Cornelius Fuscus
Cornelius Fuscus, an equestrian who rose under the Flavians, served as Domitian’s praetorian prefect and field commander. In 86 CE, sent to avenge the Dacian incursion of the previous year, he led a bold thrust across the Danube with Legio V Alaudae—only to be lured into the passes near Tapae, where Decebalus’s forces annihilated the legion and killed him. His defeat shocked Rome, cost an eagle standard, and forced Domitian into a harsher reassessment of the Danube. In the long arc of the story, Fuscus’s failure became the humiliation Trajan vowed to reverse.
Biography
Almost nothing is recorded of Cornelius Fuscus’s youth, but he appears in the civil wars of 69 CE as a capable operator who backed Vespasian and prospered for it. An equestrian rather than a senator, he built his career in the machinery of imperial power—procuratorships, staff posts, and finally command of the praetorian guard under Domitian. He was a man of execution: brisk, confident, and, in the way of career soldiers, impatient with caution that looked like drift. When the Danube frontier erupted in 85 CE and the Moesian governor Oppius Sabinus was killed, Domitian chose Fuscus to lead the response.
Cornelius Fuscus's Timeline
Key events involving Cornelius Fuscus in chronological order
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