Caeso Fabius Vibulanus 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 thro ...

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 ...

in 484, 481, and 479 BC. He had earlier held the office of quaestor parricidii in 485 BC in connection with the trial and execution of

Spurius Cassius Vecellinus Spurius Cassius Vecellinus or Vicellinus (died 485 BC) was one of the most distinguished men of the early Roman Republic. He was three times consul, and celebrated two triumphs. He was the first ''magister equitum'', and the author of the first ag ...

. For a seven-year period from 485 to 479 BC, one of the two consuls was a member of the gens Fabia, a domination of the office Gary Forsythe describes as "unparalleled in the consular ''fasti'' of the Roman Republic." His brothers were

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 ...

(consul in 485 and 482 BC) and Marcus (consul in 483 and 480 BC). According to

Livy Titus Livius (; 59 BC – AD 17), known in English as Livy ( ), was a 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 traditional founding i ...

, 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 ...

disliked the name of the Fabii on account of Caeso's brother Quintus who, as consul in 485 BC, had incurred the anger of the plebs by lodging the spoils of a victory with the publicum. However, Livy says, the senate succeeded in having Caeso elected in 484 BC notwithstanding. His election in that year stirred up the anger of the plebs even further. In that year Caeso and his colleague Lucius Aemilius Mamercus worked with the senate to oppose increases to the powers of the tribunes. During Fabius' second consulship in 481 BC Fabius was given command of an army against the

Aequi 300px, Location of the Aequi (Equi) in central Italy, 5th century BC. The Aequi were an Italic tribe on a stretch of the Apennine Mountains to the east of Latium in central Italy who appear in the early history of ancient Rome. After a long stru ...

, who had laid siege to the Latin town of

Ortona Ortona ( Abruzzese: '; ) is a coastal town and municipality of the Province of Chieti in the Italian region of Abruzzo, with some 23,000 inhabitants. In 1943 Ortona was the site of the bloody Battle of Ortona, known as "Western Stalingrad". ...

. Fabius and his army met the Aequi in battle, and routed them solely by a cavalry charge. However, due to popular discontent amongst the Roman army, both with the

patricians The patricians (from ) were originally a group of ruling class families in ancient Rome. The distinction was highly significant in the Roman Kingdom and the early Republic, but its relevance waned after the Conflict of the Orders (494 BC to 287 B ...

and with Fabius himself, the Roman infantry refused to pursue the enemy. Fabius exhorted them to attack the fleeing enemy, but they refused, and returned to camp. Nevertheless, Fabius and the army returned to Rome victorious. In his third consulship in 479 BC, Fabius sought to heal the discord between patricians and plebeians by proposing an

agrarian law Agrarian laws (from the Latin ''ager'', meaning "land") were Roman law, laws among the Ancient Rome, Romans regulating the division of the public real property, lands, or ''ager publicus''. In its broader definition, it can also refer to the agric ...

to distribute land won in recent wars amongst the plebs. The senate rejected the proposal.Livy, 2.48 In the same year the Aequi

threatened A threatened species is any species (including animals, plants and fungi) which is vulnerable to extinction in the near future. Species that are threatened are sometimes characterised by the population dynamics measure of ''critical depensatio ...

the Latin territory, and Fabius was assigned an army to deal with the threat. No significant battle was fought, because the Aequi retreated to their walled towns. When word arrived that the other consul Titus Verginius Tricostus Rutilus was threatened by the Veientes, Fabius took his army to rescue his colleague. In the same year the Fabii addressed the senate, proposing that their family alone bear the financial and military burden of the war with Veii. The senate agreed, with thanks, and the people extolled the name of the Fabii. The following day the Fabii armed themselves and, numbering 306 including the consul, marched through Rome and out of the right side of the Carmental Gate. Heading north, they set up camp at the Cremera and fortified a post. According to Roman historical tradition, all of the male members of the ''gens Fabia'' except one perished in the Battle of the Cremera in 477 BC. If this tradition is correct, then Caeso died that year in the disaster.Livy, 2.50; Dionysius of Hallicarnasus, 9.20-1

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fabius Vibulanus, Caeso 477 BC deaths 5th-century BC deaths 5th-century BC Roman consuls Vibulanus, Caeso Year of birth unknown