148 
FAB 
the whole army to the hazard of rafhncfs, and in confe- 
quence they divided the forces between them. Mimicins 
was foon circumvented by the arts of Hannibal, and would 
have been entirely cut off, had not Fabius defcended from 
the mountains and refcued him. On this occafion, wliat- 
ever honour Minucius might lofe as a general, he reco¬ 
vered as a man. At the head of his foldiers he returned 
Fabius thanks for his deliverance, called him father, de¬ 
clared his own incapacity for the command, and religned 
his authority into the hands of the dictator. Fabius had 
too much magnanimity to upbraid him for his temerity, 
but embraced him, and continued him in the port of mat¬ 
ter ot the horfe. See the article Rome. The mod con- 
fiderable aCtion of Fabius was his recovery of Tarentum, 
which had been betrayed to Hannibal. In this he was 
aflifled by the treachery of the Bruttian commander in 
gari ifon, who admitted the Romans into the place. The 
fuccefs was fullied by an indiferiminate daughter of the 
defenders, and by great feverity towards the inhabitants, 
who were fold for (laves, after being dripped of all their 
wealth. Fabius, who was a Roman of the old damp, 
void ot knowledge and tade in the fine arts, while collect¬ 
ing with great care all the gold and diver for the public 
treafury, paid no attention to the admirable pictures and 
(tatues which adorned that Grecian colony. Whenafked 
by his quedor what fliould be done with them, “ Let us 
leave,” (aid he, “ to the Tarentines their angry gods.” 
He carried away, however, a coloflal datue of Hercules, 
which he ereCted in the capitol, and near it an equeflrian 
datue of himfelf. Fabius did not live to witnefs the tri¬ 
umphant clofe of the war ; and the Roman people, juft 
tf> his merits, defrayed his funeral by a general contribu¬ 
tion, and honoured him as their common father. His fon, 
who had been conful, died before him. He bore the lots 
with magnanimity, and himfelf pronounced his funeral 
oration, “which,” fays Cicero, “ when we read, what 
philofopher do we not contemn ?” An anecdote is re¬ 
lated of this fon which (hews him to have imbibed the 
•difeiplinarian fpirit of his father. Soon after he had en¬ 
tered upon the confular dignity, his father approached him 
on horleback. Young Fabius perceiving him, fent a lie- 
tor to order him to difmount, and fliew the ufual refpeCI, 
ot coming before the confitl on foot. The old manobqyed, 
and advancing to his fon, tenderly embraced him, and ap¬ 
plauded him for fo well underftanding the dignity of his 
office. 
FA'BIUS PICTOR, the earlieft of the Roman hifto- 
rical writers in profe, fuppofed to have been the third in 
defeent from that Fabius who acquired the furname of Pic- 
tor from his really exercidng the art of painting, as men¬ 
tioned by Pliny, FUJI. Nat. 1 . 35. The hiftorian lived 
during the fecond Punic war, and was fent after the battle 
of Cannae, before Chrilt 216, upon a deputation to the 
Delphic oracle, in order to enquire the proper means for 
appealing the anger of the gods. He is thought to have 
written both in Latin and Greek ; and his authority is 
quoted by Livy and other ancient writers. He compofed 
annals ot his own times, and alfo treated of the origin and 
antiquities of the Italian cities. Nothing of him is remain¬ 
ing. A work publidied under his name by the iinpoftor 
Annius of Viterbo is decidedly fuppodtitious. 
FA'BIUS, one of the military townlhips of the Ame¬ 
rican States, in New York. 
FA'BLE, f [fable, Yx.fabula, Lat.] A feigned dory 
intended to enforce fonte moral precept.—Jotham’s fable 
of the trees is the oldeft extant, and as beautiful as any 
made fince. Addifon .—A fiCtion in general.—-Palladios 
coming to die fomewhere in the north part of Britain, may 
feem to give fome kind of countenance to tho it fables that 
make him to have lived many years among the Scots. 
Lloyd. —A vicious or foolidi fiction.—But refufe profane 
and old wives fables. 1 Tim. iv.—The feries or contexture 
of events which conditute a poem epic or dramatic.— 
The firft thing to be conlidercd in an epic poem is the fa¬ 
ble, which is perfect or imperfect, according as the aCtion, 
F A B 
which it relates, is more or lefs fo. Addifon.--A lie ; a 
vicious falfehcod. This fenfe is merely familiar.—It 
would look like a fable to report that this gentleman gives 
away a great fortune by fecret methods. Addifon. 
To FA'BLE, v. n. To feign; to write not truth but 
fi&ion : 
Vain now tire tales which, fabling poets tell, 
That wav’ring conauefl dill defires to rove 1 
In Marlbro’s camp the goddefs knows to dwell. Prior. 
To tell falfehoods ; to lie; a familiar ufe.— Fit fables not: 
I hear the enemy. Shakefpeare. 
To FA'BLE, v. a. To feign ; to tell falfely: 
Ladies of th’ Hefperides, they feem’d 
Fairer than feign’d of old, or fabled fince 
Of fairy damfels met in foreft wide. Milton. 
F'A'BLED, adj. Celebrated in fables : 
Hail, fabled grotto I hail, Elyfian foil ! 
Thou faired fpot of fair Britannia’s ifle ! Ticltcll. 
FA'BLER,/! A dealer in fiction ; a writer of feigned 
dories. 
FABRATE'RTA, in ancient geography, a colony and 
town of the Volfciin Latium. 
FA'BRE (John Claude), a French ecclefiaftic, and 
various writer, born at Paris in 1668. His cladical and 
collegiate education he received in his native city, where, 
after he had been admitted to the degree of bachelor in 
theology by the faculty of Paris, he became a member of 
the congregation of the Oratory. From his learning and 
abilities he was fixed upon by his fuperiors to be pro- 
feftorof philofophy fucceffively in the feminaries belong¬ 
ing to the order at Rumilly, in Savoy, at Toulon, Riom, 
Mans, and Nantes. Afterwards he filled the theological 
chair for three years at Riom ; and then, during an equal 
period, at Lyons ; where he publilhed a Latin and French 
Dictionary, in 8vo. which has palled through numerous 
editions. In 1709, he gave to the public an enlarged edi¬ 
tion of the fatirical Dictionary of Richelet, in two vo¬ 
lumes folio, under the title of Amderdam. In 1715, he 
publidied at Douay a little treatife muchefteemed by the 
Catholics, entitled Conventions between Chriftina and 
Pelagia, refpeCting the reading of the Sacred Scriptures, 
121110. In 1723 we find him a refident at Montmorency, 
where he commenced his Continuation of the Ecclefiafli- 
cal Hiftory of the Abbe Fleury, which became gradually 
extended to (ixteen volumes in 4to. and 121x10. The mag¬ 
nitude of this undertaking occalioned the author’s re¬ 
moval, for the convenience of confulting proper authori¬ 
ties, from Montmorency to a lioufe belonging to his order 
at Paris, where he fpent the remainder of his days. Be- 
fides the works already mentioned, father Fabre was the 
author of a Tranflation of all the Works of Virgil, accom¬ 
panied with diflertations, notes, and the Latin text, in 
three volumes nmo. 1721 ; a profe Tranflation of the 
Fables of Phaedrus, with the text, notes, and the life of 
Phasdrus, 12010. 1728 ; a fummary or Index of M. de 
Thou’s Hiflory, &c. He maintained a character eftima- 
ble for pleafing manners, modefly, and candour, and died 
much regretted by hisbrethren and friends, in 1753, when 
he had attained to the advanced period of eighty-five 
years. 
F'ABRE'GAS, a town of Spain, in Catalonia : thirteen 
miles wed of Gerona. 
FABRE'GUES, a town of France, in the department 
of the HerauIt : five miles Couth-weft of Montpellier. 
FABRESA'N, a town of France, in the department 
of the Aude, and chief place of a canton in the didriCt of 
La Graffe : five miles north-eaft of La Grade. 
FABRET'TI (Raphael), an eminent antiquary, 
born at Urbino, in 1619. He ft:udied jurifprudence in his 
native city, and after graduating at the age of eighteen, 
lie went to Rome, where he became diflinguiflied, as well 
for variety of erudition, as for dexterity in the manage- 
1 ment 
