Dictionary of Greek and Roman antiquities. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

5fi14 FAX. FENUS.
from a flat one, or sometimes it may refer to the these were often nocturnal ceremonies, and t)ecause
pediment of a portico attached to the front of a man- it was used to set fire to the pile. Hence the exsion, as when the RonLans decreed to Caesar the pression of Propertius (iv. 12. 46), " Vi-imus inliberty of erecting a fatstigium to his house (Cic. signes inter utramnque facem." The torch-bearer
Phil. ii. 43; Florus, iv. 2; Pint. Cases. 81; comp. turned away his'face from the pile in setting it on
ACROTERIUMs), that is, a portico and pediment fire. (Virg. Aen. vi. 224.) [J. Y.]
towards the street like that of a temple. [A. R.] FEBRUUM. [LUPERCAIIA.]
FAUCES. [DoveiTS, p. 428, a.] FECIA'LES. [FETILSES.]
FAX (pavds), a torch. The descriptions of FEMINA'LIA, were worn in winter by Auguspoets and mythologists, and the works of ancient tus Caesar, who was very susceptible of cold.
art, represent the torch as carried by Diana, Ceres, (Sueton. Aug. 82.) Casaubon supposes them to
Bellona, Hymen (woodcut, p. 238), Phosphorus, have been bandages or fillets [FAscIA] wound
by females in Bacchanalian processiols (p. 288), about the thighs; it seems more probable that they
and, in an inverted position, by Sleep and Death. were breeches resembling ours, since garments for
In the annexed woodcut, the female fiure in the the thighs (7repjlapma) were worn by the Roman
middle is copied from a fictile vase. The winged horsemen (Arrian, Tact. p. 14, ed. Blanc.); and
figure on the left hand, asleep and leaning on a the column of Trajan, the arch of Constantine, anid
torch, is from a funeral monument at Rome: the other monuments of the same period, present anuword " Somnus" is inscribed beside it. The other smerous examples of both horse and foot soldiers
winged figure, also with the torch inverted, is who wear breeches, closely fitted to the body, and
taken from an antique gem, and represents Cupid never reaching much below the knees. (See woodunder the character of Avo-iEps (Serv. in Visy. Aen. cuts, pp. 2, 117, 136.) [J. Y.]
iv. 520) or "Lethaeus Amor" (Ovid, Rein. Amzor. FENESTRA. [DooArus, p. 432.1
555). In ancient marbles the torch is sometimes FENUS (Tditos3), interest of money. 1. Gritmc:,.
more ornamented than in the examples now pro- At Athens, Solon, among other reforms, abolished
the law by which a creditor was empowered to
sell or enslave a debtor, and prohibited the lending
of money upon a person's own body (e7rl zor's
srga0 fn'ya ea &svEi'Cuv, Plut. Sol. c. 15). No
other restriction, we are told, was introduced by
him, and the rate of interest was left to the dis-,,s, 1 l\ r cretione of the lender (rb'pyiplov ~a-rdr'o~v els'
740'y idny di Psihejoi 6 VaVEi07 P(i, Lys. is Theam.wn
6, i: t Jl ll rk:2 prescribed by law, was in the event of a man sepa-,}J34 lX iS s t 1l 1;l |t1 /Ill'W i; \\'l rating from his lawful wife, and not refunding the
Klll / \ 1 lll l I @/ /0 40 8 dowry he had received with her. Her trustees or
gi%.( i. l,, guardians (ol iciiplso) could in that case proceed
against him for the principal, with lawful interest
-' / i f Z1 Z X j g at the rate of 18 per cent. [Dos (GiurEIc).]
7/5 f/; jl (: il 11 /~t2/ < Any rate might be expressed or represented in
two different ways: (1.) by the number of oboli
or drachmae paid by the vzontl for every minan;
(2) by the part of the principal (rb apXaiov or
dtced; but it appears to be formed of w-ooden cesbciAatov) paid as interest either annually or for
staves or twigs, either bound by a rope drawn the whole period of the loan. According to the
round them in a spiral form, as in the above middle former method, which was generally used when
fidgre, or surrounded by circular bands at equlal money was lent upon real security ('dtoi E'yyUvoi
distances, as in the two exterior figures. The in- or "y'yeios), different rates were expressed as folside of the torch may be supposed to have been lows:-10 per cent. by 7rl 7'rew'swe oCoA7s, i. e.
filled with flax, tow, or other vegetable fibres, the 5 oboli per month for every mina, or 60 oboli a
whole being abundantly impregnated with pitch, year= 1 0.drachmae=-o of a mina. Similarly,
rosin, wax, oil, and other inflammnable substances. 12per cent, by E'A apaXueo per month.
As the principal use of torches was to give light to 6 pr cnt' hc'r I Oos
thlose who went abroad after sunset, the portion of r cent., r''e,,,
the Roman day immediately succeeding sun-set 24 percelt.,, terd &epaxtoaos,,
was calledfcax or p-rima fax. (Gell. iii. 2; Ma- 36 per cent. n2 -i7r- 6paXiaX s,,
crob. S&t.i. 2.) Torches, as now described, ap- 3 per cent.,, seir pmrf epnsfeAsLe, probably.
pear to have been more common among the Romans
than the Greeks. The use of torches after suniset, Another method was generally adopted in
and the practice of celebrating marriages at that cases of bottomlry, where money was lent upon the
time, probably led to the consideration of the torch ship's cargo or freightage (Einl T,' VaXW) or the
as one of the necessary accompaniments and sym. ship itself, for a specified time, commonly that of
bols of marriage. Among the Romans the fJax the voyage. By this method the following rates
aeptialis (Cic. pro Cluent. 6), having been lighted were thus represented.
at the parental hearth, was carried before the bride 10 per cent. by'rdcot eir-MaKa'or, i. e. interest at
by a boy whose parents were alive. (Plaut. Cas. i. the rate of a tenth; i2-1, 16., 20, 33M, by'rdKco
30; Ovid, Epist. xi. 101; Servius, ini Virg. Ecl. 7rdy3oo,, &pecETo, Eri7reEzr'otI, and deri'ptsTol, meviii. 29; Plin. /. N. xvi. 18; Festus, s. v. Pa- spectively. So that, as Bdckh (Pusll. Econoim of
(trn-i.) The torch was also carried at funerals (fax A theis, pp. 123, 124, 2nd ed.) remarks, the T-os
sepmulchralis, Ovid, EFpist. ii. 120), both because er;s&mEaros is equal to the 7rl n7Tree foto7is