DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.13855#0186
FESCEXXINA. 178 FICTILE.
the union, the chief magistrate of the Latins
had presided at the festival; but Tarquin
now assumed this distinction, which subse-
quently, after the destruction of the Latin
commonwealth, remained with the chief
magistrates of Home. The object of this
panegyria on the Alban mount was the ■wor-
ship of Jupiter Latiaris, and, at least as long-
as the Latin republic existed, to deliberate
and decide on matters of the confederacy,
and to settle any disputes which might have
arisen among its members. As the feriae
Latinae belonged to the conceptivae, the
time of their celebration greatly depended on
the state of affairs at Home, since the consuls
were never allowed to take the field until
they had held the Latinae. This festival
was a great engine in the hands of the magis-
trates, who had to appoint the time of its
celebration [concipere, edicere, or indicere
Latinas) ; as it might often suit their purpose
either to hold the festival at a particular
time or to delay it, in order to prevent or
delay such public proceedings as seemed
injurious and pernicious, and to promote
others to which they were favourably dis-
posed. The festival lasted six days.
FESCENNINA, seil. earmina, one of the
earliest kinds of Italian poetry, which con-
sisted of rude and jocose verses, or rather
dialogues of extempore verses, in which the
merry country folks assailed and ridiculed
one another. This amusement seems ori-
ginally to have been peculiar to country peo-
ple, but it was also introduced into the towns
of Italy and at Home, where we find it men-
tioned as one of those in which young people
indulged at weddings.
FETIALES or FECIALES, a college of
Roman priests, who acted as the guardians
of the public faith. It was their province,
when any dispute arose with a foreign state,
to demand satisfaction, to determine the cir-
cumstances under which hostilities might be
commenced, to perform the various religious
rites attendant on the solemn declaration of
war, and to preside at the formal ratification
of peace. "When an injury had been received
from a foreign state, four fetiales were de-
puted to seek redress, who again elected one
of their number to act as their representative.
This individual was styled the pater patratus
populi Romani. A fillet of white w7ool was
bound round his head, together with a wreath
of sacred herbs gathered within the inclosure
of the Capitoline hill [Verbenae; Sagmina),
whence he was sometimes named Verbenarius.
Thus equipped, he proceeded to the confines
of the offending tribe, where he halted, and
addressed a prayer to Jupiter, calling the
god to witness, with heavy imprecations, that
his complaints were well founded and his
demands reasonable. He then crossed the
border, and the same form was repeated in
nearly the same words to the first native of
the soil whom he might chance to meet;
again a third time to the sentinel or any
citizen whom he encountered at the gate of
the chief town; and a fourth time to the
magistrates in the forum in presence of the
people. If a satisfactory answer was not
returned within thirty days, after publicly
delivering a solemn denunciation of what
might be expected to follow, he returned to
Home, and, accompanied by the rest of the
fetiales, made a report of his mission to-the
senate. If the people, as well as the senate,
decided for war, the pater patratus again set
forth to the border of the hostile territory,
and launched a spear tipped with iron, or
charred at the extremity and smeared with
blood (emblematic doubtless of fire and
slaughter), across the boundary, pronouncing
at the same time a solemn declaration of war.
The demand for redress, and the proclama-
tion of hostilities, were alike termed clari-
gatio. The whole system is said to have
been borrowed from the Aequicolae or the
Ardcates, and similar usages undoubtedly
prevailed among the Latin states. The num-
ber of the fetiales cannot be ascertained with
certainty, but they were probably twenty.
They were originally selected from the most
noble families, and their office lasted for life.
FIBULA (rrepoi/rj, 7rdp7n;), a brooch or
buckle, consisting of a pin (amis), and of a
curved portion furnished with a hook (kAci?).
Kibulae, brooches or buckles. ^British Museum.)
FICTILE (fcepa/uos, Kepdp.tov, bo-rpanov, bar-
paKiirji/), earthenware, a vessel or other ar-
ticle made of baked clay. The instruments
used in pottery (ars figulina) were the fol-
lowing :—1. The wheel (Tpox<fc, orbis, rota,
rota ftgularis). 2. Pieces of wood or bone,
which the potter [Kepajxevs, figulus) held in
his right hand, and applied occasionally to
the surface of the clay during its revolution.
3. Moulds (formae, tuttoi), used either to
decorate with figures in relief vessels
;ner to
which '
the union, the chief magistrate of the Latins
had presided at the festival; but Tarquin
now assumed this distinction, which subse-
quently, after the destruction of the Latin
commonwealth, remained with the chief
magistrates of Home. The object of this
panegyria on the Alban mount was the ■wor-
ship of Jupiter Latiaris, and, at least as long-
as the Latin republic existed, to deliberate
and decide on matters of the confederacy,
and to settle any disputes which might have
arisen among its members. As the feriae
Latinae belonged to the conceptivae, the
time of their celebration greatly depended on
the state of affairs at Home, since the consuls
were never allowed to take the field until
they had held the Latinae. This festival
was a great engine in the hands of the magis-
trates, who had to appoint the time of its
celebration [concipere, edicere, or indicere
Latinas) ; as it might often suit their purpose
either to hold the festival at a particular
time or to delay it, in order to prevent or
delay such public proceedings as seemed
injurious and pernicious, and to promote
others to which they were favourably dis-
posed. The festival lasted six days.
FESCENNINA, seil. earmina, one of the
earliest kinds of Italian poetry, which con-
sisted of rude and jocose verses, or rather
dialogues of extempore verses, in which the
merry country folks assailed and ridiculed
one another. This amusement seems ori-
ginally to have been peculiar to country peo-
ple, but it was also introduced into the towns
of Italy and at Home, where we find it men-
tioned as one of those in which young people
indulged at weddings.
FETIALES or FECIALES, a college of
Roman priests, who acted as the guardians
of the public faith. It was their province,
when any dispute arose with a foreign state,
to demand satisfaction, to determine the cir-
cumstances under which hostilities might be
commenced, to perform the various religious
rites attendant on the solemn declaration of
war, and to preside at the formal ratification
of peace. "When an injury had been received
from a foreign state, four fetiales were de-
puted to seek redress, who again elected one
of their number to act as their representative.
This individual was styled the pater patratus
populi Romani. A fillet of white w7ool was
bound round his head, together with a wreath
of sacred herbs gathered within the inclosure
of the Capitoline hill [Verbenae; Sagmina),
whence he was sometimes named Verbenarius.
Thus equipped, he proceeded to the confines
of the offending tribe, where he halted, and
addressed a prayer to Jupiter, calling the
god to witness, with heavy imprecations, that
his complaints were well founded and his
demands reasonable. He then crossed the
border, and the same form was repeated in
nearly the same words to the first native of
the soil whom he might chance to meet;
again a third time to the sentinel or any
citizen whom he encountered at the gate of
the chief town; and a fourth time to the
magistrates in the forum in presence of the
people. If a satisfactory answer was not
returned within thirty days, after publicly
delivering a solemn denunciation of what
might be expected to follow, he returned to
Home, and, accompanied by the rest of the
fetiales, made a report of his mission to-the
senate. If the people, as well as the senate,
decided for war, the pater patratus again set
forth to the border of the hostile territory,
and launched a spear tipped with iron, or
charred at the extremity and smeared with
blood (emblematic doubtless of fire and
slaughter), across the boundary, pronouncing
at the same time a solemn declaration of war.
The demand for redress, and the proclama-
tion of hostilities, were alike termed clari-
gatio. The whole system is said to have
been borrowed from the Aequicolae or the
Ardcates, and similar usages undoubtedly
prevailed among the Latin states. The num-
ber of the fetiales cannot be ascertained with
certainty, but they were probably twenty.
They were originally selected from the most
noble families, and their office lasted for life.
FIBULA (rrepoi/rj, 7rdp7n;), a brooch or
buckle, consisting of a pin (amis), and of a
curved portion furnished with a hook (kAci?).
Kibulae, brooches or buckles. ^British Museum.)
FICTILE (fcepa/uos, Kepdp.tov, bo-rpanov, bar-
paKiirji/), earthenware, a vessel or other ar-
ticle made of baked clay. The instruments
used in pottery (ars figulina) were the fol-
lowing :—1. The wheel (Tpox<fc, orbis, rota,
rota ftgularis). 2. Pieces of wood or bone,
which the potter [Kepajxevs, figulus) held in
his right hand, and applied occasionally to
the surface of the clay during its revolution.
3. Moulds (formae, tuttoi), used either to
decorate with figures in relief vessels
;ner to
which '