marched with a recruited army to meet the dreaded Carthaginian. It was, however, his plan to hazard nothing, but to hover round the enemy, watching all his motions, cutting off his convoys, and perpetually harassing him, while he himself with the main body remained in posts of safety. In this he steadily persevered, notwithstanding all the provocations of Hannibal, who became seriously alarmed at a mode of warfare which in the end must, he foresaw, prove his ruin. Fabius had at one time surrounded Hannibal in a narrow valley, the only outlet of which he had secured by a body of men placed in ambuscade; but that crafty general extricated himself by a stratagem, and afterwards poured upon the rich plains of Campania, which he ravaged with merciless fury. În order, however, to throw suspicion upon Fabius, he carefully spared and protected his lands in the general devastation. The Romans now became highly dissatisfied with the dictator's conduct, imputing his extreme caution either to timidity or bad faith. They recalled him to Rome on the pretext of a solemn sacrifice; and they refused to ratify a convention for the mutual exchange and ransom of prisoners which he had made with Hannibal. Fabius, who was a strict observer of his engagements, finding himself indebted to the Carthaginians for some released captives, sent orders to his son to sell his lands in order to raise the money. On departing from the army he had left peremptory orders with Minucius not to fight; but that officer, as soon as he was gone, sent out some strong detachments which were successful in cutting off a number of the enemy's foragers. The news of this advantage, industriously spread and magnified at Rome, inflamed the public discontent against Fabius, and one of the tribunes in a virulent harangue charged him with treachery. The dictator made no other reply than saying with dignity," Fabius cannot be suspected by his country;" and he publicly declared his intention of punishing the master of the horse for his disobedience. In order to prevent this, the people passed an unprecedented order, confirmed by the senate, equalling Minucius in the command with Fabius. When the latter returned to the camp, Minucius proposed that they should command on alternate days; but Fabius would not consent thus to put the whole army to the hazard of rashness, and in consequence they divided the forces between them. Minucius was soon circumvented by the arts of Hannibal, and would have been entirely cut off, had not Fabius descended from the mountains and rescued him.

On this occasion, whatever honour Minucius might lose as a general, he recovered as a man. At the head of his soldiers he returned Fabius thanks for his deliverance, called him father, declared his own incapacity for the command, and resigned his authority into the hands of the dictator. Fabius had too much magnanimity to upbraid him for his temerity, but embraced him, and continued him in the post of master of the horse. When the time of the dictatorship was expired, he left his example and advice to the consul Paulus Æmilius, who could not, however, restrain that rashness of his colleague Terentius Varro, which brought on the fatal battle of Cannæ. Æmilius when expiring requested a friend to acquaint Fabius that he had never ceased to follow his counsel, and was innocent of this misfortune. This dreadful overthrow, as it justified the prudence and caution of Fabius, so it augmented his authority in Rome; and all looked to him for direction in the measures proper to be pursued. He gave an admirable example of that steady fortitude which belongs to a calm temper, and is not affected by changes of fortune. He appeared in public with a firm and placid countenance, encouraged the desponding, checked the public lamentations, and provided for the safety of the city. In the ensuing years of the war, he was thrice created consul, and once served as lieutenant under his son when consul. In all his campaigns he pursued his original policy of defensive war, and thus contributed to wear out the foe, while the more adventurous Marcellus kept him in continual alarm, and gained frequent advantages over him. The Romans distinguished the respective merits of their two great commanders, by calling one their shield, and the other their sword. The most considerable action of Fabius was his recovery of Tarentum, which had been betrayed to Hannibal. In this he was assisted by the treachery of the Bruttian commander in garrison, who admitted the Romans into the place. The success was sullied by an indiscriminate slaughter of the defenders, and by great severity towards the inhabitants, who were sold for. slaves, after being stripped of all their wealth. Fabius, who was a Roman of the old stamp, void of knowledge and taste in the fine arts, while collecting with great care all the gold and silver for the public treasury, paid no attention to the admirable pictures and statues which adorned that Grecian colony. When asked by his questor what should be done with them, "Let us leave," said he, leave," said he, "to the Tarentines their angry

gods." gods." He carried away, however, a colossal

success attended him when he was a third time consul. He entered Umbria, and struck such terror into the people, that he put an end to a war which they had rashly undertaken against the Romans. Commanding the next year as pro-consul against the Samnites, he gave them a complete defeat, and caused a large body of captives to pass under the yoke. He served the important office of censor B.C. 304, with P. Decius Mus for his colleague. In this station he reformed an abuse introduced by Appius Claudius, who, in order to obtain influence in elections, had distributed a great number of freedmen and persons of the meanest condition among the country tribes. Fabius caused all these to be incorporated into four tribes called the urban, and thus almost destroyed their influence. This act was so acceptable to all the most confiderable citizens, thatit conferred upon Fabius the appellation of Maximus, which was perpetuated in his branch of the family. On a renewal of the Samnite and Etruscan war, Fabius was a fourth time made consul, which honour he accepted only upon the condition of nominating a colleague, who was Decius Mus. He was opposed to the Samnites, over whom he obtained a victory by means of a skilful stratagem. The patrician party were greatly desirous of creating him consul the next year, along with Appius, in order to exclude a plebeian from that dignity; but Fabius, thinking it contrary to the law that he should be chosen at a comitia in which he himself presided, would not agree to the design. In the year following, however, he was elected to a fifth consulate along with his former colleague Decius. The Romans were at that time alarmed with intelligence that the Etruscans, Umbrians, Gauls, and Samnites, had formed a confederacy against them. Fabius was sent to command in Etruria, and his first care was to restore confidence and courage to the Roman army, which had lost its spirit under Appius. The number of foes was so great, that both consuls with their joint forces marched against them. Fabius, by sending a detachment to lay waste Etruria, drew off part of the hostile army, and then brought the Gauls and Samnites to an engagement. It was in this great action that the second Decius Mus (see his article) devoted himself for his country. The battle, after great exertions, terminated in favour of the Romans; and Fabius, on his return, was honoured with a triumph. Three years afterwards, he gave a signal proof how much the love of his country predominated in him over other affections, by opposing, when prince of the senate, the promotion of his own son, Fabius Gurges, to the

consulate, for which office he probably thought him not adequately qualified; as, indeed, he had passed his youth in notorious intemperance. Gurges was, however, chosen, and marching against the Samnites, underwent a defeat from them. The veteran father then offered to serve as lieutenant under his son; and proceeding to the army, he gave battle to the elated enemy. By his conduct and valour, he not only rescued his son from imminent danger, but entirely routed the Samnites with great slaughter, and took prisoner their general Pontius Herennius. Farther successes were obtained by the Fabii in this campaign, for which the son, as consul, was decreed a triumph. The joyful father followed the triumphal car on horseback, and was gratified with hearing their joint praises in the acclamations of the people. This was the conclusion of his military exploits. He was a second time nominated dictator, B.C. 287, for the purpose of completing a reconciliation between the plebeians and the patricians. He soon after died, full of glory, and was honoured with a public funeral. Livy. Univers. Hist.-A.

FABIUS MAXIMUS, Q. surnamed VERRUCOSUS, and also CUNCTATOR, was either the grandson or the great-grandson of the preceding. He displayed from his infancy the rudiments of that temper which ever characterised him-gravity, patience, mildness, together with a slowness of parts which subjected him to the imputation of stupidity, but which did not preclude his acquisition of sound sense, and civil and military knowledge. He was consul for the first time B.C. 233, when he obtained a triumph for a victory over the Ligurians. We find nothing more related of him, except that he had been a second time consul, when upon the great alarm excited at Rome on account of the victory gained by Hannibal at the lake Thrasymenus, B.C. 217, he was nominated by the senate pro-dictator, the laws not allowing him the full title of dictator, since the nomination of the surviving consul was not waited for. It appears that the character of Fabius for coolness and caution, joined to military skill, was that which especially caused the safety of the state to be committed to him on this dangerous emergence. The people, however, gave him for a master of the horse, Minucius Rufus, a zealous partisan of their own, and a man of a different disposition. Fabius began his administration by assuming those external marks of dignity which might inspire unusual reverence for his high office. Then having restored tranquillity and confidence to the minds of the public by some extraordinary acts of religion, he

marched with a recruited army to meet the dreaded Carthaginian. It was, however, his plan to hazard nothing, but to hover round the enemy, watching all his motions, cutting off his convoys, and perpetually harassing him, while he himself with the main body remained in posts of safety. In this he steadily persevered, notwithstanding all the provocations of Hannibal, who became seriously alarmed at a mode of warfare which in the end must, he foresaw, prove his ruin. Fabius had at one time surrounded Hannibal in a narrow valley, the only outlet of which he had secured by a body of men placed in ambuscade; but that crafty general extricated himself by a stratagem, and afterwards poured upon the rich plains of Campania, which he ravaged with merciless fury. În order, however, to throw suspicion upon Fabius, he carefully spared and protected his lands in the general devastation. The Romans now became highly dissatisfied with the dictator's conduct, imputing his extreme caution either to timidity or bad faith. They recalled him to Rome on the pretext of a solemn sacrifice; and they refused to ratify a convention for the mutual exchange and ransom of prisoners which he had made with Hannibal. Fabius, who was a strict observer of his engagements, finding himself indebted to the Carthaginians for some released captives, sent orders to his son to sell his lands in order to raise the money. On departing from the army he had left peremptory orders with Minucius not to fight; but that officer, as soon as he was gone, sent out some strong detachments which were successful in cutting off a number of the enemy's foragers. The news of this advantage, industriously spread and magnified at Rome, inflamed the public discontent against Fabius, and one of the tribunes in a virulent harangue charged him with treachery. The dictator made no other reply than saying with dignity," Fabius cannot be suspected by his country;" and he publicly declared his intention of punishing the master of the horse for his disobedience. In order to prevent this, the people passed an unprecedented order, confirmed by the senate, equalling Minucius in the command with Fabius. When the latter returned to the camp, Minucius proposed that they should command on alternate days; but Fabius would not consent thus to put the whole army to the hazard of rashness, and in consequence they divided the forces between them. Minucius was soon circumvented by the arts of Hannibal, and would have been entirely cut off, had not Fabius descended from the mountains and rescued him.

On this occasion, whatever honour Minucius might lose as a general, he recovered as a man. At the head of his soldiers he returned Fabius thanks for his deliverance, called him father, declared his own incapacity for the command, and resigned his authority into the hands of the dictator. Fabius had too much magnanimity to upbraid him for his temerity, but embraced him, and continued him in the post of master of the horse. When the time of the dictatorship was expired, he left his example and advice to the consul Paulus Æmilius, who could not, however, restrain that rashness of his colleague Terentius Varro, which brought on the fatal battle of Cannæ. Æmilius when expiring requested a friend to acquaint Fabius that he had never ceased to follow his counsel, and was innocent of this misfortune. This dreadful overthrow, as it justified the prudence and caution of Fabius, so it augmented his authority in Rome; and all looked to him for direction in the measures proper to be pursued. He gave an admirable example of that steady fortitude which belongs to a calm temper, and is not affected by changes of fortune. He appeared in public with a firm and placid countenance, encouraged the desponding, checked the public lamentations, and provided for the safety of the city. In the ensuing years of the war, he was thrice created consul, and once served as lieutenant under his son when consul. In all his campaigns he pursued his original policy of defensive war, and thus contributed to wear out the foe, while the more adventurous Marcellus kept him in continual alarm, and gained frequent advantages over him. The Romans distinguished the respective merits of their two great commanders, by calling one their shield, and the other their sword. The most considerable action of Fabius was his recovery of Tarentum, which had been betrayed to Hanni bal. In this he was assisted by the treachery of the Bruttian commander in garrison, who admitted the Romans into the place. The success was sullied by an indiscriminate slaughter of the defenders, and by great severity towards the inhabitants, who were sold for slaves, after being stripped of all their wealth. Fabius, who was a Roman of the old stamp, void of knowledge and taste in the fine arts, while collecting with great care all the gold and silver for the public treasury, paid no attention to the admirable pictures and statues which adorned that Grecian colony. When asked by his questor what should be done with them, "Let us leave," said he, "to the Tarentines their angry gods." He carried away, however, a colossal

statue of Hercules, which he erected in the capitol, and near it an equestrian statue of himself. He made a smart reply to Livius, the former Roman commander of Tarentum, who had retired into the citadel when it was taken by the Carthaginians, and boasted that Fabius had recovered it through his means. "True," said Fabius," for if you had not lost it, I had not recovered it." Hannibal, notwithstanding the numerous armies under able commanders which had been sent against him, still kept his footing in the southern extremity of Italy, and while he remained there, Rome could not feel secure. It was reserved for a young general, the celebrated Scipio, to free his country from the formidable relics of the war, and conquer Hannibal at home. When conful, B.C. 205, he proposed the bold measure of invading Africa. Fabius, whose characteristic caution was now aggravated by old age, and who probably was not free from jealousy of a rising hero whose fame might eclipse that of former commmanders, strenuously opposed this defign, and even employed practices directed personally against Scipio, which were little to his credit. He was unable, however, to control the favour with which the youthful victor was regarded by the Roman people. The news of Scipio's first successes only seemed to augment his ill-humour, and he in vain proposed to take the command from him after the expiration of his consulship. Fabius did not live to witness the triumphant close of the war. Though he had lost some popularity by his opposition to Scipio, the Roman people, just to his merits, defrayed his funeral by a general contribution, and honoured him as their common father. He was ever after reckoned among the great men of Rome, and the safety of the city at the time of its principal danger was ascribed to him. Thus the poet Ennius, in some lines preserved by Cicero, mentions him as

Unus qui nobis cunctando restituit rem. Who sole his country rescued by delay. A fine eulogy of Fabius is put into the mouth of the elder Cato in Tully's dialogue De Senec tute. He is represented as not less useful in the toga than at the head of an army; and a sentiment which he uttered when augur is mentioned to his praise," That whatever was done for the good of the state was done auspiciously; what ever was hurtful to the state was contrary to the auspices." His son, who had been consul, died before him. He bore the loss with magnanimity, and himself pronounced his funeral oration," which," says Cicero, "when we read,

what philosopher do we not contemn ?" An anecdote is related of this son which shews him to have imbibed the disciplinarian spirit of his father. Soon after he had entered upon the consular dignity, his father approached him on horseback. Young Fabius perceiving him, sent a lictor to order him to dismount, and shew the usual respect, of coming before the consul on foot. The old man obeyed, and advancing to his son, tenderly embraced him, and applauded him for so well understanding the dignity of his office. Plutarch Vit. Fabii. Livy. Únivers. Hist.-A.

FABIUS PICTOR, the earliest of the Roman historical writers in prose, is supposed to have been the third in descent from that Fabius who acquired the surname of Pictor from his really exercising the art of painting, as mentioned by Pliny (Hist. Nat. 1. 35). The historian lived during the second Punic war, and was sent after the battle of Cannæ, B.C. 216, upon a deputation to the Delphic oracle, in or der to enquire the proper means for appeasing the anger of the gods. He is thought to have writ ten both in Latin and Greek; and his authority is quoted by Livy and by other ancient writers. He composed annals of his own times, and also treated of the origin and antiquities of the Italian cities. He is charged by Polybius with being partial to the Romans in his narration, a fault very natural in a Roman senator. His style, in common with that of all the early La tin historians, is mentioned by Cicero as being rude and unartful. Nothing of him is remaining. A work published under his name by the impostor Annius of Viterbo is decidedly sup posititious. Vopii Hist. Latin.-A.

FABRE, JOHN CLAUDE, a French ecclesiastic, and various writer, who flourished in the eighteenth century, was born at Paris in the year 1668. His classical and collegiate education he received in his native city, where, after he had been admitted to the degree of bachelor in theology by the faculty of Paris, he became a member of the congregation of the Oratory. From his learning and abilities he was fixed upon by his superiors to be professor of philosophy successively in the seminaries belonging to the order at Rumilly, in Savoy, at Toulon, Riom, Mans, and Nantes. Afterwards he filled the theological chair for three years at Riom; and then, during an equal period, at Lyons. While he was at the latter city he published a small "Latin and French Dic tionary," in 8vo., which met with a favourable reception, and has passed through numerous editions. He also drew up another upon a

more extended scale, which the appearance of a similar work by M. Magnez prevented him from committing to the press. While he was at Lyons, in the year 1709, he gave to the public an enlarged edition of the satirical Dictionary of Richelet, in two volumes folio, under the title of "Amsterdam." Some of the articles which he admitted into that edition, of a theological and satirical complexion, and, according to abbé Joly, the warm commendation which he bestowed in it on the illustrious writers of the Port Royal foundation, gave such offence to the fathers of the Oratory, that he was obliged to withdraw from their society, and to retire to Clermont in Auvergne. In this state of exile he was maintained, partly by what he received for instructing some children, and partly by the assistance of father Tellier, a Jesuit, and confessor to the king. In the year 1715 father Fabre was permitted to re-enter the congregation of the Oratory, and soon afterwards published at Douay a little treatise much esteemed by the Catholics, entitled "Conversations between Christina and Pelagia, School-mistresses, respecting the Reading of the Sacred Scriptures," 12mo. In the year 1723 we find him a resident at Montmorency, where he commenced his "Continuation of the Ecclesiastical History of the Abbé Fleury," which became gradually extended to sixteen volumes in 4to. and 12mo. The magnitude of this undertaking occasioned the author's removal, for the convenience of consulting proper authorities, from Montmorency to a house belonging to his order at Paris, where he spent the remainder of his days. This work, although written in an easy style, is greatly inferior to that of which it is a sequel, both in point of precision and the selection of materials. By the improper intermixture of civil with ecclesiastical his tory, the bulk of it is unnecessarily extended; and yet the author was prevented from committing the whole of what he had written to the press. Besides the works already mentioned, father Fabre was the author of a "Translation of all the Works of Virgil," accompanied with dissertations, notes, and the Latin text, in three volumes 12mo. 1721; a prose "Translation of the Fables of Phaedrus," with the text, notes, and the life of Phædrus, 12mo. 1728; a summary or "Index of M. de Thou's History," &c. He maintained a character estimable for pleasing manners, modesty, and candour, and died much regretted by his brethren and friends, in 1753, when he had attained to the advanced period of eighty-five years. Moreri. Nouv. Dist. Hist.-M.

FABRETTI, RAPHAEL, an eminent antiquary, was born of a good family at Urbino, in 1619. in 1619. He studied jurisprudence in his native city, and after graduating at the age of eighteen, he went to Rome, where he became greatly distinguished, as well for variety of erudition, as for prudency and dexterity in the management of public affairs. Being sent by the court of Rome upon business of importance into Spain, he acquitted himself so well, that pope Alexander VII. nominated him first, treasurer, and then assessor to the Spanish nuntiature. He was absent thirteen years, and upon his return was appointed judge of appeals, in which office he gave general satisfaction by his diligence and integrity. He was afterwards for three years auditor of legation in Urbino ; whence being recalled to Rome, he occupied successively the posts of clerical examiner, secretary of the memorials, canon of the Vatican, prefect of the holy cimeteries, and archivist of the castle of St. Angelo. He employed his intervals of leisure in the study of antiquities, for which he was so well prepared by his know ledge of the Greek and Latin authors. He particularly devoted himself to the examination and collection of all the inscriptions and ancient monuments dispersed through Latium, for which purpose he traversed the whole of that province alone and on horseback, climbing hills, plunging into caverns, and leaving no part unexplored. His horse was so much accustomed to stop among ruins, that he became himself a kind of antiquary, and sometimes, by stopping spontaneously, gave his master notice of objects which would otherwise have been passed unobserved. In 1680 he published a work" De Aquis & Aquæductibus veteris Romæ," which. was part of the fruit of his researches, and gave him a high reputation among the learned. It involved him, however, in a dispute with James Gronovius, which was conducted with little civility on either side. He next published a very learned dissertation "De Columna Trajani," 1683, fol. which contained many curious particulars concerning the naval and military establishments, &c. of the ancients. There was annexed to it the history of Trajan's Dacic wars by Ciacconius. His great collection of inscriptions, entitled "Inscriptionum Antiquarum Explicatio," fol. appeared at Rome in 1599, and for its exactness, and the erudition of the explanations, was esteemed the best which had hitherto been given to the public. Maffei observes that it was the first collection which was not filled with fictitious inscriptions. Many of them, however,-are insignificant as to their sub