Fabricius Luscinus was a man of great glory and great accomplishments. Publius Cornelius Rufinus worked hard with his hands, was a good warrior, and was extremely skilled in military discipline, but he was a thief and given to bitter avarice. Fabricius hated him and was certainly not a friend, but hated him on account of his characteristics. But when consuls needed to be created in the republic‘s most difficult times, Rufinus sought the consulship. His competitors were useless and incompetent, and Fabricius exerted himself to get the consulship given to Rufinus. Everyone wondered why he would wish to have made consul a man who was not just greedy, but also his personal enemy. Fabricius told them that he would rather be fleeced by a fellow citizen than sold by an enemy.

Fabricius Luscinus magna gloria vir magnisque rebus gestis fuit. P. Cornelius Rufinus manu quidem strenuus et bellator bonus militarisque disciplinae peritus admodum fuit, sed furax homo et avaritia acri erat. Hunc Fabricius non probabat neque amico utebatur osusque eum morum causa fuit. Sed cum in temporibus rei difficillimis consules creandi forent et is Rufinus peteret consulatum competitoresque eius essent inbelles quidam et futtiles, summa ope adnixus est Fabricius, uti Rufino consulatus deferretur. Eam rem plerisque admirantibus, quod hominem avarum, cui esset inimicissimus, creari consulem vellet, “malo,” inquit “civis me compilet, quam hostis vendat”.