Quintus Fabius Maximus Servilianus was the adoptive son of Quintus Fabius Maximus Aemilianus[1] and the natural son of Gnaeus Servilius Caepio (consul in 169 BC)--hence the adoptive cognomen Servilianus.
All three brothers were commanders in the Roman Province of Hispania Ulterior (Further Spain) and fought in the Lusitanian War.
[3] After his election as consul in 142 BC, Servilianus was sent to Hispania Ulterior and was given command of the Lusitanian War.
As he was marching on Uticca with his army formed into divisions, Viriathus attacked him with 6,000 troops, but was repulsed.
When the rest of the army arrived, Servilianus built a large camp, then moved against Viriathus and defeated him.
[9] Orosius, whose work was biased, wrote that he "cut off the hands of five hundred Lusitanian chiefs who had been tempted by his offer of an alliance and had been received in accordance with the law of surrender.
Servilianus lined up the rest of the army for battle, but was defeated and driven to some cliffs and pinned down.
Later in his career Servilianus could have probably been censor before presumably murdering his son because of his lack of chastity; being prosecuted and forced into exile;[12] although this episode is still being discussed, theorizing that Valerius Maximus made a mistake and was in fact talking about Quintus Fabius Maximus Eburnus, because Pompeius Strabo seems to have been the one prosecuting, a contemporary of the latter.