(Ficus), in the Civil Law, the treasury of a prince or state, or that into which all things due to the public fall to be paid or delivered. The word is derived from the Greek πίσκος, a great basket, used when they went to market. By the civil law, none but a sovereign prince has a right to have a fisc or public treasury. At Rome, under the emperors, the term aerarium was used for the revenues destined to support the charges of the empire;