A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

992 MAXIMUS. MAXIMUS.
others ascribed to him alone; and a moderation'inI title of proconsul, was continued during D.c..307,
seeking and refusing honours imputed to him and he defeated the Samnites near Allifae. This
equally foreign to his age, his nation, and character. campaign also is liable to suspicion, since Fabius
Where so much has been studiously falsified (Liv. obtained no' triumph. (Liv. ix. 42; Diod. xx.:
viii. 40), probably in the first instance by chroni- 44.) In B. C. 304 Fabius was censor. Upon:
ckers of the Fabian house-a house unusually rich Livy's brief and uninstructive words (ix. 46) a'
in annalists-and where our only guides, the pile of hypothesis has been raised by modern and reFasti, Livy, and Diodorus, are rnot only irrecon- cent scholars. We can only refer to Niebuhr (Hist.cileable with one another, but often inconsistent of Rome, vol. iii. pp. 320-350), Zumpt (Die
with themselves, a bare outline. of his military and Centurien, Berlin, 1836), Huschke (Staatsvefifess.
political life is alone desirable. In his first consu- Serv. Tull. Breslau, 1838), and Walther (Geslate, B.C. 322, Fabius was stationed in Apulia, chicht. Rim. Recht, vol. i.p. 136). Fabius seems to
where- he defeated the Samnites, and triumphed have cancelled the changes introduced by Appius
"de Samnitibus et Apuleis. (Liv. viii. 38, 40; the Blind in his censorship, B. C. 312 [APP. CLAUcomp. Zonar. vii. 26; Aurel. Vict. Vir. Ill. 32; DIUS, No. 10], by confining the libertini to the four
Appian, Samn. Fr. 4.) In the following year; after city tribes: he also probably increased the political
the disaster at the'Caudine Forks, he was interrex importance of the equites.-' (Liv. ix. 46; Val.
(Liv. ix. 17), and in 315 dictator, and was com- Max. ii. 2. ~ 9; Aurel. Vict. Vir. ill. 32; Plin.
pletely defeated by the Samnites at Lautulae, a H. N. xv. 4; comp. Dionys. vi. 13, 15.) Fabius
narrow pass between the sea and the mountains does not appear again till B.c. 297, when he was
east of Terracina. (Diod. xix. 72; Liv. ix. 22, consul forthe fifth time, according to Livy (x. 13),
23.) To this or the next year belongs probably against his own wishes; but the annalist of the'
an anecdote preserved by Valerius Maximus (viii. Fabian house whom Livy copied probably veiled
1. ~ 9). A. Atilius Calatinus [ATILIUS CALA- or suppressed in this year a strong opposition to his
TINUS, No. 3], son-in-law of Fabius, was accused re-election by the Appian party. (Liv. x. 15.)
of betraying Sora to the enemy. His condemna- Samnium was again his province, but the result of
tion was arrested by Fabius declaring that had lie his campaign is doubtful. In the following year
believed Calatinus guilty, he would have exercised Fabius was consul for the sixth time, and coinhis paternal power, and taken his daughter from manded at the great battle of Sentinum, when the
him. In B. C. 310 Fabius was consul for the combined armies of the Samnites, Gauls, Etruscans,
second time. (Liv. ix. 33; Diod. xx. 27; Fasti.) and Umbrians, attacked the Romans and their
Of this, as of his former consulate, the. accounts'are allies. -At the beginning of the year a dispute
conflicting. Unable to relieve Sutrium, which the' with P. Decius Mus, who had been thrice before
Etruscans were besieging, Fabius struck through Fabius' colleague in the consulship, and once in the
the Ciminian wood till he reached the western censorship, and the withdrawal of Appius Claudius
frontier of Umbria. He there formed an alliance from the seat of war, and his appointment to the
with the people of Camerinum or Camerta, and by city praetorship, are probably tokens of strong
his ravages in northern Etruria effected a' diversion party-struggles at Rome. (Liv. x. 21, 22, 24.)'
favourable to Rome, and compelled Arretium, Cor- For his victory at Sentinum Fabius triumphed on
tona, and Perusiato' conclude a truce for thirty the 4th of September isr the same year.'(Fast.;:
years with the republic. His victories at Perusia, Liv. ib. 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30.) For the remainder
the Lake Vadimon, and Sutrium, may be placed in of the year he was employed in Etruria. In 292
the same catalogue with the apocryphal perils of he acted as legatus to his son [MAXIMUS FABIUS,
the Ciminian forest. The senate meanwhile, No. 2],-and rode beside his triumphal chariot, dealarmed at the withdrawal of the army from lighting in the honours of his son, whom he had
Sutrium, sent to prohibit, Fabius marching into rescued from disgrace and degradation and crowned'
Etruria. He met the deputation on his return with victory. (Liv. Epit. xi.; Dion Cass. Fr.
when his success had justified his disobedience. Peiresc. xxxvi.; Oros. iii. 22; Plut. Fab. Max.:
The war south of the Tiber, however, required a 24; Val. Max. ii. 2. ~ 4, v. 7. ~ 1; Zonar. viii. 1.)
dictator, and Fabius was directed to appoint his old Fabius succeeded his father, Ambustus, in the
enemy, Papirius Cursor. He heard the mandate honourable post of Princeps Senaths. (Plin. H. N.
of the senate in moody silence, obeyed it in the vii. 41.) On his death, which happened soon after,
solitude of midnight, and when, next morning, the the people subscribed' largely for the expences of
envoys thanked him for preferring the public good his fimeral; but as the Fabian house was wealthy,
to his private enmity, he dismissed them without his son Fabius Gurges employed the money in
reply. A triumph de Etrusceis recompensed this giving a public entertainment (epulum.), and in a
campaign. (Liv. ix. 33, 35, 36, 37, 38, 40; Dion distribution of provisions (visceratio) to the citizens
Cass. Fr. 35; Fasti.) According to the Fasti:a of Rome. (Aurel. Vict. Vir. Ill. 32.) The cause of
year intervened between the second and third con- his obtaining the cognomen Maximus is uncertain.
sulates of Fabius; but Livy (ix. 41 and Diodorus Livy (ix. 46) says that his political services in the
(xx. 37) make them immediately succeed one an- censorship of B. C. 304 were the cause. But he
other. Fabius, as consul in B. C. 308, had Samn- makes a doubt (xxx. 26) whether the cognomen
nium for his province. He quelled a revolt of the were not originally conferred on his' great grand-.
Marsians, the Pelignians, and Hernicans; recovered son, Q. Fabius, the'dictator in the second Punic:
Nuceria Alfaterna in Campania, which seven years war [No. 4]; and Polybius (iii. 87) says that the
before had joined the Samnitec league; and was latter Fabius was the first of the Fabian house who
able, before the expiration of his office, to leave his was denominated Maximus.
province and hasten into Umbria. He is said to 2. Q. FABIvs, Q. P. M. N. MAXIMUS, son of
have defeated the Umbrians at Mevania, but no the preceding, acquired the agnomen of GURGES,.
triumph followed either this Samnite or Umbrian or the Glutton, from the dissoluteness of his youth.
campaign.. His command in Samnium, with the Itis mature manhood atoned for his early irregu