Numerius)
Fabius PICTOR, also
PHYSCON.
PHYSCON.
William Smith - 1844 - Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities - c
and afterwards most effectually aided its execution
Vratisl, 1838 ; Car. and Theod. Müller, Fragm. in B. c. 379. Thus, having especially ingratiated
Histor. Graec. pp. Ixxvii. &c. , 334, &c. ; Voss. de himself with Archias and Philippus, of whose
Hist. Graec. p. 150, ed. Westermann ; Droysen, pleasures he pretended to be the ready minister, he
Geschichte des Hellenismus, vol. i. p. 683 ; Clinton, introduced, in the disguise of women, the conspira-
F. H. vol. iii. p. 519. )
tors who despatched them; he gained admittance,
PHYLAS (plas). 1. A king of the Dryopes, according to Xenophon, for Pelopidas and his two
was attacked and slain by Heracles, because he companions to the house of LEONTIADES ; and,
had violated the sanctuary of Delphi. By his before what had happened could be publicly known,
daughter Mideia, Heracles became the father of he effected, with two others, his entrance into the
Antiochus. (Paus. i. 5. & 2, iv. 34. § 6, 1. 10. prison, under pretence of an order from the pole-
§ 1; Diod. iv. 37. )
marchs, and, having slain the jailor, released those
2. A son of Antiochus, and grandson of Hera- who were confined there as enemies to the govern-
cles and Mideia, was married to Deiphile, by ment. (Xen. Hell. v. 4. SS 2–8 ; Plut. Pelop.
whom he had two sons, Hippotas and Thero. 7, &c. , de Gen. Soc. 4, 24, 26, 29, 32 ;
Diod. xv.
(Paus. ii. 4. § 3, ix. 40. § 3; Apollod. ii. 8. 25. )
[E. E. )
§ 3. )
PHYLLIS (unis), a daughter of king Sithon,
3. A king of Ephyra in Thesprotia, and the in Thrace, fell in love with Demophon on his return
father of Polymele and Astyoche, by the latter of from Troy to Greece. Demophon promised her,
whom Heracles was the father of Tlepolemus. I by a certain day, to come back from Athens and
## p. 364 (#380) ############################################
364
PHYTON.
PICTOR.
P.
pang ! ! !
ܪܛ '1 ܐܪܥܗ -!
次元”。
tanya
ܚܬܐ ܝܽ ܐ
re
ve
022
28
азта
Gr. 4. 11
Na pew
ܗ݈ܘܺܝܬ ܝܽܬ݁ zz
marry her, and as he was prevented from keeping enjoyed high favour with the tyrant, but on dis-
his word, Phyllis hung herself, but was meta- covering his designs against Rhegium gave informa-
morphosed into an almond-tree, just at the tion of them to his countrymen, and was put to
moment when at length Demophon came, and in death by Dionysius in consequence. [E. H. B. ]
vain embraced the tree (Lucian, De Sultat. 40; PHY'XIUS (Púclos), i. e. , the god who protects
Tzetz. ad Lyc. 495 ; comp. Hygin. Fab. 59; Serv. fugitives, occurs as a surname of Zeus in Thessaly
ad Virg. Edog. v. 10 ; Ov. Ileroid. 2). In some (Schol. ad Apollon. Rhod. ii. 1147, iv. 699 ; Paus.
of these passages we read the name of Acamas ii. 21. § 3, iii. 17. $ 8), and of Apollo. (Philostr.
instead of Demophion.
(L. S. ) Hler. x. 4. )
[L. S. ]
PRYLLIS, the nurse of Domitian, buried him PICTOR, the name of a family of the Fabia
after his assassination. (Dion Cass. lxvii. 18; Gens, which was given to them from the eminence
Suet. Dom. 17. )
which their ancestor obtained as a painter. (See
PILYLLIS, musician. (Phillis. )
below, No. 1. )
PHYROʻMACHUS (supóuayos), an Athenian 1. C. Fabius Pictor, painted the temple of Salus
sculptor of the Cephissean demus, whose name (aedem Salutis pinxit), which the dictator C. Junius
occurs on an inscription discovered at Athens in Brutus Bubulus contracted for in his censorship, B. C.
1835, as the maker of the bas-reliefs on the frieze 307, and dedicated in his dictatorship, B. c. 302. This
of the celebrated temple of Athena Polins, which painting, which must have been on the walls of the
was built in Ol. 91, v. C. 416—412 (Schöll, Archio iemple, was probably a representation of the battle
logische Mittheilungen aus Griechenland, p. 125 ; which Bubulus had gained against the Samnites
R. Rochette, Lettre à M. Schorn, p. 386, 2d ed. ). [BUBULUS, No. 1). This is the earliest Roman
There are also passages of the ancient writers, in painting of which we have any record. It was
which mention is made of one or more artists under preserved till the reign of Claudius, when the
the names of Phylomachus, Phyromachus, and Py- temple was destroyed by fire. Dionysius, in a
romachus, three names which might evidently be passage to which Niebuhr calls attention, praises
easily confounded. It will be more convenient to the great correctness of the drawing in this picture,
examine these passages under the article PyroMA- the gracefulness of the colouring and the absence
CHUS, as that is the form in which most of them of all mannerism and affectation. (Plin. H. N.
give the name, and as the above inscription is the xxxv. 4. s. 7 ; Val. Max. viii. 14. § 6 ; Dionys.
only case in which we can be quite certain that xvi. 6, in Mai's Exc. ; Cic. Tusc. i. 2. $ 4; comp.
Phyromachus is the right form. [P. S. ] Liv. x. 1 ; Niebuhr, Hist. of Rome, vol. iii. p. 356. )
PHYSADEIA (Puoaðeia), a daughter of Da- 2. C. Fabius Pictor, son of No. 1, was consul
naus, from whom the well of Physadeia near B. C. 269, with Q. Ogulnius Gallus. The events
Argos, was believed to have derived its name. of his consulship are related under GALLUS, p. 228.
(Callim. Hymn. in Pall. 47. )
[L. S. ] 3. N. (i. e.
Numerius) Fabius PICTOR, also
PHYSCON. [PTOLEMAEUS. ]
son of No. 1, was consul B. C. 266 with D. Ju-
PHYSSIAS (Þvoolas), an Elean citizen of dis. nius Pera, and triumphed twice in this year, like
tinction who was taken prisoner by the Achaeans his colleague, the first time over the Sassinates, and
under Lycus of Pharae, when the latter defeated the second time over the Sallentini and Messapii
the allied forces of the Eleans and Aetolians under (Fasti). It appears to have been this Fabius Pictor,
EURIPIDAS, B. c. 217. (Polyb. v. 94. ) [E. H. B. ] and not his brother, who was one of the three
PHYTALUS (Þúrados), an Eleusinian hero, ambassadors sent by the senate to Ptolemy Phila-
who is said to have kindly received Demeter on delphus, in B. C. 276_(Val. Max. iv. 3. $ 9, with
her wanderings, and was rewarded hy the goddess the Conimentators). For an account of this em-
with a fig-tree (Paus. i. 37. & 2). To him the bassy see OGULNIUS.
noble Athenian family of the Phytalidae traced Cicero says that N. Fabius Pictor related the
their origin. (Plut. Thes. 12, 22. ) (L. S. ] dream of Aeneas in his Greek Annals (Cic. Div. i.
PHYTON (ÞÚTwv), a citizen of Rhegium, who 21). This is the only passage in which mention is
was chosen by his countrymen to be their general, made of this annalist. Vossius (de Hist. Latin. i.
when the city was besieged by the elder Dionysius, p. 14) and Krause (Vitae et Fragm. Hist. Roman.
B. C. 388. He animated the Rhegians to the most p. 83) suppose him to be a son of the consul of
vigorous defence, and displayed all the qualities B. c. 266, but Orelli (Onom. Tull. p. 246) and
and resources of an able general, as well as a brave others consider him to be the same as the consul.
warrior ; and it was in great measure owing to One is almost tempted to suspect that there is a
him that the siege was protracted for a space of mistake in the praenomen, and that it ought to be
more than eleven months. At length, however, the Quintus.
besieged were compelled by famine to surrender, 4. Q. Fabius Pictor, the son of No. 2, and
and the heroic Phyton fell into the hands of the the grandson of No. 1, was the most ancient writer
tyrant, who, after treating him with the most cruel of Roman history in prose, and is therefore usually
indignities, put him to death, together with his son placed at the head of the Roman annalists. Thus he
and all his other relations (Diod. xiv. 108, 111, is called by Livy scriptorum antiquissimus (i. 44) and
112). Diodorus tells us that the virtues and un- longe antiquissimus auctor (ii. 44). He served in
bappy fate of Phyton were a favourite subject of the Gallic war, B. c. 2. 25 (Eutrop. iii. 5 ; Oros. iv.
lamentation with the Greek poets, but none of these 13 ; comp. Plin. H. N. x. 24. s. 34), and also in
passages have come down to us. The only other the second Punic war ; and that he enjoyed consi-
;
author now extant who mentions the name of derable reputation among his contemporaries is
Phyton is Philostratus (Vit. Apoll. i. 35, vii. 2), evident from the circumstance of his being sent to
who appears to have followed a version of his story Delphi, after the disastrous battle of Cannae in B. C.
wholly different from that of Diodorus. According 216, to consult the oracle by what means the
to this, Phyton was an exile from Rhegium, who Romans could propitiate the gods (Liv. xxii. 57,
had taken refuge at the court of Dionysius, and / xxii, 11 ; Appian, Annib. 27). We learn from
Pean, z virs
Q
1-:. a ܐܶܕ݂ܬ
P ܕ|ܬ݁ܩܕܬ
pa
TEC
2 ST
yana Fras H
',. ܕ ܥ ܪܶ *
titats Pa
mr. be
lina
mai
## p. 365 (#381) ############################################
PICTOR.
365
PICUS.
3
Polybius (iii. 9. § 4) that he had a seat in the who was consul B. c. 151, and is said by Cicero to
senate, and consequently he must have filled the have been well skilled in law, literature, and anti-
office of quaestor ; but we possess no other parti- quity (Brut. 21). He appears to be the same as
culars respecting his life. The year of his death the Fabius Pictor who wrote a work De Jure Pon-
is uncertain ; for the C. Fabius Pictor whose death tificio, in several books, which is quoted by Nonius
Livy speaks of (xlv. 44) in B. c. 167, is a different (s. vv. Picumnus and Polubrum). We also have
person from the historian (see No. 5]. One might quotations from this work in Gellius (i. 12, n. 15)
conjecture, from his not obtaining any of the higher and Macrobius (Sat. iii. 2). This Ser. Fabius
dignities of the state, that he died soon after his probably wrote Annals likewise in the Latin lan-
return from Delphi ; but, as Polybius (iii. 9) speaks gunge, since Cicero (de Orat. ii. 12) speaks of a
of him as one of the historians of the second Punic Latin annalist, Pictor, whom he places after Cato,
war, he can hardly have died so soon ; and it is but before Piso ; which corresponds with the time
probable that his literary habits rendered him dis at which Ser. Pictor lived, but could not be
inclined to engage in the active services required of applicable to Q. Pictor, who lived in the time of the
the Roman magistrates at that time.
second Punic War. Now as we know that Q.
The history of Fabius Pictor probably began Pictor wrote his history in Greek, it is probable,
with the arrival of Aeneas in Italy, and came down as has been already remarked under No. 4, that
to his own time. The earlier events were related the passages referring to a Latin history of Fabius
with brevity ; but that portion of the history of Pictor relate to this Ser. Pictor. (Krause, Ibil.
which he was a contemporary, was given with p. 132, &c. )
much greater minuteness (Dionys. i. 6). We do The annexed coin was struck by some member
not know the number of books into which the work of this family, but it cannot be assigned with cer-
was divided, nor how far it came down. It con- tainty to any of the persons above mentioned.
tained an account of the battle of the lake Trasi-It bears on the obverse a head of Pallas, and on
mene (Liv. xxii. 7); and Polybius, as we have the reverse a figure of Rome, seated, with the
already remarked, speaks of him as one of the his- legend of N. PABI N. PICTOR. On the shield we
torians of the second Punic War. We have the find QVIRIN. , which probably indicates that the
express testimony of Dionysius (. c. ) that the work person who struck it was Flamen Quirinalis.
of Fabius was written in Greek ; but it has been
supposed from Cicero (de Orat. ii. 12, de Leg. i. 2),
Gellius (v. 4, x. 15), Quintilian (i. 6. & 12), and
Nonius (s. o. Picumnus), that it must have been
written in Latin also. This, however, is very im-
probable; and as we know there were two Latin
writers of the name of Fabius, namely, Ser. Fabius
GMA
Pictor, and Q. Fabius Maximus Servilianus, it is
more likely that the passages above quoted refer to
COIN OF N. PABIUS PICTOR.
one of these, and not to Quintus. (See below,
No. 6. ]
PICUMNUS and PILUMNUS, were re-
The work of Q. Fabius Pictor was one of great garded as two brothers, and as the beneficent gods
value, and is frequently referred to by Livy, Poly- of matrimony in the rustic religion of the ancient
bius, and Dionysius. Polybius (i. 14, iii. 9), indeed, Romans. A couch was prepared for them in the
charges Fabius with great partiality towards the house in which there was a newly-born child.
Romans ; and as he wrote for the Greeks, he was Pilumnus was believed to ward off all the suffer-
probably anxious to make his countrymen appear ings from childhood from the infant with his
in the best light. The work seems to have con- pilum, with which he taught to pound the grain ;
tained a very accurate account of the constitutional and Picumnus, who, under the name of Sterqui-
changes at Rome ; Niebuhr attributes the excellence linius, was believed to have discovered the use of
of Dion Cassius in this department of his history manure for the fields, conferred upon the infant
to his having closely followed the statements of strength and prosperity, whence both were also
Fabius (Hist. of Rome, vol. ii. note 367). In his looked upon as the gods of good deeds, and were
account of the early Roman legends Fabius is said identified with Castor and Pollux. (Serv. ad Aen.
to have adopted the views of Diocles of Peparethus ix. 4, x. 76; August. De Civ. Dei. vi. 9, xviii. 15;
[Diocles, literary, No. 5]. (Möller, De Q. Fabio Ov. Met. xiv. 321, &c.
Vratisl, 1838 ; Car. and Theod. Müller, Fragm. in B. c. 379. Thus, having especially ingratiated
Histor. Graec. pp. Ixxvii. &c. , 334, &c. ; Voss. de himself with Archias and Philippus, of whose
Hist. Graec. p. 150, ed. Westermann ; Droysen, pleasures he pretended to be the ready minister, he
Geschichte des Hellenismus, vol. i. p. 683 ; Clinton, introduced, in the disguise of women, the conspira-
F. H. vol. iii. p. 519. )
tors who despatched them; he gained admittance,
PHYLAS (plas). 1. A king of the Dryopes, according to Xenophon, for Pelopidas and his two
was attacked and slain by Heracles, because he companions to the house of LEONTIADES ; and,
had violated the sanctuary of Delphi. By his before what had happened could be publicly known,
daughter Mideia, Heracles became the father of he effected, with two others, his entrance into the
Antiochus. (Paus. i. 5. & 2, iv. 34. § 6, 1. 10. prison, under pretence of an order from the pole-
§ 1; Diod. iv. 37. )
marchs, and, having slain the jailor, released those
2. A son of Antiochus, and grandson of Hera- who were confined there as enemies to the govern-
cles and Mideia, was married to Deiphile, by ment. (Xen. Hell. v. 4. SS 2–8 ; Plut. Pelop.
whom he had two sons, Hippotas and Thero. 7, &c. , de Gen. Soc. 4, 24, 26, 29, 32 ;
Diod. xv.
(Paus. ii. 4. § 3, ix. 40. § 3; Apollod. ii. 8. 25. )
[E. E. )
§ 3. )
PHYLLIS (unis), a daughter of king Sithon,
3. A king of Ephyra in Thesprotia, and the in Thrace, fell in love with Demophon on his return
father of Polymele and Astyoche, by the latter of from Troy to Greece. Demophon promised her,
whom Heracles was the father of Tlepolemus. I by a certain day, to come back from Athens and
## p. 364 (#380) ############################################
364
PHYTON.
PICTOR.
P.
pang ! ! !
ܪܛ '1 ܐܪܥܗ -!
次元”。
tanya
ܚܬܐ ܝܽ ܐ
re
ve
022
28
азта
Gr. 4. 11
Na pew
ܗ݈ܘܺܝܬ ܝܽܬ݁ zz
marry her, and as he was prevented from keeping enjoyed high favour with the tyrant, but on dis-
his word, Phyllis hung herself, but was meta- covering his designs against Rhegium gave informa-
morphosed into an almond-tree, just at the tion of them to his countrymen, and was put to
moment when at length Demophon came, and in death by Dionysius in consequence. [E. H. B. ]
vain embraced the tree (Lucian, De Sultat. 40; PHY'XIUS (Púclos), i. e. , the god who protects
Tzetz. ad Lyc. 495 ; comp. Hygin. Fab. 59; Serv. fugitives, occurs as a surname of Zeus in Thessaly
ad Virg. Edog. v. 10 ; Ov. Ileroid. 2). In some (Schol. ad Apollon. Rhod. ii. 1147, iv. 699 ; Paus.
of these passages we read the name of Acamas ii. 21. § 3, iii. 17. $ 8), and of Apollo. (Philostr.
instead of Demophion.
(L. S. ) Hler. x. 4. )
[L. S. ]
PRYLLIS, the nurse of Domitian, buried him PICTOR, the name of a family of the Fabia
after his assassination. (Dion Cass. lxvii. 18; Gens, which was given to them from the eminence
Suet. Dom. 17. )
which their ancestor obtained as a painter. (See
PILYLLIS, musician. (Phillis. )
below, No. 1. )
PHYROʻMACHUS (supóuayos), an Athenian 1. C. Fabius Pictor, painted the temple of Salus
sculptor of the Cephissean demus, whose name (aedem Salutis pinxit), which the dictator C. Junius
occurs on an inscription discovered at Athens in Brutus Bubulus contracted for in his censorship, B. C.
1835, as the maker of the bas-reliefs on the frieze 307, and dedicated in his dictatorship, B. c. 302. This
of the celebrated temple of Athena Polins, which painting, which must have been on the walls of the
was built in Ol. 91, v. C. 416—412 (Schöll, Archio iemple, was probably a representation of the battle
logische Mittheilungen aus Griechenland, p. 125 ; which Bubulus had gained against the Samnites
R. Rochette, Lettre à M. Schorn, p. 386, 2d ed. ). [BUBULUS, No. 1). This is the earliest Roman
There are also passages of the ancient writers, in painting of which we have any record. It was
which mention is made of one or more artists under preserved till the reign of Claudius, when the
the names of Phylomachus, Phyromachus, and Py- temple was destroyed by fire. Dionysius, in a
romachus, three names which might evidently be passage to which Niebuhr calls attention, praises
easily confounded. It will be more convenient to the great correctness of the drawing in this picture,
examine these passages under the article PyroMA- the gracefulness of the colouring and the absence
CHUS, as that is the form in which most of them of all mannerism and affectation. (Plin. H. N.
give the name, and as the above inscription is the xxxv. 4. s. 7 ; Val. Max. viii. 14. § 6 ; Dionys.
only case in which we can be quite certain that xvi. 6, in Mai's Exc. ; Cic. Tusc. i. 2. $ 4; comp.
Phyromachus is the right form. [P. S. ] Liv. x. 1 ; Niebuhr, Hist. of Rome, vol. iii. p. 356. )
PHYSADEIA (Puoaðeia), a daughter of Da- 2. C. Fabius Pictor, son of No. 1, was consul
naus, from whom the well of Physadeia near B. C. 269, with Q. Ogulnius Gallus. The events
Argos, was believed to have derived its name. of his consulship are related under GALLUS, p. 228.
(Callim. Hymn. in Pall. 47. )
[L. S. ] 3. N. (i. e.
Numerius) Fabius PICTOR, also
PHYSCON. [PTOLEMAEUS. ]
son of No. 1, was consul B. C. 266 with D. Ju-
PHYSSIAS (Þvoolas), an Elean citizen of dis. nius Pera, and triumphed twice in this year, like
tinction who was taken prisoner by the Achaeans his colleague, the first time over the Sassinates, and
under Lycus of Pharae, when the latter defeated the second time over the Sallentini and Messapii
the allied forces of the Eleans and Aetolians under (Fasti). It appears to have been this Fabius Pictor,
EURIPIDAS, B. c. 217. (Polyb. v. 94. ) [E. H. B. ] and not his brother, who was one of the three
PHYTALUS (Þúrados), an Eleusinian hero, ambassadors sent by the senate to Ptolemy Phila-
who is said to have kindly received Demeter on delphus, in B. C. 276_(Val. Max. iv. 3. $ 9, with
her wanderings, and was rewarded hy the goddess the Conimentators). For an account of this em-
with a fig-tree (Paus. i. 37. & 2). To him the bassy see OGULNIUS.
noble Athenian family of the Phytalidae traced Cicero says that N. Fabius Pictor related the
their origin. (Plut. Thes. 12, 22. ) (L. S. ] dream of Aeneas in his Greek Annals (Cic. Div. i.
PHYTON (ÞÚTwv), a citizen of Rhegium, who 21). This is the only passage in which mention is
was chosen by his countrymen to be their general, made of this annalist. Vossius (de Hist. Latin. i.
when the city was besieged by the elder Dionysius, p. 14) and Krause (Vitae et Fragm. Hist. Roman.
B. C. 388. He animated the Rhegians to the most p. 83) suppose him to be a son of the consul of
vigorous defence, and displayed all the qualities B. c. 266, but Orelli (Onom. Tull. p. 246) and
and resources of an able general, as well as a brave others consider him to be the same as the consul.
warrior ; and it was in great measure owing to One is almost tempted to suspect that there is a
him that the siege was protracted for a space of mistake in the praenomen, and that it ought to be
more than eleven months. At length, however, the Quintus.
besieged were compelled by famine to surrender, 4. Q. Fabius Pictor, the son of No. 2, and
and the heroic Phyton fell into the hands of the the grandson of No. 1, was the most ancient writer
tyrant, who, after treating him with the most cruel of Roman history in prose, and is therefore usually
indignities, put him to death, together with his son placed at the head of the Roman annalists. Thus he
and all his other relations (Diod. xiv. 108, 111, is called by Livy scriptorum antiquissimus (i. 44) and
112). Diodorus tells us that the virtues and un- longe antiquissimus auctor (ii. 44). He served in
bappy fate of Phyton were a favourite subject of the Gallic war, B. c. 2. 25 (Eutrop. iii. 5 ; Oros. iv.
lamentation with the Greek poets, but none of these 13 ; comp. Plin. H. N. x. 24. s. 34), and also in
passages have come down to us. The only other the second Punic war ; and that he enjoyed consi-
;
author now extant who mentions the name of derable reputation among his contemporaries is
Phyton is Philostratus (Vit. Apoll. i. 35, vii. 2), evident from the circumstance of his being sent to
who appears to have followed a version of his story Delphi, after the disastrous battle of Cannae in B. C.
wholly different from that of Diodorus. According 216, to consult the oracle by what means the
to this, Phyton was an exile from Rhegium, who Romans could propitiate the gods (Liv. xxii. 57,
had taken refuge at the court of Dionysius, and / xxii, 11 ; Appian, Annib. 27). We learn from
Pean, z virs
Q
1-:. a ܐܶܕ݂ܬ
P ܕ|ܬ݁ܩܕܬ
pa
TEC
2 ST
yana Fras H
',. ܕ ܥ ܪܶ *
titats Pa
mr. be
lina
mai
## p. 365 (#381) ############################################
PICTOR.
365
PICUS.
3
Polybius (iii. 9. § 4) that he had a seat in the who was consul B. c. 151, and is said by Cicero to
senate, and consequently he must have filled the have been well skilled in law, literature, and anti-
office of quaestor ; but we possess no other parti- quity (Brut. 21). He appears to be the same as
culars respecting his life. The year of his death the Fabius Pictor who wrote a work De Jure Pon-
is uncertain ; for the C. Fabius Pictor whose death tificio, in several books, which is quoted by Nonius
Livy speaks of (xlv. 44) in B. c. 167, is a different (s. vv. Picumnus and Polubrum). We also have
person from the historian (see No. 5]. One might quotations from this work in Gellius (i. 12, n. 15)
conjecture, from his not obtaining any of the higher and Macrobius (Sat. iii. 2). This Ser. Fabius
dignities of the state, that he died soon after his probably wrote Annals likewise in the Latin lan-
return from Delphi ; but, as Polybius (iii. 9) speaks gunge, since Cicero (de Orat. ii. 12) speaks of a
of him as one of the historians of the second Punic Latin annalist, Pictor, whom he places after Cato,
war, he can hardly have died so soon ; and it is but before Piso ; which corresponds with the time
probable that his literary habits rendered him dis at which Ser. Pictor lived, but could not be
inclined to engage in the active services required of applicable to Q. Pictor, who lived in the time of the
the Roman magistrates at that time.
second Punic War. Now as we know that Q.
The history of Fabius Pictor probably began Pictor wrote his history in Greek, it is probable,
with the arrival of Aeneas in Italy, and came down as has been already remarked under No. 4, that
to his own time. The earlier events were related the passages referring to a Latin history of Fabius
with brevity ; but that portion of the history of Pictor relate to this Ser. Pictor. (Krause, Ibil.
which he was a contemporary, was given with p. 132, &c. )
much greater minuteness (Dionys. i. 6). We do The annexed coin was struck by some member
not know the number of books into which the work of this family, but it cannot be assigned with cer-
was divided, nor how far it came down. It con- tainty to any of the persons above mentioned.
tained an account of the battle of the lake Trasi-It bears on the obverse a head of Pallas, and on
mene (Liv. xxii. 7); and Polybius, as we have the reverse a figure of Rome, seated, with the
already remarked, speaks of him as one of the his- legend of N. PABI N. PICTOR. On the shield we
torians of the second Punic War. We have the find QVIRIN. , which probably indicates that the
express testimony of Dionysius (. c. ) that the work person who struck it was Flamen Quirinalis.
of Fabius was written in Greek ; but it has been
supposed from Cicero (de Orat. ii. 12, de Leg. i. 2),
Gellius (v. 4, x. 15), Quintilian (i. 6. & 12), and
Nonius (s. o. Picumnus), that it must have been
written in Latin also. This, however, is very im-
probable; and as we know there were two Latin
writers of the name of Fabius, namely, Ser. Fabius
GMA
Pictor, and Q. Fabius Maximus Servilianus, it is
more likely that the passages above quoted refer to
COIN OF N. PABIUS PICTOR.
one of these, and not to Quintus. (See below,
No. 6. ]
PICUMNUS and PILUMNUS, were re-
The work of Q. Fabius Pictor was one of great garded as two brothers, and as the beneficent gods
value, and is frequently referred to by Livy, Poly- of matrimony in the rustic religion of the ancient
bius, and Dionysius. Polybius (i. 14, iii. 9), indeed, Romans. A couch was prepared for them in the
charges Fabius with great partiality towards the house in which there was a newly-born child.
Romans ; and as he wrote for the Greeks, he was Pilumnus was believed to ward off all the suffer-
probably anxious to make his countrymen appear ings from childhood from the infant with his
in the best light. The work seems to have con- pilum, with which he taught to pound the grain ;
tained a very accurate account of the constitutional and Picumnus, who, under the name of Sterqui-
changes at Rome ; Niebuhr attributes the excellence linius, was believed to have discovered the use of
of Dion Cassius in this department of his history manure for the fields, conferred upon the infant
to his having closely followed the statements of strength and prosperity, whence both were also
Fabius (Hist. of Rome, vol. ii. note 367). In his looked upon as the gods of good deeds, and were
account of the early Roman legends Fabius is said identified with Castor and Pollux. (Serv. ad Aen.
to have adopted the views of Diocles of Peparethus ix. 4, x. 76; August. De Civ. Dei. vi. 9, xviii. 15;
[Diocles, literary, No. 5]. (Möller, De Q. Fabio Ov. Met. xiv. 321, &c.
