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

530 FESCENNINA. FETIALES.
common sacrifice of an ox to Jupiter Latiaris, in (Horat. Epist. ii. 1. 145.) This amusement seems
the name and on behalf of all who took part in it. originally to have been peculiar to country people,
The flesh of the victim was distributed among the but it was also introduced into the towns of Italy
several towns whose common sanctuary stood oln and at Rome, where we find it mentioned as one
the Albhm mount. (Dionys. Hal. 1. c.; Varro, de of those in which young people indulged at wedLing. Lat. vi. 25; Schol. Bobiens. in Cic. Orat. dings. (Serv. a1d Aenz. vii. 695; Seneca, Controv.
pro Plane. p. 255, &c. Orelli.) Besides the com- 21; Plin. H. Nr. xv. 22.) The fescennina were
mon sacrifice of an ox, the several towns offered one of the popular amusements at various festivals,
each separately lambs, cheeses, or a certain quan- and on many other occasions, but especially after
tity of milk (Cic. de Div. i. 11), or cakes. Mul- the harvest was over. After their introduction
titudes flocked to the Alban mount on the occasion, into the towns they seem to have lost much of
and the season was one of great rejoicings and their original rustic character, and to have been
feasting. Various kinds of games were not want- modified by the influence of Greek refinement (see
ing, among which may be mentioned the oscillatio Virg. Geoir. ii. 385, &c.; Tibull. ii. 1. 55; Catull.
(swinging, Fest. s. v. Oscillsuo). It was a sym- 61. 27); they remained, however, in so far the
bolic game, and the legend respecting its origin same, as they were at all times irregular, and
shows that it was derived from the Latins. Pliny mostly extempore doggerel verses. Sometimes,
(UE. N. xxvii. 2) mentions that during the Latin however, versus iescennini were also written as
holidays a race of four-horse chariots (quadrigcae satires upon persons. (Macrob. Satsrn. ii. 4.) That
certctant) took place on the Capitol, in which the these railleries had no malicious character, and
victor received a draught of absynthinum. were not intended to hurt or injure, may be illAlthough the Roman consuls were always pre- ferred from the circumstance that one person often
sent on the Alban mount, and conducted the called upon another to answer and retort in a sim i.
solemn sacrifice of an ox, yet we read that the lar strain. The fescennina are generally believed
superintendence of the Latinae, like that of other to have been introduced amniong the Romans froni
festivals, was given by the senate to the Aediles, Etruria, and to have derived their name from Feswho, therefore, probably conducted the minor sa- cennia, a town of that country. But, in the first
crifices, the various gaimes, and other selemnities place, Fescennia was not an Etruscan but a Falis(Dionys. Hal. vi. p. 41 5.) While the consuls were can town (Niebuhr, Hist. of Rome, i. p. 136), and,
engaged on the Alban mount, their place at Rome in the second, this kind of amusement has at all
was filled by the praefectus urbi. [PRAEFECTUS times been, and is still, so popular ill Italy, that it
URBI.] can scarcely be considered as peculiar to any parThe two days following the celebration of the ticular place. The derivation of a name of this
Latin holidays were considered as dies seligiosi, so kind from that of some particular place was forthat no marriages could be contracted. (Cic. ad merly a favourite custom, as may be seen in the
Quint. Frat. ii. 4.) From Dion Cassius we see derivation of caerimonia fromn Caere. Festus (s. v.)
that in his times the Feriae Latinae were still endeavours to solve the question by supposing fesstrictly observed by the Romans, whereas the cenuina to be derived from fascinllm, either because
Latin towns had, at the time of Cicero, almost en- they were thought to be a protection against sortirely given up taking any part ill them. The cerers and witches, or because fascinum (phallus),
Romans seemed to have continued to keep them the symbol of fertility, had in early times, or in
down to the fourth century of our era. (Lactant. rural districts, been connected with the amusements
Institut. i. 21.) of the fesceainina. But whatever may be thought
Fe-eiae Sesmentivae, or Seenzetinas dies, was kept of this etymology, it is of importance not to be
in seed-tinie for the purpose of praying for a good nmisled by the common opinion that the fescenn!ina,
crop; it lasted only for one day, which was fixed were of Etruscan origin. [L. S.]
by the pontiffs. (Varro, de Ling. Lat. vi. 26, FESTI DIES. [DIEs.]
de Re Rust. i. 2, init.; Ovid, Fatst. i. 658, &c.) FESTU'CA. [MANUsIISSmo.]
Peria vinsdemnialis lasted from the 22d of August FETIA'LES, a college (Liv. xxxvi. 3) of Roto the 15th of October, and was instituted for the man priests who acted as the guardians of the
purpose of enabling the country-people to get in public faith. It was their province, when any
the fruits of the field and to hold the vintage. dispute arose with a foreign state, to demand satis(Codex, 3. tit. 12.) faction, to determine the circumstances under
Feriae aestivae were holidays kept during the which hostilities might be commenced, to perfornl
hottest season of summer, when many of the weal- the various religious rites attendant on the solemn
thier Romans left the city and went into the declaration of war, and to preside at the formal
country. (Gellius, ix. 15. ~ 1.) They seem to have ratification of peace. These functions are briefly
been the samie as the sw2essis ftpria (Cod. 3. tit. 12. but comprehensively defined by Varro (De Li2iy.
s. 2, 6), and lasted from the 24th of June till the Lat. v. 86, ed MUller), " Fetiales... fidel publicae
1st of August. inter populos praeerant: nam per hos fiebat ut
_Feriae praecidaneae are said to have been pre- justum conciperetur bellunl et inde desitmn, ut
paratory days, or such as preceded the ordinary foedere fides pacis constitueretur. Ex his mitferiae; although they did not belong to the feriae, tebantur, antequam conciperetur, qui res repeterent,
and often even were dies atai, they were on certain et per hos etiam nunc fit foedus," to which we
occasions inaugurated by the chief pontiff, and thus may add the old law quoted by Cicero (De Leg.
made feriae. (Gellius, iv. 6.) [L. S.] ii. 9), " FOEDERUM, PACIS, BELLI, INDUCIARUMI
FESCENNI'NA, scil. carmina, one of the ORATORES FETIALES JUDICESQUE SUNTO; BEILLA.
earliest kinds of Italian poetry, which consisted of DISCEPTANTO." Dionysius (ii. 72) and Livy (i.
rude and jocose verses, or rather dialogues in ex.. 32) detail at considerable length the ceremonies
tempore verses (Liv. vii. 2), in which the merry observed by the Romans in the earlier ages, when
country folks assailed and ridiculed one another. they felt themselves aggrieved by a neighbouring