Nicias

1. The physician of Pyrrhus, king of Epeirus, who, during his master's war with the Romans, went to C. Fabricius Luscinus, the consul, B. C. 278, and offered for a certain reward to take off the king by poison. (Claud. Quadrigar. ap. Aul. Gell. Noct. Att. 3.8; Zonaras, Annal. vol. ii. p. 48, ed Basel, 1557. Fabricius not only rejected his base offer with indignation, but immediately sent him back to Pyrrhus with notice of his treachery, who, upon receiving the information, is said to have cried out, "This is that Fabricius whom it is harder to turn aside from justice and honour than to divert the sun from its course." (Eutrop. 2.14.) Znaras adds (l.c. p. 50), that the traitor was put to death, and his skin used to cover the seat of a chair.