Texte grec :
| [9,22] Τὸ δὲ συναπτόμενον τούτοις ὑπό τινων οὔτ´
ἀληθὲς ὂν οὔτε πιθανόν, ἐκ παρακούσματος δέ τινος
πεπλασμένον ὑπὸ τοῦ πλήθους, ἄξιον μὴ παραλιπεῖν
ἀνεξέταστον. λέγουσι γὰρ δή τινες, τῶν ἓξ καὶ τριακοσίων
Φαβίων ἀπολομένων ὅτι ἓν μόνον ἐλείφθη τοῦ
γένους παιδίον, πρᾶγμα οὐ μόνον ἀπίθανον, ἀλλὰ καὶ
ἀδύνατον εἰσάγοντες. οὔτε γὰρ ἀτέκνους τε καὶ ἀγάμους
ἅπαντας εἶναι δυνατὸν ἦν τοὺς ἐξελθόντας εἰς
τὸ φρούριον Φαβίους. ὁ γὰρ ἀρχαῖος αὐτῶν νόμος
γαμεῖν τ´ ἠνάγκαζε τοὺς ἐν ἡλικίᾳ, καὶ τὰ γεννώμενα
πάντα ἐπάναγκες τρέφειν· ὃν οὐκ ἂν δήπου κατέλυσαν
οἱ Φάβιοι μόνοι πεφυλαγμένον ἄχρι τῆς ἑαυτῶν ἡλικίας
ὑπὸ τῶν πατέρων. εἰ δὲ δὴ καὶ τοῦτο θείη τις,
ἀλλ´ ἐκεῖνό γ´ οὐκ ἂν ἔτι συγχωρήσειε, τὸ μηδ´ ἀδελφοὺς
αὐτῶν εἶναί τισιν ἡλικίαν ἔτι παίδων ἔχοντας.
μύθοις γὰρ δὴ ταῦτά γε καὶ πλάσμασιν ἔοικε θεατρικοῖς.
οἱ δὲ πατέρες αὐτῶν, ὅσοι παῖδας ἔτι ποιεῖν
εἶχον ἡλικίαν, τοσαύτης κατασχούσης τὸ γένος ἐρημίας
οὐκ ἂν ἑκόντες τε καὶ ἄκοντες ἑτέρους παῖδας ἐποιήσαντο,
ἵνα μήτε ἱερὰ ἐκλειφθῇ πατρῷα μήτε δόξα τηλικαύτη
διαφθαρῇ γένους; εἰ μὴ ἄρα οὐδὲ πατέρες
αὐτῶν τισιν ἐλείποντο, ἀλλὰ πάντα εἰς ταὐτὸ συνῆλθεν
ἐπὶ τῶν ἓξ καὶ τριακοσίων ἀνδρῶν ἐκείνων τὰ ἀδύνατα·
μὴ παῖδας αὐτοῖς καταλειφθῆναι νηπίους, μὴ γυναῖκας
ἐγκύους, μὴ ἀδελφοὺς ἀνήβους, μὴ πατέρας ἐν ἀκμῇ.
ταύτῃ μὲν δὴ τὸν λόγον ἐξετάζων οὐκ ἀληθῆ νενόμικα,
ἐκεῖνον δ´ ἀληθῆ· τῶν τριῶν ἀδελφῶν, Καίσωνός τε
καὶ Κοίντου καὶ Μάρκου τῶν ὑπατευσάντων τὰς συνεχεῖς
ἑπτὰ ὑπατείας, ἐγκαταλειφθῆναι πείθομαι Μάρκῳ
παιδίον, καὶ τοῦτ´ εἶναι τὸ λεγόμενον ἐκ τοῦ Φαβίων
οἴκου λοιπόν. οὐδὲν δὲ κωλύει τῷ μηκέτι τῶν ἄλλων
ἐπιφανῆ τινα καὶ λαμπρὸν ἔξω τοῦ ἑνὸς τοῦδε
ἀνδρωθέντος γενέσθαι ταύτην παραστῆναι τοῖς πολλοῖς
τὴν δόξαν, ὅτι μόνος ἐκεῖνος ἐκ τοῦ Φαβίων γένους
ἐστὶ λοιπός· οὐχ ὡς μηδενὸς ἄλλου ὄντος, ἀλλ´ ὡς
μηδενὸς ἐκείνοις ὁμοίου, ἀρετῇ τεκμαιρομένοις τὸ
συγγενές, οὐ φύσει· καὶ περὶ μὲν τούτων ταῦθ´ ἱκανά.
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Traduction française :
| [9,22] The addition to this account which has been made by certain writers, though
neither true nor (p365) plausible, but invented by the multitude from some false report,
does not deserve to be passed over without examination. For some report that after
the three hundred and six Fabii had been slain, there was only one boy left out of the
whole clan, thereby introducing a detail that is not only improbable, but even
impossible;for it is not possible that all the Fabii who went out to the fortress were
unmarried and childless. For not only did the ancient law of the Romans oblige all of
the proper age to marry, but they were forced also to rear all their children; and
surely the Fabii would not have been the only persons to violate a law which had been
observed by their ancestor down to their time.But even if one were to admit this
assumption, yet he would never make the further assumption that none of them had
any brothers still in their childhood. Why, such institutions resemble myths and
fictions of the stage! Besides, would not as many of their fathers as were still of an age
to beget children, now that so great a desolation had come upon their clan, have
begotten other children both willingly and unwillingly, in order that neither the
sacrifices of their ancestors might be abandoned nor the great reputation of the clan
be extinguished?Unless, indeed, none even of their fathers were left and all the
conditions which would render it impossible to perpetuate the clan combined
together ink those three hundred and six men — namely, that they left behind them
no infant children, no wives with child, no brothers still under age, no fathers in the
prime of life. Testing the story by such reasoning, I have come to the conclusion that
it is not true, but that the following is the true account. Of the three brothers, Caeso,
Quintus, and Marcus, who had (p367) been consuls for seven years in succession,
I believe that Marcus left one young son, and that this boy was the one who is
reported to have been the survivor of the Fabian house.There is no reason why it
should not have been because no one else of the clan became famous and illustrious
except this one son, when he had grown to manhood, that most people came to hold
the belief that he was the only survivor of the Fabian clan — not, indeed, that there
was no other, but that there was none like those famous three — judging kinship on
the basis of merit, not of birth. But enough on this subject.
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