FAS'TI (Lat. nom. pl., lawful, from fax, di vine law. se. dies, days). Among the Romans, the days on which it was lawful to transact busi ness before the pnetor; while the dies nefasti were those on which courts were not in session. The dies eamitiales, on which the assembly and the Senate might convene, were also loosely styled fasti. The nefasti embraced the dies re ligiosi and the (holidays). Of the strict dies fasti there were some forty: of the dies comi liales, some one hundred and ninety; of the dies nefasti, about fifty: of the dies religiosi, some fifty. There were also eight dies intercisi, which for certain hours in the forenoon and afternoon were nefusti, and fusti for the rest; and three dies fissi, which were, like the intereisi, partly fasti and partly nefasti. The sacred books, in which the lawful days of the year were marked, were themselves denominated fasti. and the term was employed, in an extended sense. to various kinds of registers, which have been often confounded with each other. These registers fall into two principal divisions—the Fasti Sueri or Kaiendares, and the Pesti Annalcs or Llistoriei.
rasa Kalendarcs, or calendars of the year, were kept exclusively by the priests for about four centuries and a half after the building of the city. The appearance of the new moon was proclaimed by a pontifex, who then an nounced to the people the time which would inter vene between tne kalends and the nones. (See KALEN DS, also CALENDAR. ) On the nones the country people assembled for the purpose of learning tram the Rex Atiacrurunt the various fes tivals of the month, and the days ou which they would fall. In the same way those who intended to go to law learned on what days it would be right (fas) to do so. The mystery with which this lore was surrounded, for purposes of power and profit, by the favored class, was dispelled by Cn. Flavius, the scribe of Appius Claudius Clecus, who surreptitiously copied from the pontifical book the requisite information, and published it to the people in the forum (u.c. 304). Hence forth time-tables (fusti) became common, very much resembling modern almanacs. They con tained the days and months of the year, the nones, the ides, lawful and unlawful days, etc.; astronomical observations on the rising and set ting of the fixed stars, the commencement of the seasons, brief notices concerning the introduction and signification of certain rites, the dedication of temples, the dates of victories. disasters, and
the like. In later times the exploits and honors of the Imperial family were duly entered in the calendar. The celebrated Fasti of Ovid is a sort of poetical companion to the calendar, as pub lished by Julius Caesar, who remodeled the Ro man year. Written in elegiac metre. they relate the origin of the festivals as told in the legends, and are important to the student of antiquities.
Several very curious specimens of fasti ou stone and marble have been discovered, of which one of the most remarkable is the Kalendarium Pnenestinum, the work of the learned Verrius Flaccus, which stood in the lower part of the forum of Proeneste, described by Suetonius. Very interesting also are two farmers' almanacs (menologin rustier), now in the ..11useum of Naples. They are cut on four sides of a cube, each side of which is divided into three columns, each column embracing a month. The various agricultural operations to be performed in each month arc given on these curious relics, in addi tion to the ordinary information contained in these calendars.
(2) •ast/ Annates or Ilistoriei were chronicles containing the names of the consuls and other magistrates of the year, and an enumeration of the most remarkable events in the history of Rome, noted down opposite the days on which they occurred. From ite application to these chronicles the word fasti came to be used by the poets as with historical records. A very interesting specimen of foga of this class (Past ronsula rcs or rapito/ini) was discovered in the forum at Rome in 1517. it is a series of inscriptions on the marble walls of the Regla, dating from B.C. :36, and containing a fairly com plete register of the consuls. The fragments into which it had been broken were collected and ar ranged by Cardinal Alessandro Farnese, and placed in the Capitol, where they may still be seen, together with some additional portions which were discovered in 1817 and 1818. The extant fragments of the fasti are published in the Corpus Inseriptionum Latinarum, vol. vi., part i. ( Berlin, 187U). Consult Smith, Dictionary of Greek and Roman antiquities (London, 1869).