F FABLE. 



131 



does not belong. Thus, for instance, we fiiul the root 

 of the German Jlamme, English flame, in the Danish 

 and Anglo-Saxon lioma, connected with the Latin 

 lumen, the root of flamma, (flame). The English 

 fresh, German frisch (pronounced frisK), is from the 

 Low-German risch (pronounced m/j) and the German 

 rasch (quick). The Eolians, finding the H aspirated, 

 changed it into a sound without aspiration, and used, 

 in order to indicate it, two r (gammas), one above 

 this other, which was the origin of the character F. 



The Romans for some time used F inverted, thus, 

 j for V consonant, as TERMINA jIT for TERMI- 

 NAVIT, or DIjI for DIVI. Some have supposed 

 that this was one of the three letters invented by 

 Claudius, but many inscriptions, belonging to periods 

 much anterior to the time of Claudius, exhibit this 

 singular use of this letter. 



The Germans pronounce v like/. 



The Romans often put / for ph, as, on some 

 medals, triunifus for triumphus, faria, focas, &c. 

 This is always done by the Italians and Spaniards, 

 as, filosofia. Klopstock, and some other Germans, 

 attempted to introduce the same manner of writing, 

 and published a few works with this and other 

 changes in the orthography, but they soon aban- 

 doned it. In languages hi which the vowels do not 

 prevail so much as in Italian or Spanish, it is of 

 greater importance to retain the etymological ortho- 

 graphy. The / with the Romans, and <p with the 

 Greeks, was branded upon the forehead of runaway 

 slaves. It signified fuga and <ptvyn. F signified, as 

 a number, among the Romans, 40 ; with a dash over 

 it, 40,000. F, on engravings or pictures, stands for 

 fecit or faciebat (made). In jurisprudence, ff signi- 

 fies the pandects. This abbreviation originated in 

 the early period of the art of printing, when no 

 Greek characters had yet been cast, and jf"was used 

 for i, the first letter of vavbixrai. On medals, monu- 

 ments, &c., F stands for Fabius, Furius, &c., 

 Filius, Felix, Faustus, &c. FF, on Roman coins, 

 means flando, feriundo. On French coins, F means 

 the mint of Angers ; on Prussian coins, of Magde- 

 burg ; on Austrian, of Halle in the Tyrol. F, with 

 merchants, signifies folio (page). F often stands on 

 documents for fiat (let it be done, granted, &c.) FL 

 is tlie abbreviation for florin, or guilder ; fr. for 

 franc ; ff, in German, for folgende, like seq. in Eng- 

 lish. 



F; the nominal of the fourth note in the natural 

 diatonic scale of C. F, in music, over a line, means 

 forte ; ff, molto forte. 



FA. The name given by Guido to the fourth note 

 of the natural diatonic scale of C. 



FABBRONI, GIOVANNI, an eminent Italian philo- 

 sopher, who distinguished himself by his attention 

 to political economy, agriculture, and physical 

 science. He was secretary to the Academia del 

 Georgqftli, director of the museum and cabinet of 

 natural history at Florence, one of the forty members 

 of the Societd Italiana delle Scienze, Tuscan deputy 

 for the new system of weights and measures, member 

 of the deputation of finance under the government of 

 the queen regent of Etruria, one of the deputies to 

 the corps legislatif in France, director of bridges and 

 highways (under the imperial government) for the 

 department beyond the Alps, director of the mint 

 at Florence, royal commissary of the iron works and 

 mines, and one of the commissioners of taxes for the 

 states of Tuscany. In all these posts he displayed 

 activity, zeal, intelligence, and integrity. His writ- 

 ings, which attracted much notice at the time of 

 their publication, are remarkable not only for the 

 striking tads, the sound maxims, and the extensive 

 views in which they abound, but also for the im- 

 pressive manner in which the opinions of the a-uhor 



are enforced. The best known of his works are his 

 Provvedimenti A Monarj -, his Discourses on Nation- 

 al Prosperity , on the Equilibrium of Commerce, 

 and the Establishment of Custom-houses ; on the Ef- 

 fects of the Free Traffic in Raw Material ; on Re- 

 wards for the Encouragement of Trade; on the 

 Chemical Action of Metals ; on the Value and Re 

 ciprocal Proportion of Coins ; on the Scales and 

 Steelyards of the Chinese ; on the Palaces of Spain ; 

 and on the Ancient Hebrew People. He left behind 

 him many learned memoirs, and a number of very 

 valuable manuscripts. He died at Florence hi 1823, 

 aged upwards of seventy. 



FABII ; an ancient and renowned family of 

 Rome. One of the stories in ancient Roman his- 

 tory, is, that all of them who were able to bear arms, 

 306 in number, once fought together against the 

 Vejentes, on the little river of Cremera (477 B.C.), 

 and were killed, to a man. 



FABIUS MAXIMUS, QUINTUS, surnamed Cunc- 

 tator (the delayer), one of the greatest generals of 

 ancient Rome, saved his country, when it was 

 threatened with rain after the defeat at Thrasymene, 

 and Hannibal, with his victorious army, was advancing 

 upon Rome, At this critical moment, Fabius took 

 the command of the Roman legions as dictator, and, 

 finding his own army dispirited, while that of Han- 

 nibal was numerous and formidable, he formed the 

 plan of weakening and fatiguing the enemy by 

 marches and delays, instead of risking the fortunes 

 of the state upon the event of a single battle. Han- 

 nibal, who well knew the character of his formida- 

 ble opponent, sent him this message, in order to 

 draw him into battle : " If Fabius is as great a 

 general as he would make us believe, let him descend 

 to the plain, and accept the challenge which I offer 

 him." But Fabius coolly replied : " If Hannibal is 

 as great a general as he thinks himself, let him com- 

 pel me to accept his offer." Dissatisfied with his 

 cautious movements, which they ascribed to a false 

 motive, the Romans summoned him back to the 

 city under pretence of wishing his presence at a 

 solemn sacrifice, and, in the interim, gave a joint 

 command, with equal power, to Minucius Felix, who 

 was as rash as Fabius was prudent. He had already 

 fallen into an ambuscade, and was on the point of 

 being routed by the Carthaginian general, when 

 Fabius arrived just in season to save him. Minucius, 

 penetrated with gratitude, gave up his share of the 

 command, and resolved to learn of Fabius how to 

 fight and conquer. At the end of the campaign, 

 Fabius laid down his office. The new consul, 

 Terentius, a presumptuous and ignorant man, risked 

 a battle at Cannae, in which the Roman army was 

 almost totally destroyed. Fabius, after the battle, 

 negotiated with Hannibal for the ransom of the 

 prisoners, and, when the senate refused to fulfil the 

 agreement, he sold his own estates, in order to keep 

 good his word. He died at a very advanced age, 

 202 B. C. 



FABLE, which, in its most extensive sense, is 

 synonymous with fictitious narration, has, in poetry, 

 a double signification, since it expresses, in dramatic 

 and epic poetry, the tissue, the arrangement of the 

 events related, and is also the name of a particular 

 class of poetical writings. When we speak of the 

 fable of an epic or dramatic poem, it is used in op- 

 position to history. The poet's description aims at. 

 beauty, his piece must please as a whole, and the oc- 

 currences must be so arranged and exhibited as to 

 accomplish this end. He paints not the real, but 

 the possible ; not things as they are, but as they 

 might well be ; not with historic truth, but according 

 to the laws of poetical probability. The fable, as a 

 particular kind of poetry, sometimes called apologue, 



