Fabius Maximus Verrucosus, Quintus
Fabius Maximus Verrucosus, Quintus,grandson or great-grandson of Quintus Fabius Maximus Rullianus, as consul 233 BC celebrated a triumph over the Ligurians and unsuccessfully opposed the agrarian bill of Gaius Flaminius. He was censor 230, consul for the second time 228, and dictator (probably) 221. In 218 he perhaps opposed an immediate declaration of war on Carthage. Dictator again in 217, after the Roman defeat at Lake Trasimene, he began his famous policy of attrition, believing that Hannibal could not be defeated in a pitched battle; this earned him the name ‘Cunctator’ (the Delayer). He allowed Hannibal to ravage the Campanian plain, but then blocked his exits; Hannibal, however, escaped by a stratagem. Opposition to Fabius' policy at Rome led to his magister equitum (master of the horse), Marcus Minucius Rufus, receiving imperium equal to his. When...
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