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Marcus Fulvius Nobilior

1911 Encyclopedia Britannica

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Roman general, a member of one of the most important families of the plebeian Fulvian gens. When praetor (193 B.C.) he served with distinction in Spain, and as consul in 189 he completely broke the power of the Aetolian league. On his return to Rome, Nobilior celebrated a triumph (of which full details are given by Livy) remarkable for the magnificence of the spoils exhibited. On his Aetolian campaign he was accompanied by the poet Ennius, who made the capture of Ambracia, at which he was present, the subject of one of his plays. For this Nobilior was bitterly attacked by Cato the Censor, on the ground that he had compromised his dignity as a Roman general. He restored the temple of Hercules and the Muses in the Circus Flaminius, placed in it a list of Fasti drawn up by himself, and endeavoured to make the Roman calendar more generally known. He was a great enthusiast for Greek art and culture, and introduced many of its masterpieces into Rome, amongst them the picture of the Muses by Zeuxis from Ambracia.