FULCRA

[The ends of the framework on which the pillows of a couch or the cushions of a chair were placed, resembling the head of a modern sofa. They are invariably ornamented with inlaid bronze, sometimes of the richest kind, and are always surmounted by bronze ornaments representing the head and shoulders of a mule or ass, turning sideways and backwards, with ears put down and a vicious expression. The head is in almost every case decorated with a garland of vine-leaves entwined with tendrils and bunches of grapes, while the shoulders are covered with a curious leather collar, the top of which is turned down just where it joins the shaggy skin of some wild animal which is thrown over it. For the head of the ass is sometimes substituted that of a boy, or the head and neck of a goose. The lower part is decorated with a round boss from which springs a bust of a genius in full relief, or of some youthful divinity, such as Bacchus or Hercules. The framework to which these ornaments are attached is described in Juvenal xi 93-98. The genius fulcri is mentioned ib. vi 22. Cp. Vergil, Aen. vi 604; Ovid, Ep. Pont. iii 3, 14; Propert. iv 7, 3: 8, 68; Suetonius, Claud. 32; Pliny, N. H., xxxiv 9; Ammianus xxviii 1, 47, plumeum fulcrum; Hyginus, fab. 274, "Antiqui autem in lectis tricliniaribus in fulcris capita asellorum vite alligata habuerunt"]. W. C. F. Anderson in Classical Review, 1889, 322.