Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 3.djvu/1265

Rh VIBULANUS. in succession, B. c. 485 — 479. The last person of the gens who bore this surname was Q. Fabius Vibulanus, consul, b c. 412. This Vibulanus as- sumed the agnomen of Ambustus ; and his descend- ants dropt the name of Vibulanus and took that of Ambustus in its place. In the same way Am- bustus was after a time supplanted by that of Maximus. [Ambustus ; Maximus.] 1. Q. Fabius K. f. Vibulanus, consul b. c. 485 with Ser. Cornelius Cossus Maluginensis, carried on war with succ; ss against the Volsci and Aequi ; but instead of dividing the booty among the soldiers, he sold it, and deposited the money arising from the sale in the public treasury. In this year Sp. Cassias Viscellinus was condemned to death. In b. c. 482 Fabius Vibulanus was consul a second time with C. Julius Julus. Both consuls marched against the Veientes, but as the enemy did not appear in the field, they devastated their land and returned home. In B. c. 480 Fa- bius fought under his brother Marcus [No. 3] against the Etruscans, and was killed in battle. (Liv. ii. 41—43, 46 ; Dionys. viii. 77, 82, 90, ix. 11.) 2. K. Fabius K. f. Vibulanus, brother of the preceding, was quaestor parricidii in B. c. 485, and along with his colleague L. Valerius accused Sp. Cassias Viscellinus, who was in consequence condemned by the votes of the populus. Although the name of the Fabii had become hateful to the plebeians in consequence of Q. Fabius, who was consul this year, depriving the soldiers of the booty they had gained in the war, nevertheless the pa- tricians carried the election of K. Fabius, who was accordingly consul in the following year b. c. 484 with L. Aemiliiis Mamercus. Kaeso took an active part with his colleague in opposing the agrarian law, which the tribunes of the people attempted to bring forward. According to Dionysius Kaeso came to the assistance of his colleague, who had been defeated by the Volsci, but Livy says nothing of Kaeso, and represents Mamercus as conquering the Volsci. (Liv. ii. 41, 42 ; Dionys. viii. 77, foil., viii. 82 — 86.) Niebuhr supposes that a great change in the constitution was eifected on the elec- tion of K. Fabius and his colleague to the con- sulship. He maintains that the election of the consuls was then transferred from the Comitia Cen- turiata to the Comitia Curiata, and that the choice of the latter assembly was only ratified by the former. He further supposes that a compromise took place three years afterwards, B.C. 482, in virtue of which the centuriae had the election of one consul and the curiae of the other, and that this continued to be the practice till the decemvi- rate. {Hist, of Rome^ vol. ii. p. 177, foil.) Our limits do not permit us to go to an investigation of this point, and we can only remark that Niebuhr's Mew is supported by no positive testimony, and has been rejected by most subsequent scholars. (Gottling, Romische Staatsver/assung, p. 308 ; Becker, Ilandbuch der Romischen Jlierthumer, vol. ii. pt ii. p. 93.) There can be little doubt that the consuls were at all times, without excep- tion, elected by the comitia centuriata ; and there is no difficulty in understanding how the patricians were able to carry the elections of their own can- didates at these comitia. (Comp. Becker, ibid. p. 12, note 19.) In B. c. 481 K. Fabius was consul a second time witi Sp. Furius MeduUinus Fuscus. At the be- VIBULANUS. 1253 ginning of his consulship he opposed the attempts of the tribune Sp. Icilius (Licinius), who endea- voured to carry an agrarian law by preventing the consuls from levying troops against the Veientes and Aequi, who had taken up arms and made an inroad into the Roman territory. Icilius was like- wise opposed by his own colleagues, and thus the troops were inrolled, and K. Fabius marched against the Veientes. (The common editions of Livy have (eocercitus) ducendus Fabio in A equos, but the MSS. have in Veientes^ and this in accordance with Dionysius and Zonaras.) Fabius conducted the war with success, and put the enemy to the rout with his cavalry alone ; but when he com- manded his infantry to pursue the defeated army, they refused obedience to his orders, on account of his opposition to the agrarian law, and returned to their camp, which they soon afterwards deserted, to the astonishment of the enemy. (Liv. ii. 43 ; Dionys. ix. 1, foil. ; Zonar. vii. 17 ; Val. Max. ix. 3. § 5.) In the following year, B. c. 480, he again fought against the Veientes, serving under his brother Marcus, who was then consul, and his col- league Cn. Manlius Cincinnatus. The soldiers were still indisposed to obey the commands of a Fabius, but the dangers of their situation and the scoff's of the enemy turned their purpose, and they demanded to be led forth against the foe. On that day tlie Fabii were an example to the whole army. Quintus, who had been consul two years before, fell in the hottest of the fight ; but his brothers Kaeso and the consul Marcus rushed forth to the front, and by their heroic bravery so fired the courage of their soldiers that the enemy were turned to flight. The bravery of the Fabii in this battle won the hearts of the soldiers, and they still further gained their love by the attention which they paid to the wounded, whom they divided among the dwellings of the patricians : their own house took the greater number. The Fabii had been hitherto the champions of the patricians, but they now resolved to espouse the cause of the ple- beians, and secure for them the rights which they had so long taken an active part in resisting. The real reasons of their change it is impossible to de* termine, with the deficient information which has come down to us, but of the fact there can be no doubt. (Liv. ii. 46, 47 ; Dionys. ix. 11, 13.) In B. c. 479 Kaeso was consul a third time with T. Virginius Tricostus Rutilus. As soon as he entered upon his consulship, he gave a proof that his house was sincere in their professions of reconciliation to the commonalty ; for he called upon the patricians to divide the conquered land among the plebeians, before any tribune should bring forward an agrarian law. But powerful as the Fabii were, they could not induce the rest of the patricians to listen to their advice : on the contrary, they were regarded as traitors to their order, and Kaeso was told by them that his recent glory had intoxicated his mind. The plebeians were all the more anxious to do him honour. They flocked to his standard when he marched against the Aequi, and served under him with the greatest zeal. The Aequi retreated before him into their towns ; and after devastating their territory, he returned just in time to save the army of his col- league, which was surrounded by the Veientes, and in great peril. After this campaign Kaeso renewed his conciliatory propositions, but as they were still rejected with scorn, he and his houso