Fabricius Luscīnus, Gaius, (‘blind in one eye’) a hero of the Romans' war with Pyrrhus (280–272 BC), a novus homo who was twice consul and was admired in later times for his old-style virtues of austerity, high principle, and incorruptibility. He refused bribes from Pyrrhus when he was sent to him by the Romans in 280 to negotiate an exchange of prisoners; and in the campaign of 278 when he was consul and in command of the Roman forces, he sent back to Pyrrhus the latter's treacherous doctor who had offered to poison him. This generous act paved the way for Pyrrhus' withdrawal from Italy. Fabricius was a notably strict censor in 275. At his death he left no money to provide his daughters' dowry, which was given by the senate.


