Fabius, the name of an ancient Roman gens, which claimed to be descended from Hercules and the daughter of the Arcadian Evander. Of the various families which belonged to the gens Fabia, the most ancient was that of the Vibulani, three brothers of which were consuls for seven years in succession (485-479 B. C). These brothers rendered themselves odious to the common soldiers by refusing to divide among them the booty gained in war, and by their opposition to the agrarian law, but afterward became popular by their courage in a battle fought with the Veientes in the consul- ship of Marcus Fabius, in 480. In this bat- I tle Quintus Fabius was killed, and his brothers Marcus the consul and Caeso were foremost in the fight. The soldiers bravely supported them, and after the battle the Fabii espoused the cause of the plebeians and were regarded by the patricians as apostates. They gained high honor by offering to undertake alone the war against the Veientes. The whole family, with the exception of a single member, to the num-ber of more than 300, left Rome with their followers, fortified themselves upon the banks of the Cremera, and prosecuted the war with great energy.

But in the consulship of Hora-tius (477) Pulvillus and T. Menenius Lanatus they were all, after heroic resistance, overwhelmed and destroyed. The only member of the family who survived was Quintus, son of Marcus, who had remained at Rome*, and from him were descended the Fabii who afterward became famous in Roman history. Among them, Quintus Fabius Rullianus is commonly considered the first who had the cognomen Maximus. In 325, as master of the horse, he gave battle to the Samnites, contrary to the express orders of the dictator L. Papirius Cursor, and obtained a signal victory. After other brilliant victories, in 296, being consul for the sixth time, he was in command at the great battle of Sentinum, and defeated the combined armies of the Samnites, Gauls, Etruscans, and Umbrians. He is reputed among the most eminent of the Roman generals, but the principal authorities in regard to this period belonged to the Fabian house, and it is probable that his military achievements have been much exaggerated.-According to Polybius, it was not Q. Fabius Rullianus upon whom the cognomen of Maximus was originally conferred, but his great-grandson, Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus, who by his prudent generalship in the second Punic war saved the Roman commonwealth from impending ruin.

Having been appointed pro-dictator after the defeat of Lake Thrasyme-nus, in 217, he perceived that it was impossible with raw and disheartened troops to oppose successfully a veteran army flushed with victory. He therefore avoided pitched battles and moved his camp from highland to highland, where Hannibal's Numidian horse and Spanish infantry could not follow him. He thus tired them out with marches and countermarches. This policy gained for him the title of Cunctator, delayer. It was admirably suited to the position of affairs, but the Roman senate and people were impatient under it, and divided the command between Fabius and Minucius, his master of the horse. Minucius made a rash advance, was surrounded by the enemy, and would have been destroyed had he not been rescued by Fabius. Varro, one of the consuls who assumed the command after the expiration of Fabius's dictatorship, disregarded his counsels and suffered a severe defeat at Cannae (216). After this Fabius suggested the measures of defence which were adopted by the senate. He was made consul for the fifth time in 209, and became princeps senatus.

During this year he inflicted a severe blow upon the Carthaginians by the recapture of Tarentum. Toward the end of the war the more energetic plan of action proposed by Scipio prevailed over the advice of Fabius. He died at an advanced age in 203, when Hannibal was about leaving Italy. -Caius Fabius Pictor painted a battle piece for the temple of Salus which was dedicated in 302 B. C, the earliest Roman painting of which there is any record. It was preserved till the time of the emperor Claudius, when the temple was destroyed by fire.-His son Numerius Fa-bius Pictor is mentioned by Cicero as an author of Greek annals, but was possibly mistaken for his nephew (a grandson of the painter), Quintus Fabius Pictor, the first prose writer of Rome, who served in the Gallic war, 225 B. C, and in the second Punic war. He was the author of a history of Rome from its foundation to his own time. Of this work, probably written in Greek, which was highly valued by later writers, no fragments remain.