Definition: Phaedrus was a Roman verse fabulist (following Aesop) of the first century A.D. Phaedrus claims to be a Macedonian from Pieria, who came to Rome as a slave. He may have been a freedman of Augustus. His Latinized metrically 6-footed fables are called Phaedri Augusti Liberti Fabularum Aesopiarium (The Aesopic Fables of Phaedrus the Freedman of Augustus). The name Phaedrus is also one of Plato's Socratic dialogues.