in antiquity, were a kind of satirical verses, full of wanton and obscene expressions, sung or rehearsed by the company, with many indecent gestures and dances, at the solemnization of a marriage among the Romans; (Hor. lib. v. ep. i. 145.). The word is borrowed, according to Macrobius, from facinum, "a charm;" the people taking such songs to be proper to drive away witches, or prevent their effect; but its more probable origin is from Fescennium, a city of Campania, where such verses were first used.