Fabius

Fabius Maximus, ‘Cunctator’ (c.280-203 bc), was Roman consul for the first time in 233/2, won a victory in Liguria, was censor in 230/29, and consul for the second time in 228/7. In 218 he was opposed to war with Carthage, but after Hannibal's victory at Lake Trasimene he was elected dictator. He proceeded to implement the strategy of refusing to be drawn into pitched battles, for which he earned the nickname ‘Cunctator’ (‘Delayer’) and which has become known as ‘fabian’ after him. The disaster at Cannae reinforced the wisdom of this approach and led to successive consulships for himself and his son in 215/14 and 214/13. During his fifth and final consulship in 209/8 he recaptured Tarentum and was chosen princeps senatus (‘Father of the House’). He lived on to oppose Scipio ‘Africanus'’ plan for the invasion of Africa and to attack him over the atrocities committed by one of his lieutenants in Locri. Renowned for his caution and conservative attitude, Fabius was rightly regarded as the man who denied Hannibal further victories in the field, at a time when even Rome's resolution might have cracked. But he arguably carried his caution too far when Rome began to recover.

Bibliography

• Lazenby, J. F., Hannibal's War (Warminster, 1978)

— John Lazenby

For more information on Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus, visit Britannica.com.

Fabius Maximus Verrucōsus, Cunctātor, Quintus (c.275–203 BC), the famous Roman general and consul of the Second Punic War, dictator in 221 and again in 217 after Hannibal destroyed the consul Flaminius and the Roman army at the battle of Lake Trasimene. During the six months of his second period of office he fought a defensive war against Hannibal (see PUNIC WARS), and was called in consequence Cunctator, ‘delayer’, by doggedly following Hannibal's movements while avoiding a direct encounter. After Rome ventured on a pitched battle at Cannae in 216 and was disastrously defeated, Fabius' evasive strategy had to be resumed. The name derisively given to him took on an honourable connotation, and was incorporated in a famous line by the poet Ennius: unus homo nobis cunctando restituit rem (‘one man by his delaying restored the situation for us’). Fabius was consul (and leader of the senate) for the fifth time in 209 when he recovered Tarentum (Taranto) from the Carthaginians. He strenuously opposed the plans of Scipio (Africanus), who had driven the Carthaginians out of Spain by 205, to take the war into the enemy's country by invading Africa; he died in 203, at about the time of Hannibal's departure from Italy, before the favourable conclusion of the war. Fabius was rightly called the Shield of Rome and was admired by later generations for his (perhaps unimaginative) courage and his old-fashioned patrician virtues. In British politics ‘Fabianism’ describes a socialist policy of cautious advance, as opposed to immediate revolution.

Roman general who ultimately defeated (209) the superior forces of Hannibal through delay tactics, thereby avoiding direct conflict and giving Rome sufficient time to muster a great army.

For other people, places and things named Fabius, see Fabius (disambiguation).

The family name "Fabius" was the nomen of the gens Fabia of ancient Rome, that derived from the Latin faba for the broad bean, an important food crop in the Roman Empire. The Fabii (such as Fabii Maximi) were one of the several leading patrician families (gentes maiores) of the city. Of all the Roman Patrician families, the Fabii can be considered to have consolidated the most political power in the early Republic.

Fabius Maximus coin, issued under Augustus. The fact that the coin bears the image of Fabius, instead of that of Augustus, shows the friendship between the two of them.

Ambustus, Maximus, Pictor, and Vibulanus were cognomina of Fabii. Fabius Maximus Rullianus, five times a consul, was a hero of the Samnite Wars; but even he was eclipsed by the Fabius Maximus who fought against Hannibal in the Second Punic War. The last known descendants of the family were Nikephoros III, who ruled Eastern Roman Empire between 1078 and 1081 and his grandson. ^[1]

Possible forms:

Fabius, male singular (nominative)

Fabia, female singular (nominative)

Fabii, male plural (nominative).

Contents 1 Notable Fabii from the Republic 1.1 Fabii Ambusti 1.2 Fabii Dorsi 1.3 Fabii Maximi 1.4 Fabii Pictores 1.5 Fabii Vibulani 1.6 Other 2 Notes

Notable Fabii from the Republic

Listed below are notable members (alphabetically, by "Fabius" compound names):^[2]

Fabii Ambusti

• Gaius Fabius N.f. Ambustus, consul 358 BC
• Marcus Fabius Ambustus - consul
• Marcus Fabius Ambustus, consular tribune 380 BC
• Marcus Fabius N.f. Ambustus, consul 360, 356, 354 BC
• Quintus Fabius Ambustus - official
• Quintus Fabius Ambustus Vibulanus, consul 412 BC

Fabii Dorsi

• Gaius Fabius M.f. Dorso Licinus, consul 273 BC
• Marcus Fabius Dorsuo, consul 345 BC

Fabii Maximi

• Fabius Maximus, fought against Hannibal in the Second Punic War
• Fabius Maximus Rullianus, five times a consul, was a hero of the Samnite Wars
• Africanus Fabius Maximus, consul 10 BC
• Paullus Fabius Maximus - consul
• Quintus Fabius Maximus, conul suffectus 45 BC
• Quintus Fabius Maximus Allobrogicus - praetor
• Quintus Fabius Maximus Aemilianus - consul
• Quintus Fabius Maximus Allobrogicus, consul 121 BC
• Quintus Fabius Maximus Eburnus, consul 116 BC
• Quintus Fabius Q.f. Maximus Gurges, consul 292, 276 BC
• Quintus Fabius Maximus Rullianus - consul
• Quintus Fabius Maximus Servilianus, consul 142 BC
• Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus, Cunctator - consul 233, 228, 215, 214 and 209 BC

Fabii Pictores

• Gaius Fabius C.f. Pictor, consul 269 BC
• Numerius Fabius C.f. Pictor, consul 266 BC
• Quintus Fabius Pictor - senator, historian

Fabii Vibulani

• Gnaeus (or Numerius) Fabius Vibulanus, consul 421 BC
• Kaeso Fabius K.f. Vibulanus, consul 484, 481?, 479 BC
• Lucius Fabius Vibulanus II, consular tribune 414 BC
• Marcus Fabius K.f. Vibulanus, consul 483, 480 BC
• Marcus Fabius Q.f. Vibulanus, consul 442 BC
• Numerius Fabius Vibulanus, consular tribune 415 BC
• Quintus Fabius Vibulanus, decemvir
• Quintus Fabius K.f. Vibulanus, consul 485, 482 BC
• Quintus Fabius M.f. Vibulanus, consul 467, 465, 459 BC
• Quintus Fabius Q.f. Vibulanus, consul 423 BC

Other

• Marcus Fabius, consular tribune 373 BC
• Marcus Fabius Buteo - consul
• Quintus Fabius Catullinus, consul 130
• Lucius Fabius Cilo - governor
• Lucius Fabius Iustus - consul
• Quintus Fabius Q.f. Labeo, consul 183 BC
• Marcus Fabius C.f. Licinus, consul 246 BC
• Lucius Papinius Fabius Pacatianus, consul 332
• Paullus Fabius Persicus, consul 34 AD
• Marcus Fabius Quintilianus (Quintilian) - rhetor
• Fabius Rusticus - historian
• Fabius Titianus, consul 337
• Nikephoros III Botaneiates, Byzantine emperor (1078-81). Claiming Fabii descent

Notes

1. ^ Anna Comnena:The Alexiad: Book II
2. ^ The Roman names are sorted by compound names of "Fabius" (rather than last name) and so "Quintus Fabius Ambustus Vibulanus" ranks near the top, as a "Fabius-A" name (rather than a "Fabius-V" name, such as "Numerius Fabius Vibulanus" near the bottom).

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