AGMON (link.,7) occurs in Job xii. 2; xli. 20; Isaiah ix. 14; xix. 15 ; lviii. 5 ; in the first of which passages it is translated in our authorized version by hook; in the second by caldron; in the two next by rush; and in the last by bulrush. As no plant is known under this name in the Hebrew or cognate languages, its nature has been sought for by tracing the word to its root, and by judging of its nature from the context. Thus agom is said to mean a lake or pool of water, also a reed ; and in Arabic 6.1 pronounced ijam, is trans lated reed-bed, cane-bed. Agora is also considered to be derived from the same root as NW goma, the papyrus. Some have even concluded that both names indicate the same thing, and have translated them by juncus, or rush.
Celsius is of opinion that in all the above passages agmon should be translated by arundo or reed. Dr. Harris (art. ` Reed') has suggested that in Job xli. 2, instead of ' Canst thou put an hook into his nose,' we should read Canst thou tie up his mouth with a rush rope,' as had previously been suggested by others (Celsius, Hiero-flot. vol. i. 467); and that in ver. 20 we should read `out of his nostrils goeth smoke, and the rushes are kindled before it,' instead of `as out of a seething pot or caldron,' as in the authorized version.
Lobo, in his Voyage d'Abyssinie, speaking of the Red Sea, says, 'Nous ne l'avons pas jamais vue rouge, que dans les lieux oh it y a beaucoup de Gouemon.' y a beaucoup de cette herbe dans la Mer rouge.' What this herb is does not elsewhere appear. Forskal applies the name of ghobeibe to a species of arundo, which he considered closely allied to A. phragmites, the plant which Celsius conceived to be the agmon of Scripture. M. BovC, in his Voyage Bola:lir/me en Egypte, observed, especially on the borders of the Nile, quantities of Saccharunz ergyptiacum and of Arundo awyptiaca, which is, perhaps, only a variety of A. donax, the cultivated Spanish or Cyprus reed, or, as it is usually called in the south of Europe, Canna and Cana. In the neighbourhood of Cairo he found Poa cynosuroides (the koosha, or cuss, or sacred grass of the Hindoos), which, he says, serves aux habitans pour faire des cordes, chauffer leurs fours, et cuire des briques et poteries. Le Saccharum cylindricum est employe aux memes usages.' The Egyptian species of arundo is pro bably the A. isiaca of Delile, which is closely allied to A. phragmites, and its uses may be supposed to be very similar to those of the latter. This species is often raised to the rank of a genus under the name of phragmites, so named from being em ployed for making partitions, etc. It is about six feet high, with annual stems, and is abundant anout the banks of pools and rivers, and in marshes. The panicle of flowers is very large, much sub divided, a little drooping and waving in the wind.
The plant is used for thatching, making screens, garden fences, etc. ; when split it is made into string, mats, and matches. It is the gemeine rohr of the Germans, and the Canna or Cana palustre of the Italians and Spaniards.
Any of the species of reed here enumerated will suit the different passages in which the word agmon occurs; but several species of saccharum, growing to a great size in moist situations, and reed-like in appearance, will also fulfil all the conditions re quired, as affording shelter for the behemoth of hippopotamus, being convertible into ropes, form. ing a contrast with their hollow stems to the solidity and strength of the branches of trees, and when dry easily set on fire : and when in flower their light and feathery inflorescence may be bent down by the slightest wind that blows. —J. F. R.
AGONY ('Aywi!a), a word generally denoting contest, and especially the contests by wrestling, etc. in the public games; whence it is applied metaphorically to a severe struggle or conflict with pain and suffering. Agony is the actual struggle with present evil, and is thus distinguished from anguish, which arises from the reflection on evil that is past. In the New Testament the word is only used by Luke (xxii. 44), and is employed by him with terrible significance to describe the fearful struggle which our Lord sustained in the garden of Gethsemane. [ JESUS CHRIST.] AGORA (' 11.-yopc't), a word of frequent occurrence in the New Testament : it denotes generally any place of public resort in towns and cities where the people came together ; and hence more specially it signifies, I. A public place, a broad street, etc., as in Matt. xi. 16 ; xx. 3 ; xxiii. 7 ; Mark vi. 56 ; xii. 33 ; Luke vii. 32 ; xi. 43 ; xx. 46. 2. A forum or market-place, where goods were exposed for sale, assemblies or public trials held (Acts xvi. 19 ; xvii. 17), and where the idle were accustomed to lounge (Matt. xx. 3 ; Acts xvii. 5). In Mark vii. 4, it is doubtful whether ci-yopa denotes the market itself, or is put for that which is brought from the market ; but the known customs of the Jews suggest a preference of the former signification. [Kiihnol, Paulus, and some others, take our Lord as saying that the Jews eat not anything brought from the market unless they first wash it. But this is to construe fiarrio-covrat in a way which is hardly allowable ; and, besides, such an act would afford no evidence of rigid scrupulosity on the part of the Jews such as our Lord wishes to adduce. What he means to say is, that coming from the market-place, where they had to mingle with and be touched by common men, they hastened to purify themselves by the bath before they satisfied even the cravings of hunger.]