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FBUIT, GODS OF——FULLERS.
MURAL FAINTIHG FROM THE FCLLEB’s SHOP, POMPEII.
tunes, embittered the last years of his life. He died about 170. He was much admired by his contemporaries, some of whom formed a school of their own bearing the name of FrontSniCml, and this reputation survived after his death. Accordingly he used to be regarded as one of the chief representatives of Roman eloquence. But the discovery of part of his writings in 1815 dispelled the illusion. The recovered writings consist mainly of the correspondence, the greater part of which they preserve, between Fronto and the members of the imperial family, especially with Marcus Aurelius as prince and emperor. A number of the letters are written in Greek. Besides these we have a few fragments of historical works, and some rhetorical declamations. Of the speeches only a few meagre fragments remain. The character of Fronto, as revealed in these writings, is that of a man of some knowledge, honourable and independent, but vain and borni. His main ambition is to pave the way for the regeneration of the Latin language; and this, not by a study of the classical models, but by quarrying in the works of the ante-classical writers. Their antiquated expressions he revives, and uses in the most tasteless manner to clothe the poverty of his own thoughts. But his letters are of some value as contributing to our knowledge of the age and the persons then living.
Fruit, Gods of. See vertumnus, HOR.2E, and pomona.
Fulcra. [The ends of the framework on which the pillows of a couch or the cushions of a chair were placed, resembling the head of a modern sofa. They are invariably ornamented with inlaid bronze, sometimes of the richest kind, and are always surmounted by bronze ornaments representing the head and shoulders of a mule or ass, turning sideways and backwards, with ears put down and a vicious expression. The head is in almost every case decorated with a garland of vine-leaves entwined with tendrils and bunches of grapes, while the shoulders are covered with a curious leather collar, the top of which is turned down just where it joins the shaggy skin of some wild animal which is thrown over it. For the head of the ass is sometimes substituted that of a boy, or the head and neck of a goose. The lower part is decorated with a round boss from which springs a bust of a genius in full relief, or of some
youthful divinity, such as Bacchus or Hercules. The framework to which these ornaments are attached is described in Juvenal xi 93-98. The genius fulcri is mentioned ib. vi 22. Cp. Vergil, jEn. vi 604; Ovid, Ep. Pont, iii 3, 14; Propert. iv 7, 3: 8, 68; Suetonius, Claud. 32; Pliny, N. H., xxxiv 9; Ammianus xxviii 1, 47, plumSum. fulcrum; Hyginus, fab. 274, "Antiqui autem in lectis tricliniaribus in fulcris capita asellorum vite alligata habuerunt"]. W. C. F. Anderson in Classical Review, 1889, 322.
Fulgentlus (Fablus Planciade’s). A Latin grammarian, a native of Carthage, who wrote towards the end of the 5th century a.d. His works include, among other things, an allegorical interpretation of the ancient mythology in three books (Mythologies), the form of which reminds us of Martlanus Capella (see martiands capella), an exposition of the ^Eneid (Verglttana Con-ttnentla), and an explanation of strange and antiquated words illustrated by forged citations (ExpdsltiO Sermorils Antiqui).
Fullers (Gk. gnapheus, Lat, fullo). The fuller’s trade was one of the most important and most widely extended in Greek and
(Overtook, fig. 193. Roman antiquity. It embraced all the processes, now distributed among different trades, necessary for converting the web into cloth, the chief material used by the ancients for clothing. Again, it was usual to send clothes to the fuller for cleaning and working up. Clothes when sent to be cleaned were stamped with the feet in pits or troughs filled with warm water and
