Quintus Fabius Maximus Eburnus (fl. 2nd century BC) was a Roman statesman of the

patrician Patrician may refer to: * Patrician (ancient Rome), the original aristocratic families of ancient Rome, and a synonym for "aristocratic" in modern English usage * Patrician (post-Roman Europe), the governing elites of cities in parts of medieval ...

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 ...

'' Fabia. He was

consul Consul (abbrev. ''cos.''; Latin plural ''consules'') was the title of one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently also an important title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other European city-states throug ...

in 116 BC.

Family

Eburnus was the son of

Quintus Fabius Maximus Servilianus Quintus Fabius Maximus Servilianus was the adoptive son of Quintus Fabius Maximus Aemilianus and the natural son of Gnaeus Servilius Caepio (consul in 169 BC)--hence the adoptive cognomen Servilianus. He was consul of the Roman Republic in 142 BC ...

, consul in 142 BC, himself

adopted Adoption is a process whereby a person assumes the parenting of another, usually a child, from that person's biological or legal parent or parents. Legal adoptions permanently transfer all rights and responsibilities, along with filiation, from ...

from the

gens Servilia The gens Servilia was a patrician (ancient Rome), patrician family at ancient Rome. The gens was celebrated during the early ages of the Roman Republic, Republic, and the names of few gentes appear more frequently at this period in the Fasti consu ...

into the gens Fabia, allegedly by one of the two adoptive sons of

Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus, surnamed Cunctator ( 280 – 203 BC), was a Roman statesman and general of the third century BC. He was consul five times (233, 228, 215, 214, and 209 BC) and was appointed dictator in 221 and 217 BC. He was ...

himself. Two of his paternal uncles— Gnaeus Servilius Caepio and Quintus Servilius Caepio—served as consuls in 141 and 140, respectively. His first cousin was Quintus Servilius Caepio, consul in 106 BC and the co-commander at Arausio in 105 (this Caepio was paternal grandfather of Caesar's lover Servilia).

Career

Eburnus may have been a ''

monetalis A moneyer is a private individual who is officially permitted to mint money. Usually the rights to coin money are bestowed as a concession by a state or government. Moneyers have a long tradition, dating back at least to ancient Greece. They bec ...

'' around 134 BC. He was most likely the Quintus Fabius Maximus who was

quaestor A ( , , ; "investigator") was a public official in Ancient Rome. There were various types of quaestors, with the title used to describe greatly different offices at different times. In the Roman Republic, quaestors were elected officials who ...

in 132, serving in

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

under his father-in-law

Publius Rupilius Publius Rupilius, Roman statesman, consul in 132 BC. During the inquiry that followed the death of Tiberius Gracchus, conducted by himself and his colleague Popillius Laenas, he proceeded with the utmost severity against the supporters of Gracchus ...

, who was a consul that year. Eburnus was held responsible for losing control of the city of

Tauromenium Taormina ( , , also , ; scn, Taurmina) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Messina, on the east coast of the island of Sicily, Italy. Taormina has been a tourist destination since the 19th century. Its beaches on ...

to the

slave uprising A slave rebellion is an armed uprising by enslaved people, as a way of fighting for their freedom. Rebellions of enslaved people have occurred in nearly all societies that practice slavery or have practiced slavery in the past. A desire for freedo ...

, and he was sent back to Rome "in disgrace" even though the Roman siege eventually succeeded. A considerable gap in his career followed. He held the

praetor Praetor ( , ), also pretor, was the title granted by the government of Ancient Rome to a man acting in one of two official capacities: (i) the commander of an army, and (ii) as an elected '' magistratus'' (magistrate), assigned to discharge vario ...

ship no later than 119 BC, when he may have been the Fabius Maximus who presided as

over the court in which

Lucius Licinius Crassus Lucius Licinius Crassus (140–91 BC) was a Roman orator and statesman. He was considered the greatest orator of his day, most notably by his pupil Cicero. Crassus is also famous as one of the main characters in Cicero's work '' De Oratore'', a d ...

prosecuted Gaius Papirius Carbo. The charge is unclear: extortion, perhaps under the ''

Lex Acilia de repetundis Lex or LEX may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Lex'', a daily featured column in the ''Financial Times'' Games * Lex, the mascot of the word-forming puzzle video game ''Bookworm'' * Lex, the protagonist of the word-forming puzzle video ga ...

'', or '' laesa maiestas'', an offense against the dignity of the state, have both been proposed. Carbo was convicted, and committed suicide. Eburnus was elected

for 116 with

Gaius Licinius Geta Gaius Licinius Geta (fl. 2nd century BC) was a Roman Senator who was elected Roman consul in 116 BC. Biography Not much is known about the early career of Geta, who was born into the Plebeian ''gens Licinia''. By 119 BC, he had been elected to the ...

. He seems to have been the

proconsul A proconsul was an official of ancient Rome who acted on behalf of a consul. A proconsul was typically a former consul. The term is also used in recent history for officials with delegated authority. In the Roman Republic, military command, or ' ...

of Macedonia recorded as sending a letter to the Dymaeans, and if the identification is correct, he would have served from 115 to 114 BC. In 113, either he or

Quintus Fabius Maximus Allobrogicus Quintus Fabius Maximus Allobrogicus, was a Roman statesman and general who was elected consul in 121 BC. During his consulship he fought against the Arverni and the Allobroges whom he defeated in 120 BC. He was awarded a triumph and the agnomen All ...

was the diplomatic

legate Legate may refer to: *Legatus, a higher ranking general officer of the Roman army drawn from among the senatorial class :*Legatus Augusti pro praetore, a provincial governor in the Roman Imperial period *A member of a legation *A representative, ...

sent to

Crete Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, and ...

. In 108, he was censor with his co-consul, though as with some of his other offices, Allobrogicus has also been proposed as the Quintus Fabius Maximus who served. The censors of this year reappointed Marcus Aemilius Scaurus as ''

princeps senatus The ''princeps senatus'' ( ''principes senatus'') was the first member by precedence on the membership rolls of the Roman Senate. Although officially out of the ''cursus honorum'' and possessing no ''imperium'', this office conferred prestige on t ...

''.

Eburnus and Roman morals

Eburnus's claim to fame was his severity by Late Republican Roman standards. As ''

pater familias The ''pater familias'', also written as ''paterfamilias'' (plural ''patres familias''), was the head of a Roman family. The ''pater familias'' was the oldest living male in a household, and could legally exercise autocratic authority over his ext ...

,'' he condemned to death one of his sons for "immorality" or "unchastity". As a youth, however, Eburnus had earned his ''

agnomen An ''agnomen'' (; plural: ''agnomina''), in the Roman naming convention, was a nickname, just as the ''cognomen'' was initially. However, the ''cognomina'' eventually became family names, so ''agnomina'' were needed to distinguish between simila ...

'' "

Ivory Ivory is a hard, white material from the tusks (traditionally from elephants) and teeth of animals, that consists mainly of dentine, one of the physical structures of teeth and tusks. The chemical structure of the teeth and tusks of mammals is ...

" because of his fair good looks ''(candor)'', and had the nickname "

Jove Jupiter ( la, Iūpiter or , from Proto-Italic "day, sky" + "father", thus " sky father" Greek: Δίας or Ζεύς), also known as Jove ( gen. ''Iovis'' ), is the god of the sky and thunder, and king of the gods in ancient Roman religio ...

's chick" ''( pullus Iovis)''. He was said to have been struck by lightning on his buttocks, perhaps meaning a

birthmark A birthmark is a congenital, benign irregularity on the skin which is present at birth or appears shortly after birth—usually in the first month. They can occur anywhere on the skin. Birthmarks are caused by overgrowth of blood vessels, melanocy ...

, hence the joking reference to him as a

catamite In Homosexuality in ancient Greece, ancient Greece and Homosexuality in ancient Rome, Rome, a catamite (Latin: ''catamitus'') was a Puberty, pubescent boy who was the intimate companion of an older male, usually in a pederastic relationship. ...

of the lightning-wielding king of the gods. It has been observed that the contrast between Eburnus's reputation as "Jove's chick" and his later excessive severity against the '' impudicitia'' of his son is "thought-provoking". He was reviled for his son's death, and accused by

Gnaeus Pompeius Strabo Gnaeus Pompeius Strabo (c. 135 – 87 BC) was a Roman general and politician, who served as consul in 89 BC. He is often referred to in English as Pompey Strabo, to distinguish him from his son, the famous Pompey the Great, or from Strabo the ge ...

(possibly the consul of 89 BC) for having exceeded the limits of ''patria potestas''. Eburnus went into exile in

Nuceria Nocera Inferiore ( nap, Nucèrä Inferiórë or simply , , locally ) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Salerno, in Campania in southern Italy. It lies west of Nocera Superiore, at the foot of Monte Albino, some 20 km east-so ...

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 ...

, ''Pro Balbo'' 28; Gordon P. Kelly, ''A History of Exile in the Roman Republic'' (Cambridge University Press, 2006), pp. 172–17
online.
/ref>

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fabius Maximus Eburnus, Quintus 2nd-century BC Roman consuls Ancient Roman exiles Eburnus, Quintus Filicides Roman patricians Senators of the Roman Republic