Fort, a small fortress seated on a plain at the head of Loch Ness, in Scotland, between the rivers Tarf and Oich.

appellation conferred upon Caesar Octavianus, the first Roman emperor. Its etymology is not quite certain, but the Greeks always translate it by Ἐγείροντος, "the Venerable." He was the son of C. Octavius by Atia, a daughter of Julius, the sister of C. Julius Caesar. An account of his life is given under the article Roman History. The obscure name Octavius, as Gibbon observes, he derived from a mean family in the little town of Aricia. It was stained with the blood of the proscription; and he was desirous, had it been possible, to erase all memory of his former life. The illustrious surname of Caesar he assumed as the adopted son of the dictator, for which reason his name Octavius also was changed into Octavianus; but he had too much good sense either to hope to be confounded, or to wish to be compared, with that extraordinary man. It was proposed in the senate to dignify their minister with a new appellation; and, after a very serious discussion, that of Augustus was chosen from among several others, as being the most expressive of the character of peace and sanctity which he uniformly affected. Augustus was therefore a personal, Caesar a family distinction. The title of Augustus, which should naturally have expired with the prince on whom it was bestowed, continued to be reserved for the monarch; while the name of Caesar was more freely conferred on his relations, and, from the reign of Hadrian at least, became appropriated to the second person in the state, who was considered the presumptive heir of the empire. Nero was the last prince who could allege any hereditary claim to the honours of the Julian line. But at his death the practice of a century had inseparably connected the appellation with the imperial dignity, and it has been preserved by a long succession of emperors, Romans, Greeks, Franks, and Germans, to the present time.

AULA is used by Spelman for a court-baron, as by Tacitus and Suetonius for courtiers generally. In some old ecclesiastical writers it signifies the nave of a church, and sometimes a courtyard.

ACLA Regia, or Regia, a court established by William the Conqueror in his own hall, composed of the king's great officers of state, who resided in his palace, and were usually attendant on his person. This court was regulated by the article which forms the eleventh chapter of Magna Charta, and was established in Westminster Hall, where it has ever since continued.