Formiæ, a maritime town of Campania at the south-east of Caieta. It was anciently the abode of the Læstrygones, and it became known for its excellent wines, and was called Mamurrarum urbs, from a family of consequence and opulence who lived there. Livy, bk. 8, ch. 14; bk. 38, ch. 36.—Horace, bk. 1, ode 20, li. 11; bk. 3, ode 17; bk. 1, satire 5, li. 37.—Pliny, bk. 36, ch. 6.
Formiānum, a villa of Cicero near Formiæ, near which the orator was assassinated. Cicero, Letters to his Friends, bk. 11, ltr. 27; bk. 16, ltr. 10.—Tacitus, Annals, bk. 16, ch. 10.
Formio, now Risano, a river of Istria, the ancient boundary of Italy eastward, afterwards extended to the Arsia. Pliny, bk. 3, chs. 18 & 19.
Fornax, a goddess at Rome, who presided over the baking of bread. Her festivals, called Fornacalia, were first instituted by Numa. Ovid, Fasti, bk. 2, li. 525.
Foro Appii, a people of Italy, whose capital was called Forum Appii. Pliny, bk. 3, ch. 5.
Fortūna, a powerful deity among the ancients, daughter of Oceanus according to Homer, or one of the Parcæ according to Pindar. She was the goddess of fortune, and from her hand were derived riches and poverty, pleasures and misfortunes, blessings and pains. She was worshipped in different parts of Greece, and in Achaia her statue held the horn of plenty in one hand, and had a winged Cupid at its feet. In Bœotia she had a statue which represented her as holding Plutus the god of riches in her arms, to intimate that fortune is the source whence wealth and honours flow. Bupalus was the first who made a statue of Fortune for the people of Smyrna, and he represented her with the polar star upon her head, and the horn of plenty in her hand. The Romans paid particular attention to the goddess of Fortune, and had no less than eight different temples erected to her honour in their city. Tullus Hostilius was the first who built her a temple, and from that circumstance it is easily known when her worship was first introduced among the Romans. Her most famous temple in Italy was at Antium, in Latium, where presents and offerings were regularly sent from every part of the country. Fortune has been called Pherepolis the protectress of cities, and Acrea from the temple of Corinth on an eminence, ἀκρος. She was called Prænestine at Præneste in Italy, where she had also a temple. Besides, she was worshipped among the Romans under different names, such as Female fortune, Virile fortune, Equestrian, Evil, Peaceful, Virgin, &c. On the 1st of April, which was consecrated to Venus among the Romans, the Italian widows and marriageable virgins assembled in the temple of Virile fortune, and after burning incense and stripping themselves of their garments, they entreated the goddess to hide from the eyes of their husbands whatever defects there might be on their bodies. The goddess of fortune is represented on ancient monuments with a horn of plenty, and sometimes two in her hands. She is blindfolded, and generally holds a wheel in her hands as an emblem of her inconstancy. Sometimes she appears with wings, and treads upon the prow of a ship, and holds a rudder in her hands. Dionysius of Halicarnassus, bk. 4.—Ovid, Fasti, bk. 6, li. 569.—Plutarch, de Fortuna Romanorum & Caius Marcius Coriolanus.—Cicero, de Divinatione, bk. 2.—Livy, bk. 10.—Augustine, City of God, bk. 4.—Florus, bk. 1.—Valerius Maximus, bk. 1, ch. 5.—Lucan, bk. 2, &c.
Fortūnātæ insulæ, islands at the west of Mauritania in the Atlantic sea. They are supposed to be the Canary isles of the moderns, thought to be only two in number, at a little distance one from the other, and 10,000 stadia from the shores of Libya. They were represented as the seats of the blessed, where the souls of the virtuous were placed after death. The air was wholesome and temperate, and the earth produced an immense number of various fruits without the labours of men. When they had been described to Sertorius in the most enchanting colours, that celebrated general expressed a wish to retire thither, and to remove himself from the noise of the world, and the dangers of war. Strabo, bk. 1.—Plutarch, Sertorius.—Horace, bk. 4, ode 8, li. 27; epode 16.—Pliny, bk. 6, chs. 31 & 32.
Fŏrŭli, a town of the Sabines, built on a stony place. Strabo, bk. 5.—Virgil, Æneid, bk. 7, li. 714.
Forum appii, a town of Latium on the Appia Via. Cicero, bk. 1, Letters to Atticus, ltr. 10.—Horace, bk. 1, satire 3, li. 3.——Augustum, a place at Rome. Ovid, Fasti, bk. 5, li. 552.——Allieni, a town of Italy, now Ferrara. Tacitus, Histories, bk. 3, ch. 6.——Aurelia, a town of Etruria, now Montalto. Cicero, Against Catiline, bk. 1, ch. 9.——Claudii, another in Etruria, now Oriolo.——Cornelii, another, now Imola, in the Pope’s dominions. Pliny, bk. 3, ch. 16.—Cicero, Letters to his Friends, bk. 12, ltr. 5.——Domitii, a town of Gaul, now Frontignan, in Languedoc.——Voconii, a town of Gaul, now Gonsaron, between Antibes and Marseilles. Cicero, Letters to his Friends, bk. 10, ltr. 17.——Lepidi, a town of ancient Gaul, south of the Po.——Popilii, another at the south of Ravenna, on the Adriatic.——Flaminii, a town of Umbria, now San Giavane. Pliny, bk. 3, ch. 14.——Gallorum, a town of Gaul Togata, now Castel Franco, in the Bolognese. Cicero, Letters to his Friends, bk. 10, ltr. 30.——Also a town of Venice called Forojuliensis urbs, now Friuli. Cicero, Letters to his Friends, bk. 12, ltr. 26.——Julium, a town of Gaul Narbonensis, now Frejus, in Provence. Cicero, Letters to his Friends, bk. 10, ltr. 17.—Strabo, bk. 4.——Lebnorum, a town of Insubria. Polybius.——Sempronii, a town of Umbria, &c. Many other places bore the name of Forum wherever there was a public market, or rather where the pretor held his court of justice (forum vel conventus), and thence they were called sometimes conventus as well as fora, into which provinces were generally divided under the administration of a separate governor. Cicero, Against Verres, bk. 2, ch. 20; bk. 4, ch. 48; bk. 5, ch. 11; Against Vatinius, ch. 5; Letters to his Friends, bk. 3, ltrs. 6 & 8; Letters to Atticus, bk. 5, ltr. 21.
Fosi, a people of Germany near the Elbe, considered as the Saxons of Ptolemy. Tacitus, Germania, ch. 36.