Caeso Fabius Ambustus was a four-time consular tribune of the

Roman Republic The Roman Republic ( ) was the era of Ancient Rome, classical Roman civilisation beginning with Overthrow of the Roman monarchy, the overthrow of the Roman Kingdom (traditionally dated to 509 BC) and ending in 27 BC with the establis ...

around the turn of the 5th and 4th centuries BC. Caeso was

quaestor A quaestor ( , ; ; "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 officia ...

in 409 BC, the first year the office was opened to the ''

plebs In ancient Rome, the plebeians or plebs were the general body of free Roman citizens who were not patricians, as determined by the census, or in other words "commoners". Both classes were hereditary. Etymology The precise origins of the gro ...

'', and three of his colleagues were plebeians. Caeso was consular tribune for the first time in 404, again in 401, a third time in 395, and a fourth time in 390. Caeso was the son of Marcus Fabius Ambustus, the Pontifex Maximus, and brother to Numerius and

Quintus Quintus is a male given name derived from ''Quintus (praenomen), Quintus'', a common Latin language, Latin forename (''praenomen'') found in the culture of ancient Rome. Quintus derives from Latin word ''quintus'', meaning "fifth". Quintus is ...

. With his two brothers, Caeso was sent as ambassador to the

Gaul Gaul () was a region of Western Europe first clearly described by the Roman people, Romans, encompassing present-day France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and parts of Switzerland, the Netherlands, Germany, and Northern Italy. It covered an area of . Ac ...

s, when the latter were besieging

Clusium Clusium (, ''Klýsion'', or , ''Kloúsion''; Umbrian language, Umbrian:''Camars'') was an ancient city in Italy, one of several found at the same site overlapping the current municipality of Chiusi (Tuscany). The Roman city remodeled an earlier E ...

, and participated in an attack against the besieging Gauls. The Gauls demanded that the three should be surrendered to them for violating the law of nations. When the

Roman Senate The Roman Senate () was the highest and constituting assembly of ancient Rome and its aristocracy. With different powers throughout its existence it lasted from the first days of the city of Rome (traditionally founded in 753 BC) as the Sena ...

refused to give up the guilty parties, the Gauls marched against Rome, which they sacked after the

battle of the Allia The Battle of the Allia was fought between the Senones – a Gauls, Gallic tribe led by Brennus (leader of the Senones), Brennus, who had invaded Northern Italy – and the Roman Republic. The battle was fought at the confluence of the Tibe ...

.Plutarch ''Camillus'' 17 Many scholars believe the entire story of the events at Clusium to be fiction, as Clusium had no real reason to appeal to Rome for help, and the Gauls needed no real provocation to sack Rome. The story, it is hypothesized, exists to provide an explanation for an otherwise unmotivated attack on Rome, and to depict Rome as a bulwark of Italy against the Gauls. He was the father of Marcus Fabius Ambustus.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fabius Ambustus, Caeso 5th-century BC Romans 4th-century BC Romans Roman quaestors Caeso Roman consular tribunes

See also

References