Johann Christian Fabricius

“ The story that Pyrrhus attempted to frighten Fabricius by the sight of an elephant is probably a fiction. In 278 Fabricius was elected consul for the second time, and was successful in negotiating terms of peace with Pyrrhus, who sailed away to Sicily. Fabricius afterwards gained a series of victories over the Samnites, the Lucanians and the Bruttians, and on his return to Rome received the honour of a triumph. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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 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. ”

“ He is an honest farmer-citizen of the good old sort. Fabricius is another, famed especially for his calm [138] defiance of the threats and cajolery of Pyrrhus, and impervious to bribes. Both these traditions received much legendary colouring in course of time. The passage bearing most directly on my present inquiry is a fragment [589] of Dionysius, in which Fabricius is spurning the offers of king Pyrrhus, who is very anxious to secure the good man’s services as his chief minister on liberal terms. ”

“ FABRICIUS, GEORG (1516–1571) , German poet, historian and archaeologist, was born at Chemnitz in upper Saxony on the 23rd of April 1516, and educated at Leipzig. Travelling in Italy with one of his pupils, he made an exhaustive study of the antiquities of Rome. ”

“ The king, struck with admiration of his conduct, is reported to have exclaimed on the occasion, "That excellent Fabricius is a man who can less easily be diverted from the path of honour, than the sun from its course." ”

“ Accordingly the bagful of Roman coin, received for Irish merchandise, was poured out on the table, and every coin was carefully counted against the ransom paid by Fabricius to Eleazar.
To the satisfaction of Fabricius, there was found to be a considerable amount over. Baithene would have thrown it all in, but Fabricius replied, laughing—
“Nay, my friend, we also can be wilful. Let truth have her rigid rights, as you demand; and besides,” he added, “think of the misery of our friend the Jew in having made such a bad bargain.” ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ The celebrity of Fabricius throughout Europe as one of the best informed Entomologists of the last century, renders it even of no small importance to correct the most trivial oversights he has committed ”

“ The industrious and careful Fabricius, with a wonderful talent for observation lit not by his own lamp but by that of Aristotle, bears a relation to the master much like that held by Aristotle’s pupil in the flesh, Theophrastus. ”

“ Yet I am inclined to think that Arnold has penetrated the true meaning, and shows us the reason for Fabricius's exclamation, when he states the Epicurean philosophy, as expounded by Kineas, to be "that war and state affairs were but toil and trouble, and that the wise man should imitate the blissful rest of the gods, who, dwelling in their own divinity, regarded not the vain turmoil of this lower world."—Arnold's 'History of Rome,' vol. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ And therefore Fabricius, a man of a noble and exalted temper, said ‘he would rather govern rich men than be rich himself; since for one man to abound in wealth and pleasure when all about him are mourning and groaning, is to be a gaoler and not a king.’ He is an unskilful physician that cannot cure one disease without casting his patient into another. So he that can find no other way for correcting the errors of his people but by taking from them the conveniences of life, shows that he knows not what it is to govern a free nation. ”

“ 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. ”

“ FABRICIUS, HIERONYMUS [Fabrizio, Geronimo] (1537–1619) , Italian anatomist and embryologist, was surnamed Acquapendente from the episcopal city of that name, where he was born in 1537. At Padua, after a course of philosophy, he studied medicine under G. Fallopius, whose successor as teacher of anatomy and surgery he became in 1562. From the senators of Venice he received numerous honours, and an anatomical theatre was built by them for his accommodation. ”

“ I add only that the Fabrice, who had poor George in his arms that night, is a man worth mentioning. The same Fabrice (Fabricius, or perhaps GOLDSCHMIDT in German) who went as Envoy from the Holstein-Gottorp people to Charles XII. in his Turkish time ”

“ And, accordingly, they were sent back after the holidays; death being decreed for any that stayed behind.
After this, when Fabricius had taken the consulate, a person came with a letter to the camp written by the king's principal physician, offering to take Pyrrhus off by poison, and so end the war without further hazard to the Romans, if he might have a reward proportional to his service. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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 and his slaves turned to ascend the hill, and Afer watched them going. ‘Nothing will cure him of this delusive hope, it is clear,’ he muttered. ‘Assuming, therefore, that all this profitless expense is unavoidable, it is only just and prudent that it should flow mainly into the purse of his heir, and not into the swindling hands of scamps and aliens, in order to feed wine-shops and brothels. Hermes himself will give me witness that I spoke truth when I said that yon vagabond demanded two thousand sesterces ere he would budge. ”

“ 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.” ”

“ At length Fabricius raised his head and spoke in a broken voice, ‘I am an old man and you must excuse my weakness, friend—the sight of these trifles tries me hard.’
‘Drink!’ said Cestus, filling a cup; ‘there is nothing like good wine to cheer one. ”

“ As a laborious and accurate critic on philological matters, Fabricius merits the highest commendation such attainments can deserve; but when he leaves the beaten road in which nature designed him to walk, and attempts the tractless paths of philosophy, he perpetually stumbles, and often falls on the ground. The wings of philology, like those of the swallow, were never destined for a lofty flight:—it must be the eagle wing of genius, which can alone soar to the sun of philosophy. The Greek and Latin edition of this valuable work, was published at Hamburgh, by Æmilius Portus, 1618, folio. ”

“ An embassy was sent to him; he hoped that he was about to dictate terms of peace but it merely came to discuss the ransom of the captives. Pyrrhus offered to restore the prisoners without payment. Knowing that Fabricius, the chief ambassador, was poor, he thought to win him over by proposing to repair the errors of fortune. Fabricius answered simply that his poverty did not trouble him and did not prevent his being highly considered in his own country. Pyrrhus sent Cineas to Rome with presents for the wives of the senators ”

“ He has hazarded his life in my defence against the episcopalians, regardless of the difference of our creeds. Let him go in freedom.'
'You know not what you ask, doctor,' said the captain, displeased. 'Ought I to permit the rebels to strengthen themselves by the acquisition of such a stout fellow?'
'There are already, alas! a plenty of wicked men,' said Fabricius, 'ferociously raging in the unhappy city. It seems to me it is to be wished, that there should be some good souls among them, who might mitigate many an evil, and prevent many a crime. ”