51�Թ�

The original Fescennine verse appears, from the testimony of Horace, to have been in metrical dialogue.

Nor is there any analogy between the religious hymns, or the Fescennine verses of Italy, and the modern ballad.

And these 'Saturae' had been themselves developed partly out of the older Fescennine dialogues—the rustic raillery of the vintage and the harvest-home,—partly out of mimetic dances imported from Etruria.

Another class of metrical compositions, of native origin, but of a totally opposite character, was known by the name of the 'Fescennine verses.'

The Fescennine raillery long retained traces of this original character.