Strabo, Fannius

(1) Gaius, consul B.C. 161 with M. Valerius Messala. In their consulship the rhetoricians were expelled from Rome.

(2) Gaius, son of the preceding, consul 122. He owed his election to the consulship chiefly to the influence of C. Gracchus, who was anxious to prevent his enemy Opimius from obtaining the office. But in his consulship Fannius supported the aristocracy, and took an active part in opposing the measures of Gracchus. He spoke against the proposal of Gracchus, who wished to give the Roman franchise to the Latins, in a speech which was regarded as a masterpiece in the time of Cicero.

(3) Gaius, son-in-law of Laelius, and frequently confounded with the preceding. He served in Africa, under Scipio Africanus, in B.C. 146, and in Spain under Fabius Maximus in 142. He is introduced by Cicero as one of the speakers both in his work De Republica and in his treatise De Amicitia. He owed his celebrity in literature to his History, which was written in Latin, and of which Brutus made an abridgment.