DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.785#0254
152
PESCENNIUM.
[chap. VIII.
period were in use among the Romans at their nuptials ;7
and which were sung also by the peasantry in alternate
extempore verses, hill of banter and raillery.8
To the precise site of Fescennium we have no clue,
though, from its connection with Falerii, and the mention
made of it by Virgil, we may safely conclude it was in the
district between Soracte and the Ciminian Mount, i. e. in
the ager Faliscus. Mutter's opinion, that it occupied the
site of Civita Castellana, has been shown to be incorrect.9
The assumption of Cluver, that it is represented by
Gallese, a village about nine miles to the north of Civita
Castellana, seems wholly gratuitous ;l he is followed,
however, in this by subsequent writers2 — magni
nominis umbra. The truth is, that there are numerous
' Servius.l. c. Festus, voce Fescennini
versus. Plin. XV. 24. Catul. LXI. 126.
Seneca, Medea, 113. Claudian gives a
specimen of Fescennina, on the nuptials
of Honorius and Maria. Festus offers a
second derivation—quia fascinum puta-
bantur arcere—which Miiller (Etrusk.
IV. 5. 2., n. 8.) thinks is not a satis-
factory explanation. Dr. Sehmitz,'
in Smith's Dictionary of Antiqui-
ities, objects to the Fescennian origin
of these songs, on the ground that
"this kind of amusement has at all
times been, and is still, so popular in
Italy, that it can scarcely be considered
as peculiar to any particular place."
He further maintains that these songs
cannot be of Etruscan origin, because
Fescennium was not an Etruscan, but
a Faliscan town. But whatever may
have been the origin of the Falisci, ages
before we find mention of the Fescen-
nine verses, they had been incorporated
with the Etruscan Confederation, and
were as much Etruscans as the citizens
of Caere, Cortona, Alsium, Pyrgi, all
of which had a Pelasgic origin.
8 Livy (VII. 2) calls them—versum
incompositumtemereacrudem. Catullus
(loc. cit.)-—procax Fescennina locutio.
So also Seneca (loc. cit.)—
Festa dicax fundat convicia Fescenninus.
Fescennine seems to have been a prover-
bial synonym for "playing the fool."
Macrob. Saturn. II. 10. In their original
character these Feseennines, though
coarse and bold, were not malicious;
but in time, says Horace, the freedom
of amiable sport grew to malignant rage,
and gave rise to dissensions and feuds ;
whereon the law stept in, and put an
end to them altogether. Epist. II.,
I. 145. Augustus himself wrote Fes-
eennines on Pollio, who would not
respond, save with a witty excuse—
non est facile in eum scribere, qui
potest proscribere. — Macrob. Satur.
II. 4.
9 See Chapter VII., pp. 145, 149, 150.
1 Cluv. Ital. Antiq. II., p. 551.
2 Nibby,II., p. 28. Cramer. I., p. 226-
Abeken's Mittelital. p. 36. Westphal,
Map of the Campagna.
PESCENNIUM.
[chap. VIII.
period were in use among the Romans at their nuptials ;7
and which were sung also by the peasantry in alternate
extempore verses, hill of banter and raillery.8
To the precise site of Fescennium we have no clue,
though, from its connection with Falerii, and the mention
made of it by Virgil, we may safely conclude it was in the
district between Soracte and the Ciminian Mount, i. e. in
the ager Faliscus. Mutter's opinion, that it occupied the
site of Civita Castellana, has been shown to be incorrect.9
The assumption of Cluver, that it is represented by
Gallese, a village about nine miles to the north of Civita
Castellana, seems wholly gratuitous ;l he is followed,
however, in this by subsequent writers2 — magni
nominis umbra. The truth is, that there are numerous
' Servius.l. c. Festus, voce Fescennini
versus. Plin. XV. 24. Catul. LXI. 126.
Seneca, Medea, 113. Claudian gives a
specimen of Fescennina, on the nuptials
of Honorius and Maria. Festus offers a
second derivation—quia fascinum puta-
bantur arcere—which Miiller (Etrusk.
IV. 5. 2., n. 8.) thinks is not a satis-
factory explanation. Dr. Sehmitz,'
in Smith's Dictionary of Antiqui-
ities, objects to the Fescennian origin
of these songs, on the ground that
"this kind of amusement has at all
times been, and is still, so popular in
Italy, that it can scarcely be considered
as peculiar to any particular place."
He further maintains that these songs
cannot be of Etruscan origin, because
Fescennium was not an Etruscan, but
a Faliscan town. But whatever may
have been the origin of the Falisci, ages
before we find mention of the Fescen-
nine verses, they had been incorporated
with the Etruscan Confederation, and
were as much Etruscans as the citizens
of Caere, Cortona, Alsium, Pyrgi, all
of which had a Pelasgic origin.
8 Livy (VII. 2) calls them—versum
incompositumtemereacrudem. Catullus
(loc. cit.)-—procax Fescennina locutio.
So also Seneca (loc. cit.)—
Festa dicax fundat convicia Fescenninus.
Fescennine seems to have been a prover-
bial synonym for "playing the fool."
Macrob. Saturn. II. 10. In their original
character these Feseennines, though
coarse and bold, were not malicious;
but in time, says Horace, the freedom
of amiable sport grew to malignant rage,
and gave rise to dissensions and feuds ;
whereon the law stept in, and put an
end to them altogether. Epist. II.,
I. 145. Augustus himself wrote Fes-
eennines on Pollio, who would not
respond, save with a witty excuse—
non est facile in eum scribere, qui
potest proscribere. — Macrob. Satur.
II. 4.
9 See Chapter VII., pp. 145, 149, 150.
1 Cluv. Ital. Antiq. II., p. 551.
2 Nibby,II., p. 28. Cramer. I., p. 226-
Abeken's Mittelital. p. 36. Westphal,
Map of the Campagna.