Kaeso Fabius Vibulanus

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Kaeso Fabius Vibulanus († 477 BC) was a multiple consul (484, 481 and 479 BC) of the early Roman Republic and came from the patrician family of the Fabians .

Historical background

Since little was known about the early period of the Roman Republic, when Kaeso Fabius lived, the annalists who wrote during the late republic decorated the dry accounts of their predecessors with invented or constructed details, thus providing a rather unreliable picture of ancient Rome. From these more detailed, but untrustworthy reports, the historians Titus Livius and Dionysius of Halicarnassus, which are still available today, drew from . One must therefore examine their narratives with extreme caution for their historical core. Diodorus , who wrote a little before Livy, mentioned Kaeso Fabius only briefly, but used older and therefore more reliable annalists.

The three brothers Quintus , Kaeso and Marcus Fabius Vibulanus are named twice in this order (485, 484, 483 or 482, 481, 480 BC) as consuls, so that one of them every year between 485 and 479 BC BC held the highest office of the state. 477 BC Nearly all members of the Fabier, allegedly 300, are said to have died in a battle against the Venetians . In order not to tear the historical context too much, the fates of all three brothers are presented here together.

485 BC Chr.

When Quintus Fabius for the first time (together with Servius Cornelius Maluginensis Cossus ) in 485 BC When he assumed the consulate, the fall of Spurius Cassius Vecillinus took place during his tenure . Allegedly, Kaeso Fabius and Lucius Valerius were quaestors that year , initiated a high treason trial against Cassius and thus achieved his execution. Friedrich Münzer assumes that this report was only woven into the account of the end of Cassius by very late annalists, but admits the possibility that the rise of the Fabians may have been causally linked to the elimination of Cassius.

In terms of foreign policy, it is worth mentioning the incursion of the consul Quintus Fabius into the realm of the tribes of the Aequer and Volscians . The riches captured were sold to replenish the state treasury. While Livy had this act done by Quintus Fabius, who thereby became unpopular with the Romans, according to the anachronistic narrative here Dionysius the quaestors sold the stolen treasures; and in contrast to Livius, Dionysius later reports that Quintus Fabius, because of his good conduct in office, in 482 BC. Was again elected consul.

484 BC Chr.

Kaeso Fabius was born in 484 BC. BC with Lucius Aemilius Mamercus for the first time consul. According to Livius and Dionysius, no popular unrest should have broken out this year because Lucius Aemilius, who has come to the fore here, waged war against external opponents, especially the Volscians, without, however, doing much. But since the victory over Tusculum , the coalition partner of the Aequer, mentioned by the more reliable Diodorus, does not appear in the war reports of Livy and Dionysius, Münzer considers it to be completely unhistorical.

483 BC Chr.

After Marcus Fabius in 483 BC After he started his first consulate (together with Lucius Valerius Potitus ), after Livy there were acts of war with the Venetians and Volscores. Dionysius does not mention the former in his more detailed account, but brings many other inventions. He reports on the alleged obstruction of recruitment by the tribune Gaius Maenius and the deliberately poor war effort of the soldiers because of their hatred of the commandant, the consul Lucius Valerius, because of his participation in the trial of Spurius Cassius; disputes are also said to have delayed the consular elections and brought about an interregnum. According to Münzer, all of this information is made up.

482 BC Chr.

The oldest brother Quintus Fabius received 482 BC. For the second time the highest state office in Rome (together with Gaius Iulius Iullus ). In that year Rome may have actually fought against the Aequer and Veienti, apparently not very successfully, since the Aequer conquered a place called Ortona according to Dionysius (according to Livy not until 481 BC); the Veientes were also able to penetrate Roman territory. Because of the poor performance of the consuls, the representations of Livy and Dionysius - imitating those of the late Republican annalists - are likely to have been so brief.

481 BC Chr.

Under the second consulate of Kaeso Fabius, which he founded in 481 BC. BC together with Spurius Furius Medullinus Fusus , according to Livius, a tribune tried to prevent recruitment for the first time, while this took place for the second time after Dionysius. Appius Claudius advised the consuls, according to Dionysius, to have the intercession of the stubborn tribune, here called Spurius Iulius, repealed by one of the other tribunes. According to Livius, the tribune, referred to here as Spurius Licinius, was used in this way as early as 481 BC Proceeded as a tip of Appius Claudius but only told in the report for the next year.

Spurius Furius fought unsuccessfully against the Aequer, while Kaeso Fabius went to the field against the Veienter and, since his soldiers hated him and therefore did not show full commitment, could not achieve any great victories either. For the same reason why the soldiers already Lucius Valerius 483 BC. BC did not follow, namely because of his support for the destruction of Spurius Cassius, according to Dionysius they are said to have found Kaeso Fabius unpopular this time and therefore fought poorly. Since Livy later, conversely, reported the Romans' unwillingness to fight against the other great enemy of these years, the Aequer, one must conclude that the oldest annalists mentioned the campaigns without dividing the individual commands among the consuls, but only from later ones Historians arbitrarily, so that these details of their reports no longer coincide with each other and are to be rejected as unhistorical.

480 BC Chr.

Again a tribune with the improbable name Tiberius Pontificius 480 BC is said to be. During the second consulate of Marcus Fabius (whose colleague Gnaeus Manlius Cincinnatus was) vetoed the recruitment of troops without penetrating.

There was also 480 BC. BC again a campaign against different tribes of the Etruscans , especially the Veienter. The reports of the surviving annalists are detailed and essentially identical, but mostly contain only historically worthless decorations. Allegedly, from the perspective of the Romans, a number of angry Omina occurred at the beginning and the consuls also feared the disobedience shown by their soldiers in earlier years, but the army swore full belligerence and loyalty to its leaders after violent enemy attacks. Neither side was able to decide the battle quickly, but the Fabian brothers are said to have done great things, with the oldest, Quintus Fabius, and the consul Gnaeus Manlius perishing. After a long struggle, the Roman army would have finally won, but Marcus Fabius did not hold back the triumph he was entitled to as consul out of mourning. After all, the Fabians' courageous demeanor was so well received by the plebs that their earlier dislike turned to benevolence.

Some researchers believe that this war report ultimately goes back to a family tradition of his gender, recorded by the oldest historian Quintus Fabius Pictor . On the other hand, Münzer assumes that almost all the details were only incorporated into the arid tradition by later annalists to better explain the domestic and foreign political events and that only the constant, mostly unsuccessful for the Romans wars against the Etruscans, the dates of the Consulates of the three Fabian brothers and the death of the consul Gnaeus Manlius 480 BC While the death of Quintus Fabius in the same year could be inferred from the fact that in the next year (479 BC) it was not he, but his younger brother Kaeso Fabius who became consul for the third time.

479 BC Chr.

Kaeso Fabius took up this third consulate together with Titus Verginius Tricostus Rutilus . After Dionysius there was an interregnum at the beginning of this year, according to Livius, on the other hand, Kaeso Fabius wanted to reconcile the plebeians with the patricians at the beginning of his third consulate by trying to accommodate the wishes of the lower classes, but this failed.

Kaeso Fabius fought unsuccessfully against the Aequer, while Titus Verginius was even encircled by the Veienters during a campaign, but was able to save himself with the support of Kaeso Fabius, who arrived in time. But now the Venezuelan plundered Roman territories.

Death of the Fabians in the Battle of the Cremera

According to ancient reports, the entire Fabian family was named in 477 BC. Exterminated during a battle against the Veienter on the Cremera river ; only one boy, Quintus Fabius Vibulanus , survived because he stayed in Rome because of his youth, and then founded the dynasty of the later Fabians. Diodorus provides the oldest report according to which the Roman army suffered a crushing defeat in this battle and 300 Fabians were among the fallen. In contrast, according to Livius and Dionysius, this fight was a private feud of the Fabians and their clients, while the regular consular army contingents did not fight. Accordingly, the martyrdom of the Fabians is greatly enhanced for their homeland.

Livy begins his portrayal of the Fabier catastrophe with the fact that this noble family voluntarily and alone wanted to wage a defensive war against the Venetians in order to prevent them from their constant raids. 479 BC 306 BC, Fabier and their clientele, with the consul Kaeso Fabius at the head, left Rome through the right arch of the Porta Carmentalis . Then they chose a place not far from the Cremera as a base for defending the border against the neighboring Veji. From there they undertook 478 BC BC first together with the consul Lucius Aemilius Mamercus, then only moves against the Roman enemies, kept them alone and successfully in check and were even able to rob the enemy territory. 477 BC They fell into a trap during a looting campaign and were wiped out to the last man in spite of fierce resistance, at last from their base - with the exception of the boy already mentioned. Now the Venetian conquests could make up to the Ianiculum and hold it for two years. A consul from 477 BC. Chr. Was also accused of failing to provide assistance to the Fabier the following year; But this cannot be reconciled with the statement that the consul should first take notice of the news of the Fabian catastrophe against the advancing Veienti - the only contradiction in the otherwise logical Livius report. The numerous shorter accounts by later authors all agree with Livy.

The longest story about the fall of the Fabians can be found in Dionysius. He puts the entourage of the 306 patrician Fabians at a total of 4,000 men, 479 BC. He left Rome under the direction of Marcus Fabius, while his brother Kaeso Fabius fought with the consular army against the Venezuelans until the end of his term of office and did not defend himself until 478 BC. Joined his family. The report on the war and the extermination of the Fabians goes back to the year 477 BC. BC, while Livy also spoke about battles of the Fabians in 478 BC. Chr. Told. Dionysius brings the end of the patrician family in two variants. According to the first version, which Dionysius rejected as implausible, the poorly guarded Fabians were lured into a fatal trap on their way to Rome to offer a sacrifice, while the second variant, accepted by Dionysius, is pretty much the same as Livy's report. Above all, Dionysius criticizes in a rationalistic way that only one boy should have survived.

It is disputed whether Diodor's report, as the oldest surviving representation and the most deviating from the more recent, is also the most credible. Münzer leaves this question open. At least there is the possibility that during the time of the older Roman republic the aristocratic families were still allowed to wage war independently, but had to coordinate it with the other patrician families. On the other hand, the differences between the two variants brought by Dionysius are only slight and one of them corresponds, as already mentioned, almost entirely to the depiction of Livy.

Some details of the accounts of Livy and Dionysius can be shown to be aitiological sagas. So it was believed that one should not go out through the right arch of the Porta Carmentalis, because in the past someone who had chosen this route had disappeared forever, and this superstition related to the Fabier. Similarly, the day of the Fabier catastrophe, the date of which was not known, was considered an unlucky day, and it can be concluded from Livy that it was later equated with July 18, because on this (known) day the defeat in the battle of the Allia (around 390 BC). Perhaps some details of the struggle of the Spartan king Leonidas in the battle of Thermopylae against the Persians (480 BC) were taken over into the legend of the end of the Faber; perhaps it served as an illustrative example for a plea for annalists who were familiar with constitutional law against privately waged wars. The entire history of the origins of the reports on the Fabierzug, especially their uniformity, has not been clarified. The only historical fact that can be recorded is the downfall of this important family in the war against the Veienti.

The poet Gustav Freytag edited the story in 1859 in the tragedy The Fabier dramatically.

literature

Remarks

  1. ↑ Brotherhood attested by Livius (2, 42, 7, etc.) and Dionysius (8, 77, 1, and others); the father of the three brothers was called Kaeso (Dionysios 8, 83, 1, etc.).
  2. ↑ Livy 2:41, 12; Diodorus 11, 27, 1; Dionysios 8, 77, 1; among others
  3. ↑ According to Livius (2, 41, 11) this story was in some of his sources and Dionysius (8, 77, 1) believed it too.
  4. ↑ Münzer (see Lit.), Col. 1873.
  5. ↑ Livy 2, 42, 1f .; Dionysios 8, 81, 1-8, 82, 5.
  6. ↑ 8, 90, 6.
  7. ^ Livy 2:42, 2; Diodorus 11, 38, 1; Dionysios 8, 82, 5; among others; T. Robert S. Broughton: The Magistrates Of The Roman Republic. Volume 1. 1951, p. 22.
  8. ↑ Briefly Livius 2, 42, 2-7; in detail Dionysius 8, 82, 5 - 8, 87, 2.
  9. ↑ 11, 40, 5.
  10. ↑ Col. 1874.
  11. ↑ Livy 2:42, 7; Diodorus 11, 41, 4; Dionyios 8, 87, 2; among others
  12. ^ 2, 42, 7-11.
  13. ↑ 8, 87, 2–8, 90, 6.
  14. ↑ Col. 1874.
  15. ^ Livy 2:43, 1; Dionysios 8, 90, 5; among others
  16. ^ Livy 2:43, 1; Dionysios 8, 91, 1-4.
  17. ^ Livy 2:43, 1; Diodorus 11, 48, 1; Dionysios 9, 1, 1; among others; T. Robert S. Broughton: The Magistrates Of The Roman Republic. Volume 1. 1951, p. 24.
  18. ↑ Livy 2, 43, 3f; Dionysios 9, 1, 3ff.
  19. ↑ Livy 2:43, 5-11; Dionysios 9, 2, 3-9, 4, 3.
  20. ^ So Münzer, Sp. 1875.
  21. ↑ Livy 2:43, 11; Diodorus 11, 50, 1; Dionysios 9, 5, 1.
  22. ↑ Livy 2:44, 1-6; Dionysios 9, 5, 1.
  23. ↑ Livy 2, 43, 11–2, 47, 12; Dionysius 9, 5, 1-9, 13, 5.
  24. ↑ Col. 1876.
  25. ↑ Livy 2:48, 1; Diodorus 11, 51, 1; Dionysios 9, 14, 1; among others; T. Robert S. Broughton: The Magistrates Of The Roman Republic. Volume 1. 1951, p. 25.
  26. ↑ Livy 2:48, 4-7; Dionysios 9, 14, 1-8.
  27. ↑ 11, 53, 6.
  28. ↑ 2, 48, 8–2, 50, 11.
  29. ^ Livy 2, 51, 1-9.
  30. ↑ Livy 2, 52, 3–5.
  31. ↑ List in Münzer, Col. 1878.
  32. ↑ Dionysios 9:15 , 3; 9, 16, 3.
  33. ↑ 9, 18, 5-9, 19, 3.
  34. ↑ 9, 20–21, 6.
  35. ↑ 9, 22, 1-6.
  36. ↑ Col. 1878f.
  37. ^ Fabius [I 37] . In: Der Neue Pauly , Vol. 4, Col. 375.
  38. ↑ Livy 2:49, 8; among others
  39. ↑ Dionysius 9:23 , 2; among others
  40. ↑ 6, 1, 11.
  41. ↑ Münzer, Sp. 1879f.
personal data
SURNAME Fabius Vibulanus, Kaeso
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Vibulanus, Kaeso Fabius
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Roman consul and general
DATE OF BIRTH 6th century BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH 477 BC Chr.