Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/145

Rh FABIA GENS. considered as one of those inventions by which a defeated party endeavours to console itself, namely, by tracing the conqueror's actions to base and ig- noble motives. [L. S.J FA'BIA GENS, one of the most ancient patri- cian gentes at. Rome, which traced its origin to Hercules and the Arcadian Evander. (Ov. Fast. ii. 237, ex Pont. iii. 3. 99 ; Juv. viii. 14 ; Plut. Fab. Max. 1 ; Paul. Diac. s. v. Favii, ed. Miiller.) The name is said to have originally been Fodii or Fovii, which was believed to have been derived from the fact of the first who bore it having in- vented the method of catching wolves by means of ditches {foveae whereas, according to Pliny, {H. N. xviii. 3), the name was derived from fuha, a bean, a vegetable which the Fabii were said to liave first cultivated. The question as to whether the Fabii were a Latin or a Sabine gens, is a dis- puted point. Niebuhr and, after him, Gottling (Gesch. der Rom. Staatsv. pp. 109, 194,) look upon them as Sabines. But the reason adduced does not seem satisfactory ; and there is a legend in which their name occurs, which refers to a time when the Sabines were not yet incorporated in the Roman state. This legend, it is true, is related only by the pseudo-Aurelius Victor {de Orig. Gent. Bom. 22) ; but it is alluded to also by Plutarch (Romul. 22) and Valerius Maximus,(ii. 2. § 9). When Romulus and Remus, it is said, after the death of Amulius, offered up sacrifices in the Lu- percal, and afterwards celebrated a festival, which became the origin of the Lupercalia, the two heroes divided their band of shepherds into two parts, and each gave to his followers a special name : Romulus called his the Quinctilii, and Remus his the Fabii. (Comp. Ov. Fast. ii. 361, &c., 375, &c.) This tradition seems to suggest, that the Fabii and Quinctilii in the earliest times had the superintendence of the sacra at the Lupercalia, and hence the two colleges of the Luperci retained these names even in much later times, although the privilege had ceased to be confined to those two gentes. {Cic. Phil. ii. 34, xiii. 15, joro Cae/. 26 ; Propert. iv. 26 ; Plut. Caes. 61.) It was from the Fabia gens that one of the Roman tribes derived its name, as the Claudia, in later times, was named after the Claudia gens. The Fabii do not act a prominent part in history till after the establish- ment of the commonwealth ; and three brothers belonging to the gens are said to have been invested with seven successive consulships, from B. c. 485 to 479. The house derived its greatest lustre from the patriotic courage and tragic fate of the 306 Fabii in the battle on the Cremera, B.C. 477. [ViBULANUS, K. Fabius, No. 3.] But the Fabii were not distinguished as warriors alone : sevenil members of the gens act an important part also in the history of Roman literature and of the arts. The name occurs as late as the second century after the Christian aera. The family-names of this gens under the republic are : — Ambustus, Buteo, DoRso, Labeo, Licinus, Maximus (with the agnomens Aemilianus, AUobrogicus, Eburtius, Gur- ges, Rullianus, Servilianus, Verrucosus), Pictor, and Vie ULAN us. The other cognomens, which do not belong to the gens, are given below. [L. S.] The only cognomens that occur on coins are Uispaniensis [see Vol. L p. 180, a.], Labeo, Max- imus, and Pictor. The two coins represented below have no cognomen upon them, and it is doubtful to whom they are to be referred. The former has FABIANUS. 131 on the obverse the two-faced head of Janus, and on the reverse the prow of a ship : the latter ex- hibits on the obverse a female head, and on the reverse Victory in a biga ; the letters ex a. pv. denote Fx Argento Publico. (Eckhel, vol. v. p. 209, &c.) FABIA'NUS, PAPI'RIUS, a Roman rheto- rician and philosopher in the time of Tiberius and Caligula, He was the pupil of Arellius Fuscus and of Blandus in rhetoric, and of Sextius in philosophy : and although much the younger of the two, he instructed Albutius Silas in eloquence. (Senec. Controv. ii. prooem. pp. 134-6, iii. p. 204, ed. Bipont.) The rhetorical style of Fabianus is described by the elder Seneca (Controv. iii. pro- em.), and he is frequently cited in the third book of Controversiae, and in the Suasoriae. His early model in rhetoric was his instructor Arellius Fuscus ; but he afterwards adopted a less ornate form of eloquence, though he never attained to per- spicuity and simplicity. Fabianus soon, however, quitted rhetoric for philosophy ; and the younger Seneca places his philosophical works next to those of Cicero, Asinius PoUio, and Livy the historian. (Senec. Epist. 100.) The philosophical style of Fabianus is described in this letter of Seneca's, and in some points his description corresponds with that of the elder Seneca. {Controv. ii. pro- oem.) Both the Senecas seem to have known, and certainly greatly esteemed Fabianus. (Cf. Con- trov. iii. prooem. with Epist. 11.) Fabianus was the author of a work entitled [Rerum ?J Civi- lium; and his philosophical writings exceeded Cicero's in number. (Senec. Epist. 100.) He had also paid great attention to physical science, and is called by Pliny {H. N. xxxvi. 15, s. 24) rerum naturae peritissimus. From Seneca {Natur. Quaesi. iii. 27), he appears to have written on Physics ; and his works entitled De Animalibus and Causor rum Naturalium Libri are frequently referred to by Pliny {H. N. generally in his Elenchos or sum- mary of materials, i. ii. vii. ix. xi. xii. xiii. xiv. XV. xvii. xxiii. xxviii. xxxvi., . and specially, but without mention of the particular work of Fa- bianus, ii. 47. § 121, ii. 102. § 223, ix. 8. § 25, xii. 4. § 20, XV. 1. § 4, xxiii. 11. § 62, xxviii. 5. § 54). [W. B. D.] FABIA'NUS, VALE'RIUS, a Roman of rank sufficient to aspire to the honours of the slate, was convicted before the senate in a. d. 62, of conspiring k2