Agio

[It.] ( Com. ) A term used sometimes to expre the variations from fixed pars or rates of exchange, but more generally to indicate by percentages the difference in the valuation of moneys. The Ital. word agio is explained to mean "an exchange of money for some consideration." Thus, if a coin is reduced in weight, and the real value is not equal to the nominal value, the difference is the agio. -As the current coins of every country have a kind of medium value at which they are generally taken, the term agio is also applied to expre what must be paid over and above this medium value. The kinds of money on which, in the case of exchange, an agio is paid, are not always the more valuable intrinsically, but those which are most in request. - The terın agio is also used to signify the rate of premium which is given, when a person having a claim which he can legally demand in only one kind of metal, chooses to be paid in another. giotage, n . [Fr. from It. agio .] A speculation on the rise and fall of the public debt of states, or the public funds; stock-jobbing. The speculator is called agioteur in France. A'gis. Four kings of Sparta have borne this name. I. Son of Eurysthenes, and grandson of Aristo dem us, of the race of the Proclidæ. No certain dates can be a igned to these early times. - II. Son of Arch i dam us, reigned from в. с. 427 to 397, and was actively engaged in the Peloponnesian war.-III. Son of another Arch i dam us, reigned from B. c. 338 to 331 or 330. He fell in a battle won against the Lacedæmonians by Anti pater, whom Alexander had left governor of Macedonia. - IV. Son of Eudamidas II., and a lineal descendant of Agesilaus. For endeavoring to reform the constitution of his country, and improve the manners of his people, they rose against him and put him to death, в. с. 241. Agist', v . a . [Lat. agist are .] (Law.) To take in and feed strangers' cattle, and to collect the money due for it. Agist'er, AGISTA'TOR, n. Officer appointed in England to look after cattle in the forests. Also called Gist taker .