FECIALES,
A College of twenty Persons of Quality, skill'd in Affairs of State, instituted by Numa Pompilius, as Plutarch says, or by Tullus Hostilius, or Ancus Martius, as some others tell us, the Duty of their Office was to make Peace or proclaim War. The Greeks called them 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, i. e. Keepers of Peace. Feciales, says Festus, a faciendo, quod belli pacisque faciendae penes eos jus esset.
They did not suffer them to take up arms, till there was no hope of Agreement and Peace, Primum de pace experiebantur: Where∣fore they went themselves to the Nations, who had done the wrong and injury to the Romans, and endeavoured to perswade them by Arguments to submit to Reason, and make amends for what they had wrongfully done.
If they were not prevailed upon by their Arguments, they called the Gods to witness their just demands, and declared War, throw∣ing a Dart half burnt upon their ground, and some Grass, in the presence of three Antient Men, uttering withal many Imprecations a∣gainst them. The Romans durst not undertake a War contrary to the opinion of these Men, for Livy tells us, that the Consul Sulpitius consulted them about the War that he intend∣ed to declare against King Philip; Consulti Feciales à Consule Sulpitio, quod bellum indiceretur Regi Philippo.
But if the Enemy yielded to their demands, they granted them peace, which they ratified by the sacrificing a Hog, which they struck with a Stone, repeating a certain form of Prayers, related by Livy, in the Treaty of Peace concluded between the Albani and Ro∣mans. The Patratus the chief of this College spoke thus: Audi, Jupiter; Audi, Pater Patrats populi Albani; Audi tu populus Albanus, ut illa pa∣lam prima postrema, ex illis tabulis cerâve recitat sunt sine dolo malo, utique ea hic hodie rectissime in∣tellecta sunt, illis legibus Populus Romanus prior non deficiet: si prior defexit publico consilio, dolo malo; in illo die, Jupiter, populum Romanum sic ferito, ut hunc ego porcum hic hodie feriam, tanto∣que magis ferito, quanto magis potes pollesque. Having pronounced these words, he struck the Hog with a Stone, and the Albani did the like on their side.