FLABELLUM. 695 FLAG. linen, or peacock's feathers, io keep insects away from the chalice. Traces >d a similar use in the West are found as late as the fourteenth century. A magnilicent specimen, adorned with pictures of saints and dating from the eighth century, is still preserved in the Abbey of Tour- mis. On certain festivals, when the Pope is car- ried in the sedia gestatoria, two private chamber- lains accompany him with flabella of peacock or ostrich feathers, and the same custom is ob- served in the procession of Corpus Christ i. FLACCUS. A name taken by Alcuin in the academy at Charlemagne's court. FLACCUS, Gaius Valerius. A Roman poet who is supposed to have died about A.D. 88. Ab- solutely nothing is known regarding his life. He is the author of an epic poem on the Argonautic expedition, which in its extant form is incom- plete. The general opinion of scholars is that the work is rather a specimen of learned medioc- rity than of genuine inspiration. The editio princeps of the Argonautica appeared in 1472. The best modern edition is that of Bahrens (Leip- zig, 1875). An English metrical translation was published by one Nicholas Whyte as early as 1565. FLACCUS, Marcus Verrius. A Roman teach- er and savant of the reigns of Augustus and Tibe- rius. He was the most learned man of his day, and the tutor of the grandson of Augustus. He wrote an antiquarian work, De Yerborum Significatu, giving, in alphabetical order, an explanation of little known or obsolete words and a description of old rites and customs. This valuable work was afterwards abridged by Festus (q.v.), and has itself disappeared. Flaecus also compiled a calendar of Roman festivals, known as Fasti Pranestini, which was set up in the forum of Prseneste, where fragments of it have been found. See Fasti. FLACHAT, fla'sha', Eugene (1802-73). A French engineer. He was born at Nimes, and received his education chiefly from his' elder brother, Etienne, in association with whom he was engaged from 1823 to 1830 in elaborating the plan of a canal between Havre and Paris. After studying dock construction in England, he re- turned to France, where he devoted himself to railroad engineering. He was chief engineer of the Eastern Railroad until 1857, when he was appointed to the same position in the Southern Railroad. In 1841 he founded the Society of Civil Engineers, of which be was seven times president. His principal literary productions in- clude: Etablissements commerciaux, docks de Londres, entrepdts de Paris ( 1836) : Rapport sur le rana] du Rhone an Rhiii (1840) ; Les ehemiiis de fer de 1862 et 186S (1863); Traitr de la fabrication du fer, with Barrault and Petiet (3 vols, and atlas, 1842-46; German trans., H47- 51) : Me'moire sur les travaux de I'isthme de Sue •■ (1865). FLACIUS, fla'shi-us (properly VLACICH), Matthias (1520-75). A German Lutheran theo- logian and controversialist. He was born at Albona, Illyria (for which reason he was often called Illyricus) , studied at Venice. Basel. Tu- bingen, ami Wittenberg, and in 1544 was appoint- ed to the chair of Hebrew at Wittenberg. Here he strongly opposed the Leipzig Interim (see Interim), and for his attacks upon Melanehthon was obliged to resign his post in 1540. In 1558 he received a pn I Diversity of h n.i opened that year, ae shortly was involved ni .i discussion wiih Viktorin Strigel, a n of the Jena faculty, respecting the vain.- oi the will as a factor in i. ni.. i ion During the col I ' " 1 1 1 between himself and Strigel, held at Wei- mar in 1560, lie affirmed thai original -in was a portion "i the substance of the present char- acter nf humanity, and t hu b< ca me disci as a Manichaan. He was removed from hi- pie fessorship in 1561, and thereafter was nil In much pir-.eeiiti.in. He i- till I ,ii.,w ii i,.r his works in biblical interpretation and Church his tory, including the valuable material prepared by him for the Magdeburg Centuries (q.v.), and the noteworthy <'hi>r: Scriptural s<imr i 1567). For his biography, consult Twesten I Berlin, 1844) ; Preger ( Erlangen, 1859 61). FLACOURT, lla'koT.r', EtEBNNE de (1607- 60). A French colonial officer and author, born at Orleans, lie commanded the Royal troops at Fort Dauphin. Madagascar (1648 55), and added the He de Bourbon to the possessions of the Crown. Isolated from France duringthe whole oi his regime, be was forced t" ad upon his own re- sponsibility, and to exercise great severity in restoring order and putting down a rebellion among the native population. After his retire- ment to his native land he published three works of importance: Petit catichismi madicasse <t francais (1657); a dictionary of the language; and a history of Madagascar (1658). FLAD, Henry (1823-98). An American civil engineer, born in Bavaria. Soon after his gradua- tion at the University of Munich, in lsdti. he came to the United States, where he was appoint- ed engineer on the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad, then in course of construction. He was elected president of the American Society of Civil Engi- neers in 1886, and became prominently associated with municipal construction in Saint Louis, where he was elected president of the Board of Public Improvements. FLAG (ODutch vlagghe, Dutch vlag, Dan. flag, Swed. flagg ; connected with dialectic Swed. flage, to flutter in the wind. ODutcb flaggheren, olaggheren, to flag, droop). A cloth of light ma- terial capable of being extended by the wind, and designed to make known some fact or want to spectators. In the army a flag is the ensign car- ried as its distinguishing mark by each regiment; and also a small banner with which the ground to be occupied is marked out. In the navy the tlag is of more importance, often constituting the only means vessels have of communicating with one another, or with the shore. Naturally, the standard English flag was used by the American Colonies in their early days, and this was commonly the cross <>f Saint Ge rgi and later the union cross, the former consisting of a white banner with a red emss. The Puritan spirit, was shown when Endecott (q.v.) cut the cross from the Hag because it was a Romanist emblem and a relic of Antichrist. The Colonial flags varied in color, it being sufficienl if ground and cross differed. Now and then a pine-tree or a hemisphere was figured in the upper left hand quarter of the cross, and one flag had only the tree for a symbol. When Sir Edmund Andros was Governor, he established a special flag for New England — a white field with a large Saint George cross, and in the centre '.T. R.' — Jacobus
