17. It Took a Catastrophic Defeat for the Romans to Realize that This Dictator Had Been Right All Along
Fabius’ delaying tactics gave a reeling Rome an opportunity to catch its breath and recover from the defeats dealt it by Hannibal. However, as soon as his six-month term as dictator expired, Fabius’ overconfident countrymen amassed 87,000 men, the biggest Roman army to date, and marched off to crush Hannibal. The Carthaginian general was eager to let them try. At the Battle of Cannae in 216 BC, Hannibal adopted a brilliant tactical plan that was executed to perfection. He lured the overeager Romans into a double envelopment, and destroyed them. Of 87,000 Romans, only 10,000 escaped. The rest were slaughtered or captured.
There were no more snide comments and sneers directed at Fabius, and Cunctator became an honorific instead of an insult. Fabius was elected consul three more times before his death in 203 BC. His Fabian strategy became the official one followed by Rome for the remainder of the war, which was finally won in 201 BC. Fabius did not live to see the victory, but the erstwhile dictator laid the groundwork leading up to it.