F

FABRI are workmen who make anything out of hard materials, as fabri tignarii, carpenters, fabri aerarii, smiths, &c. The different trades were divided by Numa into nine collegia, which correspond to our companies or guilds. In the constitution of Servius Tullius, the fabri tignarii and the fabri aerarii or ferrarii were formed into two centuries, which were called the centuriae fabrum (not fabrorum). They did not belong to any of the five classes into which Servius divided the people; but the fabri tign. probably voted with the first class, and the fabri aer. with the second. The fabri in the army were under the command of an officer called praefectus fabrûm.

FĂBŬLA. [[Comoedia].]

FĂLĀRĬCA. [[Hasta].]

FALSUM. The oldest legislative provision at Rome against Falsum was that of the Twelve Tables against false testimony. The next legislation on Falsum, so far as we know, was a Lex Cornelia, passed in the time of the Dictator Sulla against forging, concealing, destroying, or committing any other fraudulent act respecting a will or other instrument. The offence was a Crimen Publicum, and, under the emperors, the punishment was deportatio in insulam for the “honestiores;” and the mines or crucifixion for the “humiliores.”

FALX, dim. FALCŬLA (ἅρπη, δρέπανον, poet. δρεπάνη, dim. δρεπάνιον), a sickle; a scythe; a pruning-knife; a falchion, &c. As Culter denoted a knife with one straight edge, falx signified any similar instrument, the single edge of which was curved. Some of its forms are given in the annexed cut. One represents Perseus with the falchion in his right hand, and the head of Medusa in his left. The two smaller figures are heads of Saturn with the falx in its original form; and the fourth represents the same divinity at full length.

Falx. (From ancient Cameos.)

FĂMĬLĬA. The word familia contains the same element as the word famulus, a slave, and the verb famulari. In its widest sense it signifies the totality of that which belongs to a Roman citizen who is sui juris, and therefore a paterfamilias. Thus, in certain cases of testamentary disposition, the word familia is explained by the equivalent patrimonium; and the person who received the familia from the testator was called familiae emptor. But the word familia is sometimes limited to signify “persons,” that is, all those who are in the power of a paterfamilias, such as his sons (filii-familias), daughters, grandchildren, and slaves. Sometimes familia is used to signify the slaves belonging to a person, or to a body of persons (societas).

FĀNUM. [[Templum].]

FARTOR, a slave who fattened poultry.

FASCES, rods bound in the form of a bundle, and containing an axe (securis) in the middle, the iron of which projected from them. They were usually made of birch, but sometimes also of the twigs of the elm. They are said to have been derived from Vetulonia, a city of Etruria. Twelve were carried before each of the kings by twelve lictors; and on the expulsion of the Tarquins, one of the consuls was preceded by twelve lictors with the fasces and secures, and the other by the same number of lictors with the fasces only, or, according to some accounts, with crowns around them. But P. Valerius Publicola, who gave to the people the right of provocatio, ordained that the secures should be removed from the fasces, and allowed only one of the consuls to be preceded by the lictors while they were at Rome. The other consul was attended only by a single accensus [[Accensus]]. When they were out of Rome, and at the head of the army, each of the consuls retained the axe in the fasces, and was preceded by his own lictors, as before the time of Valerius. The fasces and secures were, however, carried before the dictator even in the city, and he was also preceded by twenty-four lictors, and the magister equitum by six. The praetors were preceded in the city by two lictors with the fasces; but out of Rome and at the head of an army by six, with the fasces and secures. The tribunes of the plebs, the aediles and quaestors, had no lictors in the city, but in the provinces the quaestors were permitted to have the fasces. The lictors carried the fasces on their shoulders; and when an inferior magistrate met one who was higher in rank, the lictors lowered their fasces to him. This was done by Valerius Publicola, when he addressed the people, and hence came the expression submittere fasces in the sense of to yield, to confess one’s self inferior to another. When a general had gained a victory, and had been saluted as Imperator by his soldiers, he usually crowned his fasces with laurel.

Fasces. (From the original in the Capitol at Rome.)

FASCĬA, a band or fillet of cloth, worn, (1) round the head as an ensign of royalty;—(2) by women over the breast;—(3) round the legs and feet, especially by women. When the toga had fallen into disuse, and the shorter pallium was worn in its stead, so that the legs were naked and exposed, fasciae crurales became common even with the male sex.

FASCĬNUM (βασκανία), fascination, enchantment. The belief that some persons had the power of injuring others by their looks, was prevalent among the Greeks and Romans. The evil eye was supposed to injure children particularly, but sometimes cattle also; whence Virgil (Ecl. iii. 103) says,

“Nescio quis teneros oculos mihi fascinat agnum.”

Various amulets were used to avert its influence.

FASTI. Fas signifies divine law: the epithet fastus is properly applied to anything in accordance with divine law; and hence those days upon which legal business might, without impiety (sine piaculo), be transacted before the praetor, were technically denominated fasti dies, i.e. lawful days. The sacred books in which the fasti dies of the year were marked were themselves denominated fasti; the term, however, was employed to denote registers of various descriptions. Of these the two principal are the Fasti Sacri or Fasti Kalendares, and Fasti Annales or Fasti Historici.—I. Fasti Sacri or Kalendares. For nearly four centuries and a half after the foundation of the city a knowledge of the calendar was possessed exclusively by the priests. One of the pontifices regularly proclaimed the appearance of the new moon, and at the same time announced the period which would intervene between the Kalends and the Nones. On the Nones the country people assembled for the purpose of learning from the rex sacrorum the various festivals to be celebrated during the month, and the days on which they would fall. In like manner all who wished to go to law were obliged to inquire of the privileged few on what day they might bring their suit, and received the reply as if from the lips of an astrologer. The whole of this lore, so long a source of power and profit, and therefore jealously enveloped in mystery, was at length made public by a certain Cn. Flavius, scribe to App. Claudius; who, having gained access to the pontifical books, copied out all the requisite information, and exhibited it in the forum for the use of the people at large. From this time forward such tables became common, and were known by the name of Fasti. They usually contained an enumeration of the months and days of the year; the Nones, Ides, Nundinae, Dies Fasti, Nefasti, Comitiales, Atri, &c., together with the different festivals, were marked in their proper places: astronomical observations on the risings and settings of the fixed stars, and the commencement of the seasons were frequently inserted. [[Calendarium]; [Dies].]—II. Fasti Annales or Historici. Chronicles such as the Annales Maximi, containing the names of the chief magistrates for each year, and a short account of the most remarkable events noted down opposite to the days on which they occurred, were, from the resemblance which they bore in arrangement to the sacred calendars, denominated fasti; and hence this word is used, especially by the poets, in the general sense of historical records. In prose writers fasti is commonly employed as the technical term for the registers of consuls, dictators, censors, and other magistrates, which formed part of the public archives. Some most important fasti belonging to this class, executed probably at the beginning of the reign of Tiberius, have been partially preserved, and are deposited in the Capitol in Rome, where they are known by the name of the Fasti Capitolini.

FASTĬGĬUM. An ancient Greek or Roman temple, of rectangular construction, is terminated at its upper extremity by a triangular figure, both in front and rear, which rests upon the cornice of the entablature as a base, and has its sides formed by the cornices which terminate the roof. The whole of this triangle above the trabeation is implied in the term fastigium, called ἀέτωμα by the Greeks, pediment by our architects. The dwelling-houses of the Romans had no gable ends; consequently when the word is applied to them, it is not in its strictly technical sense, but designates the roof simply, and is to be understood of one which rises to an apex, as distinguished from a flat one. The fastigium, properly so called, was appropriated to the temples of the gods; therefore, when the Romans began to bestow divine honours upon Julius Caesar, amongst other privileges which they decreed to him, was the liberty of erecting a fastigium to his house, that is, a portico and pediment towards the street, like that of a temple.

Fastigium. (From a Coin.)

FAX (φανός), a torch. As the principal use of torches was to give light to those who went abroad after sunset, the portion of the Roman day immediately succeeding sun-set was called fax or prima fax. The use of torches after sun-set, and the practice of celebrating marriages at that time, probably led to the consideration of the torch as one of the necessary accompaniments and symbols of marriage. Among the Romans the fax nuptialis having been lighted at the parental hearth, was carried before the bride by a boy whose parents were alive. The torch was also carried at funerals (fax sepulchralis), both because these were often nocturnal ceremonies, and because it was used to set fire to the pile.

FĒCIĀLES. [[Fetiales].]

FĔMĬNĀLĬA, worn in winter by Augustus Caesar, who was very susceptible of cold. It seems probable that they were breeches resembling ours.

FĔNESTRA. [[Domus].]

FĒNUS or FOENUS (τόκος), interest of money.—(1) Greek. At Athens there was no restriction upon the rate of interest. A rate might be expressed or represented in two different ways: (1.) by the number of oboli or drachmae paid by the month for every mina; (2) by the part of the principal (τὸ ἀρχαῖον or κεφάλαιον) paid as interest either annually or for the whole period of the loan. According to the former method, which was generally used when money was lent upon real security (τόκοι ἔγγυοι or ἔγγειοι), different rates were expressed as follows:—10 per cent. by ἐπὶ πέντε ὀβολοῖς, i.e. 5 oboli per month for every mina, or 60 oboli a year = 10 drachmae = 1/10 of a mina. Similarly,

12 per cent.by ἐπὶ δραχμῇper month.
16 per cent. ” ἐπ’ ὀκτὼ ὀβολοῖς”
18 per cent. ” ἐπ’ ἐννέα ὀβολοῖς”
24 per cent. ” ἐπὶ δυσὶ δραχμαῖς”
36 per cent. ” ἐπὶ τρισὶ δρακμαῖς”
5 per cent. ” ἐπὶ τρίτῳ ἡμιοβολίῳ,probably.

Another method was generally adopted in cases of bottomry (τὸ ναυτικόν, τόκοι ναυτικοί, or ἔκδοσις), where money was lent upon the ship’s cargo or freightage (ἐπὶ τῷ ναύλῳ), or the ship itself, for a specified time, commonly that of the voyage. By this method the following rates were thus represented:—10 per cent. by τόκοι ἐπιδέκατοι, i.e. interest at the rate of a tenth; 12½, 16⅔, 20, 33⅓, by τόκοι ἐπόγδοοι, ἔφεκτοι, ἐπίπεμπτοι, and ἐπίτριτοι, respectively. The usual rates of interest at Athens about the time of Demosthenes varied from 12 to 18 per cent.—(2) Roman. Towards the close of the republic, and also under the emperors, 12 per cent. was the legal rate of interest. The interest became due on the first of every month: hence the phrases tristes or celeres calendae and calendarium, the latter meaning a debt-book or book of accounts. The rate of interest was expressed in the time of Cicero, and afterwards, by means of the as and its divisions, according to the following table:—

Asses usurae, or one as per
month for the use of one
hundred		= 12per cent.
Deunces usurae11”
Dextantes” 10”
Dodrantes”9”
Besses”8”
Septunces”7”
Semisses”6”
Quincunces”5”
Trientes”4”
Quadrantes”3”
Sextantes”2”
Unciae”1”

Instead of the phrase asses usurae, a synonyme was used, viz. centesimae usurae, inasmuch as at this rate of interest there was paid in a hundred months a sum equal to the whole principal. Hence binae centesimae = 24 per cent., and quaternae centesimae = 48 per cent. The monthly rate of the centesimae was of foreign origin, and first adopted at Rome in the time of Sulla. The old yearly rate established by the Twelve Tables (B.C. 450) was the unciarium fenus. The uncia was the twelfth part of the as, and since the full (12 oz.) copper coinage was still in use at Rome when the Twelve Tables became law, the phrase unciarium fenus would be a natural expression for interest of one ounce in the pound; i.e. a twelfth part of the sum borrowed, or 8⅓ per cent., not per month, but per year. This rate, if calculated for the old Roman year of ten months, would give 10 per cent. for the civil year of twelve months, which was in common use in the time of the decemvirs. If a debtor could not pay the principal and interest at the end of the year, he used to borrow money from a fresh creditor, to pay off his old debt. This proceeding was very frequent, and called a versura. It amounted to little short of paying compound interest, or an anatocismus anniversarius, another phrase for which was usurae renovatae; e.g. centesimae renovatae is 12 per cent. compound interest, to which Cicero opposes centesimae perpetuo fenore = 12 per cent. simple interest. The following phrases are of common occurrence in connection with borrowing and lending money at interest:—Pecuniam apud aliquem collocare, to lend money at interest; relegere, to call it in again; cavere, to give security for it; opponere or opponere pignori, to give as a pledge or mortgage. The word nomen is also of extensive use in money transactions. Properly it denoted the name of a debtor, registered in a banker’s or any other account-book: hence it came to signify the articles of an account, a debtor, or a debt itself. Thus we have bonum nomen, a good debt; nomina facere, to lend monies, and also to borrow money.

FĒRĀLIA. [[Funus], [p. 191], a.]

FERCŬLUM (from fer-o) is applied to any kind of tray or platform used for carrying anything. Thus it is used to signify the tray or frame on which several dishes were brought in at once at dinner; and hence fercula came to mean the number of courses at dinner, and even the dishes themselves. The ferculum was also used for carrying the images of the gods in the procession of the circus, the ashes of the dead in a funeral, and the spoils in a triumph; in all which cases it appears to have been carried on the shoulders or in the hands of men.

FĔRĔTRUM. [[Funus].]

FĒRĬAE, holidays, were, generally speaking, days or seasons during which free-born Romans suspended their political transactions and their law-suits, and during which slaves enjoyed a cessation from labour. All feriae were thus dies nefasti. The feriae included all days consecrated to any deity; consequently all days on which public festivals were celebrated were feriae or dies feriati. But some of them, such as the feria vindemialis, and the feriae aestivae, seem to have had no direct connection with the worship of the gods. The nundinae, however, during the time of the kings and the early period of the republic, were feriae only for the populus, and days of business for the plebeians, until, by the Hortensian law, they became fasti or days of business for both orders. All feriae publicae, i.e. those which were observed by the whole nation, were divided into feriae stativae, feriae conceptivae, and feriae imperativae. Feriae stativae or statae were those which were held regularly, and on certain days marked in the calendar. To these belonged some of the great festivals, such as the Agonalia, Carmentalia, Lupercalia, &c. Feriae conceptivae or conceptae were held every year, but not on certain or fixed days, the time being every year appointed by the magistrates or priests. Among these we may mention the feriae Latinae, feriae Sementivae, Paganalia, and Compitalia. Feriae imperativae were those which were held on certain emergencies at the command of the consuls, praetors, or of a dictator. The manner in which all public feriae were kept bears great analogy to the observance of our Sunday. The people visited the temples of the gods, and offered up their prayers and sacrifices. The most serious and solemn seem to have been the feriae imperativae, but all the others were generally attended with rejoicings and feasting. All kinds of business, especially law-suits, were suspended during the public feriae, as they were considered to pollute the sacred season. The most important of the holidays designated by the name of feriae, are the Feriae Latinae, or simply Latinae (the original name was Latiar), which were said to have been instituted by the last Tarquin in commemoration of the alliance between the Romans and Latins. This festival, however, was of much higher antiquity; it was a panegyris, or a festival, of the whole Latin nation, celebrated on the Alban mount; and all that the last Tarquin did was to convert the original Latin festival into a Roman one, and to make it the means of hallowing and cementing the alliance between the two nations. Before the union, the chief magistrate of the Latins had presided at the festival; but Tarquin now assumed this distinction, which subsequently, after the destruction of the Latin commonwealth, remained with the chief magistrates of Rome. The object of this panegyris on the Alban mount was the worship of Jupiter Latiaris, and, at least as long as the Latin republic existed, to deliberate and decide on matters of the confederacy, and to settle any disputes which might have arisen among its members. As the feriae Latinae belonged to the conceptivae, the time of their celebration greatly depended on the state of affairs at Rome, since the consuls were never allowed to take the field until they had held the Latinae. This festival was a great engine in the hands of the magistrates, who had to appoint the time of its celebration (concipere, edicere, or indicere Latinas); as it might often suit their purpose either to hold the festival at a particular time or to delay it, in order to prevent or delay such public proceedings as seemed injurious and pernicious, and to promote others to which they were favourably disposed. The festival lasted six days.

FESCENNINA, scil. carmina, one of the earliest kinds of Italian poetry, which consisted of rude and jocose verses, or rather dialogues of extempore verses, in which the merry country folks assailed and ridiculed one another. This amusement seems originally to have been peculiar to country people, but it was also introduced into the towns of Italy and at Rome, where we find it mentioned as one of those in which young people indulged at weddings.

FĒTĬĀLES or FĒCĬĀLES, a college of Roman priests, who acted as the guardians of the public faith. It was their province, when any dispute arose with a foreign state, to demand satisfaction, to determine the circumstances under which hostilities might be commenced, to perform the various religious rites attendant on the solemn declaration of war, and to preside at the formal ratification of peace. When an injury had been received from a foreign state, four fetiales were deputed to seek redress, who again elected one of their number to act as their representative. This individual was styled the pater patratus populi Romani. A fillet of white wool was bound round his head, together with a wreath of sacred herbs gathered within the inclosure of the Capitoline hill (Verbenae; Sagmina), whence he was sometimes named Verbenarius. Thus equipped, he proceeded to the confines of the offending tribe, where he halted, and addressed a prayer to Jupiter, calling the god to witness, with heavy imprecations, that his complaints were well founded and his demands reasonable. He then crossed the border, and the same form was repeated in nearly the same words to the first native of the soil whom he might chance to meet; again a third time to the sentinel or any citizen whom he encountered at the gate of the chief town; and a fourth time to the magistrates in the forum in presence of the people. If a satisfactory answer was not returned within thirty days, after publicly delivering a solemn denunciation of what might be expected to follow, he returned to Rome, and, accompanied by the rest of the fetiales, made a report of his mission to the senate. If the people, as well as the senate, decided for war, the pater patratus again set forth to the border of the hostile territory, and launched a spear tipped with iron, or charred at the extremity and smeared with blood (emblematic doubtless of fire and slaughter), across the boundary, pronouncing at the same time a solemn declaration of war. The demand for redress, and the proclamation of hostilities, were alike termed clarigatio. The whole system is said to have been borrowed from the Aequicolae or the Ardeates, and similar usages undoubtedly prevailed among the Latin states. The number of the fetiales cannot be ascertained with certainty, but they were probably twenty. They were originally selected from the most noble families, and their office lasted for life.

FĪBŬLA (περόνη, πόρπη), a brooch or buckle, consisting of a pin (acus), and of a curved portion furnished with a hook (κλείς).

Fibulae, brooches or buckles. (British Museum.)

FICTĬLE (κεράμος, κεράμιον, ὄστρακον, ὀστράκινον), earthenware, a vessel or other article made of baked clay. The instruments used in pottery (ars figulina) were the following:—1. The wheel (τροχός, orbis, rota, rota figularis). 2. Pieces of wood or bone, which the potter (κεραμεύς, figulus) held in his right hand, and applied occasionally to the surface of the clay during its revolution. 3. Moulds (formae, τύποι), used either to decorate with figures in relief vessels which had been thrown on the wheel, or to produce foliage, animals, or any other appearances, on Antefixa, on cornices of terra cotta, and imitative or ornamental pottery of all other kinds, in which the wheel was not adapted to give the first shape. 4. Gravers or scalpels, used by skilful modellers in giving to figures of all kinds a more perfect finish and a higher relief than could be produced by the use of moulds. The earth used for making pottery (κεράμικη γῆ), was commonly red, and often of so lively a colour as to resemble coral. Other pottery is brown or cream-coloured, and sometimes white. Some of the ancient earthenware is throughout its substance black, an effect produced by mixing the earth with comminuted asphaltum (gagates), or with some other bituminous or oleaginous substance. It appears also that asphaltum, with pitch and tar, both mineral and vegetable, was used to cover the surface like a varnish. The best pottery was manufactured at Athens, in the island of Samos, and in Etruria. A quarter of Athens was called Cerameicus, because it was inhabited by potters. Vessels, before being sent for the last time to the furnace, were sometimes immersed in that finely prepared mud, now technically called “slip,” by which the surface is both smoothed and glazed, and at the same time receives a fresh colour. Ruddle, or red ochre (μίλτος, rubrica), was principally employed for this purpose. To produce a further variety in the paintings upon vases the artists employed a few brightly coloured earths and metallic ores. [[Pictura].]

FĬDEICOMMISSUM may be defined to be a testamentary disposition, by which a person who gives a thing to another imposes on him the obligation of transferring it to a third person. The obligation was not created by words of legal binding force (civilia verba), but by words of request (precativè), such as fideicommitto, peto, volo dari, and the like; which were the operative words (verba utilia).

FĪDŪCĬA. If a man transferred his property to another, on condition that it should be restored to him, this contract was called Fiducia, and the person to whom the property was so transferred was said fiduciam accipere. The trustee was bound to discharge his trust by restoring the thing: if he did not, he was liable to an actio fiduciae or fiduciaria, which was an actio bonae fidei. If the trustee was condemned in the action, the consequence was infamia.

FISCUS, the imperial treasury. Under the republic the public treasury was called Aerarium. [[Aerarium].] On the establishment of the imperial power, there was a division of the provinces between the senate, as the representative of the old republic, and the Caesar or emperor; and there was consequently a division of the most important branches of public income and expenditure. The property of the senate retained the name of Aerarium, and that of the Caesar, as such, received the name of Fiscus. The private property of the Caesar (res privata principis, ratio Caesaris) was quite distinct from that of the fiscus. The word fiscus signified a wicker-basket, or pannier, in which the Romans were accustomed to keep and carry about large sums of money; and hence fiscus came to signify any person’s treasure or money chest. The importance of the imperial fiscus soon led to the practice of appropriating the name to that property which the Caesar claimed as Caesar, and the word fiscus, without any adjunct, was used in this sense. Ultimately the word came to signify generally the property of the state, the Caesar having concentrated in himself all the sovereign power, and thus the word fiscus finally had the same signification as aerarium in the republican period. Various officers, as Procuratores, Advocati, Patroni, and Praefecti, were employed in the administration of the fiscus.

FLĀBELLUM, dim. FLĀBELLŬLUM, (ῥιπίς), a fan. Fans were of elegant forms, of delicate colours, and sometimes of costly and splendid materials, such as peacock’s feathers; but they were stiff and of a fixed shape, and were held by female slaves (flabelliferae), by beautiful boys, or by eunuchs, whose duty it was to wave them so as to produce a cooling breeze. Besides separate feathers the ancient fan was sometimes made of linen, extended upon a light frame.

Flagellum, Scourge. (From a Bas-relief at Rome, and from a Coin.)

FLAGRUM, dim. FLĂGELLUM (μάστιξ), a whip, a scourge, to the handle of which was fixed a lash made of cords (funibus), or thongs of leather (loris), especially thongs made from the ox’s hide (bubulis exuviis). The flagellum properly so called was a dreadful instrument, and is thus put in opposition to the scutica, which was a simple whip. (Hor. Sat. i. 3. 119.) Cicero in like manner contrasts the severe flagella with the virgae. The flagellum was chiefly used in the punishment of slaves. It was knotted with bones or heavy indented circles of bronze or terminated by hooks, in which case it was aptly denominated a scorpion. We likewise find that some gladiators fought with the flagella, as in the coin here introduced.

FLĀMEN, the name for any Roman priest who was devoted to the service of one particular god, and who received a distinguishing epithet from the deity to whom he ministered. The most dignified were those attached to Dijovis, Mars, and Quirinus, the Flamen Dialis, Flamen Martialis, and Flamen Quirinalis. They are said to have been established by Numa. The number was eventually increased to fifteen: the three original flamens were always chosen from among the patricians, and styled Majores; the rest from the plebeians, with the epithet Minores. Among the minores, we read of the Flamen Floralis, the Flamen Carmentalis, &c. The flamens were elected originally at the Comitia Curiata, but it is conjectured that subsequently to the passing of the Lex Domitia (B.C. 104) they were chosen in the Comitia Tributa. After being nominated by the people, they were received (capti) and installed (inaugurabantur) by the pontifex maximus, to whose authority they were at all times subject. The office was understood to last for life; but a flamen might be compelled to resign (flaminio abire) for a breach of duty, or even on account of the occurrence of an ill-omened accident while discharging his functions. Their characteristic dress was the apex [[Apex]], the laena [[Laena]], and a laurel wreath. The most distinguished of all the flamens was the Dialis; the lowest in rank the Pomonalis. The former enjoyed many peculiar honours. When a vacancy occurred, three persons of patrician descent, whose parents had been married according to the ceremonies of confarreatio, were nominated by the Comitia, one of whom was selected (captus), and consecrated (inaugurabatur) by the pontifex maximus. From that time forward he was emancipated from the control of his father, and became sui juris. He alone of all priests wore the albogalerus; he had a right to a lictor, to the toga praetexta, the sella curulis, and to a seat in the senate in virtue of his office. If one in bonds took refuge in his house, his chains were immediately struck off. To counterbalance these high honours, the dialis was subjected to a multitude of restrictions. It was unlawful for him to be out of the city for a single night; and he was forbidden to sleep out of his own bed for three nights consecutively. He might not mount upon horseback, nor even touch a horse, nor look upon an army marshalled without the pomoerium, and hence was seldom elected to the consulship. The object of the above rules was manifestly to make him literally Jovi adsiduum sacerdotem; to compel constant attention to the duties of the priesthood. Flaminica was the name given to the wife of the dialis. He was required to wed a virgin according to the ceremonies of confarreatio, which regulation also applied to the two other flamines majores; and he could not marry a second time. Hence, since her assistance was essential in the performance of certain ordinances, a divorce was not permitted, and if she died, the dialis was obliged to resign. The municipal towns also had their flamens. Thus the celebrated affray between Milo and Clodius took place while the former was on his way to Lanuvium, of which he was then dictator, to declare the election of a flamen (ad flaminem prodendum).

FLAMMEUM. [[Matrimonium].]

FLŌRĀLĬA, or Florales Ludi, a festival which was celebrated at Rome in honour of Flora or Chloris, during five days, beginning on the 28th of April and ending on the 2nd of May. It was said to have been instituted at Rome in 238 B.C., at the command of an oracle in the Sibylline books, for the purpose of obtaining from the goddess the protection of the blossoms. The celebration was, as usual, conducted by the aediles, and was carried on with excessive merriment, drinking, and lascivious games.

FŌCĀLĔ, a covering for the ears and neck, made of wool, and worn by infirm, and delicate persons.

FŎCUS, dim. FOCŬLUS ( ἑστία, ἐσχάρα, ἐσχαρίς), a fire-place; a hearth; a brazier. The fire-place possessed a sacred character, and was dedicated among the Romans to the Lares of each family. Moveable hearths, or braziers, properly called foculi, were frequently used.

Foculus, Moveable Hearth. (British Museum.)

FOEDĔRĀTAE CĪVĬTĀTES, FOEDĔRĀTI, SŎCĬI. In the seventh century of Rome these names expressed those Italian states which were connected with Rome by a treaty (foedus). These names did not include Roman colonies or Latin colonies, or any place which had obtained the Roman civitas or citizenship. Among the foederati were the Latini, who were the most nearly related to the Romans, and were designated by this distinctive name; the rest of the foederati were comprised under the collective name of Socii or Foederati. They were independent states, yet under a general liability to furnish a contingent to the Roman army. Thus they contributed to increase the power of Rome, but they had not the privileges of Roman citizens. The discontent among the foederati, and their claims to be admitted to the privileges of Roman citizens, led to the Social War. The Julia Lex (B.C. 90) gave the civitas to the Socii and Latini; and a lex of the following year contained, among other provisions, one for the admission to the Roman civitas of those peregrini who were entered on the lists of the citizens of federate states, and who complied with the provisions of the lex. [[Civitas].]

FOENUS. [[Fenus].]

Folles, Bellows. (From a Roman Lamp.)

FOLLIS—(1) An inflated ball of leather, which boys and old men among the Romans threw from one to another as a gentle exercise of the body.—(2) A leather purse or bag.—(3) A pair of bellows, consisting of two inflated skins, and having valves adjusted to the natural apertures at one part for admitting the air, and a pipe inserted into another part for its emission.

Fountain of Peirene at Corinth.

FONS (κρήνη), a spring of water, and also an artificial fountain, made either by covering and decorating a spring with buildings and sculpture, or by making a jet or stream of water, supplied by an elevated cistern, play into an artificial basin. Such fountains served the double purpose of use and ornament. They were covered to keep them pure and cool, and the covering was frequently in the form of a monopteral temple: there were also statues, the subjects of which were suggested by the circumstance that every fountain was sacred to some divinity, or they were taken from the whole range of mythological legends. A very large proportion of the immense supply of water brought to Rome by the aqueducts was devoted to the public fountains, which were divided into two classes; namely, lacus, ponds or reservoirs, and salientes, jets of water, besides which many of the castella were so constructed as to be also fountains. There were also many small private fountains in the houses and villas of the wealthy.

Fountain. (From a Painting at Pompeii.)

FŎRES. [DOMUS.]

FORNĀCĀLĬA, a festival in honour of Fornax, the goddess of furnaces, in order that the corn might be properly baked. This ancient festival is said to have been instituted by Numa. The time for its celebration was proclaimed every year by the curio maximus, who announced in tablets, which were placed in the forum, the different part which each curia had to take in the celebration of the festival. Those persons who did not know to what curia they belonged performed the sacred rites on the Quirinalia, called from this circumstance the Stultorum feriae, which fell on the last day of the Fornacalia.

FORNIX, in its primary sense, is synonymous with [Arcus], but more commonly implies an arched vault, constituting both roof and ceiling to the apartment which it encloses.

FŎRUM. [See Classical Dict.]

FRĂMĔA. [[Hasta].]

FRĀTRES ARVĀLES. [[Arvales Fratres].]

FRĒNUM (χαλινός), a bridle. That Bellerophon might be enabled to perform the exploits required of him by the king of Lycia, he was presented by Athena with a bridle as the means of subduing the winged horse Pegasus, who submitted to receive it whilst he was slaking his thirst at the fountain Peirene. Such was the Grecian account of the invention of the bridle, and in reference to it Athena was worshipped at Corinth, under the titles Ἵππια and Χαλινῖτις. The bit (orea, δῆγμα, στόμιον), was commonly made of several pieces, and flexible, so as not to hurt the horse’s mouth; although there was likewise a bit which was armed with protuberances resembling wolves’ teeth, and therefore called lupatum.

Pegasus receiving the Bridle.

FRĪGĬDĀRĬUM. [[Balneum].]

FRĬTILLUS (φιμός), a dice-box of a cylindrical form, and therefore called also turricula, or pyrgus, and formed with parallel indentations (gradus) on the inside, so as to make a rattling noise when the dice were shaken in it.

FRŪMENTĀRĬAE LEGES. The supply of corn at Rome was considered one of the duties of the government. The superintendence of the corn-market belonged in ordinary times to the aediles, but when great scarcity prevailed, an extraordinary officer was appointed for the purpose under the title of Praefectus Annonae. Even in early times it had been usual for the state on certain occasions, and for wealthy individuals, to make occasional donations of corn to the people (donatio, largitio, divisio; subsequently called frumentatio). But such donations were only casual; and it was not till B.C. 123, that the first legal provision was made for supplying the poor at Rome with corn at a price much below its market value. In that year C. Sempronius Gracchus brought forward the first Lex Frumentaria, by which each citizen was entitled to receive every month a certain quantity of wheat (triticum) at the price of 6⅓ asses for the modius, which was equal to 1 gallon and nearly 8 pints English. This was only a trifle more than half the market price. Each person probably received five modii monthly, as in later times. About B.C. 91, the tribune M. Octavius brought forward the Lex Octavia, which modified the law of Gracchus to some extent, so that the public treasury did not suffer so much. Sulla went still further, and by his Lex Cornelia, B.C. 82, did away altogether with these distributions of corn; but in B.C. 73, the Lex Sempronia was renewed by the Lex Terentia Cassia, which enacted that each Roman citizen should receive 5 modii a month at the price of 6⅓ asses for each modius. The Leges Frumentariae had sold corn to the people; but by the Lex Clodia of the tribune Clodius, B.C. 58, the corn was distributed without any payment; the abolition of the payment cost the state a fifth part of its revenues. When Caesar became master of the Roman world, he resolved to remedy the evils attending the system, so far as he was able. He did not venture to abolish altogether these distributions of corn, but he did the next best thing in his power, which was reducing the number of the recipients. During the civil wars numbers of persons, who had no claim to the Roman franchise, had settled at Rome in order to obtain a share in the distributions. Caesar excluded from this privilege every person who could not prove that he was a Roman citizen; and thus the 320,000 persons, who had previously received the corn, were at once reduced to 150,000. The useful regulations of Caesar fell into neglect after his death; and in B.C. 5, the number of recipients had amounted to 320,000. But in B.C. 2, Augustus reduced the number of recipients to 200,000, and renewed many of Caesar’s regulations. The chief of them seem to have been: 1. That every citizen should receive monthly a certain quantity of corn (probably 5 modii) on the payment of a certain small sum. Occasionally, in seasons of scarcity, or in order to confer a particular favour, Augustus made these distributions quite gratuitous; they then became congiaria. [[Congiarium].] 2. That those who were completely indigent should receive the corn gratuitously, and should be furnished for the purpose with tesserae nummariae or frumentariae, which entitled them to the corn without payment. The system which had been established by Augustus, was followed by his successors; but as it was always one of the first maxims of the state policy of the Roman emperors to prevent any disturbance in the capital, they frequently lowered the price of the public corn, and also distributed it gratuitously as a congiarium. Hence, the cry of the populace panem et circenses. In course of time, the sale of the corn by the state seems to have ceased altogether, and the distribution became altogether gratuitous. Every corn-receiver was therefore now provided with a tessera, and this tessera, when once granted to him, became his property. Hence it came to pass, that he was not only allowed to keep the tessera for life, but even to dispose of it by sale, and bequeath it by will. Every citizen was competent to hold a tessera, with the exception of senators. Further, as the corn had been originally distributed to the people according to the thirty-five tribes into which they were divided, the corn-receivers in each tribe formed a kind of corporation, which came eventually to be looked upon as the tribe, when the tribes had lost all political significance. Hence, the purchase of a tessera became equivalent to the purchase of a place in a tribe; and, accordingly, we find in the Digest the expressions emere tribum and emere tesseram used as synonymous. Another change was also introduced at a later period, which rendered the bounty still more acceptable to the people. Instead of distributing the corn every month, wheaten bread, called annona civica, was given to the people. It is uncertain at what time this change was introduced, but it seems to have been the custom before the reign of Aurelian (A.D. 270-275).

FRŪMENTĀRĬI, officers under the Roman empire, who acted as spies in the provinces, and reported to the emperors anything which they considered of importance. They appear to have been called Frumentarii because it was their duty to collect information in the same way as it was the duty of other officers, called by the same name, to collect corn.

FŪCUS (φῦκος), the paint which the Greek and Roman ladies employed in painting their cheeks, eye-brows, and other parts of their faces. The practice of painting the face was very general among the Greek ladies, and probably came into fashion in consequence of their sedentary mode of life, which robbed their complexions of their natural freshness, and induced them to have recourse to artificial means for restoring the red and white of nature. The eye-brows and eye-lids were stained black with στίμμι or στίμμις, a sulphuret of antimony, which is still employed by the Turkish ladies for the same purpose. The eye-brows were likewise stained with ἄσβολος, a preparation of soot. Among the Romans the art of painting the complexion was carried to a still greater extent than among the Greeks, and even Ovid did not disdain to write a poem on the subject, which he calls (de Art. Am. iii. 206) “parvus, sed cura grande, libellus, opus;” though the genuineness of the fragment of the Medicamina faciei, ascribed to this poet, is doubtful. The Roman ladies even went so far as to paint with blue the veins on the temples. The ridiculous use of patches (splenia), which were common among the English ladies in the reign of Queen Anne and the first Georges, was not unknown to the Roman ladies. The more effeminate of the male sex at Rome, and likewise in Greece, also employed paint.

Girl painting herself. (From a Gem.)

FŬGA LĀTA. [[Exsilium].]

FŬGA LĪBĔRA. [[Exsilium].]

FŬGĬTĪVUS. [[Servus].]

FULLO (κναφεύς, γναφεύς), also called NACCA, a fuller, a washer or scourer of cloth and linen. The fullones not only received the cloth as it came from the loom in order to scour and smooth it, but also washed and cleansed garments which had been already worn. The clothes were first washed, which was done in tubs or vats, where they were trodden upon and stamped by the feet of the fullones, whence Seneca speaks of saltus fullonicus. The ancients were not acquainted with soap, but they used in its stead different kinds of alkali, by which the dirt was more easily separated from the clothes. Of these, by far the most common was the urine of men and animals, which was mixed with the water in which the clothes were washed. When the clothes were dry, the wool was brushed and carded to raise the nap, sometimes with the skin of a hedgehog, and sometimes with some plants of the thistle kind. The clothes were then hung on a vessel of basket-work (viminea cavea), under which sulphur was placed in order to whiten the cloth. A fine white earth, called Cimolian by Pliny, was often rubbed into the cloth to increase its whiteness. The establishment or workshop of the fullers was called Fullonica, Fullonicum, or Fullonimn. The Greeks were also accustomed to send their garments to fullers to be washed and scoured. The word πλύνειν denoted the washing of linen, and κναφεύειν or γναφεύειν the washing of woollen clothes.

FŪNAMBŬLUS (καλοβάτης σχοινοβάτης), a rope-dancer. The art of dancing on the tight-rope was carried to as great perfection among the Romans as it is with us. The performers placed themselves in an endless variety of graceful and sportive attitudes, and represented the characters of bacchanals, satyrs, and other imaginary beings. One of the most difficult exploits was running down the rope at the conclusion of the performance. It was a strange attempt of Germanicus and of the emperor Galba to exhibit elephants walking on the rope.

FUNDA (σφενδόνη), a sling. Slingers are not mentioned in the Iliad; but the light troops of the Greek and Roman armies consisted in great part of slingers (funditores, σφενδονήται). The most celebrated slingers were the inhabitants of the Balearic islands. Besides stones, plummets, called glandes (μολυβδίδες), of a form between acorns and almonds, were cast in moulds to be thrown with slings. The manner in which the sling was wielded may be seen in the annexed figure of a soldier with a provision of stones in the sinus of his pallium, and with his arm extended in order to whirl the sling about his head.

Funda, Sling. (Column of Trajan.)

FUNDĬTŌRES. [[Funda].]

Coffins. (Stackelberg, ‘Die Gräber der Hellenen,’ pl. 7, 8.)

Tomb in Lycia.

FŪNUS, a funeral.—(1) Greek. The Greeks attached great importance to the burial of the dead. They believed that souls could not enter the Elysian fields till their bodies had been buried; and so strong was this feeling among the Greeks, that it was considered a religious duty to throw earth upon a dead body, which a person might happen to find unburied; and among the Athenians, those children who were released from all other obligations to unworthy parents, were nevertheless bound to bury them by one of Solon’s laws. The neglect of burying one’s relatives is frequently mentioned by the orators as a grave charge against the moral character of a man; in fact, the burial of the body by the relations of the dead was considered one of the most sacred duties by the universal law of the Greeks. Sophocles represents Antigone as disregarding all consequences in order to bury the dead body of her brother Polyneices, which Creon, the king of Thebes, had commanded to be left unburied. The common expressions for the funeral rites, τὰ δίκαια, νόμιμα or νομιζόμενα, προσήκοντα, show that the dead had, as it were, a legal and moral claim to burial. After a person was dead, it was the custom first to place in his mouth an obolus, called danace (δανάκη), with which he might pay the ferryman in Hades. The body was then washed and anointed with perfumed oil, the head was crowned with the flowers which happened to be in season, and the body dressed in as handsome a robe as the family could afford. These duties were not performed by hired persons, like the pollinctores among the Romans, but by the women of the family, upon whom the care of the corpse always devolved. The corpse was then laid out (πρόθεσις, προτίθεσθαι) on a bed, which appears to have been of the ordinary kind, with a pillow for supporting the head and back. By the side of the bed there were placed painted earthen vessels, called λήκυθοι, which were also buried with the corpse. Great numbers of these painted vases have been found in modern times; and they have been of great use in explaining many matters connected with antiquity. A honey-cake, called μελιττοῦτα, which appears to have been intended for Cerberus, was also placed by the side of the corpse. Before the door a vessel of water was placed, called ὄστρακον, ἀρδάλιον or ἀρδάνιον, in order that persons who had been in the house might purify themselves by sprinkling water on their persons. The relatives stood around the bed, the women uttering great lamentations, rending their garments, and tearing their hair. On the day after the πρόθεσις, or the third day after death, the corpse was carried out (ἐκφορά, ἐκκομιδή) for burial, early in the morning and before sunrise. A burial soon after death was supposed to be pleasing to the dead. In some places it appears to have been usual to bury the dead on the day following death. The men walked before the corpse, and the women behind. The funeral procession was preceded or followed by hired mourners (θρηνῳδοί), who appear to have been usually Carian women, playing mournful tunes on the flute. The body was either buried or burnt. The word θάπτειν is used in connection with either mode; it is applied to the collection of the ashes after burning, and accordingly we find the words καίειν and θάπτειν used together. The proper expression for interment in the earth is κατορύττειν. In Homer the bodies of the dead are burnt; but interment was also used in very ancient times. Cicero says that the dead were buried at Athens in the time of Cecrops; and we also read of the bones of Orestes being found in a coffin at Tegea. The dead were commonly buried among the Spartans and the Sicyonians, and the prevalence of this practice is proved by the great number of skeletons found in coffins in modern times, which have evidently not been exposed to the action of fire. Both burning and burying appear to have been always used to a greater or less extent at different periods; till the spread of Christianity at length put an end to the former practice. The dead bodies were usually burnt on piles of wood, called pyres (πυραί). The body was placed on the top; and in the heroic times it was customary to burn with the corpse animals and even captives or slaves. Oils and perfumes were also thrown into the flames. When the pyre was burnt down, the remains of the fire were quenched with wine, and the relatives and friends collected the bones. The bones were then washed with wine and oil, and placed in urns, which were sometimes made of gold. The corpses which were not burnt were buried in coffins, which were called by various names, as σοροί, πύελοι, ληνοί, λάρνακες, δροῖται, though some of these names are also applied to the urns in which the bones were collected. They were made of various materials, but were usually of baked clay or earthenware. The following woodcut contains two of the most ancient kind; the figure in the middle is the section of one. The dead were usually buried outside the town, as it was thought that their presence in the city brought pollution to the living. At Athens none were allowed to be buried within the city; but Lycurgus, in order to remove all superstition respecting the presence of the dead, allowed of burial in Sparta. Persons who possessed lands in Attica were frequently buried in them, and we therefore read of tombs in the fields. Tombs, however, were most frequently built by the side of roads, and near the gates of the city. At Athens, the most common place of burial was outside of the Itonian gate, near the road leading to the Peiraeeus, which gate was for that reason called the burial gate. Those who had fallen in battle were buried at the public expense in the outer Cerameicus, on the road leading to the Academia. Tombs were called θῆκαι, τάφοι, μνήματα, μνημεῖα, σήματα. Many of these were only mounds of earth or stones (χώματα, κολῶναι τύμβοι). Others were built of stone, and frequently ornamented with great taste. Some Greek tombs were built under ground, and called hypogea (ὑπόγαια or ὑπόγεια). They correspond to the Roman conditoria. The monuments erected over the graves of persons were usually of four kinds: 1. στῆλαι, pillars or upright stone tablets; 2. κίονες, columns; 3. ναΐδια or ἡρῷα, small buildings in the form of temples; and 4. τράπεζαι, flat square stones, called by Cicero mensae. The term στῆλαι is sometimes applied to all kinds of funeral monuments, but properly designates upright stone tablets, which were usually terminated with an oval heading, called ἐπίθημα. The epithema was frequently ornamented with a kind of arabesque work, as in the preceding specimen. The κίονες, or columns, were of various forms, as is shown by the two specimens in the annexed cut.

Epithema or Heading of Tombstone. (Stackelberg, pl. 3.)

Sepulchral Columns. (Paintings on Vases.)

The inscriptions upon these funeral monuments usually contain the name of the deceased person, and that of the demus to which he belonged, as well as frequently some account of his life. The following example of an ἡρῷον will give a general idea of monuments of this kind.—Orations in praise of the dead were sometimes pronounced; but Solon ordained that such orations should be confined to persons who were honoured with a public funeral. In the heroic ages games were celebrated at the funeral of a great man, as in the case of Patroclus; but this practice does not seem to have been usual in the historical times.—All persons who had been engaged in funerals were considered polluted, and could not enter the temples of the gods till they had been purified. After the funeral was over, the relatives partook of a feast, which was called περίδειπνον or νεκρόδειπνον. This feast was always given at the house of the nearest relative of the deceased.

Sepulchral Heroon. (Painting on Vase.)

Thus the relatives of those who had fallen at the battle of Chaeroneia partook of the περίδειπνον at the house of Demosthenes, as if he were the nearest relative to them all. On the second day after the funeral a sacrifice to the dead was offered, called τρίτα; but the principal sacrifice to the dead was on the ninth day, called ἔννατα or ἔνατα. The mourning for the dead appears to have lasted till the thirtieth day after the funeral, on which day sacrifices were again offered. At Sparta the time of mourning was limited to eleven days. During the time of mourning it was considered indecorous for the relatives of the deceased to appear in public; they were accustomed to wear a black dress, and in ancient times they cut off their hair as a sign of grief.—The tombs were preserved by the family to which they belonged with the greatest care, and were regarded as among the strongest ties which attached a man to his native land. In the Docimasia of the Athenian archons it was always a subject of inquiry whether they had kept in proper repair the tombs of their ancestors. On certain days the tombs were crowned with flowers, and offerings were made to the dead, consisting of garlands of flowers and various other things. The act of offering these presents was called ἐναγίζειν, and the offerings themselves ἐναγίσματα, or more commonly χοαί. The γενέσια mentioned by Herodotus appear to have consisted in offerings of the same kind, which were presented on the anniversary of the birth-day of the deceased. The νεκύσια were probably offerings on the anniversary of the day of the death; though, according to some writers, the νεκύσια were the same as the γενέσια. Certain criminals, who were put to death by the state, were also deprived of the rights of burial, which was considered as an additional punishment. There were certain places, both at Athens and Sparta, where the dead bodies of such criminals were cast. A person who had committed suicide was not deprived of burial, but the hand with which he had killed himself was cut off and buried by itself.—(2) Roman. When a Roman was at the point of death, his nearest relation present endeavoured to catch the last breath with his mouth. The ring was taken off the finger of the dying person; and as soon as he was dead his eyes and mouth were closed by the nearest relation, who called upon the deceased by name, exclaiming have or vale. The corpse was then washed, and anointed with oil and perfumes, by slaves, called pollinctores, who belonged to the libitinarii, or undertakers. The libitinarii appear to have been so called because they dwelt near the temple of Venus Libitina, where all things requisite for funerals were sold. Hence we find the expressions vitare Libitinam and evadere Libitinam used in the sense of escaping death. At this temple an account (ratio, ephemeris) was kept of those who died, and a small sum was paid for the registration of their names. A small coin was then placed in the mouth of the corpse, in order to pay the ferryman in Hades, and the body was laid out on a couch in the vestibule of the house, with its feet towards the door, and dressed in the best robe which the deceased had worn when alive. Ordinary citizens were dressed in a white toga, and magistrates in their official robes. If the deceased had received a crown while alive as a reward for his bravery, it was now placed on his head; and the couch on which he was laid was sometimes covered with leaves and flowers. A branch of cypress was also usually placed at the door of the house, if he was a person of consequence. Funerals were usually called funera justa or exsequiae; the latter term was generally applied to the funeral procession (pompa funebris). There were two kinds of funerals, public and private; of which the former was called funus publicum or indictivum, because the people were invited to it by a herald; the latter funus tacitum, translatitium, or plebeium. A person appears to have usually left a certain sum of money in his will to pay the expenses of his funeral; but if he did not do so, nor appoint any one to bury him, this duty devolved upon the persons to whom the property was left, and if he died without a will, upon his relations, according to their order of succession to the property. The expenses of the funeral were in such cases decided by an arbiter, according to the property and rank of the deceased, whence arbitria is used to signify the funeral expenses.—The following description of the mode in which a funeral was conducted only applies strictly to the funerals of the great; the same pomp and ceremony could not of course be observed in the case of persons in ordinary circumstances. All funerals in ancient times were performed at night, but afterwards the poor only were buried at night, because they could not afford to have any funeral procession. The corpse was usually carried out of the house (efferebatur) on the eighth day after the death. The order of the funeral procession was regulated by a person called designator or dominus funeris, who was attended by lictors dressed in black. It was headed by musicians of various kinds (cornicines, siticines), who played mournful strains, and next came mourning women, called praeficae, who were hired to lament and sing the funeral song (naenia or lessus) in praise of the deceased. These were sometimes followed by players and buffoons (scurrae, histriones), of whom one, called archimimus, represented the character of the deceased, and imitated his words and actions. Then came the slaves whom the deceased had liberated, wearing the cap of liberty (pileati); the number of whom was occasionally very great, since a master sometimes liberated all his slaves, in his will, in order to add to the pomp of his funeral. Before the corpse the images of the deceased and of his ancestors were carried, and also the crowns or military rewards which he had gained. The corpse was carried on a couch (lectica), to which the name of feretrum or capulum was usually given; but the bodies of poor citizens and of slaves were carried on a common kind of bier or coffin, called sandapila. The sandapila was carried by bearers, called vespae or vespillones, because they carried out the corpses in the evening (vespertino tempore). The couches on which the corpses of the rich were carried were sometimes made of ivory, and covered with gold and purple. They were often carried on the shoulders of the nearest relations of the deceased, and sometimes on those of his freedmen. Julius Caesar was carried by the magistrates, and Augustus by the senators. The relations of the deceased walked behind the corpse in mourning; his sons with their heads veiled, and his daughters with their heads bare and their hair dishevelled, contrary to the ordinary practice of both. They often uttered loud lamentations, and the women beat their breasts and tore their cheeks, though this was forbidden by the Twelve Tables. If the deceased was of illustrious rank, the funeral procession went through the forum, and stopped before the rostra, where a funeral oration (laudatio) in praise of the deceased was delivered. This practice was of great antiquity among the Romans, and is said by some writers to have been first introduced by Publicola, who pronounced a funeral oration in honour of his colleague Brutus. Women also were honoured by funeral orations. From the Forum the corpse was carried to the place of burning or burial, which, according to a law of the Twelve Tables, was obliged to be outside the city. The Romans in the most ancient times buried their dead, though they also early adopted, to some extent, the custom of burning, which is mentioned in the Twelve Tables. Burning, however, does not appear to have become general till the later times of the republic. Marius was buried, and Sulla was the first of the Cornelian gens whose body was burned. Under the empire burning was almost universally practised, but was gradually discontinued as Christianity spread, so that it had fallen into disuse in the fourth century. Persons struck by lightning were not burnt, but buried on the spot, which was called Bidental, and was considered sacred. [[Bidental].] Children also, who had not cut their teeth, were not burnt, but buried in a place called Suggrundarium. Those who were buried were placed in a coffin (arca or loculus), which was frequently made of stone, and sometimes of the Assian stone, which came from Assos in Troas, and which consumed all the body, with the exception of the teeth, in 40 days, whence it was called sarcophagus. This name was in course of time applied to any kind of coffin or tomb. The corpse was burnt on a pile of wood (pyra or rogus). This pile was built in the form of an altar, with four equal sides, whence we find it called ara sepulcri and funeris ara. The sides of the pile were, according to the Twelve Tables, to be left rough and unpolished, but were frequently covered with dark leaves. Cypress trees were sometimes placed before the pile. On the top of the pile the corpse was placed, with the couch on which it had been carried, and the nearest relation then set fire to the pile with his face turned away. When the flames began to rise, various perfumes were thrown into the fire, though this practice was forbidden by the Twelve Tables; cups of oil, ornaments, clothes, dishes of food, and other things, which were supposed to be agreeable to the deceased, were also thrown upon the flames. The place where a person was burnt was called bustum, if he was afterwards buried on the same spot, and ustrina or ustrinum if he was buried at a different place. Sometimes animals were slaughtered at the pile, and in ancient times captives and slaves, since the manes were supposed to be fond of blood; but afterwards gladiators, called bustuarii, were hired to fight round the burning pile. When the pile was burnt down, the embers were soaked with wine, and the bones and ashes of the deceased were gathered by the nearest relatives, who sprinkled them with perfumes, and placed them in a vessel called urna, which was made of various materials, according to the circumstances of individuals.

Sepulchral Urn in British Museum

The urnae were also of various shapes, but most commonly square or round; and upon them there was usually an inscription or epitaph (titulus or epitaphium), beginning with the letters D. M. S., or only D. M., that is, Dis Manibus Sacrum, followed by the name of the deceased, with the length of his life, &c. The woodcut opposite is a representation of a sepulchral urn in the British Museum. It is of an upright rectangular form, richly ornamented with foliage, and supported at the sides with pilasters. It is to the memory of Cossutia Prima. Its height is 21 inches, and its width at the base 14 inches 6-8ths. Below the inscription an infant genius is represented driving a car drawn by four horses.—After the bones and ashes of the deceased had been placed in the urn, the persons present were thrice sprinkled by a priest with pure water from a branch of olive or laurel for the purpose of purification; after which they were dismissed by the praefica, or some other person, by the solemn word Ilicet, that is, ire licet. At their departure they were accustomed to bid farewell to the deceased by pronouncing the word Vale. The urns were placed in sepulchres, which, as already stated, were outside the city, though in a few cases we read of the dead being buried within the city. Thus Valerius Publicola, Tubertus, and Fabricius, were buried in the city; which right their descendants also possessed, but did not use. The vestal virgins and the emperors were buried in the city.—The verb sepelire, like the Greek θάπτειν, was applied to every mode of disposing of the dead; and sepulcrum signified any kind of tomb in which the body or bones of a man were placed. The term humare was originally used for burial in the earth, but was afterwards applied like sepelire to any mode of disposing of the dead: since it appears to have been the custom, after the body was burnt, to throw some earth upon the bones.—The places for burial were either public or private. The public places of burial were of two kinds; one for illustrious citizens, who were buried at the public expense, and the other for poor citizens, who could not afford to purchase ground for the purpose. The former was in the Campus Martius, which was ornamented with the tombs of the illustrious dead, and in the Campus Esquilinus; the latter was also in the Campus Esquilinus, and consisted of small pits or caverns, called puticuli or puticulae; but as this place rendered the neighbourhood unhealthy, it was given to Maecenas, who converted it into gardens, and built a magnificent house upon it. Private places for burial were usually by the sides of the roads leading to Rome; and on some of these roads, such as the Via Appia, the tombs formed an almost uninterrupted street for many miles from the gates of the city. They were frequently built by individuals during their lifetime; thus Augustus, in his sixth consulship, built the Mausoleum for his sepulchre between the Via Flaminia and the Tiber, and planted round it woods and walks for public use. The heirs were often ordered by the will of the deceased to build a tomb for him; and they sometimes did it at their own expense.—Sepulchres were originally called busta, but this word was afterwards employed in the manner mentioned under Bustum. Sepulchres were also frequently called monumenta, but this term was also applied to a monument erected to the memory of a person in a different place from that where he was buried. Conditoria or conditiva were sepulchres under ground, in which dead bodies were placed entire, in contradistinction to those sepulchres which contained the bones and ashes only.—The tombs of the rich were commonly built of marble, and the ground enclosed with an iron railing or wall, and planted round with trees. The extent of the burying-ground was marked by cippi [[Cippus]]. The name of mausoleum, which was originally the name of the magnificent sepulchre erected by Artemisia to the memory of Mausolus, king of Caria, was sometimes given to any splendid tomb. The open space before a sepulchre was called forum, and neither this space nor the sepulchre itself could become the property of a person by usucapion. Private tombs were either built by an individual for himself and the members of his family (sepulcra familiaria), or for himself and his heirs (sepulcra hereditaria). A tomb, which was fitted up with niches to receive the funeral urns, was called columbarium, on account of the resemblance of these niches to the holes of a pigeon-house. In these tombs the ashes of the freedmen and slaves of great families were frequently placed in vessels made of baked clay, called ollae, which were let into the thickness of the wall within these niches, the lids only being seen, and the inscriptions placed in front. Tombs were of various sizes and forms, according to the wealth and taste of the owner. A sepulchre, or any place in which a person was buried, was religiosus; all things which were left or belonged to the Dii Manes were religiosae; those consecrated to the Dii Superi were called sacrae. Even the place in which a slave was buried was considered religiosus. Whoever violated a sepulchre was subject to an action termed sepulcri violati actio. After the bones had been placed in the urn at the funeral, the friends returned home. They then underwent a further purification, called suffitio, which consisted in being sprinkled with water and stepping over a fire. The house itself was also swept with a certain kind of broom; which sweeping or purification was called exverrae, and the person who did it everriator. The Denicales Feriae were also days set apart for the purification of the family. The mourning and solemnities connected with the dead lasted for nine days after the funeral, at the end of which time a sacrifice was performed, called novendiale.—A feast was given in honour of the dead, but it is uncertain on what day; it sometimes appears to have been given at the time of the funeral, sometimes on the novendiale, and sometimes later. The name of silicernium was given to this feast. Among the tombs at Pompeii there is a funeral triclinium for the celebration of these feasts, which is represented in the annexed woodcut. It is open to the sky, and the walls are ornamented by paintings of animals in the centre of compartments, which have borders of flowers. The triclinium is made of stone, with a pedestal in the centre to receive the table. After the funeral of great men, there was, in addition to the feast for the friends of the deceased, a distribution of raw meat to the people, called visceratio, and sometimes a public banquet. Combats of gladiators and other games were also frequently exhibited in honour of the deceased. Thus at the funeral of P. Licinius Crassus, who had been Pontifex Maximus, raw meat was distributed to the people, 120 gladiators fought, and funeral games were celebrated for three days, at the end of which a public banquet was given in the forum. Public feasts and funeral games were sometimes given on the anniversary of funerals. At all banquets in honour of the dead, the guests were dressed in white.—The Romans, like the Greeks, were accustomed to visit the tombs of their relatives at certain periods, and to offer to them sacrifices and various gifts, which were called inferiae and parentalia. The Romans appear to have regarded the manes or departed souls of their ancestors as gods; whence arose the practice of presenting to them oblations, which consisted of victims, wine, milk, garlands of flowers, and other things. The tombs were sometimes illuminated on these occasions with lamps. In the latter end of the month of February there was a festival, called feralia, in which the Romans were accustomed to carry food to the sepulchres for the use of the dead. The Romans were accustomed to wear mourning for their deceased friends, which appears to have been black under the republic for both sexes. Under the empire the men continued to wear black in mourning, but the women wore white. They laid aside all kinds of ornaments, and did not cut either their hair or beard. Men appear to have usually worn their mourning for only a few days, but women for a year when they lost a husband or parent. In a public mourning on account of some signal calamity, as, for instance, the loss of a battle, or the death of an emperor, there was a total cessation from business, called justitium, which was usually ordained by public appointment. During this period the courts of justice did not sit, the shops were shut, and the soldiers freed from military duties. In a public mourning the senators did not wear the latus clavus and their rings, nor the magistrates their badges of office.

Funeral Triclinium at Pompeii. (Mazois, Pomp., 1, pl. xx.)

FURCA, which properly means a fork, was also the name of an instrument of punishment. It was a piece of wood in the form of the letter Λ, which was placed upon the shoulders of the offender, whose hands were tied to it. Slaves were frequently punished in this way, and were obliged to carry about the furca wherever they went; whence the appellation of furcifer was applied to a man as a term of reproach. The furca was used in the ancient mode of capital punishment among the Romans; the criminal was tied to it, and then scourged to death. The patibulum was also an instrument of punishment, resembling the furca; it appears to have been in the form of the letter Π. Both the furca and patibulum were also employed as crosses, to which criminals appear to have been nailed.

FURĬŌSUS. [[Curator].]

FUSCĬNA (τρίαινα), a trident, more commonly called tridens, meaning tridens stimulus, because it was originally a three-pronged goad, used to incite horses to greater swiftness. Neptune was supposed to be armed with it when he drove his chariot, and it thus became his usual attribute, perhaps with an allusion also to the use of the same instrument in harpooning fish. It is represented in the cut on [p. 84]. In the contests of gladiators, the retiarius was armed with a trident. [[Gladiatores]]

FUSTŬĀRĬUM (ξυλοκοπία), was a capital punishment inflicted upon Roman soldiers for desertion, theft, and similar crimes. It was administered in the following manner:—When a soldier was condemned, the tribune touched him slightly with a stick, upon which all the soldiers of the legion fell upon him with sticks and stones, and generally killed him upon the spot. If, however, he escaped, for he was allowed to fly, he could not return to his native country, nor did any of his relatives dare to receive him into their houses.

FŪSUS (ἄτρακτος), the spindle, was always, when in use, accompanied by the distaff (colus, ἠλακάτη), as an indispensable part of the same apparatus. The wool, flax, or other material, having been prepared for spinning, was rolled into a ball (τολύπη, glomus), which was, however, sufficiently loose to allow the fibres to be easily drawn out by the hand of the spinner. The upper part of the distaff was then inserted into this mass of flax or wool, and the lower part was held under the left arm in such a position as was most convenient for conducting the operation. The fibres were drawn out, and at the same time spirally twisted, chiefly by the use of the fore-finger and thumb of the right hand; and the thread (filum, stamen, νήμα) so produced was wound upon the spindle until the quantity was as great as it would carry. The spindle was a stick, 10 or 12 inches long, having at the top a slit or catch (dens, ἄγκιστρον) in which the thread was fixed, so that the weight of the spindle might continually carry down the thread as it was formed. Its lower extremity was inserted into a small wheel, called the whorl (vorticellum), made of wood, stone, or metal (see woodcut), the use of which was to keep the spindle more steady, and to promote its rotation. The accompanying woodcut shows the operation of spinning, at the moment when the woman has drawn out a sufficient length of yarn to twist it by whirling the spindle with her right thumb and fore-finger, and previously to the act of taking it out of the slit to wind it upon the bobbin (πήνιον) already formed. It was usual to have a basket to hold the distaff and spindle, with the balls of wool prepared for spinning, and the bobbins already spun. [[Calathus].] The distaff and spindle, with the wool and thread upon them, were carried in bridal processions; and, without the wool and thread, they were often suspended by females as offerings of religious gratitude, especially in old age, or on relinquishing the constant use of them. They were most frequently dedicated to Pallas, the patroness of spinning, and of the arts connected with it. They were exhibited in the representations of the three Fates, who were conceived, by their spinning, to determine the life of every man.

Fusus, spindle.