Gaius Fabricius

“ Fabricius was a fine specimen of the sturdy Roman character. He cultivated his farm with his own hands, and, like his contemporary Curius, was celebrated for his incorruptible integrity. The king attempted in vain to work upon his cupidity and his fears. He steadily refused the large sums of money offered by Pyrrhus; and when an elephant, concealed behind him by a curtain, waved his trunk over his head, Fabricius remained unmoved. Such respect did his conduct inspire, that Pyrrhus attempted to persuade him to enter into his service and accompany him to Greece. The object of the embassy failed. ”

“ The young man’s heart softened to see the mingled emotions which swelled the stately Senator’s breast, and he heartily returned the vigorous clasp of his hands.
‘You are yet hale and strong, and such a friend as I can be, I hope to be, for many a year to come,’ he answered.
‘The end cannot be far away now,’ said Fabricius, shaking his head. ‘I stand in no fear of it, for in truth I have nothing left to live for. The gods preserve thee from a solitary old age such as mine. This gloomy house was once bright and happy enough; death has reaped a rich harvest in its walls. ”

“ Is this folly still so strong within you? How came you here in the name of the gods? and in what does this wench concern you? Do you thus accost every girl you see? She is nothing but a potter’s girl of Surrentum.’
‘Stay, Fabricius, you are hasty,’ spoke Tiberius; ‘let us hear what these people have to say.’
Recalled to himself, Fabricius, with his eyes yet fixed on Neæra, stepped back to a place beside Thrasullus, without deigning his nephew a look or a word. Afer’s brows met with an angry scowl, and he abruptly folded his arms across his breast, whilst muttering some hasty wrathful words. ”

“ Fabricius, disgusted at the man's treachery, brought his colleague to share his views, and in haste sent off a letter to Pyrrhus, bidding him be on his guard. The letter ran as follows: "Caius Fabricius and Quintus Æmilius, the Roman consuls, greet King Pyrrhus. You appear to be a bad judge both of your friends and of your enemies. You will perceive, by reading the enclosed letter which has been sent to us, that you are fighting against good and virtuous men, and trusting to wicked and treacherous ones. ”

“ However, the Romans wanted to treat about the prisoners Pyrrhus had taken, and they sent Caius Fabricius to the Greek camp for the purpose. Kineas reported him to be a man of no wealth, but esteemed as a good soldier and an honest man. Pyrrhus tried to make him take large presents, but nothing would Fabricius touch; and then, in the hope of alarming him, in the middle of a conversation the hangings of one side of the tent suddenly fell, and disclosed the biggest of all the elephants, who waved his trunk over Fabricius and trumpeted frightfully. ”

“ Methinks I yet hear him laughing and speaking. We parted at the foot of the Capitoline, and never did I see him again till now.”
“Oh, fate of man!” quoth Xerophrastes; “how uncertain is life, how certain death! Without doubt, young Fabricius had as little thought of dying as any of your company; and yet, see now, he is arrayed for the last time, and this juvenile gown, which he should so soon have laid aside for the manly, is destined to be consumed with him.” ”

“ Thereupon Fabricius passed his open hands from his ears to his eyes, then down to his nose, his mouth, his throat, and finally to the lower part of his belly; then he replied to the envoys: “So long as I can restrain and control all those members which I have touched, I shall never lack anything; therefore I cannot accept money, for which I have no use, from those who, I am sure, do have use for it.”
15 What a tiresome and utterly hateful fault is vain and empty loquacity, and how often it has been censured in deservedly strong language by the greatest Greek and Latin writers. ”

“ A Roman general named Fabricius (Fab-ris’-yus) was sent to the enemy's camp to arrange for the exchange of prisoners–that is, for every hundred prisoners set free by the enemy the Romans would set free a hundred men of Epirus, and so on. King Pyrrhus had a long talk with this Roman captain, and was pleased with the conversation, and offered him a large sum of gold, which was refused. Next day the king thought to strike terror into the Roman's soul. He ordered that the largest of the elephants should be placed behind a curtain of the room where he and Fabricius were to consult. ”

“ I told her so,’ said Cestus.
‘The memory of a liar should always be good,’ cried Afer; ‘this vagabond’s memory is only equalled by his lies—they are all of a prodigious nature. Yet I doubt if they are as monstrous as the credulity which sucks them in.’
‘What more remains to ask these people, Fabricius? Question them if you will,’ said Tiberius.
‘I have nothing to add to what your highness has ably said,’ replied Fabricius, rising from his seat. ”

“ Seek him, and bring him hither back with thee, that I may tell him what I did, for my mind torments me more than my crushed body. He had a granddaughter, a little child—a little goddess; I can tell him of that child—bid him come with haste! Fourteen years ago I stole her from his door and sold her. She yet lives—a slave!”’
In spite of himself; in spite of the numberless plausible tales and previous disappointments, Fabricius felt his heart beat violently, and a tremor seize his limbs. Cestus’s small keen eyes noted the change of colour on his cheek. ”

“ Fabricius has at last, he thinks, fair grounds for supposing he has recovered the missing girl. Be it our business to inquire into the proofs.’
‘To what purpose, uncle?’ said Afer, with angry impatience. ‘Is it not absurd to ground a belief upon a mere resemblance to a graven gem? It can only end in fruitless disgust, as hitherto. Cease to harass yourself any longer by pursuing an ignis fatuus; be guided by me, I pray you. Leave these impostors to me, as you were wont, and I will unmask them.’
‘I pray you, Caesar, proceed,’ said Fabricius briefly, without taking any notice of his nephew. ”

“ When these tidings reached them, for the first time Damaris uttered a cry of despair. “Alas! alas!” she said, “too surely our Marius is slain, or he would have saved her.”
But Fabricius shook his head.
“Fond mother’s thought! Against such a flood of furious savagery Marius would have been as powerless as when he lay a babe in thine arms;” and then, with a flash of the old patrician fire, he added, “It is not Digna only, it is our old Rome, who chose death rather than dishonour at Aquileia; our Rome has fallen, she is dead, but never could she have perished save by suicide. ”

“ And so, to his own party,—each one of them [lacuna] they will think that accomplishing their flight with the greatest security [lacuna] (Mai, p.167.)
[Frag. XXXIX]
[Sidenote: B.C. 283 (a.u. 471) ] 1. The Romans had learned that the Tarentini and some others were making ready to war against them, and had despatched Fabricius as an envoy to the allied cities to prevent them from committing any revolutionary act: but they had him arrested, and by sending men to the Etruscans and Umbrians and Gauls they caused a number of them also to secede, some immediately and some a little later. ”

“ Fabricius, Caius, a Roman of the old school, distinguished for the simplicity of his manners and his incorruptible integrity; his name has become the synonym for a poor man who in public life deals honourably and does not enrich himself; was consul 282 B.C.
Fabricius or Fabrizio, Girolamo, a famous Italian anatomist, born at Aquapendente; became professor at Padua in 1565, where he gained a world-wide reputation as a teacher ”

“ As a citizen of the plain coat he will be able to devote more time to his wife. Fabricius, you dine with me to-night.’
So saying the Emperor rose smiling, and, leaning on his gigantic Nubian, passed into the inner apartment. When he had disappeared the others departed by degrees, full of interest and speculation on what had passed.
Sullen and impenetrable, Afer refused to enter into any intercourse, despite the Prefect’s efforts for that purpose; and Sejanus, therefore, shrugging his shoulders, left him in the apartment which was appointed to him, until the time came to proceed to Rome. ”

“ The name of Quintus Fabricius had once been celebrated in the city as that of a senator distinguished for uprightness, firmness, and liberality, but his public fame had almost passed away with a new generation. He was now, at the time we speak of, far better known throughout Rome in connection with a domestic matter, which will unfold itself in the following pages.
He was of an old family; and if wealth, taste, and an easy conscience could make a man happy, surely he might be said to be truly so. ”

“ The flamen listened attentively to the remarks of his superior.
“By the Immortals, we need not despair, Coecus guiding us!” he exclaimed; “whatever he proposes, he may depend on our carrying out to the letter.”
“Then listen, Flaccus,” said Gaius; “we can no longer hide from the people the progress made by the new faith, or that it is patronised by the emperor; but we may persuade them that the gods are grieved at the abandonment of their ancient worship ”

“ It is only another and more flagrant case of my infatuation, as my nephew calls it. I shall fall under the lash of his tongue bravely for it. But what, Centurion, if I give up hope, what need is there of living?’
‘None.’
‘And you, a young man, live vigorously, having copious hope. Ah, I see!’ continued Fabricius, smiling, as he noted [pg 120] the ready colour tinging the sunburnt cheek of the Pretorian, ‘as well as if your shaven cheek had been the delicate red and white of a young girl. ”

“ Fabricius, one of the Roman ambassadors, he admired so much, that, finding he was poor, he endeavoured to draw him over to his side with the promise of a fourth part of his kingdom, but he was repulsed with disdain by Fabricius. Pyrrhus, therefore, being struck with admiration at the character of the Romans, sent an eminent man. Cineas by name, as ambassador, to ask for peace on reasonable terms, provided that he might retain possession of that part of Italy, of which he had already become master in the war. ”

“ So now see in what manner he, being urged on by these desires, endeavoured to take off Habitus by poison.
16 46There were two twin brothers of the municipality of Aletrinum, by name Caius and Lucius Fabricius, men very like one another in appearance and disposition, but very unlike the rest of their fellow-citizens; among whom what uniform respectability of character, and what consistent and moderate habits of life prevail, there is not one of you, I imagine, who is ignorant. Oppianicus was always exceedingly intimate with these Fabricii. ”

“ Then this Fabricius not only did not bring to me my neighbours and friends the citizens of Aletrinum, but he was not able himself any longer to employ them as men eager in his defence, or as witnesses to his character. 57For they and I thought it suitable to our humanity to uphold the cause of a man not entirely a stranger to us, while it was undecided, though suspicious; but to endeavour to upset the decision which had been come to, we should have thought a deed of great impudence. ”

“ Of course it means death in some shape or other.’ The face of Cestus grew dark and sullen as a thundercloud, and he folded his arms across his chest without a word.
‘What is to be done?’ said Fabricius, the extremity of distress breaking down the repugnance and indignation with which he regarded his companion.
‘The luck seems against us,’ answered the Suburan bitterly; ‘he must have played the rash fool. At any rate, your letter shows that I am to be believed when I make you a statement. All we can do is to get there as fast as we can and make the best of a bad job. ”

“ The victory of Heraclea had been followed only by a useless march.
During the winter an embassy, led by Fabricius, came from Rome to Tarentum, to offer an exchange of prisoners.
Cineas advised the King to try to bribe the Roman. So Pyrrhus offered Fabricius splendid gifts, but he answered proudly, ‘If I am base how can I be worth a bribe, if honest how can you expect me to take one? Poverty with honesty is more to be desired than wealth.’
Then Pyrrhus, finding that the advice of Cineas had been useless, determined to try a plan of his own. ”

“ The followers of Epicurus were numerous in every age and country; his doctrines were rapidly disseminated over the world, and when the gratification of the sense was substituted to the practice of virtue, the morals of mankind were undermined and destroyed. Even Rome, whose austere simplicity had happily nurtured virtue, felt the attack, and was corrupted. When Cineas spoke of the tenets of the Epicureans in the Roman senate, Fabricius indeed entreated the gods that all the enemies of the republic might become his followers. ”

“ He was, like the whole powerful family to which he belonged, in principle a rigid and unscrupulous aristocrat; as a magistrate, he, no doubt, reckoned it honourable to hire assassins for the good of the state and would presumably have ridiculed the act of Fabricius towards Pyrrhus as unpractical knight errantry, but he was an inflexible administrator accessible neither to fear nor to corruption, and a judicious and experienced warrior. ”

“ Two vessels are set upon the threshold of Zeus, of the gifts that he dispenses; one of evil things, the other of good; he who receives from both at the hand of thundering Zeus, meets at one time with evil, and at another with good; he who receives from only one, is a miserable wretch."
THE NOBLE CHARACTER OF CAIUS FABRICIUS FROM THE LIFE OF PYRRHUS
Caius Fabricius, a man of highest consideration among the Romans as an honest man and a good soldier, but extremely poor, went upon an embassy to Pyrrhus to treat about prisoners that had been taken. ”