or FECIALES, in Roman Antiquity, a college of priests, whose duty it was, when any dispute sprang up between their countrymen and a foreign state, to demand satisfaction, decide if war were necessary or advantageous, and perform the solemn rites consequent on the declaration of hostilities or the ratification of peace. The institution of this college is attributed by common consent to Numa. They are believed to have been twenty in number, and to have been originally chosen from the noblest families. Their office lasted for life, and their persons were deemed peculiarly sacred. The etymology of the word is very uncertain. By some it is derived from the same root with fidus and fer- dus; by others from ferio or facio; while some modern scholars trace it to the Greek φιλι. A detailed account of their principal duties will be found under CLARIGATIO.