Quintus Fabius Q. f. M. n. Maximus Gurges, the son of Quintus Fabius Maximus Rullianus, was consul in 292, 276, and 265 BC. After a dissolute youth and a significant military defeat during his first consulate, he was given the opportunity to salvage his reputation through the influence of his father, and became a successful general, eventually holding the highest honours of the Roman state. He was slain in battle during his third and final consulate.[1][2]
Gurges' grandfather, Marcus Fabius Ambustus, had been consul three times, interrex twice, and reportedly was princeps senatus, a dignity later filled by his son, grandson, and great-grandson. He had probably been censor, which was generally a prerequisite of those who became princeps senatus, and either he or his son, Marcus was magister equitum in 322 BC.
Gurges' father, Quintus Fabius Maximus Rullianus, was one of Rome's most celebrated generals, and had been consul five times between 322 and 297 BC. In his time he had served as both dictator and magister equitum, and was censor in 304. However, all of his accomplishments followed from a rash incident in his youth, when as magister equitum to the dictator Lucius Papirius Cursor in 325, during the Second Samnite War, he engaged the enemy against the dictator's instructions while Papirius was away attending to other business. Although Rullianus won a significant victory, his commander was furious that his orders had been disobeyed. Fabius only escaped execution by fleeing to Rome, where he begged the intercession of the people, and was saved by the appeal of his aged father.[3]
The younger Fabius received his surname, Gurges, "the whirlpool", due to the gluttonous habits of his youth, in which he consumed every luxury he came across.[4] But when he embarked on a public career, the younger Fabius set aside his indulgent lifestyle and cultivated a more sober image. As curule aedile in 295 BC, Fabius levied fines against wealthy Roman matrons who had been convicted of adultery, and dedicated the funds to building a temple of Venus, which stood near the Circus Maximus.[5]
Consulships and later career
In 292 BC, Fabius was consul for the first time, with Decimus Junius Brutus Scaeva. Rome was engaged in the Third and final Samnite War, and Fabius undertook a command against the Pentri, the leading tribe of the Samnites, in which he was utterly defeated. At Rome, the traditional rivals of the Fabii, the Papirii and the Claudii, urged that Fabius be relieved of his authority and degraded from consular rank as a punishment for his incompetence. In opposition to this, Fabius' father, Rullianus, urged that his son be permitted to redeem himself, volunteering to serve personally as his son's lieutenant on a subsequent campaign. Thus spared public humiliation, Fabius made good on his father's word, defeating the Samnites, taking several towns, and capturing Gaius Pontius, the Samnite general. In recognition of his victories, the senate honoured Fabius with a triumph;[lower-roman 1] the occasion was the more remarkable because the elder Fabius rode beside his son's chariot.[8][1][2]
Fabius continued in command against the Samnites as proconsul in 291, and was besieging the town of Cominium, when the consul Lucius Postumius Megellus assumed command of the siege, and ordered Fabius to withdraw from Samnium.[9][1][2]
Fabius was consul for the second time in 276 BC, with Gaius Genucius Clepsina. Fabius led an army into southern Italy, where he defeated the Samnites, Lucani, and Bruttii, receiving a second triumph.[lower-roman 2][1][2] Rome suffered a particularly difficult pestilence this year.[11]
In 273, Fabius led a delegation of ambassadors to the court of Ptolemy II Philadelphus of Egypt. He was accompanied by his cousin, Numerius Fabius Pictor, and Quintus Ogulnius Gallus, each of whom would later hold the consulship.[2] On their departure for Rome, Ptolemy presented the ambassadors with rich gifts, which they subsequently deposited in the Roman treasury. However, as a gesture of gratitude and respect, the Roman Senate decreed that the gifts be returned to the ambassadors.[12][13][1]
Consul for the third time in 265 BC, with Lucius Mamilius Vitulus, Fabius was sent to aid the elders of Volsinii during a revolt of that city's plebeians against the aristocracy. Fabius was wounded in fierce fighting, and subsequently died.[1][2] In the same year, his son, Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus, who would go on to become consul five times, and twice dictator, was consecrated an augur.[2] At an uncertain time before his death, Fabius was named princeps senatus, a position of honour that had previously been held by his father and grandfather, and which would later be bestowed upon his son.[14][1]
Historical uncertainty
Although Quintus Fabius Maximus Gurges has traditionally been identified as the father of Verrucosus, a minority view espoused by Beloch and Degrassi holds that Verrucosus was the grandson of Gurges, consul in 292 and 276, and that his father, also named Quintus Fabius Maximus Gurges, was the consul of 265 BC.[2][15] Passages in Plutarch and Pliny describe Verrucosus as the great-grandson of Rullianus, although they do not explicitly state that he was the grandson of Gurges, the consul of 292 and 276.[16][17] In Broughton's opinion, the interval of fifty-nine years between Gurges' first consulship in 292, and Verrucosus' first, in 233, supports this view, although Livy describes Verrucosus as the grandson of Rullianus, and by implication, the son of Gurges.[18][2] The Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology agrees that Verrucosus was likely the grandson, not the son of Gurges, but supposes that his father might have been the Quintus Fabius who, as curule aedile in 266 BC, insulted the envoys of Apollonia in Epirus, and was given over to that city for punishment, only to be returned unharmed by the people of Apollonia.[19][20][21] In this case, the consul of 265 would be the same Gurges who had previously been consul in 292 and 276. This view was suggested by Münzer.[22][2]
↑ This was probably the triumph that Fabius celebrated on the Kalends of Sextilis (August 1), in the year following his consulship.[6][7]
↑ This occurred on the Quirinalia, February 17, 275 BC.[10]
Related Research Articles
Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus, surnamed Cunctator, was a Roman statesman and general of the third century BC. He was consul five times and was appointed dictator in 221 and 217 BC. He was censor in 230 BC. His agnomen, Cunctator, usually translated as "the delayer", refers to the strategy that he employed against Hannibal's forces during the Second Punic War. Facing an outstanding commander with superior numbers, he pursued a then-novel strategy of targeting the enemy's supply lines, and accepting only smaller engagements on favourable ground, rather than risking his entire army on direct confrontation with Hannibal himself. As a result, he is regarded as the originator of many tactics used in guerrilla warfare.
During the 290s BC, Hellenistic civilization begins its emergence throughout the successor states of the former Argead Macedonian Empire of Alexander the Great, resulting in the diffusion of Greek culture throughout the Levant and advances in science, mathematics, philosophy, etc. Meanwhile, the Roman Republic is embroiled in war against the Samnites, the Mauryan Empire continues to thrive in Ancient India, and the Kingdom of Qin in Ancient China, the one which in the future will conquer its adversaries and unite China, begins to emerge as a significant power during the Warring States period.
Year 292 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Gurges and Scaeva. The denomination 292 BC for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.
The First, Second, and Third Samnite Wars were fought between the Roman Republic and the Samnites, who lived on a stretch of the Apennine Mountains south of Rome and north of the Lucanian tribe.
The gens Fabia was one of the most ancient patrician families at ancient Rome. The gens played a prominent part in history soon after the establishment of the Republic, and three brothers were invested with seven successive consulships, from 485 to 479 BC, thereby cementing the high repute of the family. Overall, the Fabii received 45 consulships during the Republic. The house derived its greatest lustre from the patriotic courage and tragic fate of the 306 Fabii in the Battle of the Cremera, 477 BC. But the Fabii were not distinguished as warriors alone; several members of the gens were also important in the history of Roman literature and the arts.
Quintus Fabius Maximus Rullianus, son of Marcus Fabius Ambustus, of the patrician Fabii of ancient Rome, was five times consul and a hero of the Samnite Wars. He was brother to Marcus Fabius Ambustus who was named after their father.
Quintus Fabius Maximus may refer to:
Lucius Papirius Cursor was a celebrated politician and general of the early Roman Republic, who was five times consul, three times magister equitum, and twice dictator. He was the most important Roman commander during the Second Samnite War, during which he received three triumphs.
Publius Decius Mus, of the plebeian gens Decia, was a Roman consul in the years 312 BC, 308 BC, 297 BC and 295 BC. He was a member of a family that was renowned for sacrificing themselves on the battlefield for Rome.
Publius Licinius Crassus Dives was consul in 205 BC with Scipio Africanus; he was also Pontifex Maximus since 213 or 212 BC, and held several other important positions. Licinius Crassus is mentioned several times in Livy's Histories. He is first mentioned in connection with his surprising election as Pontifex Maximus, and then several times since in various other capacities.
Quintus Fabius Maximus Gurges was Roman consul in 265 BC, and died of wounds received in battle at Volsinii, where he had been sent to help put down a revolt. There is some uncertainty as to his identity.
Marcus Fabius Ambustus was a statesman and general of the Roman Republic. He was the son of Numerius Fabius Ambustus.
The gens Carvilia was a plebeian family at ancient Rome, which first distinguished itself during the Samnite Wars. The first member of this gens to achieve the consulship was Spurius Carvilius Maximus, in 293 BC.
The gens Aulia was a Roman family during the period of the Republic. The gens was probably plebeian, but only a few members are known to history. The most illustrious of the family was Quintus Aulius Cerretanus, who obtained the consulship twice, in 323 and 319 BC, during the Second Samnite War.
Fabius Ambustus was a name used by ancient Roman men from a branch of the gens Fabia, including:
Lucius Fulvius Curvus was an aristocrat of the middle Roman Republic and consul prior in 322 BC with Quintus Fabius Maximus Rullianus. He is the first of the gens Fulvia documented in the history of Rome.
The Battle of Imbrinium was fought in 325 BC during the Second Samnite War between the Roman Republic, led by the magister equitum, Quintus Fabius Maximus Rullianus and the Samnites near Imbrinium, a city in Samnium.
Aulus Cornelius Cossus Arvina was a Roman statesman and general who served as both consul and Magister Equitum twice, and Dictator in 322 BC.
Marcus Foslius Flaccinator was a Roman politician who served as Magister Equitum two or perhaps three times, and as Roman consul once in the late 4th century BC. Foslius was a member of the gens Foslia, which despite being of Patrician stock was fairly irrelevant. Indeed, previous to this Foslius, no member of the Foslii ever held the consulship and the family only had one recorded magistracy, that being of Consular Tribune, which was held by another Marcus Foslius Flaccinator in 433 BC. The consul Marcus Foslius Flaccinator was the son of a Gaius Foslius and grandson of Marcus Foslius; however nothing is known about these two individuals and their names are only known through fillation.
References
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, vol. II, pp. 992, 993 (Quintus Fabius Maximus Gurges).
Karl Julius Beloch, Römische Geschichte bis zum Beginn der punischen Kriege (Roman History to the Beginning of the Punic Wars), De Gruyter, Berlin (1926).
T. Robert S. Broughton, The Magistrates of the Roman Republic, American Philological Association (1952).
Edward Togo Salmon, Samnium and the Samnites, Cambridge University Press (1967), ISBN978-0-521-06185-8.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
