In 217 BCE, after a series of legion defeats in the Second Punic War, Fabius Maximus was entrusted with the Roman dictator. He decided to avoid an open clash with Hannibal’s army, waging a war of exhaustion with the Carthaginians.
However, it was criticized by many Roman notables, and this tactic of Fabius resulted in him being given the nickname Cunctator (“the Delayer”).
It is worth emphasizing that the tactic was very effective, but the elite’s demands to deal with the enemy definitively forced the Senate to take his command away. This decision, as we know, then led to Cannae’s defeat.
