Follis
dim.
Follicŭlus.
1.
An inflated ball of leather, no doubt originally the skin of a quadruped filled with
air. The Roman games of ball, of which Marquardt reckons five, are described under
Pila. The follis was the largest as well as the lightest
and softest ball in use, as the
pila was the hardest, the
paganica being intermediate between the two (
Mart.xiv.
45; cf. vii. 32). According to Marquardt, the follis might be either filled with air
(
κενή), or lightly stuffed with feathers; but this is
perhaps a wrong inference, as the
plumea pondera follis (
Mart.iv. 19) may simply mean “light as a feather”;
and it is only the
paganica and
pila which are
expressly stated to have been so stuffed. It was not the same, however, as the tightly-blown
modern football; it was much more like a child's ball, so soft that it could hurt no one, and
hence is recommended as a gentle exercise, fit for small
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Folles. (From a Coin of Gordianus III.)
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boys and old men, but to which
iuvenes would not condescend
(
Mart.xiv. 47). The
folliculus (
τὸ φούλλικλον καλούμενον) is said to have been invented by one
Atticus of Naples, a teacher of gymnastics (
παιδοτρίβης),
for the benefit of Pompeius Magnus (Athen. i. p. 14 foll.). Augustus, who was rather delicate
in health, took to it comparatively early in life, soon after the Civil Wars (
Suet. Aug. 83). For the
follis
pugilatorius of Plautus (
Rud. iii. 4, 16), see
Corycus. (Becker-Göll,
Gallus, iii. 171 foll.).
2.
An air-cushion or mattress (Lamprid.
Elagab. 25).
3.
A pair of bellows (
φῦσα), consisting of two
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Folles. (Rich.)
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boards, with an air-valve (
parma), united by a skin of ox or
cow hide, so as to form a machine similar to what we now use, as shown in the annexed figure,
from a terra-cotta lamp (
Cic. N. D. i. 20;
Pers. v. 11). Bellows, also made of goat's skin (
folles hircini), are mentioned by Horace (
Sat. i. 4, 19).
4.
Under the later Empire, follis was the name of a small debased coin. In the absence of a
better currency, large sums had to be paid in this coinage, which for the purpose was done up
in bags, also called
folles, analogous to the “purses of
piastres” still used in reckoning in the East. The number of coins that went to a
bag was probably 500, and its worth 1/12 of a
solidus, or about $0.25.
From this the follis became, under Constantine and his successors, a “money of
account,” which was used in reckoning gold and silver as well as copper (Euseb.
H. E. x. 6.1; Cod. Theod. vi. 2, 8).
