FESTA

festa, constanzo (c. 1495-1545), italian singer and musical composer, became a member of the pontifical choir in rome in 1517, and soon afterwards _maestro_ at the vatican. his motets and madrigals (the first book of which appeared in 1537) excited dr burney's warm praise in his _history of music_; and, among other church music, his _te deum_ (published in 1596) is still sung at important services in rome. his madrigal, called in english "down in a flow'ry vale," is well known. festiniog (or ffestiniog), a town of merionethshire, north wales, at the head of the festiniog valley, 600 ft. above the sea, in the midst of rugged scenery, near the stream dwyryd, 31 m. from conway. pop. of urban district (1901), 11,435. there are many large slate quarries in this parish, especially at blaenau festiniog, the junction of three railways, london & north western, great western and festiniog, a narrow-gauge line between portmadoc and duffws. this light railway runs at a considerable elevation (some 700 ft.), commanding a view across the valley and lake of tan y bwlch. lord lyttelton's letter to mr bower is a well-known panegyric on festiniog. thousands of workmen are employed in the slate quarries. the cynfael falls are famous. near are _beddau gwyr ardudwy_ (the graves of the men of ardudwy), memorials of a fight to recover women of the clwyd valley from the men of ardudwy. near, too, is a rock named "hugh lloyd's pulpit" (lloyd lived in the time of charles i., cromwell and charles ii.). festoon (from fr. _feston_, ital. _festone_, from a late lat. _festo_, originally a "festal garland," lat. _festum_, feast), a wreath or garland, and so in architecture a conventional arrangement of flowers, foliage or fruit bound together and suspended by ribbons, either from a decorated knot, or held in the mouths of lions, or suspended across the back of bulls' heads as in the temple of vesta at tivoli. the "motif" is sometimes known as a "swag." it was largely employed both by the greeks and romans and formed the principal decoration of altars, friezes and panels. the ends of the ribbons are sometimes formed into bows or twisted curves; when in addition a group of foliage or flowers is suspended it is called a "drop." its origin is probably due to the representation in stone of the garlands of natural flowers, &c., which were hung up over an entrance doorway on fete days, or suspended round the altar. festus (? rufus or rufius), one of the roman writers of _breviaria_ (epitomes of roman history). the reference to the defeat of the goths at noviodunum (a.d. 369) by the emperor valens, and the fact that the author is unaware of the constitution of valentia as a province (which took place in the same year) are sufficient indication to fix the date of composition. mommsen identifies the author with rufius festus, proconsul of achaea (366), and both with rufius festus avienus (q.v.), the translator of aratus. but the absence of the name rufius in the best mss. is against this. others take him to be festus of tridentum, _magister memoriae_ (secretary) to valens and proconsul of asia, where he was sent to punish those implicated in the conspiracy of theodorus, a commission which he executed with such merciless severity that his name became a byword. the work itself (_breviarium rerum gestarum populi romani_) is divided into two parts--one geographical, the other historical. the chief authorities used are livy, eutropius and florus. it is extremely meagre, but the fact that the last part is based on the writer's personal recollections makes it of some value for the history of the 4th century. editions by w. forster (vienna, 1873) and c. wagener (prague, 1886); see also r. jacobi, _de festi breviarii fontibus_ (bonn, 1874), and h. peter, _die geschichtliche litt. uber die romische kaiserzeit_ ii. p. 133 (1897), where the epitomes of festus, aurelius victor and eutropius are compared.