Smith, William: A smaller dictionary of Greek and Roman antiquities (London, 1871)

FASCIA.

175

FASTIGIUM.

his soldiers, he usually crowned his fasces
with laurel.

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

FASCIA, a hand or fillet of cloth, -worn,
(1) round the head as an ensign of royalty ;
—(2) hy 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
wurales became common even with the male
sex.

FA8CINUM (Pao-Kavla), fascination, en-
chantment. The belief that some persons had
the power of injuring others by their looks,
was prevalent among the Greeks and Ro-
mans. The evil eye was supposed to injure
children particularly, but sometimes cattle
also ; whence Virgil {Eel. iii. 103) says,

* Nescio quis teneroa oculos mihi t'ascinat agnum."
Various amulets were used to avert its influ-
ence.

FASTI. Fas signifies divine law: the epi-
thet fastits 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 denomi-
nated fasti dies, i. e. lawful days. The sa-
wed 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 Annates or Fasti
llistorici.—I. Fasti Sacri or Kalendakes.
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 pro-
claimed 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 enumera-
tion of the months and days of the year ; the
Nones, Ides, Nundinae, Dies I'asti, Nefasti,
Comitiales, Atri, &c, together with the differ-
ent 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. [Calexdarium ; Dies.]—EL Fasti
Annales or Historici. Chronicles such as
the Annates 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 re-
cords. In prose writers fasti is commonly
employed as the technical term for the regis-
ters of consuls, dictators, censors, and other
magistrates, which formed part of the public
archives. Some most important fasti belong-
ing 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.

FASTIGIUM. An ancient Greek or Ro-