FASTI

Fas signifies divine law : the epithet fast us is properly applied to anything in accordance with divine law; and hence those days upon which legal busine might, without impiety ( sine piaculo ), be transacted before the praetor, were technically denominated fasti dies , i.e. lawful days . The sacred books in which the fasti dies of the year were marked were themselves denominated fasti ; the term, however, was employed to denote registers of various descriptions. Of these the two principal are the Fasti Sacri or Fasti Kalendares , and Fasti Annales or Fasti Historic i .—I. Fasti Sacri or Kalendares . For nearly four centuries and a half after the foundation of the city a knowledge of the calendar was po e ed 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 a embled 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. 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. 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; who, having gained acce 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, Comitia les, Atri, ., together with the different festivals, were marked in their proper places: astronomical observations on the risings and settings of the fixed stars, and the commencement of the seasons were frequently inserted. [ Calendarium ; Dies . ]—II. Fasti Annales or Historic i . 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 . 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. Some most important fasti belonging to this cla , executed probably at the beginning of the reign of Tiberius, have been partially preserved, and are deposited in the Capitol in Rome, where they are known by the name of the Fasti Capitol in i .