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Biographies: Quintus Fabius Maximus, Cunctator
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Quintus Fabius Maximus was a Roman commander and politician during the Second Punic War. The Romans over the course of the war gave Fabius the nickname Cunctator (Latin: Delayer) for his tactics, which ended up saving Rome despite popular opinion to the contrary.
Quintus Fabius Maximus was probably born somewhere around 275 B.C. The exact birth date of Quintus Fabius Maximus is unknown, but estimate place it somewhere in 275. Quintus’ parents are unknown, but we do know that he was born into the already ancient house of Fabii in Rome. Nothing concrete is known of Fabius’ childhood unfortunately.
Quintus Fabius Maximus had a some what unspectacular political and military career prior to the Second Punic War. We first hear of Quintus Fabius Maximus in Roman history annals as a commander in the First Punic War, though there is no records of how or what he did in the war. Fabius’ political career took off upon his being elected to the office of Consul in 233 B.C. Fabius was elected to the office of Censor three years later and then Consul again in 228 B.C When Hannibal took the city of Sanguntum in 218 B.C. the Romans sent Fabius as their emissary to Carthage, to demand that the city be handed back over and Hannibal retreat back to Carthaginian lands. When the Carthaginians refused to hand over the city Fabius returned to Rome and the Senate declared war on Carthage, the Second Punic War had begun.
The Second Punic War was where Quintus Fabius Maximus really began to shine. Hannibal invaded Italy itself in late 218 and defeated two Roman armies, the first time at the River Trebia and the second time at Lake Trasimene. It was after the disaster of Trasimene that the Senate declared Fabius Dictator (it is interesting to note that usually it is the Consuls who names a Dictator, not the Senate). Fabius knew from the reports of Roman commanders on Hannibal that he could not defeat him on the open field, so Fabius decided to fight a war of attrition. Fabius dispatched various Roman forces into the hills of Italy to tail Hannibal as close as possible with out engaging him in battle, knowing cavalry would be useless in the hills. These troops constantly cut off Hannibal’s supply lines and harassed him incessantly and without mercy. Amongst many Roman commanders and politicians these tactics, though they worked, were wildly unpopular and viewed as cowardly. Many began to call Fabius Verrucosus Cunctator (Latin: Warty Delayer) in hopes of insulting him into retirement. The high point of the opposition to Fabius came when Minucius Rufus, the Magister Equitum (Latin: Master of the Horse), began to oppose him openly. After Fabius’ term as Dictator was up the Romans, who were itching to finally engage Hannibal in decisive battle eagerly elected Lucius Aemilius Paullus and Caius Terentius Varro as Consuls. Hannibal who was by now in Campania needed to find a food source for his army, as a result he headed towards the town of Cannae and the Roman army. When word reached Rome that Hannibal with his small army had all but completely destroyed the massive Roman army at Cannae it sent shock waves through out all Italy, Rome had gotten its decisive battle and they lost. The Roman public now understood that Fabius had been right all along with his so called ‘cowardly’ tactics, as a result the title Verrucosus was dropped from Fabius’ name and the title Cunctator was made into a honorific when Fabius was overwhelmingly elected to the Consulship in 215. Fabius wasted no time and went back to his delaying tactics, which worked brilliantly against Hannibal. Fabius would make his first and only offensive move of the war in 209, during his fifth consulship, when he captured the city Tarentum (Modern Taranto) which Hannibal had captured three years before. In 205 B.C. a young man named Publius Cornelius Scipio (later known as Scipio Africanus) wished to carry the fight to the Carthaginians by attacking Africa itself. Fabius opposed him, but the tide had turned decisively against Hannibal and Carthage, many thought that the time to strike was now. Ultimately Scipio got what he wanted and the Romans attacked Africa that year, the attack would lead to the Carthaginian surrender in 201. Fabius would not get to see the end of the war unfortunately, for he died in 203 B.C. at the age of 72.
Quintus Fabius Maximus Cunctator was highly regarded by all Romans who came after him. After his death Fabius took on legendary status in the eyes of the Roman people, becoming the model of toughness and courage. Ennius wrote this of Fabius: Unus homo nobis cunctando restituit rem which means: “One man, by delaying, has restored the state to us”. |
User Comments:
| Wijitmaker
:: January 27 2005 |
QUOTE Cunctator (Latin: Delayer) Interesting, I always envisioned it being someting more sinister like... "the terminator" Ah well!
Great article Joshua  |
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