FASCES

fasces, in roman antiquities, bundles of elm or birch rods from which the head of an axe projected, fastened together by a red strap. nothing is known of their origin, the tradition that represents them as borrowed by one of the kings from etruria resting on insufficient grounds. as the emblem of official authority, they were carried by the lictors, in the left hand and on the left shoulder, before the higher roman magistrates; at the funeral of a deceased magistrate they were carried behind the bier. the lictors and the fasces were so inseparably connected that they came to be used as synonymous terms. the fasces originally represented the power over life and limb possessed by the kings, and after the abolition of the monarchy, the consuls, like the kings, were preceded by twelve fasces. within the precincts of the city the axe was removed, in recognition of the right of appeal (_provocat-io_) to the people in a matter of life and death; outside rome, however, each consul retained the axe, and was preceded by his own lictors, not merely by a single _accensus_ (supernumerary), as was originally the case within the city when he was not officiating. later, the lictors preceded the officiating consul, and walked behind the other. valerius publicola, the champion of popular rights, further established the custom that the fasces should be lowered before the people, as the real representatives of sovereignty (livy ii. 7; florus i. 9; plutarch, _publicola_, 10); lowering the fasces was also the manner in which an inferior saluted a superior magistrate. a dictator, as taking the place of the two consuls, had 24 fasces (including the axe even within the city); most of the other magistrates had fasces varying in number, with the exception of the censors, who, as possessing no executive authority, had none. fasces were given to the flamen dialis and (after 42 b.c.) even to the vestals. during the times of the republic, a victorious general, who had been saluted by the title of imperator by his soldiers, had his fasces crowned with laurel (cicero, _pro ligario_, 3). later, under the empire, when the emperor received the title for life on his accession, it became restricted to him, and the laurel was regarded as distinctive of the imperial fasces (see mommsen, _romisches staatsrecht_, i., 1887, p. 373). fascia (latin for a bandage or fillet), a term used for many objects which resemble a band in shape; thus in anatomy it is applied to the layers of fibrous connective tissue which sheathe the muscles or cover various parts or organs in the body, and in zoology, and particularly in ornithology, to bands or stripes of colour. in architecture the word is used of the bands into which the architrave of the ionic and corinthian orders is subdivided; their origin would seem to have been derived from the superimposing of two or more beams of timber to span the opening between columns and to support a superincumbent weight; the upper beam projected slightly in front of the lower, and similar projections were continued in the stone or marble beam though in one block. in the roman corinthian order the fasciae, still projecting one in front of the other, were subdivided by small mouldings sometimes carved. the several bands are known as the first or upper fascia, the second or middle fascia and the third or lower fascia. the term is sometimes applied to flat projecting bands in renaissance architecture when employed as string courses. it is also used, though more commonly in the form "facia," of the band or plate over a shop-front, on which the name and occupation of the tradesman is written. fascination (from lat. _fascinare_, to bewitch, probably connected with the gr. [greek: baskainein], to speak ill of, to bewitch), the art of enchanting or bewitching, especially through the influence of the "evil eye," and so properly of the exercise of an evil influence over the reason or will. the word is thus used of the supposed paralysing attraction exercised by some reptiles on their victims. it is also applied to a particular hypnotic condition, marked by muscular contraction, but with consciousness and power of remembrance left. in a quite general sense, fascination means the exercise of any charm or strong attraction. fascine (from the lat. _fascina_, _fascis_, a bundle of sticks), a large faggot of brushwood used in the revetments of earthworks and for other purposes of military engineering. the british service pattern of fascine is 18 ft. long; it is tied as tightly as possible at short intervals, and the usual diameter is 9 in. similar bundles of wood formed part of the foundations of the early lake-dwellings, and in modern engineering fascines are used in making rough roads over marshy ground and in building river and sea walls and breakwaters. fashion (adapted from fr. _facon_, lat. _factio_, making, _facere_, to do or make), the action of making, hence the shape or form which anything takes in the process of making. it is thus used in the sense of the pattern, kind, sort, manner or mode in which a thing is done. it is particularly used of the common or customary way in which a thing is done, and so is applied to the manner or custom prevalent at or characteristic of a particular period, especially of the manner of dress, &c., current at a particular period in any rank of society, for which the french term is _modes_ (see costume). fashoda (renamed, 1904, kodok), a post on the west bank of the upper nile, anglo-egyptian sudan, in 9 deg. 53' n., 32 deg. 8' e., 459 m. s., by river, of khartum. it is the headquarters of the mudiria (province) of the upper nile. the station is built on a flat peninsula connected by a narrow strip of land with a ridge which runs parallel with the river. the surrounding country is mostly deep swamp and the station is most unhealthy; mosquitoes are present in millions. the climate is always damp and the temperature rarely below 98 deg. in the shade. the government offices are well-built brick structures. in front of the station is a long low island, and when the nile is at its lowest this channel becomes dry. several roads from kordofan converge on the nile at this point, and near the station is the residence of the _mek_, or king, of the shilluk tribe, whose designation of the post was adopted when it was decided to abandon the use of fashoda. at lul, 18 m. farther up stream, is an austrian roman catholic mission station. an egyptian military post was established at fashoda in 1865. it was then a trading station of some importance, slaves being the chief commodity dealt in. in 1883-1884 the place fell into the hands of the mahdists. on the 10th of july 1898 it was occupied by a french force from the congo under commandant j.b. marchand, a circumstance which gave rise to a state of great tension between great britain and france. on the 11th of december following the french force withdrew, returning home via abyssinia (see africa, s 5, and egypt: _history_, and _military operations_).