Quintus Fabius Ambust

Quintus Fabius belonged to one of the most noble and influential patrician clans of Rome. Later sources built the family tree of Fabiev to the son of Heracles and the Italian nymph , claiming that at the beginning this family was called Fodia (from the Latin fodere - dig), because its representatives used wild holes to catch wild animals ^[1] . Antikoved called this explanation “unusual enough to be true” ^[2] .

Capitoline fasts call the names of the father and grandfather of Quintus Fabius - Mark and Quint, respectively ^[3] . His brothers were Numerius and Caeson , who were repeatedly elected by the military tribunes. Accordingly, Quintus was the son of Mark Fabius Vibulan , consul of 442 BC. e, and the grandson of the only Fabius who survived after the disaster at Kremer in 477 BC. e. - Quinta Fabius Vibulan ^[4] .

In 391 BC e., when the Gauls invaded Italy, the Senate sent Quintus Fabius and his brothers to them demanding that they not attack Rome’s friends and allies. But the ambassadors themselves turned out to be "violent and more like Gauls than Romans", and this influenced the outcome of the case. First, ambassadors flared up during the negotiations, and then took part in hostilities on the side of the Clusians ^[5] . “And to top it off, Quintus Fabius, having ridden a horse on a horse, killed the Gallic leader, frantically tearing to the Etruscan banners. He pierced him sideways with a spear, and when he began to take off his armor, the Gauls recognized him, and it rang through all ranks that he was a Roman ambassador ” ^{[6] [7] [8]} .

In this situation, the Gauls demanded that the Senate give them three Fabians as violators of the “right of peoples”. The Senate recognized the claim as fair, but referred the matter to the assembly of the people, and in the end, thanks to the “respectability and bribery”, Fabia was not only not extradited, but even became the military tribune of the following year (390 BC) ^[9] . According to Diodorus , only Quintus became the violator of embassy law, and his father, who was then one of the military tribunes, saved him from issuing galls ^[10] . Such an outcome, according to ancient sources, became the reason for the capture of Rome by the Gauls ^{[11] [12] [13]} .

The stands made to meet the enemy. Lucius Anney Florus and Orosius call the commander of the Roman army “consul Fabius” ^{[14] [15]} , but it is known that there was at least one other tribune with the army - Quint Sulpicius Long , who sacrificed before the battle on an inappropriate day. The army commanders did not build a camp before the battle and could not provide organized resistance to the Gauls, so they won an easy victory ^{[9] [16]} .

It is not known where Quintus Fabius was in the following months, when the Gauls besieged the Capitol. Perhaps he was in Wijah , where most of those who survived the battle fled ^[17] . As soon as the tribune of Fabius expired, he was brought to trial by the people's tribune Gnei Marcius, but died before the trial. According to one version, he committed suicide ^[18] . In historiography, there is an assumption that Ambust’s biography was artificially supplemented by episodes from the story of the Deccemirus of Appia Claudius ^[19]

Sources

1. Lucius Anney Flor . Epitomes // Small Roman Historians. - M .: Ladomir, 1996 .-- S. 99-190. - ISBN 5-86218-125-3 .
2. Diodorus of Sicily. Historical Library (Neopr.) . Site "Symposium". Date of treatment January 5, 2017.
3. Dionysius of Halicarnassus. Roman antiquities (neopr.) . Site "Symposium". Date of appeal September 27, 2016.
4. Titus Livy. The history of Rome from the foundation of the city. - M .: Nauka, 1989 .-- T. 1. - 576 p. - ISBN 5-02-008995-8 .
5. Pavel Oroziy. The story against the Gentiles. - SPb. : Publisher Oleg Abyshko, 2004. - 544 p. - ISBN 5-7435-0214-5 .
6. Plutarch. Comparative biographies. - M .: Nauka, 1994 .-- T. 1 .-- 704 p. - ISBN 5-02-011570-3 .
7. Fasti Capitolini (neopr.) . Site "History of Ancient Rome". Date of treatment July 2, 2016.

Literature

1. Broughton R. Magistrates of the Roman Republic. - New York, 1951. - Vol. I. - P. 600.
2. Münzer F. Fabius 48 // RE. - 1909. - Bd. VI, 2. - S. 1756-1759.
3. Münzer F. Fabius 165 // RE. - 1909. - Bd. VI, 2. - S. 1881-1882.
4. Wiseman T. Legendary Genealogies in Late-Republican Rome // G&R. - 1974. - Vol. 21, No. 2 . - P. 153-164.