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FABIUS , the name of a number of See also:Roman soldiers and statesmen. The See also:Fabian gens was one of the See also:oldest and most distinguished patrician families of See also:Rome. Its members claimed descent from See also:Hercules and a daughter of the Arcadian See also:Evander. From the earliest times it played a prominent See also:part in Roman See also:history, and was one of the two gentes exclusively charged with the management of the most See also:ancient festival in Rome—the See also:Lupercalia (See also:Ovid, See also:Fasti, ii. 375). The See also:chief See also:family names of the Fabian gens or See also:clan, in republican times, were Vibulanus, Ambustus, See also:Maximus, Buteo, Pictor, Dorso, See also:Labeo; with surnames Verrucosus, Rullianus, Gauges, Aemilianus, Allobrogicus (all
of the Maximus See also:branch). The most important members of the family are the following:
I. See also:MARCUS FABIUS AMBUSTUS, See also:pontifex maximus in the See also:year
of the See also:capture of Rome by the Gauls (390). His three sons, See also:Quintus, Numerius and Caeso; although they had been sent as
ambassadors to the Gauls when they were besieging See also:Clusium, subsequently took part in hostilities (See also:Livy v. 35). The Gauls thereupon demanded their surrender, on the ground that they had violated the See also:law of nations; the See also:Romans, by way of reply, elected them consular tribunes in the following year. The result
was the See also: 1). 2. Q. FABIUS MAXIMUS, surnamed Rullianus or See also:Rullus, See also:master of the See also:horse in the second Samnite See also:War to L. Papirius See also:Cursor, by whom he was degraded for having fought the See also:Samnites contrary to orders (Livy viii. 30), in spite of the fact that he gained a victory. In 315, when See also:dictator, he was defeated by the Samnites at Lautulae (Livy ix. 23). In 310 he defeated the Etruscans at the Vadimonian See also:Lake. In 295, See also:consul for the fifth See also:time, he defeated, at the See also:great battle of See also:Sentinum, the combined forces of the Etrurians, Umbrians, Samnites and Gauls (see RoME: History, II. " The See also:Republic "). As See also:censor (304) he altered the arrangement of Appius See also:Claudius Caecus, whereby the freedmen were taken into all the tribes, and limited them to the four city tribes. For this he is said to have received the See also:title of Maximus, as the deliverer of the See also:comitia from the See also:rule of the See also:mob (Livy ix. 46), but there is See also:reason to think that this title was first conferred on his See also:grandson. It is probable that his achievements are greatly exaggerated by historians favourable to the Fabian See also:house. 3. QUINTUS FABIUS MAXIMUS, surnamed Verrucosus (from a See also:wart on his See also:lip), Ovicula (" the See also:lamb,." from his mild disposition), and Cunctator (" the delayer," from his cautious See also:tactics in the war against See also:Hannibal), grandson of the preceding. He served his first consulship in See also:Liguria (233 B.C.), was censor (230) and consul for the second time (228). In 218 he was sent to See also:Carthage to demand See also:satisfaction for the attack on See also:Saguntum (Livy xxi. 18). According to the well-known See also:story, he held up a See also:fold of his toga and offered the Carthaginians the choice between See also:peace and war. When they declared themselves indifferent, he, let fall his toga with the words, " Then take war." After the disastrous See also:campaign on the See also:Trebia, and the defeat on the See also:banks of the See also:Trasimene Lake, Fabius was named dictator (Livy calls him See also:pro-dictator, since he was nominated, not by the consul, but by the See also:people) in 217, and began his tactics of " masterly inactivity." Manoeuvring among the hills, where Hannibal's See also:cavalry were useless, he cut off his supplies, harassed him incessantly, and did everything except fight. His steady adherence to his See also:plan caused dissatisfaction at Rome and in his own See also:camp, and aroused the suspicion that he was merely endeavouring to prolong his command. Minucius See also:Rufus, his master of the horse, seized the opportunity, during the See also:absence of Fabius at Rome, to make an attack upon the enemy which proved successful. The people, more than ever convinced that a forward See also:movement was necessary, divided the command between Minucius and Fabius (Livy xxii. 15. 24; See also:Polybius iii. 88). Minucius was led into an ambuscade by Hannibal, and his See also:army was only saved by the opportune arrival of Fabius. Minucius confessed his See also:mistake and henceforth submitted to the orders of Fabius (Livy See also:xxiii. 32). At the end of the legal time of six months Fabius resigned the dictatorship and the war was carried on by the consuls. The result of the See also:abandonment of Fabian tactics was the disaster of See also:Cannae (216). In 215 and 214 (as consul for the third and See also:fourth times) he was in See also:charge of the operations against Hannibal together with Claudius See also:Marcellus (Livy xxiii. 39). He laid See also:siege to See also:Capua, which had gone over to Hannibal after Cannae, and captured the important position of See also:Casilinum; in his fifth consulship (209) he retook See also:Tarentum, which had been occupied by Hannibal for three years (Livy See also:xxvii. 15; Polybius xiii. 4; See also:Plutarch, Fabius). He died in 203. Fabius was a strenuous opponent of the new aggressive policy, and did all he could to prevent the invasion of See also:Africa by Scipio. He was distinguished for calmness and prudence, while by no means lacking in courage when it was required. In his later years, however, he became morose, and showed See also:jealousy of rising See also:young men, especially Scipio (See also:Life by Plutarch; Livy xx.-See also:xxx.; Polybius iii. 87-206). 4. Q. FABIUS MAXIMUS AEMILIANUS, eldest son of L. See also:Aemilius Paullus, adopted by Fabius Cunctator. He served in the last Macedonian War (168), and, as consul, defeated Viriathus in See also:Spain (Livy, Epit. 52). He was the See also:pupil and See also:patron of Polybius (Polybius xviii., See also:xxix. 6, xxiii. 8-ro; Livy xliv. 35)• 5. Q. FABIUS MAXIMUS ALLOBROGICUS, son of the above, consul 121 in See also:Gaul. He obtained his surname from his victory over the See also:Allobroges and See also:Arverni in that year (Vell. Pat. ii. ro; See also:Eutropius iv. 22). As censor (Io8) he erected the first triumphal See also:arch. 6. Q. FABIUS VIBULANUS, with his See also:brothers Caeso and Marcus, filled the consulship for seven years in See also:succession (485–479 B.C.). In the last year there was a reaction against the family, in See also:con-sequence of Caeso espousing the cause of the plebeians. Thereupon the Fabii—to the number, it is said, of 306 See also:patricians, with some 5000 dependents—emigrated from Rome under the leadership of Caeso, and settled on the banks of the See also:Cremera, a few See also:miles above Rome. For two years the exiles continued to be the city's chief See also:defence against the Veientes, until at last they were surprised and cut off. The only survivor of the gens was Quintus, the son of Marcus, who apparently took no part in the battle. The story that he had been See also:left behind at Rome on See also:account of his youth can-not be true, as he was consul ten years afterwards. This Quintus was consul in 467, 465 and 459, and a member of the second decemvirate in 450, on the fall of which he went into voluntary See also:exile (Livy ii. 42, 48-50, iii. 1, 9, 41, 58, vi. 1; See also:Dion. Halic. viii. 82-86, ix. 14-22: Ovid, Fasti, ii. 195). The Fabian name is met with as See also:late as the 2nd See also:century A.D. A See also:complete See also:list of the Fabii will be found in de Vit's Onomasticon; see also W. N. du See also:Rieu, Disputatio de Gente Fabia (1856), containing an account of 57 members of the family. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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