Coin of Herod Agrippa II.— Obverse: Figure of the "Taber- imculmii," or Umbrella (an Oriental Representation of Pow- er), with the Inscription (in Greek), "Of King Agrippa." AViviw: Three F.ars of Grain bound together (perhaps a Symbol of the Jewish Oblations), with the Date partially obliterated.
3. A son of Felix by Drusilla, who perished in an eruption of Vesuvius (Josephus, Ant. xx, 7, 2).
Agrippa, Marcus Vipsanius, bom at Rome of an obscure family B.C. 63, and educated in com- pany with Octavianus, afterward Augustus, by whom he was appointed to various responsible positions, which he filled with honor (Smith's Diet, of Class. Ant. s. v.). At the close of B.C. 17 he visited Jerusalem,
j at the invitation of Herod the Great, and conferred many privileges upon the Jews of Palestine (Josephus, Ant. xvi, 2) as well as in Ionia (Ant. xii, 3, 2, 1-4) and other provinces (Ant. xvi, G, 4-7). He died,
| B.C. 12, in his 51st year, greatly lamented by his im- perial patron. (Dio Cass. lib. 45-54 ; Liv. Epit. 117-
I 137 ; Appian, Bell. Civ. lib. 5 ; Suet. Octav. ; Trand- sen, Hist. Untersuchung iib. M. Vip. Agrippa, Altona,
j 1836.) See Augustus.
Agrippa, Fonteius, probably the son of a Ro- man of the same name (Tacitus, Ann. ii, 30, 86), was proconsul of Asia Proconsularis in A.D. 67, and was recalled by Vespasian, who placed him over Moesia, A.D. 70 (Tacit. Hist, iii, 46). He was shortly after- ward killed in battle with the Sarmatians (Josephus, War, vii, 4, 3).
Agrippa, Henry Cornelius, was horn at Co- logne Sept. 14th, 1487. He first followed the profes- sion of arms, and served in the armies of Italy seven years with credit. Subsequently he took the degrees of doctor in law and medicine, and in 1509 had tho chair of Professor of Sacred Literature at Dole, in Franche-Comte. After passing over into England on some secret mission, he took up his abode at Cologne, where he delivered some theological lectures called Quodlibe tales. His active mind was early turned to the so-called secret arts, and he belonged to a society for the promotion of them. In 1509-10 he wrote his treatise De Occulta Philosophia, which was kept in MS. until 1531. But now he appears, to have return- ed to his first profession of arms, and served again with the Emperor Maximilian I, until he was called to the Council of Pisa, in 1511, by the cardinal of St. Croix. In 1515 he taught theology at Turin and Pavia, where he explained Mercurius Trismegistus. After his wife's death in 1519 he wandered about for the following twelve years from place to place, and eventually, in 1535, returned to France, where he was imprisoned for having written against Louisa of Savoy, the mother of Francis I. As soon as he was set at libertj' he pro- ceeded to Grenoble, where he died in the same year, 1535. It has been said that he became a Calvinist or Lutheran, but without foundation. Many authors ac- cuse him of dealing in magic ; and Paul Jovius, Del- rio, and others speak harshly of him. He was styled the Trismegistus of his time, because he was learned in theology, medicine, and law.
Agrippa was a man of quick intellect and of varied knowledge : in many respects he was far in advance of his age. His Occulta Philosophia is a system of vis- ionary philosophy, in which magic, the complement of philosophy, as he terms it, and the key of all the se- crets of nature, is represented under the three forms of natural, celestial, and religious or ceremonial, agreeably to the threefold division of the corporeal, celestial, and intellectual worlds. He there enumer- ates, with a superficial show of scientific classification, the hidden powers which the Creator has assigned to the different objects of the creation, through the agency of the Spirit of the World. It was natural that Agrip- pa should become a partisan of Raymond Lull (q. v.), and he accordingly wrote a commentary on his Ars Magna. Nevertheless his caprice sometimes inclined him to opinions directly the reverse ; and in such a
' mood he composed his cynical treatise, as he terms it,
; De Incertitudine et Vanitate Scientiarum, This work, which had great reputation in its day, occasionally
j presents us admirable remarks on the imperfections
1 and defects of scientific pursuits. It contains also se- vere rebukes of the superstitions of Romish worship.
J He insisted on the Bible as the only rule of faith, and taught the necessity of a moral change through the Holy Spirit. Still he remained a Romanist to the end. Agrippa and his follower, John Weir, were of
' service to philosophy by opposing the belief in witch- craft. A full account of Agrippa is given in Meiners' Lives of Eminent Mai, vol. i. His writings are collect-
AGRIPPIAS
115
AHAB
ed in Opera H. C. Agrlppm (Lugd. 1560, 2 vols. 8vo) ; and a translation of the treatise Dc Incertitudine, etc., under the title The Vanity of Arts and Sciences, ap- peared in London (1684, 8vo). See also Morley, Life of C. Agrlppa (Lond. 2 vols. 1856) ; Tennemann, Hist. Phil. §289; Ritter, Geschlchte d. Phil. ix.
Agrippias. See Anthedon.
Agrippinus, a bishop of Carthage in the 3d cen- tury. He maintained, in opposition to Bishop Stephen of Rome, that apostates had to be baptized anew. His adherents were called Agrippinians.