L. fascia:  “a band, bandage, swathe”, related to L. fascēs: “bundle of rods containing an axe with the blade projecting”. In ancient Rome, the bundle was a material symbol of a Roman magistrate's full civil and military power. They were carried in a procession with a magistrate by lictors, which could be considered "Roman bodyguards". With a heavy influence from Roman law, the United States has adopted the principal of the fasces and dons this symbol in various places throughout the nation's capital (e.g., on either side of the throne of the Lincoln Memorial).