Delayed Career of the ‘Delayer’: The Early Years of Q. Fabius Maximus Verrucosus, the ‘Cunctator’
Year: 2020
Type: article
Abstract: Q. Fabius Maximus Verrucosus, the Cunctator, had a magnificent career.A well-known elogium* 1 attests that he was twice dictator, five times consul, censor, twice interrex, cu rule aedile, twice quaestor, twice tribune of the soldiers, pontifex and augur.He celebrated two triumphs and was nominated princeps senatus at two lustra,2 Verrucosus was doubtless a worthy heir to his illustrious patrician forefathers whose achievements were renowned and highly venerated.3Yet, despite this memorable career and noble de scent, it seems highly probable, as I hope to show, that when Verrucosus was first elected consul in 233 he was about sixty years old, far older than the average age of con suls in that period.Why was the career of a scion to one of Rome's noblest families, a man who would become known as the 'delayer', delayed for so long?Was this the common office-hold ing pattern in the second half of the third century BCE, before the increase in the number of praetors, the introduction of a stricter cursus honorum and the requirement of a mini mum age for consuls as stipulated by the lex Villia Annalis in 180?4 Is it possible to establish the precise dates for the junior magistracies which Verrucosus held, that are recorded in the elogium but are otherwise unattested, and determine the reasons why he held -as no one else did before or after him -the quaestorship twice?5 * I wish to thank the referees o f SCI for valuable and helpful criticism and suggestions.An earlier version o f this paper was presented at the 28th annual conference o f The Israel Soci ety for the Promotion o f Classical Studies held at the Ben Gurion University (Beer Sheva, June 2004).ΑΙ1 dates are BCE.Translations are from the Loeb Classical Library. 1 CIL Ι2 1Ἰ 39 = Ins.Ital.3.3.80.On the inscription see Chioffi (1996), 29-32. 2 It is unlikely that elogia in general and this one in particular would contain false informa tion, as there were many who could refute it (Brunt and Moore [1967], 2-3).Accounts o f achievements might be indeed selective (ibid), but in this case, nothing seems to have been omitted.Fabius Maximus was dictator for the second time in 217; dictator, probably for holding the elections, sometime between 222 and 219; consul in 233, 228, 215, 214, 209; censor in 230.The elogium is the only source recording both his interregna and the lower magistracies.He was pontifex from 216 and augur from 265.He was chosen princeps senatus in 209 and 204; for sources see MRR 1 under the relevant years.
Source: Scripta Classica Israelica
Author: Rachel Feig Vishnia
Institution: Tel Aviv University
Language: English
Topic: Classical Antiquity Studies
Subfield: Anthropology
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W7632374