Fidius Dius, a divinity by whom the Romans generally swore. He was also called Sancus, or Sanctus, and Semipater, and he was solemnly addressed in prayers the 5th of June, which was yearly consecrated to his service. Some suppose him to be Hercules. Ovid, Fasti, bk. 6, li. 213.—Varro, de Lingua Latina, bk. 4, ch. 10.—Dionysius of Halicarnassus, bks. 2 & 9.
Fimbria, a Roman officer who besieged Mithridates in Pritaine, and failed in his attempts to take him prisoner. He was deserted by his troops for his cruelty, upon which he killed himself. Plutarch, Lucullus.
Firmum, now Fermo, a town of Picenum on the Adriatic, the port of which was called Castellum Firmanum. Cicero, bk. 8, Letters to Atticus, ltr. 12.—Pliny, bk. 7, ch. 8.—Velleius, bk. 1, ch. 14.
Marcus Firmius, a powerful native of Seleucia, who proclaimed himself emperor, and was at last conquered by Aurelian.
Fiscellus, a part of the Apennine mountains in Umbria, where the Nar rises. Silius Italicus, bk. 8, li. 518.—Pliny, bk. 3, ch. 12.
Flacilla Antonia, a Roman matron in Nero’s age, &c. Tacitus, Annals, bk. 14, ch. 7.
Flaccus, a consul who marched against Sylla, and was assassinated by Fimbria. Plutarch.——A poet. See: [Valerius].——A governor of Egypt, who died A.D. 39.——Verrius, a grammarian, tutor to the two grandsons of Augustus, and supposed author of the Capitoline marbles.——A name of Horace. See: [Horatius].
Ælia Flacilla, the mother of Arcadius and Honorius, was daughter of Antonius, a prefect of Gaul.
Flāmĭnia lex, agraria, by Caius Flaminius the tribune, A.U.C. 525. It required that the lands of Picenum, from which the Gauls Senones had been expelled, should be divided among the Roman people.
Flaminia via, a celebrated road which led from Rome to Ariminum and Aquileia. It received its name from Flaminius, who built it, and was killed at the battle of Thrasymenus against Annibal.——A gate of Rome opening to the same road, now del popolo.