Fascism resurfaces in DC
An interesting historical tale:
About two months ago, one of the workers renovating the old Italian Embassy building at 16th and Fuller streets NW was surprised when part of the exterior wall started to crumble as he cleaned it. He was even more startled by what he found behind it: an engraving in Latin and a battered pair of bas-relief sculptures of . . . well, what exactly?
The Latin was the easy part: “AEDES AD MCMXXV AERE PVBL EXSTRVCTAE” translates as “a building constructed with public funds in 1925.”
The sculptures were a little tougher. Whatever they were, they looked as if someone had taken a pickax to them in an attempt to obscure their original form. But if you know a little about Roman history, Italian history or world history, you can tell what they are — or were: bundles of wooden rods bound around an ax blade.
They are fasces. From them, we get the word fascism.