A promise keptWineIncenseFirst fruitsThe writing out of an agreement
Invocation Approach
Tone
Sober and exact
Address
FidesGood FaithFides Publica
Relationship
The bond that holds because it was given
Warning
She is the word kept and not the word intended
Resonance
Those making a pledge and those who have broken one
Symbols
The clasped handsThe veilThe cornucopiaThe tablet of the treaty
Mythology Summary
Fides is the Roman personification of good faith - the pledged word, the treaty, the contract, and the loyalty owed between patron and client - and she is among the oldest of the virtues to be given a state cult. Tradition attributes her worship to Numa: Livy records that he established it and that the three flamines maiores were carried to her temple on the Capitol in a covered arched chariot, their right hands wrapped in white cloth to the fingers (Livy 1.21), and the fasti keep her sacrifice on 1 October. The temple, probably built by Aulus Atilius Calatinus and restored by Marcus Aemilius Scaurus in 115 BCE, displayed bronze tables of laws and treaties and was sometimes used for Senate meetings. Her Greek counterpart is Pistis.
Modern Practice
Fides is called on before an agreement is made and after one has been broken. The practice is documentary and unglamorous: write the terms, name the witness, keep the date. Her cult is why bona fides is still a term of law.