Historical Figures Codexery

Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus

The Delayer Who Saved Rome

Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus

schurl50 (User:schurl50) · via Wikipedia: Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus · Public domain

Plutarch records that as a child he was cautious in sports and appeared timid, but these traits were later seen as signs of a prudent mind.[1] His approach of avoiding direct battle with Hannibal, later termed Fabian strategy, is what he is most famous for.[2]

Quick Facts

Born
280 BC
Died
203 BC
Other names
Cunctator
Known for
Fabian strategy
Office
  • Consul (233, 228, 215, 214, 209 BC)
  • Dictator (221, 217 BC)
  • Censor (230 BC)
Children
Quintus Fabius Maximus

Facts from the source article.

Life and work

He was consecrated an augur while still a youth in 265 BC.[3] He was awarded a second triumph for the reconquest of Tarentum in 209 BC.[4] The Fabia gens, an ancient patrician family, counted Fabius among its descendants; his father or grandfather was Quintus Fabius Maximus Gurges.[5] A wart located on his upper lip gave Fabius the additional name Verrucosus, which translates to "warty."[5]

Plutarch describes Fabius as having a gentle disposition and speaking in a deliberate manner.[1] In 233 BC, during his initial term as consul, Fabius earned a triumph after overcoming the Ligurians.[6] Plutarch claims that even Hannibal is said to have recognized and been wary of Fabius's tactics and Rome's seemingly endless supply of soldiers.[7]

What the cited sources add

Plutarch's account states that Fabius had the surname Ovicula, meaning "Lambkin," given for the gentleness of his nature as a child.[8] The same source records that Fabius sent his son to sell his fields to raise ransom money for prisoners of war.[8] Macgregor's history describes Fabius shaking out his toga and declaring "Then here I give ye war" to the Carthaginian senate.[9] Plutarch's Life of Marcellus notes that Poseidonius called Fabius a shield and Marcellus a sword.[10]

That same source says Hannibal feared Fabius as a tutor but Marcellus as an adversary.[10]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Plutarch • Life of Fabius Maximus (Cunctator)", penelope.uchicago.edu; "The Internet Classics Archive Fabius by Plutarch", classics.mit.edu (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  2. Wikipedia, "Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Moreno, "Francesco Guicciardini tra ragione e inquietudine: atti del convegno internazionale di Liège, 17-18 febbraio 2004", Librairie Droz, 2005, p. 150; Carlo Botta, Storia della guerra dell' Independenza d'America (1809), Tom. II, Lib. 7, quoted in Jared Sparks, The Life of George Washington, Henry Colburn, Lon; John Marshall, The Life of George Washington, James Crissey, Philadelphia (1832), vol. II, p. 446: "He has been termed the American Fabius; but those who compar; The American Revolution, 1775–1783: An Encycl en.wikipedia.org
  3. Wikipedia, "Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: T. R. S. Broughton, The Magistrates of the Roman Republic, American Philological Association (1951), vol. I, p. 202. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Plutarch, Lives, life of "Fabius", ca. 75 A.D. tr. by John Dryden, ca. 1683", Classics.mit.edu; Appian of Alexandria, "Appian, History of Rome or Roman History, before 165 A.D., \S 32 on Tarentum, available at", Livius.org; Gaius Stern, "Electoral Irregularity and Chicanery during the Second Punic War," CAMWS 2011, citing Liv. 23.21.7, 30.26.10, cf. 25.5.2–3.; G.J. Szemler The Priests of the Roman Republic, 149 shows only an augurship for Sulla; 131–32, 156 on Julius. On Sulla see Stern, "Electoral Irregularity and Ch en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Scott-Kilvert, "Plutarch: Makers of Rome", Penguin Group, 1965, p. 53 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  6. Wikipedia, "Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Broughton, vol. I, pp. 222, 223. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  7. Wikipedia, "Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Plutarch, "Makers of Rome", Penguin Classics, 1965, p. 78 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  8. "Plutarch • Life of Fabius Maximus (Cunctator)", penelope.uchicago.edu. facts only, no text reused. penelope.uchicago.edu
  9. Macgregor, "Heritage History Story of Rome by Mary Macgregor", www.heritage-history.com, 2023. facts only, no text reused. heritage-history.com
  10. Plutarch, "The Life of Marcellus", 5.3–6.. facts only, no text reused. penelope.uchicago.edu

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

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