Regum et imperatorum apophthegmata

Pyrrhus urged Fabricius to stay with him and be the second in command, but Fabricius said, But there is no advantage in this for you; for, if the Epirotes come to know us both, they will prefer to be ruled by me rather than by you. [*](Ibid. chap. xx. (396 A).)

When Fabricius was consul, [*](In 278 B.C.) Pyrrhus’s physician sent a letter to him, offering, if he should give thi word, to kill Pyrrhus by poison. Fabricius sent the letter to Pyrrhus, bidding him note the reason why he was the worst possible judge both of friends and of foes. [*](Cf. Plutarch’s Life of Pyrrhus, chap. xxi. (296 B); Cicero, De officiis, i. 13 (40), and iii. 22 (86); Valerius Maximus, vi. 5. 1; Aulus Gellius, iii. 8; Frontinus, Strategemata, iv. 4. 2.)