Fabius Maximus

"He that is afraid of scoffs and reproaches is more a coward than he that flies from the enemy."

- Fabius Maximus

Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus Cunctator was a Roman statesman and general in the 3rd century BC. He was elected dictator after Hannibal Barca invaded Italy, and used his position to employ a unique - at least for the Romans - strategy of avoiding battle and attacking the enemy's supply lines. For this, he is remembered as one of the fathers of guerrilla warfare.

Fabius was born in 280 BC to a distinguished patrician family. As was expected of a member of a family of such standing, he followed the political cursus honorum and held several important positions, but his career was otherwise unremarkable.

In 218 BC, the Second Punic War began and Hannibal crossed the Alps into Italy. He won two quick and decisive victories over the Romans, at the Battles of Trebia and Trasimene. With two consular armies destroyed and Hannibal advancing on Rome, the panicked Senate agreed to elect a dictator. The Senate chose Fabius, mainly for his age and political experience.

Fabius knew he couldn't defeat Hannibal in open battle, so he kept his troops close to Hannibal's army, harassing foraging parties and using scorched earth tactics to exhaust the Carthaginians, preparing to strike only when Hannibal was sufficiently weakened. Fabius also performed frequent religious ceremonies to maintain morale.

Fabius's strategy proved effective, and even Hannibal himself began to fear his own defeat. The people of Rome, however, thought Fabius a coward for refusing to fight Hannibal face-to-face, and he quickly became unpopular. He received the title of "Cunctator" or "the Delayer" as a mockery.

Fabius's term as dictator ended, and two new consuls were elected, who immediately abandoned the Fabian strategy and set off to met Hannibal head-on. Their rashness resulted in the disastrous Battle of Cannae, and once the Romans saw what Hannibal was capable of in pitched battles, Fabius's tactics came to be respected. "The Delayer" became an honorific, and Fabian tactics were readopted and followed until the end of the war. Fabius died of illness in 203 BC, and did not live to see Hannibal's defeat at the hands of Scipio Africanus.

Battle vs. Vercingetorix (by Laquearius)
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