[A`gis], the name of several Spartan kings, of whom the most famous were Agis III. and IV., the former famous for his resistance to the Macedonian domination, d. 330 B.C.; and the latter for his attempts to carry a law for the equal division of land, d. 240 B.C.
[Ag`nadel], a Lombard village, near which Louis XII. defeated the Venetians in 1509, and Vendôme, Prince Eugène in 1705.
[Agna`no, Lake of], a lake near Naples, now drained; occupied the crater of an extinct volcano, its waters in a state of constant ebullition.
[Agnello, Col d'], passage by the S. of Monte Viso between France and Italy.
[Agnes], an unsophisticated maiden in Molière's L'École des Femmes, so unsophisticated that she does not know what love means.
[Agnes, St.], a virgin who suffered martyrdom, was beheaded because the flames would not touch her body, under Diocletian in 303; represented in art as holding a palm-branch in her hand and a lamb at her feet or in her arms. Festival, Jan. 21.
[Agnes de Méranie], the second wife of Philip Augustus by a marriage in 1193, declared null by the Church, who, being dismissed in consequence, died broken-hearted in 1201.
[Agnes Sorel], surnamed Dame de beauté, mistress of Charles VII. of France (1409-1450).
[Agne`si, Maria Gætana], a native of Milan, a woman of extraordinary ability and attainments, prelected for her father in mathematics in the University of Bologna under sanction of the Pope; died a nun at her birthplace (1718-1799).