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.)
