Quintus Fabius Ambustus (Consular Tribune)

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Quintus Fabius Ambustus came from the Roman patrician family of the Fabians and was 390 BC. Chr. Consular Tribune .

Life

The tradition of the career of Quintus Fabius Ambustus is extremely uncertain. In the ancient magistrate lists he was for the year 390 BC. Listed as one of six consular tribunes. According to the more recent Roman annals, he and his two brothers Kaeso and Numerius are said to have caused the Gauls and Celts to march against Rome and conquer the city through actions that violate international law . According to the oldest surviving version of this story, offered by the Greco-Sicilian historian Diodorus , two Roman ambassadors, whose names are not given, went in 390 BC. To the city ​​of Clusium , attacked by the Celts , to spy on the Celtic army. They helped the Clusins ​​against their besiegers and one of the envoys killed a leader of the Celts. Due to the violation of international law that had been committed, they demanded the extradition of the guilty party and refused any financial reparation that was initially required. The Senate wanted to comply with the demands of the Celts, but the father of the ambassador threatened with extradition was an influential man who held the consular tribunate that year and turned to the people, who declared the Senate resolution to be invalid. The angry Celts then stormed Rome.

A more recent, different narrative is palpable , especially in the Roman historian Titus Livius . According to him, Quintus Fabius Ambustus and his two brothers were sons of an otherwise unknown Marcus Fabius Ambustus and were born as early as 391 BC. BC, a year before the conquest of Rome, sent to Clusium, which had sought Roman support because of the danger posed by the Celts. The three Fabians were supposed to negotiate with the Celts and warn them of an attack, but fell on deaf ears with their request. As with Diodor's version, the envoys now intervened on the side of the Clusinians, with Quintus Fabius Ambustus stabbing an important opposing chief with a spear. When the Celts insisted that Rome must deliver the three ambassadors, the senators left the further procedure to the people. As a result, the Fabians, who knew how to exploit their influence and popularity, were ruled for 390 BC. Elected to the six-member body of the highest magistrates, the so-called consular tribunes. This aroused great indignation among the Celts and triggered their devastating march against Rome.

According to Diodor's report, only two nameless Roman envoys sent to Clusium may have been mentioned in the oldest sources, one of whom was the son of one of the consular tribunes in office at the time; the Gallic conquest of Rome would have taken place in the same year. Three of the six highest magistrates were Fabians at the time, and later Umformung probably made the son of the consular tribune himself a consular tribune, identified him with one of the Fabians and left him, as well as his two other family members, who were allegedly his brothers, a year before the Taking their hometown as ambassador to Clusium. According to the judgment of the ancient historian Friedrich Münzer, the whole story lacks any historicity.

According to Livy, Quintus Fabius Ambustus is said to be in 389 BC Chr. Accused by the tribune of the people Gnaeus Marcius for his behavior contrary to international law , but died before the start of the trial; possibly this was a suicide in order to avoid an impending conviction.

literature

Remarks

  1. Fasti Capitolini : [Q? Fabi] us M. f. Q. [n. Ambustus] ; Titus Livius (5, 35, 5, etc.): Q. Fabius M. f. Ambustus ; Appian ( Celtica 2): Q. Fabius ; among others; in Diodorus (14, 110, 1 and 15, 20, 1) interpolated and incomplete lists of names of the three Fabians then acting as consular tribunes.
  2. Diodor 14, 113, 4-7.
  3. Livy 5, 34, 4-5, 36, 12; according to Plutarch , Numa 12, 7ff. among others; slightly different Plutarch, Camillus 17f .; Cassius Dio , fragment 24, 1f .; Zonaras 7, 23; Appian, Celtica 2f .; Dionysius of Halicarnassus 13, 12.
  4. Friedrich Münzer: Fabius 48). In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume VI, 2, Stuttgart 1909, Sp. 1757 f.
  5. ^ Livy 6, 1, 6f.