Genealogies of Roman Clans and Families

A decorative woodcut headpiece features symmetrical scrollwork and floral designs. Below the main heading, a large historiated initial "Q" depicts two seated figures within a frame of vines and foliage.

FABIA GENS The Fabian Clan.

Those who trace the rise of the Fabian clan from its beginning refer the origin of the lineage to the Aborigines, the first peoples of Latium, and the stock to Fabius, son of Hercules. For that Hercules, who is said to have been born of Jupiter, wandered from the Greeks to the Romans and as far as the Ocean, giving to many nations and families the beginnings and, as it were, the seeds of his own lineage. Hence the Fabian clan, which is vast and most illustrious and ennobled by many virtues, called Fabius, son of Hercules, the prince and founder of their clan, as Plutarch writes in Maximus. This clan had four principal families. The first is that of the Vibulani, the second the Ambusti, the third the Maximi, and the last those who were named Pictores Painters. The Vibulani were perhaps named after the town of Vibo, which Hercules founded in the Bruttii. The Ambusti, according to Festus, were named after Fabius Eburnus because he was scorched ambustus by lightning. The Maximi come from Q. Fabius Rullianus, who, as Censor with P. Decio, separated the entire rabble of the forum into four tribes and called them urban. This action was received with such gratitude that he obtained the surname Maximus, which he had not earned through so many victories, by this regulation of the orders. Livy, book 9. The Pictores, however, were named after Q. Fabius, son of C., who was the first to paint the temple of Salus Health. Pliny, book 35, chapter 4. Regarding the ancestral rites of the Fabian clan, I have nothing certain thus far, except that which Livy in his fifth book and Valerius in his first report: that the Fabii were established to perform annual sacrifices on the Quirinal Hill while wearing the Gabine cincture, a matter that pertains to the shared law of each clan. Here, it is appropriate to include the monument of Q. Fabius Maximus from the book of epigrams of the ancient city, which I thought should be done as in the other descriptions of clans, should any honors occur.