)
According
to the Fasti a of Rome.
William Smith - 1844 - Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities - b
Fr.
Mai ; Val.
Max.
ii.
7.
$8; Front Strat.
accomplice in a conspiracy against the life of Valens, iv. 1. $ 39; Aurel. Vict. Vir. II. 31, 32 ; Eutrop.
and it seems that he was guilty, inasmuch as he ii. 8. ) In B. c. 322 Fabius obtained his first con-
knew of the plot but did not reveal it. He was sulate, probably at an early age. (Cic. Phil. v.
also accused of sorcery and sentenced to death, and 17; comp. Val. Max. viii. 15. ♡ 5. ) It was the
his head was accordingly struck off, philosophy second year of the second Samnite war, and Fabius
dying with him, as Libanius says. Julian wrote was the most eminent of the Roman generals in
different letters to Maximus which are extant (15, that long and arduous struggle for the empire of
16, 38, 39). Maximus had two brothers,-Clau- Italy. He was, as Dr. Arnold remarks, the
dianus, who taught philosophy at Alexandria, and Talbot of the fifth century of Rome, and his per-
Nymphidianus, who lectured at Smyrna ; both of sonal prowess, even in age, was no less celebrated
them gained fame. Maximus of Ephesus is be-than his skill as a general. " Yet nearly all au-
lieved by some to be the author of riepi katapyar thentic traces are lost of the seat and circumstances
alias dnapxw, De Electionum Auspiciis, an astrolo- of his numerous campaigns. His defeats have been
gical poem in hexameter verse which was first pub- suppressed or extenuated; the achievements of
1
(I'S
tube reaches
1 of its
aged to
Prises
## p. 992 (#1008) ###########################################
992
MAXIMUS.
MAXIMUS.
darities (Mxerob
257, xi 40. ) Ir
bedile, and ined
ther discrderisa
fra balta len
izd. (Liv. II
corsa in & c. ?
by the Pentran
Fabian house, t1
tock advantage
people agaiast F
fra the consu.
to serve as bis
72. Victory :
the Roman art
retrieved his re
towns, and was
te zost remar
beside bis son's
r. 15; Oros.
Success in this
to Pena deset
obsequious to
In EC 291 F
tum. He
Consel LP
Talents dron
(Dionys, IT.
Farsus for his
second time
ph de Sa
Skoris afte:
waate to P
others ascribed to him alone ; and a moderation in title of proconsul, was continued during B. c. 307,
seeking and refusing honours imputed to him and he defeated the Samnites near Allifae. This
equally foreign to his age, his nation, and character. campaign also is liable to suspicion, since Fabius
Where so much has been studiously falsified (Liv. obtained no triumph. (Liv. ir. 42 ; Diod. xx.
viii. 40), probably in the first instance by chroni- 44. ) In B. C. 304 Fabius was censor. Upon
clers of the Fabian house-a house unusually rich Livy's brief and uninstructive words (ix. 46) a
in annalists—and where our only guides, the pile of hypothesis has been raised by modern and re-
Fasti, Livy, and Diodorus, are not only irrecon- cent scholars. We can only refer to Niebuhr (Hist.
cileable with one another, but often inconsistent of Rome, vol. iii. pp. 320—350), Zumpt (Die
with themselves, a bare outline of his military and Centurien, Berlin, 1836), Huschke (Staatsverfuss.
political life is alone desirable. In his first consu- Serv. Tull
. Breslau, 1838), and Walther (Ges.
late, B. C. 322, Fabius was stationed in Apulian chicht. Röm. Recht, vol. i. p. 136). Fabius seems to
where he defeated the Samnites, and triumphed have cancelled the changes introduced by Appius
" de Samnitibus et Apuleis. (Liv. viii. 38, 40 ; the Blind in his censorship, B. C 312 [APP. CLAU-
comp. Zonar. vii. 26 ; Aurel. Vict. Vir. IV. 32; DIUS, No. 10), by confining the libertini to the four
Appian, Samn. Fr. 4. ) In the following year, after city tribes: he also probably increased the political
the disaster at the Caudine Forks, he was interrex importance of the equites (Liv. ix. 46; Val.
(Liv, ix, 17), and in 315 dictator, and was com- Max. ii. 2. & 9; Aurel. Vict. Vir. IU. 32 ; Plin.
pletely defeated by the Samnites at Lautulae, a H. N. xv. 4; comp. Dionys. vi. 13, 15. ) Fabius
narrow pass between the sea and the mountains does not appear again till B. C. 297, when he was
cast of_Terracina (Diod. xix. 72; Liv. ix. 22, consul for the fifth time, according to Livy (x. 13),
23. ) To this or the next year belongs probably against his own wishes; but the annalist of the
an anecdote preserved by Valerius Maximus (viii. Fabian house whom Livy copied probably veiled
1. $ 9). A. Atilius Calatinus (Atilius Cala or suppressed in this year a strong opposition to his
TINUS, No. 3), son-in-law of Fabius, was accused re-election by the Appian party. (Liv. 4. 15. )
of betraying Sora to the enemy. His condemna- Samnium was again his province, but the result of
tion was arrested by Fabius declaring that had he his campaign is doubtful. In the following year
believed Calatinus guilty, he would have exercised Fabius was consul for the sixth time, and com-
his paternal power, and taken his daughter from manded at the great battle of Sentinum, when the
him. In B. C. 310 Fabius was consul for the combined armies of the Samnites, Gauls, Etruscans,
second time. (Liv. ix. 33; Diod. xx. 27; Fasti. ) and Umbrians, attacked the Romans and their
Of this, as of his former consulate, the accounts are allies. At the beginning of the year a dispute
conflicting. Unable to relieve Sutrium, which the with P. Decius Mus, who had been thrice before
Etruscans were besieging, Fabius struck through Fabius' colleague in the consulship, and once in the
the Ciminian wood till he reached the western censorship, and the withdrawal of Appius Claudius
frontier of Umbria. He there formed an alliance from the seat of war, and his appointment to the
with the people of Camerinum or Camerta, and by city praetorship, are probably tokens of strong
his ravages in northern Etruria effected a diversion party-struggles at Rome. (Liv. X. 21, 22, 24. )
favourable to Rome, and compelled Arretium, Cor-For his victory at Sentinum Fabius triumphed on
tona, and Perusia, to conclude a truce for thirty the 4th of September in the same year. (Fast. ;
years with the republic. His victories at Perusia, Liv. ib. 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30. ) For the remainder
the Lake Vadimon, and Sutrium, may be placed in of the year he was employed in Etruria. In 292
the same catalogue with the apocryphal perils of he acted as legatus to his son (MAXIMUS FABIUS,
the Ciminian forest. The senate meanwhile, No. 2], and rode beside his triumphal chariot, de-
alarmed at the withdrawal of the army from lighting in the honours of his son, whom he had
Sutrium, sent to prohibit Fabius marching into rescued from disgrace and degradation and crowned
Etruria. He met the deputation on his return with victory. (Liv. Epit. xi. ; Dion Cass. Fr.
when his success had justified his disobedience. Peiresc. xxxvi. ; Oros. iii. 22; Plut. Fab. Mar.
The war south of the Tiber, however, required a 24; Val. Max. ii. 2. § 4, v. 7. $1; Zonar. viii. 1. )
dictator, and Fabius was directed to appoint his old Fabius succeeded his father, Ambustns, in the
enemy, Papirius Cursor. He heard the mandate honourable post of Princeps Senatûs. (Plin. H. N.
of the senate in moody silence, obeyed it in the vii. 41. ) On his death, which happened soon after,
solitude of midnight, and when, next morning, the the people subscribed largely for the expences of
envoys thanked him for preferring the public good his funeral ; but as the Fabian house was wealthy,
to his private enmity, he dismissed them without his son Fabius Gurges employed the money in
reply. A triumph de Etrusceis recompensed this giving a public entertainment (epulum), and in a
campaign. (Liv. ix. 33, 35, 36, 37, 38, 40 ; Dion distribution of provisions (visceratio) to the citizens
Cass. Fr. 35; Fasti.
) According to the Fasti a of Rome. (Aurel. Vict. Vir. N. 32. ) The cause of
year intervened between the second and third con his obtaining the cognomen Maximus is uncertain.
bulates of Fabius ; but Livy (ix. 41: and Diodorus Livy (ix. 46) says that his political services in the
(xx. 37) make them immediately succeed one an- censorship of B. c. 304 were the cause. But he
other. Fabius, as consul in B. C. 308, had Sam-makes a doubt (xxx. 26) whether the cognomen
nium for his province. He quelled a revolt of the were not originally conferred on his great grand.
Marsians, the Pelignians, and Hernicans ; recovered son, Q. Fabius, the dictator in the second Panic
Nuceria Alfaterna in Campania, which seven years war (No. 4] ; and Polybius (iii. 87) says that the
before had joined the Samnite league ; and was latter Fabius was the first of the Fabian house who
able, before the expiration of his office, to leave his was denominated Maximus.
province and hasten into Umbria He is said to 2. Q. Fabius, Q. P. M. N. MAXIMUS, son of
have defeated the Umbrians at Mevania, but no the preceding, acquired the agnomen of Gurges,
triumph followed either this Samnite or Umbrian or the Glutton, from the dissoluteness of his youth.
campaign. His command in Samnium, with the His mature manhood atoned for his early irrega-
The presents
ceited from
in the puble
Bat a decrea
scars shoa
Corp. Dion
>
TIL 6. ) F
ship, while
at Vulsinii
21; Obsen
Lis father
psinceps ser
3. Q. F
the date al
(Val. Mar
& son of th
Great Dict
was aedile
amtassado
Apollonia
The Apoll
isbed.
Zonar. Tai
4. Q. F
atomens
lip. Orict
apathy of
R R ii. 1
war, grant
of the prec
BC. 233.
forded his
delicating
. 23. )
econd tin
C. Flamin
t2: for
legatus for
VOL. IL
## p. 993 (#1009) ###########################################
MAXIMUS.
993
MAXIMUS.
larities. (Macrob. Sul. ii. 9; comp. Juv. Sat. vi. reparation for the attack on Saguntim. In B. C.
267, xi. 40. ) In B. C. 295 Fabius was curule 217, immediately after the defeat at Thrasymenus,
kedile, and fined certain matrons of noble birth for Fabius was appointed dictator, or rather, since no
their disorderly life ; and with the produce of the consul was at hand to nominate him, pro-dictator.
fines built a temple to Venus near the Circus Max- From this period, so long as the war with Hanni
imus. (Liv. X. 31; Victor. Region. xi. ) He was bal was merely defensive, Fabius became the lead-
consul in B. C. 292, and was completely defeated ing man at Rome. His military talents were not
by the Pentrian Samnites. The adversaries of the perhaps of the highest order, but he understood
Fabian house, the Papirian and Appian parties, beyond all his contemporaries the nature of the
took advantage of this defeat to exasperate the struggle, the genius of Ilannibal, and the disposi-
people against Fabius, and he escaped degradation tion of his own countrymen. Cicero says truly of
from the consulate only through his father's offer Fabius (Rep. i. 1), belluin Punicum secundum ener-
to serve as his lieutenant for the remainder of the vavit, à more appropriate eulogy than that of
war. Victory returned with the elder Fabius to Ennius, qui cunctando restituit rem, since Marcellus
the Roman arms. In a second battle the consul and Scipio restored the republic to its military
retrieved his reputation, stormed several Samnite eminence, whereas Fabius made it capable of restă
towns, and was rewarded with a triumph of which ration. His first act as dictator was to calm and
the most remarkable feature was old Fabius riding corroborate the minds of the Romans by solemn
beside his son's chariot. (Plut. Fab. 24 ; Dionys. sacrifice and supplication to the gods ; his next to
xvi. 15 ; Oros. iii. 22 ; Eutrop. ii. 9. ) For his render Latium and the neighbouring districts un-
success in this campaign Fabius dedicated a shrine tenable by the enemy. On taking the field he laid
to Venus obsequens, because the goddess had been down a simple and immutable plan of action. He
obsequious to his prayers. (Serv. ad Aen. i. 720. ) | avoided all direct encounter with the enemy; moved
In B. c. 291 Fabius remained as proconsul in Sam- his camp from highland to highland, where the
nium. He was besieging Cominium when the Numidian horse and Spanish infantry could not fol-
consul, L. Postumius Megellus, arbitrarily and low him; watched Hannibal's movements with un-
violently drove him from the army and the province. relaxing vigilance, cut off his stragglers and foragers,
(Dionys. xvi. 16. ) The Fasti ascribe a triumph to and compelled him to weary his allies by necessary
Fabius for his proconsulate. He was consul for the exactions, and to dishearten his soldiers by fruitless
second time in B. C 276, when he obtained a tri- manoeuvres. His enclosure of Hannibal in one of
umph de Samnitibus Lucaneis et Bruttiis (Fasti). the upland valleys between Cales and the Vultur-
Shortly afterwards he went as legatus from the nus and the Carthaginianºs adroit escape by driv-
senate to Ptolemy Philadelphus, king of Egypt. ing oxen with blazing faggots fixed to their horns
The presents which Fabius and his colleagues re- up the hill-sides, are well-known facts. But at
ceived from the Egyptian monarch they deposited Rome and in his own camp the caution of Fabius
in the public treasury on their return to Rome. was misinterpreted. He was even suspected of
But a decree of the senate directed that the ambas- wishing to prolong the war that he might retain
sadors should retain them. (Val Max. iv. 3. § 10; the command ; of cowardice, of incapability, and
comp. Dion Cass. Fr. 147 ; Liv. Epit. xiv. ; Zonar. even of treachery, although he gave up the produce
viii. 6. ) Fabius was slain in his third consul- of his estates to ransom Roman prisoners. Hanni-
ship, while engaged in quelling some disturbances bal alone appreciated the conduct of Fabius. But
at Vulsinii in Etruria. (Zonar, viii. 7 ; Flor. i. his own master of the horse, M. Minucius Rufus,
21; Obseq. 27; comp. Vict. Vir. Ill. 36. ) Like headed the clamour against him, and the senate,
his father and grandfather, Fabius Gurges was incensed by the ravage of their Campanian estates,
princeps senatus. (Plin. H. N. vii. 41. )
joined with the impatient commonalty in condemn-
3. Q. FABIUS (Q. F. Q. N. MAXIMUS? ). From ing his dilatory policy. Minucius, during a brief
the date alone of the only recorded fact of his life absence of Fabius from the camp, obtained some
(Val. Max. vi. 6. § 5), it is probable that he was slight advantage over Hannibal. A tribune of the
à son of the preceding, and father of Fabius the plebs, M. Metilius, brought forward a bill for di-
Great Dictator in the second Punic war. Fabius viding the command equally between the dictator
was aedile in B. C. 265, and, for an assault on its and the master of the horse, and the senate and
ambassadors, was sent in custody of a quaestor to the tribes passed it. Minucius was speedily en-
Apollonia in Epeirus to be dealt with at pleasure. trapped, and would have been destroyed by Han-
The Apolloniates, however, dismissed him unpun- nibal, had not Fabius generously hastened to his
ished. (Liv. Epit. xv. ; Dion Cass. Fr. 43 ; rescue. Hannibal, on his retreat from Fabius, is
Zonar. vii. 8. )
reported to have said, “ I thought yon cloud would
4. Q. FABIUS Q. F. Q. N. MAXIMUS, with the one day break from the hills in a pelting storm. ”
agnomens VERRUCosus, from a wart on his upper Minucius, who though rash was magnanimous, re-
lip, Ovicula, or the Lamb, from the mildness or signed his command, but Fabius scrupulously laid
apathy of his temper (Plut. Fab. 1 ; comp. Varr. down his office at its legal expiration in six months,
Ř. R. ii. 1), and CUNCTATOR, from his caution in bequeathing his example to the consuls who buic-
war, grandson of Fabius Gurges, and, perhaps, son ceeded him. Aemilius copied, Varro disregarded
of the preceding, was consul for the first time in liis injunctions, and the rout at Cannae illustrated
B. C. 233. Liguria was his province, and it af- the wisdom of Fabius' warning to Aemilius,
forded him a triumph (Fasti) and a pretext for “ Remember, you have to dread not only Hannibal
dedicating a temple to Honour. (Cic. de Nat. Deor. but Varro.
accomplice in a conspiracy against the life of Valens, iv. 1. $ 39; Aurel. Vict. Vir. II. 31, 32 ; Eutrop.
and it seems that he was guilty, inasmuch as he ii. 8. ) In B. c. 322 Fabius obtained his first con-
knew of the plot but did not reveal it. He was sulate, probably at an early age. (Cic. Phil. v.
also accused of sorcery and sentenced to death, and 17; comp. Val. Max. viii. 15. ♡ 5. ) It was the
his head was accordingly struck off, philosophy second year of the second Samnite war, and Fabius
dying with him, as Libanius says. Julian wrote was the most eminent of the Roman generals in
different letters to Maximus which are extant (15, that long and arduous struggle for the empire of
16, 38, 39). Maximus had two brothers,-Clau- Italy. He was, as Dr. Arnold remarks, the
dianus, who taught philosophy at Alexandria, and Talbot of the fifth century of Rome, and his per-
Nymphidianus, who lectured at Smyrna ; both of sonal prowess, even in age, was no less celebrated
them gained fame. Maximus of Ephesus is be-than his skill as a general. " Yet nearly all au-
lieved by some to be the author of riepi katapyar thentic traces are lost of the seat and circumstances
alias dnapxw, De Electionum Auspiciis, an astrolo- of his numerous campaigns. His defeats have been
gical poem in hexameter verse which was first pub- suppressed or extenuated; the achievements of
1
(I'S
tube reaches
1 of its
aged to
Prises
## p. 992 (#1008) ###########################################
992
MAXIMUS.
MAXIMUS.
darities (Mxerob
257, xi 40. ) Ir
bedile, and ined
ther discrderisa
fra balta len
izd. (Liv. II
corsa in & c. ?
by the Pentran
Fabian house, t1
tock advantage
people agaiast F
fra the consu.
to serve as bis
72. Victory :
the Roman art
retrieved his re
towns, and was
te zost remar
beside bis son's
r. 15; Oros.
Success in this
to Pena deset
obsequious to
In EC 291 F
tum. He
Consel LP
Talents dron
(Dionys, IT.
Farsus for his
second time
ph de Sa
Skoris afte:
waate to P
others ascribed to him alone ; and a moderation in title of proconsul, was continued during B. c. 307,
seeking and refusing honours imputed to him and he defeated the Samnites near Allifae. This
equally foreign to his age, his nation, and character. campaign also is liable to suspicion, since Fabius
Where so much has been studiously falsified (Liv. obtained no triumph. (Liv. ir. 42 ; Diod. xx.
viii. 40), probably in the first instance by chroni- 44. ) In B. C. 304 Fabius was censor. Upon
clers of the Fabian house-a house unusually rich Livy's brief and uninstructive words (ix. 46) a
in annalists—and where our only guides, the pile of hypothesis has been raised by modern and re-
Fasti, Livy, and Diodorus, are not only irrecon- cent scholars. We can only refer to Niebuhr (Hist.
cileable with one another, but often inconsistent of Rome, vol. iii. pp. 320—350), Zumpt (Die
with themselves, a bare outline of his military and Centurien, Berlin, 1836), Huschke (Staatsverfuss.
political life is alone desirable. In his first consu- Serv. Tull
. Breslau, 1838), and Walther (Ges.
late, B. C. 322, Fabius was stationed in Apulian chicht. Röm. Recht, vol. i. p. 136). Fabius seems to
where he defeated the Samnites, and triumphed have cancelled the changes introduced by Appius
" de Samnitibus et Apuleis. (Liv. viii. 38, 40 ; the Blind in his censorship, B. C 312 [APP. CLAU-
comp. Zonar. vii. 26 ; Aurel. Vict. Vir. IV. 32; DIUS, No. 10), by confining the libertini to the four
Appian, Samn. Fr. 4. ) In the following year, after city tribes: he also probably increased the political
the disaster at the Caudine Forks, he was interrex importance of the equites (Liv. ix. 46; Val.
(Liv, ix, 17), and in 315 dictator, and was com- Max. ii. 2. & 9; Aurel. Vict. Vir. IU. 32 ; Plin.
pletely defeated by the Samnites at Lautulae, a H. N. xv. 4; comp. Dionys. vi. 13, 15. ) Fabius
narrow pass between the sea and the mountains does not appear again till B. C. 297, when he was
cast of_Terracina (Diod. xix. 72; Liv. ix. 22, consul for the fifth time, according to Livy (x. 13),
23. ) To this or the next year belongs probably against his own wishes; but the annalist of the
an anecdote preserved by Valerius Maximus (viii. Fabian house whom Livy copied probably veiled
1. $ 9). A. Atilius Calatinus (Atilius Cala or suppressed in this year a strong opposition to his
TINUS, No. 3), son-in-law of Fabius, was accused re-election by the Appian party. (Liv. 4. 15. )
of betraying Sora to the enemy. His condemna- Samnium was again his province, but the result of
tion was arrested by Fabius declaring that had he his campaign is doubtful. In the following year
believed Calatinus guilty, he would have exercised Fabius was consul for the sixth time, and com-
his paternal power, and taken his daughter from manded at the great battle of Sentinum, when the
him. In B. C. 310 Fabius was consul for the combined armies of the Samnites, Gauls, Etruscans,
second time. (Liv. ix. 33; Diod. xx. 27; Fasti. ) and Umbrians, attacked the Romans and their
Of this, as of his former consulate, the accounts are allies. At the beginning of the year a dispute
conflicting. Unable to relieve Sutrium, which the with P. Decius Mus, who had been thrice before
Etruscans were besieging, Fabius struck through Fabius' colleague in the consulship, and once in the
the Ciminian wood till he reached the western censorship, and the withdrawal of Appius Claudius
frontier of Umbria. He there formed an alliance from the seat of war, and his appointment to the
with the people of Camerinum or Camerta, and by city praetorship, are probably tokens of strong
his ravages in northern Etruria effected a diversion party-struggles at Rome. (Liv. X. 21, 22, 24. )
favourable to Rome, and compelled Arretium, Cor-For his victory at Sentinum Fabius triumphed on
tona, and Perusia, to conclude a truce for thirty the 4th of September in the same year. (Fast. ;
years with the republic. His victories at Perusia, Liv. ib. 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30. ) For the remainder
the Lake Vadimon, and Sutrium, may be placed in of the year he was employed in Etruria. In 292
the same catalogue with the apocryphal perils of he acted as legatus to his son (MAXIMUS FABIUS,
the Ciminian forest. The senate meanwhile, No. 2], and rode beside his triumphal chariot, de-
alarmed at the withdrawal of the army from lighting in the honours of his son, whom he had
Sutrium, sent to prohibit Fabius marching into rescued from disgrace and degradation and crowned
Etruria. He met the deputation on his return with victory. (Liv. Epit. xi. ; Dion Cass. Fr.
when his success had justified his disobedience. Peiresc. xxxvi. ; Oros. iii. 22; Plut. Fab. Mar.
The war south of the Tiber, however, required a 24; Val. Max. ii. 2. § 4, v. 7. $1; Zonar. viii. 1. )
dictator, and Fabius was directed to appoint his old Fabius succeeded his father, Ambustns, in the
enemy, Papirius Cursor. He heard the mandate honourable post of Princeps Senatûs. (Plin. H. N.
of the senate in moody silence, obeyed it in the vii. 41. ) On his death, which happened soon after,
solitude of midnight, and when, next morning, the the people subscribed largely for the expences of
envoys thanked him for preferring the public good his funeral ; but as the Fabian house was wealthy,
to his private enmity, he dismissed them without his son Fabius Gurges employed the money in
reply. A triumph de Etrusceis recompensed this giving a public entertainment (epulum), and in a
campaign. (Liv. ix. 33, 35, 36, 37, 38, 40 ; Dion distribution of provisions (visceratio) to the citizens
Cass. Fr. 35; Fasti.
) According to the Fasti a of Rome. (Aurel. Vict. Vir. N. 32. ) The cause of
year intervened between the second and third con his obtaining the cognomen Maximus is uncertain.
bulates of Fabius ; but Livy (ix. 41: and Diodorus Livy (ix. 46) says that his political services in the
(xx. 37) make them immediately succeed one an- censorship of B. c. 304 were the cause. But he
other. Fabius, as consul in B. C. 308, had Sam-makes a doubt (xxx. 26) whether the cognomen
nium for his province. He quelled a revolt of the were not originally conferred on his great grand.
Marsians, the Pelignians, and Hernicans ; recovered son, Q. Fabius, the dictator in the second Panic
Nuceria Alfaterna in Campania, which seven years war (No. 4] ; and Polybius (iii. 87) says that the
before had joined the Samnite league ; and was latter Fabius was the first of the Fabian house who
able, before the expiration of his office, to leave his was denominated Maximus.
province and hasten into Umbria He is said to 2. Q. Fabius, Q. P. M. N. MAXIMUS, son of
have defeated the Umbrians at Mevania, but no the preceding, acquired the agnomen of Gurges,
triumph followed either this Samnite or Umbrian or the Glutton, from the dissoluteness of his youth.
campaign. His command in Samnium, with the His mature manhood atoned for his early irrega-
The presents
ceited from
in the puble
Bat a decrea
scars shoa
Corp. Dion
>
TIL 6. ) F
ship, while
at Vulsinii
21; Obsen
Lis father
psinceps ser
3. Q. F
the date al
(Val. Mar
& son of th
Great Dict
was aedile
amtassado
Apollonia
The Apoll
isbed.
Zonar. Tai
4. Q. F
atomens
lip. Orict
apathy of
R R ii. 1
war, grant
of the prec
BC. 233.
forded his
delicating
. 23. )
econd tin
C. Flamin
t2: for
legatus for
VOL. IL
## p. 993 (#1009) ###########################################
MAXIMUS.
993
MAXIMUS.
larities. (Macrob. Sul. ii. 9; comp. Juv. Sat. vi. reparation for the attack on Saguntim. In B. C.
267, xi. 40. ) In B. C. 295 Fabius was curule 217, immediately after the defeat at Thrasymenus,
kedile, and fined certain matrons of noble birth for Fabius was appointed dictator, or rather, since no
their disorderly life ; and with the produce of the consul was at hand to nominate him, pro-dictator.
fines built a temple to Venus near the Circus Max- From this period, so long as the war with Hanni
imus. (Liv. X. 31; Victor. Region. xi. ) He was bal was merely defensive, Fabius became the lead-
consul in B. C. 292, and was completely defeated ing man at Rome. His military talents were not
by the Pentrian Samnites. The adversaries of the perhaps of the highest order, but he understood
Fabian house, the Papirian and Appian parties, beyond all his contemporaries the nature of the
took advantage of this defeat to exasperate the struggle, the genius of Ilannibal, and the disposi-
people against Fabius, and he escaped degradation tion of his own countrymen. Cicero says truly of
from the consulate only through his father's offer Fabius (Rep. i. 1), belluin Punicum secundum ener-
to serve as his lieutenant for the remainder of the vavit, à more appropriate eulogy than that of
war. Victory returned with the elder Fabius to Ennius, qui cunctando restituit rem, since Marcellus
the Roman arms. In a second battle the consul and Scipio restored the republic to its military
retrieved his reputation, stormed several Samnite eminence, whereas Fabius made it capable of restă
towns, and was rewarded with a triumph of which ration. His first act as dictator was to calm and
the most remarkable feature was old Fabius riding corroborate the minds of the Romans by solemn
beside his son's chariot. (Plut. Fab. 24 ; Dionys. sacrifice and supplication to the gods ; his next to
xvi. 15 ; Oros. iii. 22 ; Eutrop. ii. 9. ) For his render Latium and the neighbouring districts un-
success in this campaign Fabius dedicated a shrine tenable by the enemy. On taking the field he laid
to Venus obsequens, because the goddess had been down a simple and immutable plan of action. He
obsequious to his prayers. (Serv. ad Aen. i. 720. ) | avoided all direct encounter with the enemy; moved
In B. c. 291 Fabius remained as proconsul in Sam- his camp from highland to highland, where the
nium. He was besieging Cominium when the Numidian horse and Spanish infantry could not fol-
consul, L. Postumius Megellus, arbitrarily and low him; watched Hannibal's movements with un-
violently drove him from the army and the province. relaxing vigilance, cut off his stragglers and foragers,
(Dionys. xvi. 16. ) The Fasti ascribe a triumph to and compelled him to weary his allies by necessary
Fabius for his proconsulate. He was consul for the exactions, and to dishearten his soldiers by fruitless
second time in B. C 276, when he obtained a tri- manoeuvres. His enclosure of Hannibal in one of
umph de Samnitibus Lucaneis et Bruttiis (Fasti). the upland valleys between Cales and the Vultur-
Shortly afterwards he went as legatus from the nus and the Carthaginianºs adroit escape by driv-
senate to Ptolemy Philadelphus, king of Egypt. ing oxen with blazing faggots fixed to their horns
The presents which Fabius and his colleagues re- up the hill-sides, are well-known facts. But at
ceived from the Egyptian monarch they deposited Rome and in his own camp the caution of Fabius
in the public treasury on their return to Rome. was misinterpreted. He was even suspected of
But a decree of the senate directed that the ambas- wishing to prolong the war that he might retain
sadors should retain them. (Val Max. iv. 3. § 10; the command ; of cowardice, of incapability, and
comp. Dion Cass. Fr. 147 ; Liv. Epit. xiv. ; Zonar. even of treachery, although he gave up the produce
viii. 6. ) Fabius was slain in his third consul- of his estates to ransom Roman prisoners. Hanni-
ship, while engaged in quelling some disturbances bal alone appreciated the conduct of Fabius. But
at Vulsinii in Etruria. (Zonar, viii. 7 ; Flor. i. his own master of the horse, M. Minucius Rufus,
21; Obseq. 27; comp. Vict. Vir. Ill. 36. ) Like headed the clamour against him, and the senate,
his father and grandfather, Fabius Gurges was incensed by the ravage of their Campanian estates,
princeps senatus. (Plin. H. N. vii. 41. )
joined with the impatient commonalty in condemn-
3. Q. FABIUS (Q. F. Q. N. MAXIMUS? ). From ing his dilatory policy. Minucius, during a brief
the date alone of the only recorded fact of his life absence of Fabius from the camp, obtained some
(Val. Max. vi. 6. § 5), it is probable that he was slight advantage over Hannibal. A tribune of the
à son of the preceding, and father of Fabius the plebs, M. Metilius, brought forward a bill for di-
Great Dictator in the second Punic war. Fabius viding the command equally between the dictator
was aedile in B. C. 265, and, for an assault on its and the master of the horse, and the senate and
ambassadors, was sent in custody of a quaestor to the tribes passed it. Minucius was speedily en-
Apollonia in Epeirus to be dealt with at pleasure. trapped, and would have been destroyed by Han-
The Apolloniates, however, dismissed him unpun- nibal, had not Fabius generously hastened to his
ished. (Liv. Epit. xv. ; Dion Cass. Fr. 43 ; rescue. Hannibal, on his retreat from Fabius, is
Zonar. vii. 8. )
reported to have said, “ I thought yon cloud would
4. Q. FABIUS Q. F. Q. N. MAXIMUS, with the one day break from the hills in a pelting storm. ”
agnomens VERRUCosus, from a wart on his upper Minucius, who though rash was magnanimous, re-
lip, Ovicula, or the Lamb, from the mildness or signed his command, but Fabius scrupulously laid
apathy of his temper (Plut. Fab. 1 ; comp. Varr. down his office at its legal expiration in six months,
Ř. R. ii. 1), and CUNCTATOR, from his caution in bequeathing his example to the consuls who buic-
war, grandson of Fabius Gurges, and, perhaps, son ceeded him. Aemilius copied, Varro disregarded
of the preceding, was consul for the first time in liis injunctions, and the rout at Cannae illustrated
B. C. 233. Liguria was his province, and it af- the wisdom of Fabius' warning to Aemilius,
forded him a triumph (Fasti) and a pretext for “ Remember, you have to dread not only Hannibal
dedicating a temple to Honour. (Cic. de Nat. Deor. but Varro.
