by Plutarch
Notes to the Introduction to Fabius Maximus
1. For the likeliest reconstruction of Fabius’ immediate family, see G. V. Sumner, The Orators in Cicero’s Brutus: Prosopography and Chronology (1973), pp. 30–32.
2. H. H. Scullard in CAH vii.2 (1989), pp. 486–572.
3. Briscoe in CAH viii, pp. 44–80.
4. The particulars of Fabius’ strategy were unclear even to Polybius and Livy: see Erdkamp, Ancient Society 22, pp. 127–47.
5. Pliny, Natural History 22.6–10; and Gellius 5.6.10.
6. By contrast, Polybius (3.87.6) praised Fabius’ intelligence (phronēsis), a view also embraced by Roman writers (e.g. Cicero, Against Verres 2.5.25; Nepos, Hannibal 5.1). In Plutarch, however, Fabius is depicted as a slow learner (ch. 1).
7. See also Comparison Pericles–Fabius Maximus 3.
8. Martin, GRBS 3, pp. 65–73.
9. Plutarch did not invent Fabius’ indifference to public opinion: it was highlighted in his sources. Ennius (Annals 363–9, see Skutsch, p. 102), after describing Fabius as the man who saved Rome by delaying (see above), goes on to say: ‘He would not put hearsay before our safety, and this is why the glory of this hero shines even more greatly now than it did in the past.’ This characterization of Fabius was taken up by Polybius (3.105.8), Livy (44.22.10) and subsequent writers.
10. Fabius’ caution is emphasized throughout (chs. 5, 10, 19, 25, 26).
11. Pelling, P&H, pp. 243–7, examines the importance of these qualities in Philopoemen and Titus Flamininus (see also Introductions to these Lives).
12. Some of Fabius’ anti-Scipionic activities in chs. 25–6 (e.g. his attempt to persuade Crassus to take the command and his attempt to dissuade young men from joining Scipio) are also unique to Plutarch’s account.
13. For instance, Polyaenus (Stratagems 8.14.2) preserves a fictitious encounter between the two (which tends to Fabius’ advantage).
14. Livy 28.40–45; see Levene, Livy on the Hannibalic War, pp. 111–18.
15. Cicero, On Old Age 10–13, where the Elder Cato is the speaker. It is probably on the basis of this essay that Plutarch frequently cites Fabius as an important role model for the youthful Cato, e.g. Elder Cato 3, Moralia 791a and 805f. On Old Age may also be Plutarch’s source for the nature of Fabius’ oratory in ch. 1.
16. For Fabius’ and Pericles’ leonine nature and physical peculiarity see ch. 1; Pericles 3. For their monarchical power see chs. 3–4 and 8–9; Pericles 7, 9, 16, 30. On their eschewing of superstition see chs. 4–5; Pericles 6, 38. On oratory see ch. 1; Pericles 8, 15. This catalogue of parallels could be extended: see Stadter, in Scardigli, Essays, pp. 155–64.
17. Polybius’ treatment of the Second Punic War extends through Books 3 to 16, although Books 6 and 12 are digressions. Livy’s account of the war runs from Book 21 to 30. Fabius’ first consulship goes unmentioned by Polybius but was included in Livy, Summary of Book 20. Plutarch’s use of Livy is confirmed by his mistranslation at ch. 3 (note 15 below).
18. These arguments are summarized in B. Scardigli, Die Romerbiographien Plutarchs: ein Forschungsbericht (1979), pp. 35–7, and rejected by R. Flacelière and E. Chambry, Plutarque, Vies, vol. 3 (1969), pp. 61–4. Fabius Pictor, whom Plutarch cites at Romulus 3, was no doubt a useful repository of information about Fabius’ family, even if other sources existed.
19. None of the fragments of Poseidonius dealing with either Fabius or Marcellus can be attributed to a specific work: see I. G. Kidd, Posidonius, vol. 2 (1988), pp. 896–902, and Introduction to Marcellus.
20. Little is known of either. For Silenus see FGrH 175. For Sosylus see FGrH 176; he is criticized by Polybius at 3.20.5.
21. Chs. 20 and 27 overlap with reports in Valerius Maximus. They do not correspond very neatly, but even when Plutarch explicitly cites Valerius (e.g. in Marcellus 30) he repeats him inaccurately.
22. Nepos, Letters to Atticus 18.4; cf. Livy 22.31.11.
Notes to the Life of Fabius Maximus
1. Such was the man Pericles … down to us: This constitutes Plutarch’s transition from his Pericles to its Roman match.
2. Fodii … Fabii: This is a false etymology, as is the explanation preserved in Festus 87, which derives the name from fovea (ditch), ‘because the first of this line was born when Hercules lay with a woman in a ditch’. Another, more plausible, etymology (Pliny, Natural History 18.10) connects the name with faba (bean).
3. Rullus … Maximus: Quintus Fabius Maximus Rullianus held five consulships, the first in 322, and was dictator at least once; many of the details of his career remain uncertain. Maximus means greatest.
4. fourth in descent … subject of this Life: That is, Rullianus was Fabius’ great-grandfather. According to Livy (30.26.8) he was his grandfather, but this is probably incorrect.
5. Verrucosus … wart: The Latin word for wart is verruca.
6. Ovicula: Apart from Plutarch, only the anonymous On Illustrious Men 43.1 mentions this nickname.
7. freedom from over-mastering passions … in all circumstances: Plutarch’s description of the young Fabius is adapted from Plato’s discussion of the qualities that best suit the character of a future Guardian in his Republic (503c–d).
8. oration over his son … consul: Fabius’ son was consul in 213 (ch. 24). In his On Old Age (12), Cicero mentions this oration and claims that it was in general circulation; he also describes Fabius’ style as marked by maxims. For more on Fabius’ oratory, see Cicero, Brutus 57 and 77.
9. triumph over the Ligurians: In 233. The Ligurians dwelt in what is now southeastern France and extended themselves into the regions south of the River Po in Italy. They were enemies of the Romans until their final suppression near the end of the second century BC.
10. battle of the River Trebia: Plutarch leaps forward to 218. Trebia (modern Trebbia) is a river that flows into the Po near Piacenza.
11. Antium: Modern Anzio.
12. Falerii: Falerii Veteres (modern Cività Castellana).
13. consul Gaius Flaminius … few years before: As consul in 223, Gaius Flaminius won a sensational victory over the Insubrians, for which he celebrated a triumph (Marcellus 4). Flaminius was again consul in 217.
14. like Camillus … her very walls: See Camillus 29.
15. leapt on his horse … thrown … on his head: This appears to be Plutarch’s mistranslation of Livy 22.3.11: ‘He leapt upon his horse, when suddenly the beast stumbled and unseating the consul threw him over its head’ (ipse [i.e. Flaminius] in equum insiluisset, equus repente corruit consulemque lapsum super caput effudit). Polybius does not mention Flaminius’ spill.
16. near Lake Trasimene in Etruria: The precise site of this battle is uncertain.
17. Pomponius: Marcus Pomponius, whose exact identity is uncertain because at this time several senators bore this name.
18. Marcus Minucius: Marcus Minucius Rufus, who had been consul in 221. He was not selected by Fabius but rather was elected by the assembly (Polybius 3.87, Livy 22.8.7).
19. senate’s permission to use a horse: The dictator needed the people’s permission to mount a horse, but this request was routine (Livy 23.14.2).
20. attended by … twenty-four lictors: A dictator was entitled to twenty-four lictors; consuls were entitled to twelve.
21. surviving consul … private citizen: Gnaeus Servilius Geminus was the remaining consul in 217. He was ordered by Fabius to meet him without his lictors (Livy 22.11.5–6), but he did not become a private citizen; he commanded a fleet at Ostia and by the end of the year was in command of an army.
22. Sibylline Books: See Publicola, note 121.
23. sacrifice to the gods … bounds of Italy: This practice, which required a vote of the people, was known as ver sacrum (‘sacred spring’; Livy 22.10).
24. musical … festival: These were the Roman Games (Ludi Romani) or Great Games (Ludi Magni), held in September in honour of Jupiter Best and Greatest.
25. sestertia … obols: A sestertium (plural: sestertia) was equ
ivalent to 1,000 sesterces, and so the sum of the Romans’ expense was 83,583 (plus one-third) denarii; Plutarch normally equates, as here, the Roman denarius with the Attic drachma (two obols is a third of a drachma). According to Livy (23.10), the cost was 333,333 and one-third asses, a different (and smaller) amount but one that also emphasizes in its components the number three. In actuality, the denarius was not created until 211.
26. nature of the number three … elements of every number: These ideas are associated with Pythagoreanism; see Moralia 288d, 374a and 744b.
27. pedagogue: A slave who attended his master’s children on walks, especially to and from school, and kept them out of trouble. At Marcellus 9, Hannibal is said to fear Fabius as he would fear a pedagogue.
28. Casinum: Modern Cassino.
29. Casilinum: Modern Capua (not to be confused with ancient Capua).
30. Olthornus … Vulturnus: Modern Volturno. Polybius (3.92.1) calls this river the Athyrnus.
31. Hannibal … gave orders … no damage done: Plutarch discovered Hannibal’s stratagem in his sources (e.g. Livy 22.23), but it supplied a welcome parallel with Pericles: the Spartans planned to spare Pericles’ property when they invaded Attica, but Pericles announced that, were that the case, he would give these lands to the state (Pericles 33).
32. Metilius: Marcus Metilius, tribune of the people in 217.
33. exchange of prisoners of war … cowardice: According to Livy (22.23), Fabius was simply following a practice begun in the First Punic War.
34. instructions to sell his estates: These were the estates spared by Hannibal (explicit at Livy 22.23).
35. he feared the consequences of … his failure: Plutarch also cites this remark at Moralia 195c.
36. when all the rest have their functions suspended: This view was held in antiquity (e.g. Polybius 3.87.8; Cicero, On the Laws 3.9), but it is clear that in practice the other magistrates continued to function, even if they remained subordinate to the dictator.
37. the penalty … inflicted on his son: When Titus Manlius Torquatus was consul for the third time (in 340), he put his son to death for disobeying his order not to engage the enemy in single combat, although his son had been victorious (Livy 8.7).
38. same powers as the dictator: Minucius was thus made a second dictator and so styled himself at the time (as epigraphical evidence indicates, see ILS 11).
39. a similar situation arose after … Cannae: This took place in the next year (chs. 15–16).
40. Marcus Junius … second dictator: Marcus Junius Pera, who had been consul in 230, was named dictator immediately after the Romans’ defeat at Cannae (chs. 15 and 16). Later, in 216 while Junius remained dictator, Marcus Fabius Buteo, who had been consul in 245, was also named dictator (without a master of the horse).
41. Diogenes the philosopher: Diogenes the Cynic (c. 412–324), who was well known for his idiosyncratic lifestyle.
42. a truly good man … nor disgraced: The sentiment was no doubt common, even if Plutarch’s formulation does not recur elsewhere. Plutarch’s good man here is very much like Aristotle’s ‘great-souled man’ (Nicomachean Ethics 1124a1–9).
43. he preferred to command a part of the army … by turns: So also Livy (22.27), whereas in Polybius (3.103.7–8) it is Minucius who chooses to divide the army. In Livy, and unlike here, Fabius takes the second and third legions.
44. allied troops: The Romans’ allies (socii) were actually subject states in Italy that were obliged to provide soldiers who fought alongside the Roman army.
45. the Numidian cavalry: One of the great strengths of Hannibal’s army.
46. he struck his thigh: A Homeric touch. This is how heroes express their anguish (e.g. Iliad 12.162, 15.397, 16.125). Neither Polybius nor Livy reports this detail.
47. ‘Haven’t I kept telling you … furious storm?’: Repeated at Moralia 195d. Here Hannibal finds the right metaphor for Fabius’ strategy, thereby correcting Minucius at ch. 5.
48. ‘Patrons’ … liberty: Livy (22.29) provides the same detail, but naturally without an explanation of the term patron. It was always a mark of deference to address someone as patronus. Free men in Rome (especially men of modest standing) routinely formed voluntarily and unequal relationships with elite figures, who acted as their benefactors and whom they addressed as patrons, but this institution (often referred to as clientela) was not the same as the bond between a freed slave and his or her ex-master (who was also addressed as patron). Livy probably had the former relationship in mind.
49. After this … consuls were once more elected: Fabius laid down his dictatorship in 217. At the time, Servilius Geminus remained consul. A suffect consul, to replace Flaminius, was elected: Marcus Atilius Regulus, who had been consul in 227; he took command of Fabius’ army. Plutarch’s formulation is misleading.
50. then came the year … consulship: In 216 Gaius Terentius Varro and Lucius Aemilius Paullus were consuls. Although tradition is hostile to Terentius Varro – Livy (22.15.18) claims that he was the son of a butcher – it appears that his approach to the war was in fact sanctioned by the senate; after the defeat at Cannae, the senate and people voted its thanks to him (Livy 22.61.14) and he remained an active commander and diplomat throughout the war.
51. 88,000 men: Different figures are supplied by Polybius (3.107.9) and Livy (22.36.4).
52. Aemilius Paullus: He had also been consul in 219, when, in conjunction with his colleague, he won a major victory in the Second Illyrian War, for which both celebrated triumphs. In the following year, Aemilius’ colleague was convicted of embezzling spoils from that war. In the process, Aemilius’ reputation was damaged although he was not himself convicted of wrongdoing and therefore was not, as Plutarch claims, fined (Livy 22.35.3). This man is the father of the subject of Plutarch’s Aemilius Paullus.
53. River Aufidus: The modern Ofanto, in southern Italy.
54. Cannae: Its location remains uncertain, but it was perhaps near the modern Canosa.
55. I may refer the reader to those historians … the war in detail: The chief extant accounts of the rout at Cannae are Polybius 3.110–17 and Livy 22.43–50.
56. Venusia: Modern Venosa.
57. Cornelius Lentulus: Gnaeus Cornelius Lentulus was a tribune of the soldiers. He was later elected consul for 201.
58. It is said … captured: Slightly different figures are provided by Polybius (3.117.3–4) and Livy (22.49.15–18).
59. Barca the Carthaginian: In Livy (22.51.2–4) it is Maharbal who makes this observation.
60. Capua: Modern Santa Maria de Capua Vetere; it remained a wealthy and powerful city until the fifth century of our era (when it was sacked by Vandals). Livy (22.61.11) provides a detailed list of Hannibal’s new allies.
61. ‘It is no small evil … to put friends to the test’: From an unknown tragedy; see fr. 993 in C. Collard and M. Cropp, Euripides: Fragments, vol. 2 (2008).
62. disasters of the Gallic invasion: See Camillus 20. Livy (22.50.1) also compares the defeat at Cannae with the disaster at the Allia.
63. He placed guards … lament the dead: Fabius, who was a private citizen in 216, in fact recommended these measures in the senate, which body then decreed them (Livy 22.55).
64. festival of Ceres: This was a celebration for women, many of whom would have been barred from participation because they were in mourning; see B. S. Spaeth, The Roman Goddess Ceres (1996), pp. 11–15.
65. all the rites … were duly performed: Plutarch here passes over the Romans’ resort to human sacrifice, urged by the Sibylline oracles, in the aftermath of Cannae (Livy 22.57.6).
66. Pictor: Quintus Fabius Pictor, Rome’s first historian (see General Introduction V). The result of his consultation is reported at Livy 23.11.
67. two … Vestal Virgins: Livy (22.57.2–3) tells us that they were named Opimia and Floronia. The man who seduced Floronia was flogged to death. Plutarch describes the traditional punishment of Vestals at Numa 10.
68. ‘mighty in combat’ …
‘lovers of battle’: Plutarch uses these same Homeric phrases (e.g. Iliad 3.36 and 16.65) to describe Marcellus at Marcellus 1. For the sentiments of this chapter, see also Marcellus 9.
69. Poseidonius tells us … sword of Rome: Plutarch also cites Poseidonius at Marcellus 9. Marcellus and Fabius are contrasted elsewhere (Livy 24.9.7–11; Cicero, In Defence of Marcellus 5.10), but the application of this metaphor (‘Fabius the shield … Marcellus the sword of Rome’) is preserved only in Plutarch. The original Poseidonian context is unknown, which is true for all fragments of Poseidonius dealing with either Fabius or Marcellus; see Kidd, Posidonius, vol. 2, pp. 896–902.
70. each … elected consul five times: Fabius was consul in 233, 228, 215, 214 and 209; Marcellus in 222, 215, 214, 210 and 208. Fabius held no command between 212 and 210. From 216 until the time of his death, Marcellus held either a consular or proconsular command, but from the end of 214 through to 211 he was in charge of the siege of Syracuse, not fighting Hannibal in Italy.
71. Marcellus was killed: In 208 (Marcellus 29).
72. Metapontum: Modern Metaponto, southern Italy.
73. ambush … near the city: This took place in 209 (Livy 27.16).
74. Marsian soldier: The Marsians were a people of central Italy who were closely allied with Rome. In On Illustrious Men (43.5) this man is called Marius Statilius. In Valerius Maximus 7.3.7 he is a citizen of Nola.
75. Lucanian: An inhabitant of Lucania (modern Basilicata), a region in southern Italy; many Lucanians fought with Hannibal against the Romans.
76. Such is the account … of this episode: See also Moralia 195e, Valerius Maximus 7.3.7 and On Illustrious Men 43.5.
77. Tarentum: Modern Tarnto. Originally a Spartan colony, it became a leading power in southern Italy. It was conquered by Rome and became a Roman ally in 270.
78. Tarentum … lost by treachery: Tarentum defected to Hannibal in 212 (Livy 25.7–11) but the Romans continued to hold the city’s acropolis.