Fasces

(fus's cez.) [L.] (Rom. Antiq.) Emblematical weapons, consisting of bundles of rods bound together, with an axe projecting from one end, and carried by the lictors, before consuls and other dignitaries. They were popularly believed to have been derived from the kings, and they were considered symbols of supreme rule-the axe signifying the power to decapitate, and the rods the power to flagellate the criminal, as was usual before the carrying out of a capital sentence. The civic prætors had 2 F., proconsuls and provincial prætors 6, consuls 12, and dictators 24. [s. 356]