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FACTION (through the French, from Lat...

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Originally appearing in Volume V10, Page 121 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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FACTION (through the See also:French, from See also:Lat. factio, a See also:company of persons combined for See also:action, facere, to do; from the other French derivative facon comes " See also:fashion ") , a See also:term, used especially with an opprobrious meaning, for a See also:body of partisans who put their party aims and interests above those of the See also:state or public, and employ unscrupulous or questionable means; it is thus a See also:common term of reciprocal abuse between parties. In the See also:history of the See also:Roman and Later Roman empires the factions ( factiones) of the See also:circus and See also:hippodrome, at See also:Rome and See also:Constantinople, played a prominent See also:part in politics. The factibnes were properly the four companies into which the charioteets were divided, and distinguished by the See also:colours they wore. Originally at Rome there were only two, See also:white (albata) and red (rztssata), when each See also:race was open to two chariots only; on the increase to four, the See also:green (prasina) and See also:blue (veneta) were added. At Constantinople the last two absorbed the red and white factions. For a brilliant description of the factions at Constantinople- under Justinian, and the part they played in the celebrated 'Nika See also:riot in See also:January 532, see See also:Gibbon's Decline and Fall, ch. xl.; and J. B. See also:Bury's Appendix to in vol. iv. of his edition (1898), for a discussion of the relationship between the factiones and the demes of Constantinople.

End of Article: FACTION (through the French, from Lat. factio, a company of persons combined for action, facere, to do; from the other French derivative facon comes " fashion ")

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