fictio

fictĭo, ōnis, f. [fingo] (post-Aug.; esp. freq. in Quint.).

I.

A making, fashioning, forming, formation (cf.:

confictio, figmentum): (animalis) fictio a capite sumit exordium,

Lact. Opif. D. 12:

hominis,

i. e. creation, id. 4, 4; 2, 9:

nominum fictio adjectis, detractis, mutatis litteris,

Quint. 6, 3, 53; 8, 3, 19; Onomatopoiia, id est fictio nominis, id. 8, 6, 31; 9, 1, 5: Furium, veterem poëtam, dedecorasse linguam Latinam hujuscemodi [p. 745] vocum fictionibus, quae, etc., Gell. 18, 11, 2. —

II.

In partic.

A.

A feigning, counterfeiting, disguising:

in figura totius voluntatis fictio est, apparens magis quam confessa,

Quint. 9, 2, 46:

poëtarum,

fictions, Lact. 1, 21 fin.: fictiones personarum, quae prosôpopoiiai dicuntur, Quint. 9, 2, 29:

personae,

id. 9, 3, 89; 11, 1, 39; Vulg. Sap. 7, 13.—

B.

Rhet. t. t., an assumed or fictitious case, a supposition, fiction:

adhuc est subtilior illa ex simili translatio, cum, quod in alia re fieri solet, in aliam mutuantur. Ea dicatur sane fictio,

Quint. 6, 3, 61; cf.: duci argumenta non a confessis tantum, sed etiam a fictione, quod Graeci kath hupothesin vocant, id. 5, 10, 95 Spald.:

est et illa ex ironia fictio, qua usus est C. Caesar, etc.,

id. 6, 3, 91.—

C.

Jurid. t. t.:

fictio legis,

a fictitious assumption in a case, a fiction, Gai. Inst. 3, 56; Dig. 35, 2, 1, § 1; 18; 41, 3, 15. For an account of the fictions in use in the formulas of the Roman law, v. Gai. Inst. 4, 32-38; cf. Savigny, Du Droit Romain, 5, pp. 76-84.