The Forgotten Side of Action

Quintus Fabius Maximus was one of the greatest generals in the history of the Roman empire. A wise man and a fine strategist, he had a peculiar approach both to war and to life.

His agnomen (nickname) was Cunctator, usually translated as “the delayer”, though a more meaningful translation would probably be “someone who takes his time” or “not a rusher”.

Fabius gained his nickname by inventing what we now know as guerilla warfare. Called the Fabian strategy, it was a military tactic where pitched battles and frontal assaults are avoided in favour of wearing down an opponent through attrition and indirection by, for example, targeting the enemy’s supply chain.

This strategy was greatly opposed by the Roman Senate, who were used to a more direct approach to war and who deemed this tactic a sign of cowardice. Fabius certainly wasn’t a coward, instead he had correctly assessed the military superiority of the Carthaginian army lead by the cunning and unpredictable Hannibal (the man who famously got elephants over the Alps). He believed a direct clash would have resulted in the certain defeat of the Roman army.