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On this page: Ffmbriae – Fiduciaria Actio – Figlina Ars – Figltnae – Figulus – Filiusfamilias – Finitores – Finium Regundotojm Actio – Fiscales – Fiscus

FIMBRTAE.

explained by reference to com missum. (Gains, ii. 60, iii. 201 ; Rosshirt, Grundlinien, &c. § 99 ; Rein, Das Rom. Privatrecht; Hcinecc. Syntagma. ed. Haubold.) [G. L.]

FIDUCIARIA ACTIO. [Acno.]

FIGLINA ARS. [fictile.]

FIGLTNAE. [fictile.]

FIGULUS. [fictile.]

FILIUSFAMILIAS. [familta.]

FFMBRIAE (icpoo-ffoi • lonice^ frvaavot, Greg. Corinth.), thrums ; tassels ; a fringe.

When the ‘weaver had finished any garment on the loom [tela], the thrums, i. e. the extremities of the threads of the warp, hung in a row at the bottom. In this state they were frequently left, being considered ornamental. Often also, to pre­vent them from ravelling, and to give a still more artificial and ornamental appearance, they were separated into bundles, each of which was twisted (a-rpeirrois frvcravois, Brunck, Anal.’i. 416), and tied in one or more knots. The thrums were thus, by a very simple process, transformed into ft row of tassels. The linen shirts, found in Egyptian tombs, sometimes show this ornament among their lower edge, and illustrate, in a very interesting manner, the description of these garments by Herodotus (ii. 81). Among the Greeks and Romans fringes were seldom worn except by females (icpovo’WT’bv XiT&va, Brunck, ii. 525 ; Jacobs, &c. ad loo. ; Pollux, vii. 64 ; Sueton. Jul. 45). Of their manner of displaying them the best idea may be formed by the inspection of the annexed woodcut, taken from a small bronze, representing a Roman lady who wears an inner and an outer tunic, the latter being fringed, and over these a large shawl or pallium.

Among barbarous nations the amictus was often worn by men with a fringe, as is seen very con­spicuously in the group of Sarmatians at p. 213 By crossing the bundles of thrums, and tying them at the points of intersection, a kind of net­work was produced, and we are informed of a fringe of this description, which was, moreover, hung with bells. (Diod. xviii. 26.) The ancients also manufactured fringes separately, and sewed them to the borders of then- garments. They were

537

FISCUS

likewise made of gold thread and other costly materials. Of this kind was the ornament, con« sisting of a hundred golden tassels, which sur­rounded the mythical shield of Jupiter, the alyis i&vcrco’oecra’a, and which depended from the girdle of Juno. (Horn. II. ii. 448, v. 738, xiv. 181, xvii. 593.)

In consequence of the tendency of wool to form itself into separate bundles like tassels (&v(ravr)$b)/, Aelian, //. A. xvi. 11), the poets speak of the golden fleece as consisting of them (Find. Pyth. iv. 411; Apoll. Rhod. iv. 1146) ; and Cicero, declaim­ ing against the effeminacy of Gabinius, applies the same expression to his curling locks of hair (in Pis. 11). f J. Y 1

FINITORES. [agrimensores.]

FINIUM REGUNDOTOJM ACTIO. If the boundaries of contiguous estates were accidentally confused, each of the parties interested in the re- establishment of the boundaries might have an action against the other for that purpose. This action belonged to the class of duplicia judicia. [familiae erciscundae actio.] In this action each party was bound to account for the fruits and profits which he had received from any part of the land which did not belong to him, and also to account for any injury which it had sustained through his culpa. Each party was also entitle-cl to compensation for improvements made in the por­ tion of land which did not belong to him. (Dig. 10, tit. 1.) There is an article entitled ‘ Ueber die Granzscheidungsklage’ by RudorfF in the Zeit- schrift fur GeschicktlicJie Rechtswissenschaft, vol. x. [ager.] [G. L.]

FISCALES. [gladiatores.]

FISCUS. The following is Savigny’s account of the origin and meaning of this term: —

In the republican period, the state was desig­nated by the term Aerarium, in so far as it was viewed with respect to its having property, which ultimately resolved itself into receipts into, and payments made out of, the public chest. On the establishment of the imperial power, there was a division of the provinces between the senate, as the representative of the old republic, and the Caesar; and there was consequently a division of the most important branches of public income and expenditure. The property of the senate retained the name of Aerarium, and that of the Caesar, as such, received the name of Fiscus. The private property of the Caesar (res privata Principis, ratio Caesaris) was quite distinct from that of the Fiscus. The word Fiscus signified a wicker-basket, or pan­nier, in which the Romans were accustomed to keep and carry about large sums of money (Cic. Ven i. 8 ; Phaedr. Fab. ii. 7) ; and hence Fis­cus came to signify any person’s treasure or money chest. The importance of the imperial Fiscus soon led to the practice of appropriating the name to that property which the Caesar claimed as Caesar, and the word Fiscus, without any adjunct, was used in this sense (res fisci est, Juv. Sat, iv. 54). Ultimately the word came to signify generally the property of the state, the Caesar having concen­trated in himself all the sovereign power, and thus the word Fiscus finally had the same signification as Aerarium in the republican period. It does not appear at what time the Aerarium was merged in the Fiscus, though the distinction of name and of thing continued at least to the time of Hadrian. In the later periods the words Aerarium and Fis-