FABIUS  , the name of a number of

Roman soldiers and statesmen . The Fabian gens was one of the oldest and most distinguished patrician families of Rome . Its members claimed descent from Hercules and a daughter of the Arcadian Evander . From the earliest times it played a prominent part in Roman history, and was one of the two gentes exclusively charged with the management of the most ancient festival in Rome—the Lupercalia (Ovid, Fasti, ii . 375) . The chief family names of the Fabian gens or clan, in republican times, were Vibulanus, Ambustus, Maximus, Buteo, Pictor, Dorso, Labeo; with surnames Verrucosus, Rullianus, Gauges, Aemilianus, Allobrogicus (all of the Maximus branch) . The most important members of the family are the following: I . MARCUS FABIUS AMBUSTUS, pontifex maximus in the year of the capture of Rome by the Gauls (390) . His three sons, Quintus, Numerius and Caeso; although they had been sent as ambassadors to the Gauls when they were besieging Clusium, subsequently took part in hostilities (Livy v . 35) . The Gauls thereupon demanded their surrender, on the ground that they had violated the law of nations; the Romans, by way of reply, elected them consular tribunes in the following year . The result was the march of the Gauls upon Rome, the battle of the Allia, and the capture of the city (Livy vi .

1) . 2 . Q . FABIUS MAXIMUS, surnamed Rullianus or

Rullus, master of the horse in the second Samnite War to L . Papirius Cursor, by whom he was degraded for having fought the Samnites contrary to orders (Livy viii . 30), in spite of the fact that he gained a victory . In 315, when dictator, he was defeated by the Samnites at Lautulae (Livy ix . 23) . In 310 he defeated the Etruscans at the Vadimonian Lake . In 295, consul for the fifth time, he defeated, at the great battle of Sentinum, the combined forces of the Etrurians, Umbrians, Samnites and Gauls (see RoME: History, II . " The Republic ") . As censor (304) he altered the arrangement of Appius 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

title of Maximus, as the deliverer of the comitia from the rule of the mob (Livy ix . 46), but there is reason to think that this title was first conferred on his grandson . It is probable that his achievements are greatly exaggerated by historians favourable to the Fabian house . 3 . QUINTUS FABIUS MAXIMUS, surnamed Verrucosus (from a wart on his lip), Ovicula (" the lamb,." from his mild disposition), and Cunctator (" the delayer," from his cautious tactics in the war against Hannibal), grandson of the preceding . He served his first consulship in Liguria (233 B.C.), was censor (230) and consul for the second time (228) . In 218 he was sent to Carthage to demand satisfaction for the attack on Saguntum (Livy xxi . 18) . According to the well-known story, he held up a fold of his toga and offered the Carthaginians the choice between peace and war . When they declared themselves indifferent, he, let fall his toga with the words, " Then take war." After the disastrous campaign on the Trebia, and the defeat on the banks of the Trasimene Lake, Fabius was named dictator (Livy calls him pro-dictator, since he was nominated, not by the consul, but by the people) in 217, and began his tactics of " masterly inactivity." Manoeuvring among the hills, where Hannibal's cavalry were useless, he cut off his supplies, harassed him incessantly, and did everything except fight . His steady adherence to his plan caused dissatisfaction at Rome and in his own camp, and aroused the suspicion that he was merely endeavouring to prolong his command . Minucius Rufus, his master of the horse, seized the opportunity, during the absence of Fabius at Rome, to make an attack upon the enemy which proved successful .

The people, more than ever convinced that a forward

movement was necessary, divided the command between Minucius and Fabius (Livy xxii . 15 . 24; Polybius iii . 88) . Minucius was led into an ambuscade by Hannibal, and his army was only saved by the opportune arrival of Fabius . Minucius confessed his mistake and henceforth submitted to the orders of Fabius (Livy 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 abandonment of Fabian tactics was the disaster of Cannae (216) . In 215 and 214 (as consul for the third and fourth times) he was in charge of the operations against Hannibal together with Claudius Marcellus (Livy xxiii . 39) . He laid siege to Capua, which had gone over to Hannibal after Cannae, and captured the important position of Casilinum; in his fifth consulship (209) he retook Tarentum, which had been occupied by Hannibal for three years (Livy xxvii .

15; Polybius xiii . 4;

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 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 jealousy of rising young men, especially Scipio (Life by Plutarch; Livy xx.-xxx.; Polybius iii . 87-206) . 4 . Q . FABIUS MAXIMUS AEMILIANUS, eldest son of L . Aemilius Paullus, adopted by Fabius Cunctator . He served in the last Macedonian War (168), and, as consul, defeated Viriathus in Spain (Livy, Epit .

52) . He was the

pupil and patron of Polybius (Polybius xviii., xxix . 6, xxiii . 8-ro; Livy xliv . 35)• 5 . Q . FABIUS MAXIMUS ALLOBROGICUS, son of the above, consul 121 in Gaul . He obtained his surname from his victory over the Allobroges and Arverni in that year (Vell . Pat. ii. ro; Eutropius iv . 22) . As censor (Io8) he erected the first triumphal arch . 6 .

Q . FABIUS VIBULANUS, with his

brothers Caeso and Marcus, filled the consulship for seven years in succession (485–479 B.C.) . In the last year there was a reaction against the family, in con-sequence of Caeso espousing the cause of the plebeians . Thereupon the Fabii—to the number, it is said, of 306 patricians, with some 5000 dependents—emigrated from Rome under the leadership of Caeso, and settled on the banks of the Cremera, a few miles above Rome . For two years the exiles continued to be the city's chief 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 left behind at Rome on 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 exile (Livy ii . 42, 48-50, iii . 1, 9, 41, 58, vi . 1; Dion . Halic. viii .

82-86, ix . 14-22: Ovid, Fasti, ii . 195) . The Fabian name is met with as

late as the 2nd century A.D . A complete list of the Fabii will be found in de Vit's Onomasticon; see also W . N. du Rieu, Disputatio de Gente Fabia (1856), containing an account of 57 members of the family .