FRENTANI
FU'AENTIUS.
Iwre Maccaresc)., a town of Etruria, on the eoa&,
between Alsium and the Tiber, on a low, swampy
shore, colonized by the Romans B.C. 245.
Frentani, a Samnite people, inhabiting a fer¬
tile and well-watered territory on the coast of
the Adriatic, from the River Sagrus on the north
'and subsequently almost as far north as from
the Aternus) to the River Frento on the south,
from the latter of whieh rivers they derived
heir name. They were bounded by the Mar-
uoini on the north, by the Peligni and by Sam¬
nium on the west, and by Apulia on the south.
They submitted to the Romans in B.C 304, and
concluded a peace with the republic.
Frento (now Fortore), a river in Italy, form¬
ing the boundary between the Frentani and Apu¬
lia, rises in the Apennines and falls into, the
Adriatic Sea.
Friniates, a people in Liguria, probably the
6ame as the Briniates, who, after being subdued
by the Romans, were transplanted to Samnium.
Frisiahones, probably a tribe of the Frisii, in¬
habiting the islands at the mouth of the Rhine.
Frisii, a people in the northwest of Ger¬
many, inhabited the coast from the eastern
mouth of the Rhine to the Amisia (now Ems),
and were bounded on the south by the Bruc¬
teri, consequently in the modern Friesland, Gro-
ningen, &a. Tacitus divided them into Majores
and Minores, the former probably in the east,
and the latter in the west of the country. The
Frisii were on friendly terms with the Romans
from the time of the first campaign of Drusus
till A.D. 28, when the oppressions of the Ro¬
man officers drove them to revolt In the fifth
sentury we find them joining the Saxons and
Angli in their invasion of Britain.
Front! sus, Sex. Julius, was praator A.D. 70,
aud in 75 succeeded Cerealis as governor of
Britain, where he distinguished Mmself by the
conquest of the Silures, and maintained the Ro¬
man power unbroken until superseded by Agric¬
ola in 78. In 97 Frontinus was nominated
curator aquarum. He died about 106. Two
works undoubtedly by tMs author are still ex
tant: 1. Strategematicon Libri IV, a sort of
treatise on the art of war, developed in a col¬
lection of the sayings and doings of the most
renowned leaders of antiquity. 2. Be Aquedue-
tibus Urbis Rome Libri II, which forms a valu¬
able contribution to the history of architecture.
The best editions of the Strategematica are by
Oudendorp, Lugd. Bat, 1779, and by Schwebel,
Lips, 1772 ; of the Be Aqueductibus by Polenus,
Patav, 1722. In the collection of the Agri-
mensores, or Rei Agraric Audores (ed. Goesius,
Amst, 1674; ed. Laehmann, Berlin, 1848), are
preserved some treatises usually ascribed to
Sex. Julius Frontinus. The collection consists
of fragments connected with the art of measur¬
ing land and ascertaining boundaries. It was
■put together without skill, pages of different
works being mixed up together, and the writ¬
ings of one author being sometimes attributed
to another.
Fronto, M, Cornelius, was born at Cirta in
Numidia, in the reign of Domitian, and came to
Rome in the reign of Hadrian, where he attain¬
ed great celebrity as a pleader and a teacher of
rhetoric. He was intrusted with the education
cf the future errpaw-s M. Aurelius and L. Ve-
ri3, and was rewarl'd with wealth and honors
He was raised tc 'j>a consulsMp in 143. Sc
great was Ms fam' us a speaker that a sect of
rhetoricians arose w\io were denominated From
toniani. Following the example of their found¬
er, they avoided the exaggeration of tie Groet
sophistical school, and bestowed especial eara
on the purity of their language and the simplicity
of their style. Fronto lived till the reip-n of
M. Aurelius. The latest of his epistles lutan,;*
to the year 166. Up to a recent period no woik
of Fronto was known to be in existanee, with
the exception of a corrupt and wortMess tract
entitled Be Bifferentiit Vaeabulorum, and a few
fragments preserved by the grammarians. But
about the year 1814 Angelo Mai diuoovered on
a palimpsest in the Ambrosian library at Milan s
considerable number of letters wMcli had paw¬
ed between Fronto, Antoninus Pius, M. Ain-o-
lius, L. Verus, and various friends, together with
some short essays. These were published by
Mai at Milan in 1815, and in an improved form
by Niebuhr, Buttmann, and Hoindorf, Berlin,
1816. Subsequently Mai discovered, on a pa¬
limpsest in the Vatican library at Rome, upward
of one hundred new letters; and he published
these at Rome in 1823, together with those
whieh had been previously discovered.
Fronto, Papirius, a jurist, who probably lived
about the time of Antoninus Pius, or rather
earlier.
Fruslno (Frusinas, -atis: now Frosinone), a
town of the Hernici in Latium, in the valley of
the River Cosas, and subsequently a Roman
colony; It was celebrated for its prodigies,
which occurred here almost more frequently
than at any other place.
Fucentis, Fucentia. Vid. Alba, No. 4.
Fucinus Lacus (now Lagc di Celano or Gap-
istrano), a large lake in the centre of Italy and rn
the country of the Marsi, about thirty miles in
circumference, into which all the mountain
streams of the Apenninet flow. As the water
of this lake had no visible outlet, and frequently
inundated ihe surrounding country, the Emperor
Claudius constructed au emissarium or artificial
channel for carrying off (fhe waters of the lake
into the Rrver Liris. This emissarium is still
nearly perfect: it is almost three miles in length,
It appears that the actual drainage was relin¬
quished sood after the death of Claudius, for it
was reopened by Hadrian.
Fufius Calenus. Vid. Calenus.
Fuficius, a jurist, who probably lived between
the time of Vespasian and Hadrian.
Fulgentius, Fabius Planciades, a Latin
grammarian of uncertain date, probably not ear¬
lier than the sixth century after Christ, appears
to have been of African origin. He is the au¬
thor of, 1. Mythologiarum IJibri III. ad Qa'.urft
Presbyterum, a collection of the most remark¬
able tales connected with the history and ex¬
ploits of gods and heroes. 2. Expositio Sermo-
num Antiquorum cum Testimoniis ad Chalcidi-
cum Grammaticum, a glossary of obsolete words
and phrases : of very little value. 3. Liber dt
ExpositioneVirgilianat Continentim ad Chalcidi-
cum Grammaticum, a title which means am ex¬
planation of what is contained in Virgil, that if
to say, of the esoteric truths •dllegorieally con
veyad in the Virgilian poems The best cdiJao*
J13
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