fasti
fasti, a register of judicial days, court calendar
~i, †sive [MS: sc. ] dies sunt quibus jus fatur, i. dicitur, ut nefasti quibus non dicitur
~i,weorcdagas
fastis [sic ] libri sunt in quibus sunt nomina consulum
fastes, i. libri in quibus sunt nomina †nonsulum [MS: consulum ]
fastus, i. ‥ liber [MS: ] consulatus ‥prius libri
~orum libri,cyninga bec siveconsula bec
dicimus quoque hic ~us, -ti, pro libro in quo totius anni facta describebantur, unde et quidam de libris Ovidii ‥; hinc et Lucanus reprehenditur qui ~um non secunde sed quarte protulit declinationis [cf. Lucan 10. 187: ~ibus ]
sic modo heroica stipulentur carmina laudem, / ut fasti seriem memini dixisse priorem / et dudum prompsit voto spondente libellus
tuos tamen bona lance constructos legimus ~os(
~ibus, i. libris
- 1. gerechts-, zittingsdagen v.d. pretor; ➤ omnibus -is legem ferre;
- 2. (meton.) lijst v. zittingsdagen (oorspr. in de handen v.d. pontifices en daarom alleen voor patriciërs toegankelijk; in 304 v. Chr. door Cn. Flavius, de secretaris v. Appius Claudius Caecus, openbaar gemaakt);
- 3. kalender; ➤ in fastos referre; — Fāstī ‘de Fasti’, titel v.e. werk v. Ovidius, dat de kalender v. plechtige feesten beschrijft;
- 4. ambtskalender, doorlopende lijst v.d. hoogste magistraten v. elk jaar, van 508 v. Chr. tot 354 n. Chr., meestal fasti consulares of fasti Capitolini (naar hun tegenwoordige bewaarplaats in Rome) genoemd; deze lijst was het uitgangspunt voor de annalistische Rom. geschiedschrijving;
- 5. (poët.) jaarboeken, annalen.
- fastus, sc. dies, a register of judicial days, court calendar(orig. kept by the pontifices, until Cn. Flavius posted a copy in the Forum): fastos proposuit, ut sciretur, etc., L.—A list of the days of the year, calendar, almanac, annals: cum diem festum de fastis suis sustulissent.—A register of events in chronological order, annals: per titulos memoresque fastos, H.: fastos evolvere mundi, human history, H.—The official registers of the higher magistrates(fasti consulares): enumeratio fastorum: in codicillorum fastis: paginas in annalibus magistratuum fastisque percurrere, L.: hos consules fasti ulli ferre possunt?—The title of a poem on the Roman festivals, O.
FASTIFas signifies divine law: the epithet fastus is properly applied to anything in accordance with divine law, and hence all those days upon which legal business might, without impiety (sine piaculo), be transacted before the praetor, were technically denominated fasti dies, i.e. lawful days. (For the classification of the days of the year, cf. DIES) Varro and Festus derive fastus directly from fari (Varr. L. L. 6.2; Festus, s. v. Fasti), while Ovid (Ov. Fast. 1.47) may be quoted in support of either etymology.
The sacred books in which the fasti dies of the year were marked, were themselves denominated fasti; the term, however, was employed in an extended sense to denote registers of various descriptions, and many mistakes have arisen among commentators from confounding fasti of different kinds. It will be useful, therefore, to consider separately the two great divisions, which have been distinguished as Fasti Sacri or Fasti Kalendares, and Fasti Annales or Fasti Historici.
I. FASTI SACRIor KALENDARES.For nearly four centuries and a half after the foundation of the city a knowledge of the calendar was possessed exclusively by the priests. One of the pontifices regularly proclaimed the appearance of the new moon, and at the same time announced the period which would intervene between the Kalends and the Nones. On the Nones the country people assembled for the purpose of learning from the Rex Sacrorum the various festivals to be celebrated during the month, and the days on which they would fall. (Macrob. 1.15.) In like manner all who wished to go to law were obliged to inquire of the privileged few on what day they might bring their suit, and received the reply as if from the lips of an astrologer. (Cic. pro Muren. 11, 25.) The whole of this lore, so long a source of power and profit, and therefore jealously enveloped in mystery, was at length made public by a certain Cn. Flavius, scribe to App. Claudius Caecus (Liv. 9.46; Plin. Nat.33.17; Gell. 6.9; Val. Max.), who, having gained access to the pontifical books, copied out all the requisite information, and exhibited it in the forum for the use of the people at large. From this time forward such tables became common, and were known by the name of Fasti. They usually contained an enumeration of the months and days of the year; the Nones, Ides, Nundinae, Dies Fasti, Nefasti, Comitiales, Atri, &c. [CALENDARIUM], together with the different festivals, were marked ia their proper places: astronomical observations on the risings and settings of the fixed stars and the commencement of the seasons were frequently inserted, and sometimes brief notices annexed regarding the introduction and signification of certain rites, the dedication of temples, glorious victories, and terrible disasters. In later times it became common to pay homage to the members of the imperial family by noting down their exploits and honours in the calendar, a species of flattery with which Antonius is charged by Cicero (Philipp. 2.34, 87. See also Tac. Ann. 1.15).
It will be seen from the above description that these fasti closely resembled a modern almanac ( Fastorum libri appellantur totius anni descriptio, Festus); and the celebrated work of Ovid may be considered as a poetical Year-book or Companion to the Almanac, having been composed to illustrate the Fasti published by Julius Caesar, who remodelled the Roman year. All the more remarkable epochs are examined in succession, the origin of the different festivals explained, the various ceremonies described, the legends connected with the principal constellations narrated, and many curious discussions interwoven upon subjects likely to prove interesting to his countrymen; the whole being seasoned with frequent allusions to the glories of the Julian line. The work however is incomplete, and deals only with the first six months of the year.
Several specimens of fasti, more or less perfect, on stone and marble, have been discovered at different times in different places. Mommsen arranges them in the following order:-- 1. Calendarium Pincianum,engraved about B.C. 30, because Aug. 28 is not noted as feriatus, a character given to it in B.C. 29, but the feriae on Sept. 23, the birthday of Augustus, are inserted.2. Allifanum,of the same date.3. Tusculanum,dating from before B.C. 20, because it does not recognise the festival of Mars, in that year assigned to May 12.4. Venusinum,probably belonging to B.C. 28.5. Sabinum,after B.C. 19, as it notes the festival of the Augustales, Oct. 12, but earlier than the next, because the birthday of Augustus is fastus, not feriatus. 6. Maffeianum,after B.C. 8, because it assigns ludi circenses, instituted in that year for the birthday of Augustus, but before A.D. 3, because it does not note festivals established in that year.7. Esquilinum,of the same date.8. Feriale Cumanum, after the adoption of Tiberius in A.D. 3.9. Praenestinum,between B.C. 2 and A.D. 10.10. Vallense,between A.D. 7 and A.D. 14.11. Astiense,before A.D. 14.12. Vaticanum,during the reign of Tiberius (A.D. 14-34).13. Amiterninum,after A.D. 16, but probably before A.D. 19.4. Pighianum,between A.D. 31 and A.D. 37.15. Antiatinum,in A.D. 51.16-19. Cc. Farnesianum, Urbinas, Romana duo,without any certain indications of date, but probably not later than 15.
Mommsen further argues that it was quite natural that all these calendars should have been engraved while the Julian system was not generally familiar, and that they should all belong to Rome or the surrounding towns, because they were of little use except to those who lived in the capital, or visited it frequently. At a later date calendars were published in manuscripts, two of which are extant. Those mentioned above are all fragmentary, except the Cal. Maffeianum. One of the most remarkable, though one of the least entire, is that known as the Kalendarium Praenestinum or Fasti Verriani. Suetonius, in his short treatise on distinguished grammarians (100.17), tells us that a statue of Verrius Flaccus, preceptor to the grandsons of Augustus, stood in the lower part of the forum of his native town, Praeneste, near the Hemieyelium, on which he had exhibited to public view the fasti, arranged by himself, and engraved on marble slabs. In the year 1771 the remains of a circular building were discovered in the immediate vicinity of the modern Palestrina, together with several fragments of marble tablets, which were soon recognised as forming part of an ancient calendar; and upon further examination no doubt was entertained by the learned that these were the very fasti of Verrius described by Suetonius. An Italian antiquary, named Foggini, continued the excavations, collected and arranged the scattered morsels with great patience and skill; and in this manner the months of January, March, April, and December, to which a very small portion of February was afterwards added, were recovered; and, although much defaced and mutilated, form a very curious and useful monument.
Some of the above, with others of more recent date, are given in the Corpus Inscriptionum of Gruter, in the 11th vol. of the Thesaurus Rom. Antiqq. of Graevius; in the work of Foggini, entitled Fastorum anni Romani a Verrio Flacco ordinatorum Reliquiae, &c. Romae, 1779; and in Jac. Van Vaassen, Animadverss. ad Fastos Rom. Sacros fragmenta, Traj. ad Rhen. 1795: to which add Ideler's Handbuch der mathematischen und technischen Chronologie, Berlin, 1826. But earlier editions are practically superseded by Mommsen's very exact publication and full discussion in the Corpus Inscr. Lat. vol. i. pp. 293-411. Cf. also Bp. John Wordsworth's Fragments and Specimens, pp. 266-271, with the notes.
Before quitting this part of our subject, we may make mention of the Calendarium Rusticum Farnesianum, or, as it is now more commonly called, the Menologium Rusticum Colotianum, now in the Museum at Naples (engraved in Daremberg and Saglio, vol. 1. p. 836). This Rural Almanac is cut upon four sides of a cube, each face being divided into three columns, and each column including a month. At the top of the column is carved the appropriate sign of the zodiac; then follows the name of the month, the number of the days, the position of the nones, the length of the day and night, the name of the sign through which the sun passes, the god under whose protection the month was placed, the various agricultural operations to be performed, and a list of the principal festivals. Take May as an example:-- MENSISMAIVS DIES. XXXI. NON. SEPTIM. DIES. HOR. XIIIIS. NOX. HOR. VIIIIS. SOL TAVRO. TVTEL. APOLLIN. SEGET. RVNCANT. OVES. TVNDVNT. LANA. LAVATVR. IVVENCI DOMANT. VICEA. PABVLAR SECATVR SEGETES LVSTRANTVR SACRVM MERCVR. ET. FLORAE.
(See Morcelli, Opera Epigraphica, vol. 1.77; and Mommsen, C. I. L. vol. 1.358.)
II. FASTI ANNALES or HISTORICI. Chronicles such as the Annales Maximi, containing the names of the chief magistrates for each year, and a short account of the most remarkable events noted down opposite to the days on which they occurred, were, from the resemblance which they bore in arrangement to the sacred calendars, denominated fasti; and hence this word is used, especially by the poets, in the general sense of historical records. (Hor. Sat. 1.3, 112; Carm. 4.13, 13, 3.17, 7.)
In prose writers fasti is commonly employed as the technical term for the registers of consuls, dictators, censors, and other magistrates, which formed part of the public archives. (Liv. 9.18; Cic. pro Sest. 14, 33: compare Cic. Philipp. 13.1. 2, 26; Tac. Ann. 3.17, 18.) Again, when Cicero remarks in the famous epistle to Lucceius (ad Fam. 5.12), Etenim ordo ille annalium mediocriter nos retinet quasi enumeratione fastorum, he means that the regular succession of events meagrely detailed in chronicles fixed the attention but feebly, and was little more interesting than a mere catalogue of names. (Compare ad Att. 4.8.)
A most important specimen of fasti belonging to this class, executed probably in the last year of the reign of Augustus, has been partially preserved. Three or four fragments of it were known to the Italian scholars of the 15th century. But in the years 1546-7, several more important fragments of marble tablets were discovered in excavating the Roman Forum, and were found to contain a list of consuls, dictators with their masters of horse, censors with the lustra which they closed, triumphs and ovations, all arranged in regular succession according to the years of the Catonian era. These had evidently extended from the expulsion of the kings to the death of Augustus, and, although defective in many places, have proved of the greatest value in chronology. The different pieces were collected and arranged under the inspection of Cardinal Alexander Farnese, with the assistance of Michel Angelo, and deposited in the Capitol, where they still remain. From this circumstance they are generally distinguished as the Fasti Capitolini. A facsimile of all up to that time collected was published by Piranesi at Rome in 1762. In the years 1816-1818, other fragments of the same marble tablets were discovered in the course of a new excavation in the Forum. These were published with instructive dissertations. A most careful edition of the whole is given by Henzen in the Corpus Inscr. Lat. vol. i. pp. 415-464.
[W.R] [A.S.W]sc. dies. Properly speaking, the Roman court-days, on which the praetor was allowed to give his judgments in the solemn formula Do Dico Addico, and generally to act in his judicial capacity. The name was further applied to the days on which it was lawful (fas) to summon the assembly and the Senate (dies comitiales); for these days might be used as court-days in case the assembly did not meet; while on dies fasti proper no meeting of the comitia could take place. The opposite of dies fasti were the dies nefasti, or days on which on account of purifications, holidays, feriae, and on other religious grounds, the courts could not sit, nor the Comitia assemble. (See Feriae.) The dies religiosi were also counted as nefasti. Besides the 38-45 dies fasti proper, the 188-194 dies comitiales, the 48-50 dies nefasti, and 53-59 dies religiosi, there were 8 dies intercisi, which were nefasti in the morning and evening because of certain sacrifices which took place then, but fasti for the remaining hours. There were also 3 dies fissi (split days), which were nefasti until the conclusion of a particular proceeding—e. g. the removal of the sweepings from the Temple of Vesta on June 15th, but fasti afterwards.
The division of days into fasti and profesti, or holidays and workdays, only affected private life, though many dies nefasti, as feriae, would be identical with dies fasti.
The list of the dies fasti was of immense importance as affecting legal proceedings, and indeed all public life. For a long time it was in the hands of the pontifices, and was thus only accessible to the patricians; but at last (B.C. 304) Gnaeus Flavius published it and made it generally accessible. This list, called simply Fasti, was the origin of the Roman calendar, which bore the same name. In this calendar the days of the year are divided into weeks of eight days each, indicated by the letters A to H. Each day has marks indicating its number in the month, its legal significance (F=fastus, N=nefastus, C=comitialis, EN = intercisus). The festivals, sacrifices, and games occurring on it are also added, as well as notices of historical occurrences, the rising and setting of the stars, and other matters. No trace remains of any calendar previous to Caesar; but several calendars composed after Caesar's reform have been preserved. Ovid's Fasti is a poetical explanation of the Roman festivals of the first six months. We have also many fragments of calendars, painted or engraved on stone, belonging to Rome and other Italian cities; for it was common to put up calendars of this kind in public places, temples, and private houses. There are two complete calendars in existence—one an official list written by Furius Dionysius Philocalus in A.D. 354, the other a Christian version of the official calendar, made by Polemius Silvius in A.D. 448. See calendarium; dies.
The word fasti was further applied to the annual lists of the triumphs, high officials, consuls, dictators, censors, and priests. These lists were originally, like the other fasti, made out by the pontifices. Some fragments of them have survived, among which may be mentioned the Fasti Capitolini, so called from the Roman Capitol, where they are now preserved. They were originally, in B.C. 36-30, engraved on the marble wall of the Regia, or official residence of the Pontifex Maximus, and afterwards continued first to B.C. 12, and afterwards to A.D. 13.