Fabius Maximus

Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus Cunctator (/ˈmæksɪməs/; c. 280 BC – 203 BC) was a Roman politician and general, who was born in Rome around 280 BC and died in Rome in 203 BC. He was a Roman Consul five times (233 BC, 228 BC, 215 BC, 214 BC and 209 BC) and was twice appointed Dictator, in 221 and again in 217 BC. He reached the office of Roman Censor in 230 BC. His agnomen Cunctator (cognate to the English noun ) means "lingerer" in Latin, and refers to his strategy in deploying troops during the Second Punic War. He is widely regarded as the father of guerrilla warfare due to his, at the time, novel strategy of targeting enemy supply lines in light of being largely outnumbered. His cognomen Verrucosus means "warty", a reference to a wart above his upper lip.

Descended from the ancient patrician gens Fabii, he was the son of Quintus Fabius Maximus Gurges, a grandson of another Quintus Fabius Maximus Gurges and a great-grandson of Quintus Fabius Maximus Rullianus, all famous Consuls. According to Fabius' biographer Plutarch, Fabius possessed a mild temper and slowness in speaking. As a child, he had difficulties in learning, engaged in sports with other children cautiously and appeared submissive in his interactions with others. All the above were perceived by those who knew him superficially to be signs of inferiority. However, according to Plutarch, these traits proceeded from stability, greatness of mind, and lion-likeness of temper. By the time he reached adulthood and was roused by active life, his virtues exerted themselves; consequently, his lack of energy displayed during his earlier years was revealed as a result of a lack of passion and his slowness was recognised as a sign of prudence and firmness. During his first consulship, he was awarded a triumph for his victory over the Ligurians, a tribe of Gauls, whom he had defeated and then driven into the Alps. He might have participated in the First Punic War, the first of three wars fought between the Roman Republic and Ancient Carthage, although no details of his role are known. After the end of the war, he rapidly advanced his political career. He served twice as a Roman Consul and as a Roman Censor. In 218 BC, he took part in the embassy to Carthage. It was, according to Livy, Fabius himself who formally declared war on the Carthaginian Senate after the capture of Saguntum by Hannibal. However, it is likely that this is untrue and could very well have been Fabius Buteo, his kinsman.

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