FABRICIUS. Gaius Fabricius Luscinus was Roman Consul in 282 B.C. and 278 B.C. and a general in 280 B.C. when Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, came to assist Tarentum against the besieging Romans. Pyrrhus found that he could not bribe Fabricius, and Fabricius's soldiers found that they could not offer to poison Pyrrhus for him. Virgil mentions his poverty (Aeneid VI.843-844), and Cicero repeatedly mentions Fabricius as an example of incorruptible Roman virtue (De oratore II.268).

Lady Philosophy introduces Fabricius in the ubi sunt formula, illustrating the fleeting quality of things, Bo II, Metr 7.18: "Where are the bones of Fabricius?"

Fabricius is the name of the clan, of which Gaius was the most famous member.