[1] Of these the case of the Barren Fig-tree (Mark. xi. 12-14, 20-21:
compare Matt. xxi. 18-20), which Jesus cursed and which then withered
away, has been much discussed among theologians. The difficulty is in
Mark xi. 13: "And seeing a fig-tree afar off having leaves, he came,
if haply he might find anything thereon; and when he came to it he
found nothing but leaves, for the time of figs was not yet." These
last words obviously raise the question whether the expectation of
Jesus of finding figs, and his cursing of the tree on finding none,
were not unreasonable. Many ingenious solutions have been propounded,
by suggested emendations of the text and otherwise, for which consult
M'Clintock and Strong's _Cyclopaedia of Biblical Literature_ (_sub_
"Fig") and the _Encyclopaedia Biblica_ ("Fig-tree"); the former
demurs to the unreasonableness, and contends that the appearance of
the leaves at this season (March) indicated a pretentious precocity
in this particular fig-tree, so that Jesus was entitled to expect
that it would also have fruit, even though the season had not
arrived; the _Ency. Biblica_, on the other hand, supposes that some
"early Christian," confounding parable with history, has
misunderstood the parable in Luke xiii. 6-9, and, forgetting that the
season was not one for figs, has transformed it here into the
narrative of an act of Jesus. The probability seems to be that the
words "for the time of figs was not yet" are an unintelligent gloss
by an early reader, which has made its way into the text. For
authorities see the works mentioned above.
[2] From Lat. _caprificus_, a wild fig; O. Eng. _caprifig_.
FIGARO, a famous dramatic character first introduced on the stage by
Beaumarchais in the _Barbier de Seville_, the _Mariage de Figaro_, and
the _Folle Journee_. The name is said to be an old Spanish and Italian
word for a wigmaker, connected with the verb _cigarrar_, to roll in
paper. Many of the traits of the character are to be found in earlier
comic types of the Roman and Italian stage, but as a whole the
conception was marked by great originality; and Figaro soon, seized the
popular imagination, and became the recognized representative of daring,
clever and nonchalant roguery and intrigue. Almost immediately after its
appearance, Mozart chose the _Marriage of Figaro_ as the subject of an
opera, and the _Barber of Seville_ was treated first by Paisiello, and
afterwards in 1816 by Rossini. In 1826 the name of the witty rogue was
taken by a journal which continued till 1833 to be one of the principal
Parisian periodicals, numbering among its contributors such men as Jules
Janin, Paul Lacroix, Leon Gozlan, Alphonse Karr, Dr Veron, Jules Sandeau
and George Sand. Various abortive attempts were made to restore the
_Figaro_ during the next twenty years; and in 1854 the efforts of M. de
Villemessant were crowned with success (see NEWSPAPERS: _France_).
See Marc Monnier, _Les Aieux de Figaro_ (1868); H. de Villemessant,
_Memoires d'un journaliste_ (1867).
FIGEAC, a town of south-western France, capital of an arrondissement in
the department of Lot, 47 m. E.N.E. of Cahors on the Orleans railway.
Pop. (1906) 4330. It is enclosed by an amphitheatre of wooded and
vine-clad hills, on the right bank of the Cele, which is here crossed by
an old bridge. It is ill-built and the streets are narrow and dirty; on
the outskirts shady boulevards have taken the place of the ramparts by
which it was surrounded. The town is very rich in old houses of the 13th
and 14th centuries; among them may be mentioned the Hotel de Balene, of
the 14th century, used as a prison. Another house, dating from the 15th
century, was the birthplace of the Egyptologist J.F. Champollion, in
memory of whom the town has erected an obelisk. The principal church is
that of St Sauveur, which once belonged to the abbey of Figeac. It was
built at the beginning of the 12th century, but restored later; the
facade in particular is modern. Notre-Dame du Puy, in the highest part
of the town, belongs to the 12th and 13th centuries. It has no transept
and its aisles extend completely round the interior. The altar-screen is
a fine example of carved woodwork of the end of the 17th century. Of the
four obelisks which used to mark the limits of the authority of the
abbots of Figeac, those to the south and the west of the town remain.
Figeac is the seat of a subprefect and has a tribunal of first instance,
and a communal college. Brewing, tanning, printing, cloth-weaving and
the manufacture of agricultural implements are among the industries.
Trade is in cattle, leather, wool, plums, walnuts and grain, and there
are zinc mines in the neighbourhood.
Figeac grew up round an abbey founded by Pippin the Short in the 8th
century, and throughout the middle ages it was the property of the
monks. At the end of the 16th century the lordship was acquired by King
Henry IV.'s minister, the duke of Sully, who sold it to Louis XIII. in
1622.
FIGUEIRA DA FOZ, or FIGUEIRA, a seaport of central Portugal, in the
district of Coimbra, formerly included in the province of Beira; on the
north bank of the river Mondego, at its mouth, and at the terminus of
the Lisbon-Figueira and Guarda-Figueira railways. Pop. (1900) 6221.
Figueira da Foz is an important fishing-station, and one of the
headquarters of the coasting trade in grain, fruit, wine, olive oil,
cork and coal; but owing to the bar at the mouth of the Mondego large
ships cannot enter. Glass is manufactured, and the city attracts many
visitors by its excellent climate and sea-bathing. A residential suburb,
the Bairro Novo, exists chiefly for their accommodation, to the
north-west of the old town. Figueira is connected by a tramway running 4
m. N. W. with Buarcos (pop. 5033) and with the coal-mines of Cape
Mondego. Lavos (pop. 7939), on the south bank of the Mondego, was the
principal landing-place of the British troops which came, in 1808, to
take part in the Peninsular War. Figueira da Foz received the title and
privileges of city by a decree dated the 20th of September 1882.
FIGUERAS, a town of north-eastern Spain, in the province of Gerona, 14
m. S. of the French frontier, on the Barcelona-Perpignan railway. Pop.
(1900) 10,714. Figueras is built at the foot of the Pyrenees, and on the
northern edge of El Ampurdan, a fertile and well-irrigated plain, which
produces wine, olives and rice, and derives its name from the seaport of
Ampurias, the ancient Emporiae. The castle of San Fernando, 1 m. N.W.,
is an irregular pentagonal structure, built by order of Ferdinand VI.
(1746-1759), on the site of a Capuchin convent. Owing to its situation,
and the rocky nature of the ground over which a besieger must advance,
it is still serviceable as the key to the frontier. It affords
accommodation for 16,000 men and is well provided with bomb-proof cover.
In 1794 Figueras was surrendered to the French, but it was regained in
1795. During the Peninsular War it was taken by the French in 1808,
recaptured by the Spaniards in 1811, and retaken by the French in the
same year. In 1823, after a long defence, it was once more captured by
the French. An annual pilgrimage from Figueras to the chapel of Nuestra
Senora de Requesens, 15 m. N., commemorates the deliverance of the town
from a severe epidemic of fever in 1612.
FIGULUS, PUBLIUS NIGIDIUS (c. 98-45 B.C.), Roman savant, next to Varro
the most learned Roman of the age. He was a friend of Cicero, to whom he
gave his support at the time of the Catilinarian conspiracy (Plutarch,
_Cicero_, 20; Cicero, _Pro Sulla_, xiv. 42). In 58 he was praetor, sided
with Pompey in the Civil War, and after his defeat was banished by
Caesar, and died in exile. According to Cicero (_Timaeus_, 1), Figulus
endeavoured with some success to revive the doctrines of Pythagoreanism.
With this was included mathematics, astronomy and astrology, and even
the magic arts. According to Suetonius (_Augustus_, 94) he foretold the
greatness of the future emperor on the day of his birth, and Apuleius
(_Apologia_, 42) records that, by the employment of "magic boys"
(_magici pueri_), he helped to find a sum of money that had been lost.
Jerome (the authority for the date of his death) calls him _Pythagoricus
et magus_. The abstruse nature of his studies, the mystical character of
his writings, and the general indifference of the Romans to such
subjects, caused his works to be soon forgotten. Amongst his scientific,
theological and grammatical works mention may be made of _De diis_,
containing an examination of various cults and ceremonials; treatises on
divination and the interpretation of dreams; on the sphere, the winds
and animals. His _Commentarii grammatici_ in at least 29 books was an
ill-arranged collection of linguistic, grammatical and antiquarian
notes. In these he expressed the opinion that the meaning of words was
natural, not fixed by man. He paid especial attention to orthography,
and sought to differentiate the meanings of cases of like ending by
distinctive marks (the apex to indicate a long vowel is attributed to
him). In etymology he endeavoured to find a Roman explanation of words
where possible (according to him _frater_ was = _fere alter_).
Quintilian (_Instit. orat._ xi, 3. 143) speaks of a rhetorical treatise
_De gestu_ by him.
See Cicero, _Ad Fam._ iv. 13; scholiast on Lucan i. 639; several
references in Aulus Gellius; Teuffel, _Hist. of Roman Literature_,
170; M. Hertz, De N.F. _studiis atque operibus_ (1845); _Quaestiones
Nigidianae_ (1890), and edition of the fragments (1889) by A. Swoboda.
FIGURATE NUMBERS, in mathematics. If we take the sum of n terms of the
series 1 + 1 + 1 + ..., i.e. n, as the nth term of a new series, we
obtain the series 1 + 2 + 3 + ..., the sum of n terms of which is 1/2
n(n + 1). Taking this sum as the nth term, we obtain the series 1 + 3 +
6 + 10 + ..., which has for the sum of n terms n(n + 1)(n + 2)/3![1]
This sum is taken as the nth term of the next series, and proceeding in
this way we obtain series having the following nth terms:--1, n, n(n +
1)/2!, n(n + 1) (n + 2)/3!, ... n(n + 1) ... (n + r - 2)/(r - 1)!. The
numbers obtained by giving n any value in these expressions are of the
first, second, third, ... or rth order of figurate numbers.
1 /| 1 /| 1 /| 1 /| 1 /| 1 /| 1 /| 1
/ | / | / | / | / | / | / |
1 /| 2 /| 3 /| 4 /| 5 /| 6 /| 7 |
/ | / | / | / | / | / |
1 /| 3 /| 6 /| 10/| 15/| 21 |
/ | / | / | / | / |
1 /| 4 /| 10/| 20/| 35 |
/ | / | / | / |
1 /| 5 /| 15/| 35 |
/ | / | / |
1 /| 6 /| 21 |
/ | / |
1 /| 7 |
/ |
1 |
Pascal treated these numbers in his _Traite du triangle arithmetique_
(1665), using them to develop a theory of combinations and to solve
problems in probability. His table is here shown in its simplest form.
It is to be noticed that each number is the sum of the numbers
immediately above and to the left of it; and that the numbers along a
line, termed a _base_, which cuts off an equal number of units along the
top row and column are the coefficients in the binomial expansion of
(1 + x)^(r - 1), where r represents the number of units cut off.