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

1254 VIBULAN US. VIBULANUS.
resolved to quit Rome altogether, where they were the Fabii has been followed by Dionysius who has
regarded as apostates by their own order. They worked up the tale in his usual manner, as well
determined to found a settlement on the banks of as by Livy, Ovid, and other ancient writers. The
the Cremera, a small stream that falls into the fortress on the Cremera must have been taken imTiber a few miles above Rome. According to the mediately afterwards, and the whole of the settlelegend, the consul Kaeso went before the senate and ment have been put to the sword. In whatever
said, that the Fabii were willing to carry on the war way the Fabii may have perished, it seems clear
against the Veientes, alone and at their own cost. that they might have been saved, for the consul
Their offer was joyfully accepted, for the patricians Menenius Lanatus was in the neighbourhood with
were glad to see them expose themselves voluntarily an army, and was condemned in the following
to such dangers. The departure of the Fabii from year as the guilty cause oV the disaster. [LANAthe city was celebrated in Roman story. On the TUS, No. 2.] (Liv. ii. 48-50; Dionys. ix. 14dayafter Kaeso had made the proposal to the senate, 22; Gell. xvii. 21; Ov. Fast. ii. 195, foll.; Dion
306 Fabii, all patricians of one gens, assembled Cass. Fragm. No. 26, ed. Reim.; Festus, s. v.
on the Quirinal at the house of Kaeso, and from Scelerata porta.) Ovid says (I. c.) that the Fabii
thence marched with the consul at their head perished on the Ides of February; but all other
through the Carmental gate. They proceeded authorities state that they were destroyed on
straight to the banks of the Cremera, where they the day on which the Romans were subseerected a fortress. Livy and the writers who quently conquered by the Gauls at the Allia,
follow him speak of the 306 patrician Fabii as that is, on the fifteenth before the Kalends of
departing alone to the Cremera; but other autho- Sextilis, June the 18th (Liv. vi. 1; Tac. flist.
rities with more probability represent them as ii. 91; Plut. Camill. 19): hence Niebuhr supaccompanied by their wives, children and clients. poses that Ovid mistook the day of their deparThe latter were undoubtedly very numerous; and ture for that of their destruction (Hist. of' Rome,
Dionysius says that the Fabii with their depend- vol. ii. note 441).
ants amounted to 4000 persons. It seems nearly It is unanimously stated by the ancient writers
evident, as has been already stated, that the that all the Fabii perished at the Cremera with
Fabii intended to form a settlement, which might the exception of one individual, the son of Marcus,
become a powerful Latin town on the borders of from whom all the later members of the gens were
the Etruscan territory; and that they ought not descended. The same accounts relate that he was
to be regarded as simply an advanced guard oc- left behind at Rome on account of his youth; but
cupying a fort in the enemy's territory, for the this could not have been the reason, if we are corpurpose of ravaging the country. Even if it had not rect in the supposition that the Fabii migrated from
been stated that the Fabii had left Rome with their the city with all their families, and it is moreover
families and clients, it might fairly have been in- refuted by the fact that this Fabius was consul
ferred from the unanimous tradition that only one ten years afterwards, From the fact of his being
of the family, who had remained at Rome, survived raised to the consulship, and from the opposition
the entire destruction of the gens. As soon as the which he then offered to the tribunes, it is proFabii had fortified their settlement on the Cremera, bable, as Niebuhr supposes, that he maintained
they commenced their inroads and continued to lay the former opinions of his gens, when the latter
waste the Veientine territory without cessation. changed their sentiments and refused to leave
The Veientes collected a powerful army from the Rome with them. (Niebuhr, Hist. of Rome, vol. ii.
Etruscan states and besieged the fortress, but the p. 194.)
Romans sent an army to their relief under the 3. M. FABIvs K. F. VIBULANUS, the brother
command of the consul L. Aemilius Mamercus, who of the two preceding, was consul B. c. 483 with
defeated the Etruscans, B. c. 478. Thereupon a L. Valerius Potitus. He resisted the efforts of the
truce was concluded for a year; but at its expira- tribunes to carry the Agrarian law of Sp. Cassius
tion the Etruscans again took up arms, and the into effect; and as they in consequence impeded
Fabii were all destroyed in the consulship of C. the levy of troops, the consuls removed their triHoratius Pulvillus and T. Menenius Lanatus, bunals outside the city, where the power of the
B. c. 477. The manner of their death is variously tribunes did not extend, and by heavy punishrelated by the ancient writers. According to'one ments compelled the citizens to enlist. The contradition, preserved but rejected by Dionysius, the suls then carried on war against the Volscians,
Fabii set out from the Cremera on a certain day but without any decisive result. (Liv. ii. 42,
in order to offer up a sacrifice in their sanctuary Dionys. viii. 87, 88.) In B. C. 480 M. Fabius
on the Quirinal at Rome: trusting to the sanctity was consul a second time with Cn. Manlius Cinof their mission, they went without arms, as in a cinnatus. The two consuls marched against the
time of peace, but on their road they were attacked Veientes, but did not venture at first to attack the
by a great army which had been placed in ambush enemy, lest their own soldiers should desert them
and perished by the darts of the enemy, for al- as they had done K. Fabius in the preceding year.
though unarmed none of the Etruscans dared They accordingly kept their troops in their intrenchcome near the heroes. According to another tra- ments, till the soldiers, roused at length by the
dition the Fabii, who had repeatedly gained vic- taunts and scoffs of the enemy, demanded to be led
tories in the open field, were enticed to follow some forth to battle, and swore that they would not leave
cattle, which were purposely driven under a weak the field except as conquerors. The bravery of the
escort into the mountains, and they thus fell into Fabii in the battle which followed has already
an ambush, where many thousand men had been been related in the life of Kaeso, who fought under
placed. Although scattered when the enemy at- his brother. The Romans gained the victory, but
tacked them, the Fabii made an heroic resistance bought it dearly. The consul Cincinnatus and Q.
and only fell after a long struggle overwhelmed by Fabius were killed; and the surviving consul,
superior numbers. This account of the death of on account of the loss which he had sustained, re