Fabius Maximus

Also known as: Fabius / Maximus / our Fabius · Family: Roman · Role: dictator and general · First appears: Fabius

Fabius Maximus was the eldest son of Aemilius Paulus and Papiria, and the sibling of Scipio. He was fourth in descent from Fabius Rullus, who first brought the surname Maximus into the family, while Fabius Pictor was a near kinsman. Marcus Cato served under him as a young soldier and later attached himself to Fabius among the ancient senators.

After Rome’s defeat and crisis, Fabius was installed as dictator and prepared to oppose Hannibal. He gave Lucius Minucius command of the horse, but the Romans later granted Minucius equal authority, despite his eagerness for action and the soldiers’ reproaches against Fabius. When Minucius’s army was surrounded, Fabius rescued it; Minucius then laid his standards at Fabius’s feet and called him his father. Fabius also advised Aemilius Paulus to resist Terentius Varro’s eagerness for battle as firmly as Hannibal’s readiness, and Paulus declared, “I will rather seek in my conduct to please and obey Fabius than all the world besides.”

Fabius opposed engaging Flaminius’s enemy too soon and held distinguished commands alongside Claudius Marcellus, called the buckler to Marcellus’s sword. He faced rivalry from Terentius Varro, Lucius Minucius, Marcus Livius, and later Cornelius Scipio, even urging Marcus Crassus not to yield command to Scipio. At Tarentum, he captured the town after its betrayal by the Bruttian commander, while Marcus Cato served under him; but about the time Hannibal left Italy, Fabius fell sick and died before seeing the war’s final overthrow.