agger, ĕris, m. [ad-gero].
I Things brought to a place in order to form an elevation above a surface or plain , as rubbish , stone , earth , sand , brushwood , materials for a rampart , etc. (in the histt., esp. Caes., freq.; sometimes in the poets): ab opere revocandi milites, qui paulo longius aggeris petendi causā processerant, Caes. B. G. 2, 20: aggere paludem explere, id. ib. 7, 58; cf. id. ib. 7, 86: longius erat agger petendus, id. B. C. 1, 42; 2, 15 al.: superjecto aggere terreno, Suet. Calig. 19; cf. id. ib. 37: implere cavernas aggere, Curt. 8, 10, 27: fossas aggere complent, Verg. A. 9, 567: avis e medio aggere exit, from the midst of the pile of wood, Ov. M. 12, 524.— But far oftener,
II Esp.
A The pile formed by masses of rubbish , stone , earth , brushwood , etc., collected together; acc. to its destination, a dam , dike , mole , pier; a hillock , mound , wall , bulwark , rampart , etc.; esp. freq. in the histt. of artificial elevations for military purposes: tertium militare sepimentum est fossa et terreus agger, a clay or mud wall , Varr. R. R. 1, 14, 2: aggeribus niveis ( with snow-drifts ) informis Terra, Verg. G. 3, 354: atque ipsis proelia miscent Aggeribus murorum, pleon. for muris, id. A. 10, 24; cf. id. ib. 10, 144: ut cocto tolleret aggere opus, of the walls of Babylon, Prop. 4, 10, 22.— A dike of earth for the protection of a harbor (Ital. molo), Vitr. 5, 12, 122; Ov. M. 14, 445; 15, 690.— A causeway through a swamp: aggeres umido paludum et fallacibus campis imponere, Tac. A. 1, 61.— A heap or pile of arms: agger armorum, Tac. H. 2, 70.—Poet., for mountains : aggeres Alpini, Verg. A. 6, 830; so, Thessalici aggeres, i. e. Pelion , Ossa , Olympus , Sen. Herc. Oet. 168.— A funeral pile of wood, Ov. M. 9, 234, and Sen. Herc. Fur. 1216.— A heap of ashes: ab alto aggere, Luc. 5, 524 Weber.— A high wave of the sea: ab alto Aggere dejecit pelagi, Luc. 5, 674: consurgit ingens pontus in vastum aggerem, Sen. Hippol. 1015 (cf.: mons aquae, Verg. A. 1, 105).—
B In milit. lang.
1 A mound erected before the walls of a besieged city , for the purpose of sustaining the battering engines , and which was gradually advanced to the town; cf. Smith's Dict. Antiq., and Herz. ad Caes. B. G. 2, 12: aggere, vineis, turribus oppidum oppugnare, Cic. Fam. 15, 4; id. Att. 5, 20: esset agger oppugnandae Italiae Graecia, id. Phil. 10, 9: celeriter vineis ad oppidum actis, aggere jacto turribusque constitutis, etc., Caes. B. G. 2, 12: jacere, to throw up , Sall. J. 37, 4; so Vulg. Isa. 29, 3: aggerem exstruere, Caes. B. G. 2, 30: instruere, id. ib. 8, 41: promovere ad urbem, to bring near to the city , Liv. 5, 7.— Hence, poet.: stellatis axibus agger Erigitur, geminasque aequantis moenia turres Accipit, a mound is built provided with wheels (for moving it forwards), Luc. 3, 455; imitated by Sil. 13, 109.—Since such aggeres consisted principally of wood, they could be easily set on fire, Caes. B. C. 2, 14: horae momento simul aggerem ac vineas incendium hausit, Liv. 5, 7.—Trop.: Graecia esset vel receptaculum pulso Antonio, vel agger oppugnandae Italiae, rampart , mound , Cic. Phil. 10, 4: Agger Tarquini, the mound raised by Tarquinius Superbus for the defence of the eastern part of the city of Rome , in the neighborhood of the present Porta S. Lorenzo , Plin. 3, 5, 9, § 67; cf. id. 36, 15, 24, 104, n. 2, * Hor. S. 1, 8, 15; Juv. 5, 153; so id. 8, 43; Quint. 12, 10, 74.— Suet. uses agger for the Tarpeian rock : quoad praecipitaretur ex aggere, Calig. 27.—
2 The mound raised for the protection of a camp before the trench (fossa), and from earth dug from it , which was secured by a stockade (vallum), consisting of sharpened stakes (valli); cf. Hab. Syn. 68, and Smith's Dict. Antiq.: in litore sedes, Castrorum in morem pinnis atque aggere cingit, Verg. A. 7, 159; Plin. 15, 14, 14, § 47.—
3 The tribunal , in a camp , formed of turf , from which the general addressed his soldiers : stetit aggere saltus Cespitis, intrepidus vultum meruitque timeri, Luc. 5, 317: vix eā turre senex, cum ductor ab aggere coepit, Stat. Th. 7, 374; cf. Tac. A. 1, 18 Lips.—
4 A military or public road , commonly graded by embankments of earth (in the class. per. only in Verg. and Tac., and always in connection with viae, agger alone belonging only to later Lat.): viae deprensus in aggere serpens, Verg. A. 5, 273: Aurelius agger, i. e. via Aurelia, Rutil. Itiner. 39: aggerem viae tres praetoriae cohortes obtinuere, Tac. H. 2, 24 and 42; 3, 21 and 23.