.

AGESILAUS, king of the Lacedemonians, the son of Archidamus, was raised to the throne notwithstanding the superior claim of Leotychides. As soon as he came to the throne, he advised the Lacedemonians to be beforehand with the king of Persia, who was making great preparations for war, and to attack him in his own dominions. He was himself chosen for this expedition; and gained so many advantages over the enemy, that if the league which the Athenians and the Thebans formed against the Lacedemonians had not obliged him to return home, he would have carried his victorious arms into the very heart of the Persian empire. He gave up, however, all these triumphs readily, to come to the succour of his country, which he happily relieved by his victory over the allies in Boeotia. He obtained another near Corinth; but to his great mortification, the Thebans afterward gained several over the Lacedemonians. These misfortunes at first raised somewhat of a clamour against him. He had been sick during the first advantages which the enemy gained; but as soon as he was able to act in person, by his valour and prudence he prevented the Thebans from reaping the advantages of their victories; insomuch that it was generally believed, had he been in health at the beginning, the Lacedemonians would have sustained no losses, and that all would have been lost had it not been for his affluence. It cannot be denied but he loved war more than the interest of his country required; for if he could have lived in peace, he had saved the Lacedemonians several losses, and they would not have been engaged in many enterprizes which in the end contributed much to weaken their power. He died in the third year of the 104th Olympiad, being the 84th year of his age, and 41st year of his reign. Agesilaus would never suffer any picture or sculpture to be made of him, and prohibited it also by his will: this he supposed to have done from a consciousness of his own deformity; for he was of a short stature, and lame of one foot, so that strangers used to despise him at the first sight. His fame went before him into Egypt, and there they had formed the highest idea of Agesilaus; when he landed in that country, the people ran in crowds to see him; but great was their surprize when they saw an ill-dressed, slovenly, mean-looking little fellow lying upon the grass; they could not forbear laughing, and applied to him the fable of the mountain in labour. He was, however, the first to jest upon his own person; and such was the gaiety of his temper, and the strength with which he bore the roughest exercises, that these qualities made amends for his corporal defects. He was extremely remarkable for plainness and frugality in his dress and way of living. "This (says Cornelius Nepos) is especially to be admired in Agesilaus: when very great presents were sent him by kings, governors, and states, he never brought any of them to his own house; he changed nothing of the diet, nothing of the apparel of the Lacedemonians. He was contented with the same house in which Eurithenes, the founder of his family, had lived: and whoever entered there, could see no sign of debauchery, none of luxury; but, on the contrary, many of moderation and abstinence: for it was furnished in such a manner, that it differed in nothing from that of any poor or private person." Upon his arrival into Egypt, all kind of provisions were sent to him; but he chose only the most common, leaving the perfumes, the confections, and all that was esteemed most delicious, to his servants. Agesilaus was extremely fond of his children, and would often amuse himself by joining joining in their diversions: one day when he was surprized riding upon a stick with them, he said to the person who had seen him in this posture, "Forbear talking of it till you are a father."

AGESIPOLIS I. king of Lacedemon, succeeded his father Pausanias, colleague of Agesilaus II. He ravaged the country of Mantinea, subdued that city, and pillaged Olynthia. He died about 380 years before Jesus Christ, and was embalmed in honey, according to the custom of the Lacedemonians. He died without issue, and was succeeded by Cleombrotus his brother, the father of Agesipolis II. who was more remarkable for his aphorisms than his actions.