Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 9.djvu/128

 118 F E S F E T TEST US, SEXTUS POMPEIUS, a Latin grammarian of uncertain date, but who probably flourished in the 2d century of the Christian era. He wrote an epitome of the celebrated work De Verborum Significatione. This was a valuable treatise on many obscure points of grammar, mythology, and antiquities, written by M. Verrius Flaccus, a grammarian who nourished in the reign of Augustus. The abridgment of Festus has been done rather mechani cally, and without sufficient discrimination. He has also made a few alterations, and inserted some critical remarks of his own, besides omitting altogether such ancient Latin words as had long been obsolete. These he discussed in a separate work now lost, entitled Priscorum Verborum Libri cum Exemplis. Of Flaccus s work only a few fragments have come down to us, and of Festus s epitome only one original copy is known to be in existence, and that in a very imperfect form. After passing through very many vicissitudes, it found a temporary shelter in the Farnese lib rary at Parma, whence in 1736 it was taken to Naples. At the close of the 8th century Paulus, commonly called Diaco- nus, who happened to possess a copy of Festus s work, epi tomized it ; but, being an imperfect scholar, he allowed countless errors to creep into his abridgment, although he abstained from making any additions of his own. From this work of his, and the solitary mutilated copy of the original which still survives, some of the most distinguished scholars of modern Europe have attempted to reconstruct the important treatise of Festus. Of the early editions the best is that of Scaliger, published in 1565, and with supplements by Fulvius Orsinus in 1581. By both these editors many of the blanks are filled up by conjecture. But by far the best of existing editions is that of K. O. Miiller, Leipsic, 1839. Festus gives not only the meaning of every word in his treatise, but also its etymology ; and his work, fragmentary as it is, has thrown considerable light on the language, mythology, and antiquities of ancient Rome. FETICHISM is a stage of worship, or of the ways of regarding nature (for in simple states of mind religion and philosophy are in great part merged) in which ordinary material objects are regarded as holding, or as being the vehicle of, supernatural powers and influences, which powers and influences can, it is supposed, be controlled or directed by the person possessing the object so endowed. Religions have not, as yet, been scientifically classified in anything like a final manner. Even the most rigorous of minds would hardly assert that the time has yet arrived for such a classification. Bat it is possible, even now, to collect roughly those beliefs which, whether still existing among savages and uneducated people of all classes or traceable only among the records of the past, bear a general resem blance to each other, and to give a general name marking that resemblance. Such a name we have in &quot;fetichism.&quot; The word feitifo, corresponding to our &quot; fetich,&quot; seems to have been first applied by Portuguese traders on the west coast of Africa to savage objects of worship, which were noticed from their resemblance to the talismans and charms common in Europe, and popular with sailors and travellers above all men. In Purchases Pilgrimage (1614) is a chapter translated from a Dutch author relating to the customs and rites of the negroes of Guinea, in which fetiasos&ndfetisseros, or priests, are frequently mentioned. &quot; When the king will sacrifice to fetisso, he commands the fetissero to enquire of a tree whereto he ascribeth Divinity, what he will demand;&quot; and so the author goes on to describe the manner of questioning this remarkable tree. The word fetich was, however,, first used in a general sense by a thoughtful scholar of the 18th century, the president Charles de Brosses, who, in his work Du Culte Des Dieux Fetiches, strung a number of facts re lating to savages on a theory tracing fetichism in Egyptian and classic mythology and in modern life. Comte, the French philosopher, gave great currency to the term by em ploying it to characterize what he regarded as a great and necessary stage in the theological development of humanity, a state &quot; plus ou moins prononce, mais ordinairement tres durable, de pur fetichism, constamment characterise par 1 essor libre et direct de tendance primitive a concevoir tous les corps exterieurs quelconques, natureh ou artificiels; comme animes d une vie essentiellement analogue a la notre, avec des simples differences mutuelles d intensite&quot; (Philo sophic Positive, v. 30). In England, and at present among anthropologists generally, the word bears a far more re stricted meaning than the one here given to it by Comte. It is applied, not to a belief ascribing volition and will to all objects, to all matter, but to a belief in the peculiar power of certain objects, which power may be discovered and tested by experiment, any success, of course, confirmi ug the hypothesis and giving reputation to the chance-chosen object as a great and potent fetich. Sir J. Lubbock defines fetchism &quot; as that stage of religious thought in which man supposes he can force the deities to comply with his desires.&quot; He regards it as the next stage above pure atheism in the religious progress which passes from it, through totemism and shamanism, into idolatry (Origin of Civilization, 199). Tylor defines it as &quot; the doctrine of spirits embodied in, or attached to, or conveying influence through certain material objects.&quot; Both natural and artificial objects are used as fetiches. To the savage nothing seems too great to serve his indivi dual purposes, nothing too insignificant or commonplace to be the centre of his ideas of power and devotion. Generally upon beginning an expedition the negro of Guinea chooses the first object that presents itself to his eyes upon issuing forth, and vows to worship that as a god if the work in hand prove successful ; if not, it is cast aside as useless or worse. Stones, trees, twigs, pieces of bark, roots, corn, claws of birds, teeth, skins, feathers, human and animal remains of all kinds anything that may strike the savage as in any way peculiar are used in this manner ; even whole species of animals, rivers, the sea, the moon, and the sun. Articles of costume, tools, weapons, boats, and other articles of human manufacture are not objected to. Museums of such of these things as may have accom panied success in any expedition are kept, and are regarded as sacred places, not to be entered without reverence. Other such objects are the property of private individuals, household gods, and are consulted upon all occasions of importance. If the wishes of the worshipper be not granted, all a savage s rather powerful vocabulary of abuse is exhausted upon the fetich. It is kicked, stamped upon, dragged through the mud. Change of luck, however, pro duces apologies, and promises of future regard and worship. Savages who have taken trees as their fetiches, if they are unlucky, cut down trees in revenge. The actions seem rather to be tentatives for the discovery of hidden power than those of any formulated and dogmatic cultus. In considering the state of mind which all this kind of action implies, we must remember thatnotonly human beings, not only animate beings, are regarded by savages as possess ing spirits, but that they attribute spirits to inanimate objects also. The sight of the figures of departed friends and ancestors in dreams gives notice of a world of spirits, but each appearing &quot; in his habit as he lived &quot; seems to imply that garments, weapons, and other objects of human social environment must have spirits also. When a chief dies wives and slaves are slain, weapons broken, garments rent to pieces, for what reason, but that the warrior should not go naked and alone to the world of spirits ? As a deadly blow sets free the spirits of animate, so fracture and destruction set free the spirits of inanimate objects.