an ancient and renowned family of Rome, who, having undertaken the duty of defending Roman territory against the incursions of the Veientines, established themselves at a post on the river Cremera. They were drawn into an ambush and killed (477 B. C.), with the exception of a boy, who happened to be left in Rome and who became the second founder of the family. Among the celebrated members of the family in later times were Fabius Maximus, whose policy of defensive warfare was so successful against Hannibal in the second Punic War, and Fabius Pictor, who lived about the same time and was the earliest Roman historian.