fasces

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fasces

fasces (făsˈēz) [Lat.,=bundles], ancient Roman symbol of the regal and later the magisterial authority. The fasces were cylindrical bundles of wooden rods, tied tightly together, from which an axe projected; they were borne by guards, called lictors, before praetors, consuls, proconsuls, dictators, and emperors. The fasces, which symbolize unity as well as power, have often been used as emblems, e.g., on the arms of the French republic and on American coins. Italian Fascism derived its name and its emblem from the fasces.

The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Fasces

in ancient Rome, a bundle of rods strapped together, from which a small ax protruded. The fasces was a symbol of imperial authority; later it came to symbolize the authority of high magistrates and was carried by attending lictors. The Italian Fascists adopted the fasces as their emblem.

fasces

A symbol of Roman authority consisting of a bundle of rods with an ax blade projecting from them.

fasces

rods bundled about ax; emblem of magistrates, Fascists. [Rom. Hist.: Hall, 119; Ital. Hist.: Brewer Dictionary, 399]

See: Authority

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References in periodicals archive ?

bundle of sticks is instructive: "Together they are strong, /

Two Minds, One World: Soyinka and Walcott Meet

The metaphor of a "bundle of sticks" stands for the same idea

Lumpy property

Let us be our brothers' keeper and a bundle of sticks that cannot be broken.

Reflection and remembrance

(1) They see this proposition as at odds with the view "that property is a pure creature of law" and with the modern utilitarian approach to analyzing property, which is 'largely indifferent to questions of individual rights and distributive justice." (2) And they view the proposition, once established, as a basis for critiquing the "bundle of sticks" conception of property rights and the Coasean postulate of reciprocal causation, because those ideas are too complex and/or counter intuitive for the average person.

Introductory remarks

Sitting cross-legged around a bundle of sticks and stones, the Clemson Players sought "to cram / Within this wooden O the very casques / That did affright the air at Agincourt" (Prologue 12-14) in the Bellamy Theatre.

The Clemson Players Production of Henry V (2006)

With a bundle of sticks and some twine, she fixed up a clothes horse, then set about creating a range of tie- dyed fashion-wear.

Tucker trial gets up Danni's nose; Westbrook doused in live jungle beasties

Students were asked to bring in a bundle of sticks that fit snugly into the crook of their arm, tied with string, and labeled with their name.

Sticking to it

One is called "Break the Bundle." The idea: It is impossible for one person to break a bundle of sticks, but it's easy if each person breaks one stick.

When good management is not enough, leadership is put to test

Another way of looking at it, she said, was seeing a case as a bundle of sticks and allowing the attorney to address only one or a few of the sticks.

Bar panel readies to release unbundled services report

Not so with fascism, a name derived from the Latin, "fasces," a bundle of sticks, carried by judicial officers in Roman processions as an emblem of authority.

The Surprising Roots of Fascism

Twining has added massive detail to our knowledge of both the family and their various interrelated businesses in books on the family, A Bundle of Sticks: The Story of a Family (1987) and The Tie That Binds: A History of the Weyerhaeuser Family Office (1993); a trusted Weyerhaeuser executive, George S.