Papirius Fabianus was an

Ancient Roman In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom (753–509 BC ...

rhetorician and

philosopher A philosopher is a person who practices or investigates philosophy. The term ''philosopher'' comes from the grc, φιλόσοφος, , translit=philosophos, meaning 'lover of wisdom'. The coining of the term has been attributed to the Greek th ...

from the ''

gens In ancient Rome, a gens ( or , ; plural: ''gentes'' ) was a family consisting of individuals who shared the same Roman naming conventions#Nomen, nomen and who claimed descent from a common ancestor. A branch of a gens was called a ''stirps'' (p ...

Papirius The gens Papiria was a patrician family at ancient Rome. According to tradition, the Papirii had already achieved prominence in the time of the kings, and the first Rex Sacrorum and Pontifex Maximus of the Republic were members of this gens. Luc ...

in the time of

Tiberius Tiberius Julius Caesar Augustus (; 16 November 42 BC – 16 March AD 37) was the second Roman emperor. He reigned from AD 14 until 37, succeeding his stepfather, the first Roman emperor Augustus. Tiberius was born in Rome in 42 BC. His father ...

and

Caligula Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (31 August 12 – 24 January 41), better known by his nickname Caligula (), was the third Roman emperor, ruling from 37 until his assassination in 41. He was the son of the popular Roman general Germanicu ...

, in the first half of the 1st century AD.

Biography

Fabianus was the pupil of

Arellius Fuscus Arellius Fuscus (or Aurelius Fuscus) was an ancient Roman orator. He spoke with ease in both Latin and Greek, in an elegant and ornate style. Charles Thomas Cruttwell says that Arellius was an Asiatic, that is, a practitioner of an elevated orator ...

and of

Blandus Rubellius Blandus was a Roman, native of Tibur (Tivoli, Italy). He was the first Equestrian of Ancient Rome to teach rhetoric and thus made it more respectable (Sen., Controv. 2, 5). He was the teacher of Papirius Fabianus, who was in turn the te ...

in rhetoric, and of

Quintus Sextius Quintus Sextius the Elder (; la, Quinti Sextii Patris; fl. c. 50 BC) was a Roman philosopher, whose philosophy combined Pythagoreanism with Stoicism. His praises were frequently celebrated by Seneca. Life Sextius was born no later than 70 BC. H ...

in philosophy. Although much the younger of the two, he instructed

Gaius Albucius Silus Gaius Albucius Silus was an ancient Roman orator and teacher of rhetoric under emperor Augustus. He was born and died in Novaria (today Novara), but made his career in Rome. Suetonius gives a sketch of his life, while Seneca the Elder describes him ...

in eloquence.Seneca, ''Controversiae'' ii. prooem. pp. 134–136, iii. p. 204, ed. Bipont. The rhetorical style of Fabianus is described by

Seneca the Elder Lucius Annaeus Seneca the Elder (; c. 54 BC – c. 39 AD), also known as Seneca the Rhetorician, was a Roman writer, born of a wealthy equestrian family of Corduba, Hispania. He wrote a collection of reminiscences about the Roman schools of rheto ...

, and he is frequently cited in the third book of ''Controversiae'' as well as in the ''Suasoriae''. His early model in rhetoric was his instructor Arellius Fuscus; but he afterwards adopted a less ornate form of eloquence. Fabianus soon, however, abandoned rhetoric in favor of philosophy; and

Seneca the Younger Lucius Annaeus Seneca the Younger (; 65 AD), usually known mononymously as Seneca, was a Stoic philosopher of Ancient Rome, a statesman, dramatist, and, in one work, satirist, from the post-Augustan age of Latin literature. Seneca was born in ...

places his philosophical works next to those of

Cicero Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, and academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises that led to the estab ...

Asinius Pollio Gaius Asinius Pollio (75 BC – AD 4) was a Roman soldier, politician, orator, poet, playwright, literary critic, and historian, whose lost contemporary history provided much of the material used by the historians Appian and Plutarch. Poll ...

, and

Livy Titus Livius (; 59 BC – AD 17), known in English as Livy ( ), was a Ancient Rome, Roman historian. He wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people, titled , covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome before the traditiona ...

the historian.Seneca
Epist. 100
The philosophical style of Fabianus is described by Seneca, and in some points his description corresponds with that of the elder Seneca. Both the Senecas seem to have known, and certainly greatly esteemed Fabianus. Fabianus was the author of a work entitled '' erum ?Civilium''; and his philosophical writings exceeded Cicero's in number. He had also paid great attention to physical science, and is called by

Pliny the Elder Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/2479), called Pliny the Elder (), was a Roman author, naturalist and natural philosopher, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the emperor Vespasian. He wrote the encyclopedic '' ...

''rerum naturae peritissimus'', "very experienced in matters of nature." From Seneca (Natur. Quaest. iii. 27), he appears to have written on

physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...

; and his works entitled ''De Animalibus'' and ''Causarum Naturalium Libri'' are frequently referred to by Pliny.H. N. generally in his ''Elenchos'' or summary of materials, i. ii. vii. ix. xi. xii. xiii. xiv. xv. xvii. xxiii. xxviii. xxxvi., and specially, but without mention of the particular work of Fabianus, ii. 47. § 121; ii. 102. § 223, ix, 8. § 25, xii. 4. § 20, xv. 1. § 4, xxiii. 11. § 62, xxviii, 5. § 54.

Notes

References

* {{Authority control 1st-century Romans 1st-century philosophers Roman-era Stoic philosophers Papirii

Biography

See also

Notes

References