Fabius Maximus Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus Cunctator ( ca . 280 BC – 203 BC ) was a Roman politician and general , born in Rome around 280 BC and died in Rome in 203 BC . He was Roman Consul five times ( 233 BC , 228 BC , 215 BC , 214 BC and 209 BC ) and was twice Dictator , in 221 and again in 217 BC . He reached the office of Roman Censor in 230 BC . His agnomen " Cunctator " ( cognate to the English noun " cunctation " ) means " delayer " in Latin , and refers to his tactics in deploying the troops during the Second Punic War . He is widely regarded as the father of guerrilla warfare due to his , at the time , novel strategy of targeting enemy supply lines in light of being largely outnumbered . His cognomen " Verrucosus " means " warty " , a reference to a wart above his upper lip . Beginnings . Descended from an ancient patrician gens Fabii , he was the son of Quintus Fabius Maximus Gurges , a grandson of another Quintus Fabius Maximus Gurges and a great - grandson of Quintus Fabius Maximus Rullianus , all famous Consuls . According to Fabius ' biographer Plutarch , Fabius possessed a mild temper and slowness in speaking . As a child , he had difficulties in learning , which was perceived by other children to be a sign of inferiority . However , according to Plutarch , these traits proceeded from stability , greatness of mind , and lion - likeness of temper . According to accounts , by the time he reached adulthood , his virtues exerted themselves , and his slowness was revealed to be a symptom of his energy , passion , prudence , and firmness . During his first Consulship , he was awarded a triumph for his victory over the Ligurians , a tribe of Gauls , whom he had defeated and then driven into the Alps . He might have participated in the First Punic War , the first of three wars fought between the Roman Republic and Ancient Carthage , although no details of his role are known . After the end of the war he rapidly advanced his political career . He served twice as Roman Consul and Roman Censor , and in 218 BC he took part in the embassy to Carthage . It was Fabius Buteo , his kinsman who formally declared war in the Carthaginian Senate after the capture of Saguntum by Hannibal . Dictator . When the Consul Gaius Flaminius was killed during the disastrous Roman defeat at the Battle of Lake Trasimene , panic swept Rome . With Consular armies destroyed in two major battles , and Hannibal approaching Rome ' s gates , the Romans feared the imminent destruction of their city . The Roman Senate decided to appoint a Roman Dictator , and chose Fabius for the role , in part due to his advanced age and experience . As Dictator , he did not get to appoint his own Master of the Horse ; instead , the Romans chose a political enemy , Marcus Minucius . Then Fabius quickly sought to calm the Roman people by asserting himself as a strong Dictator at the moment of what was perceived to be the worst crisis in Roman history . He asked of the Senate to allow him to ride on horseback , which Dictators were never allowed to do . He then caused himself to be accompanied by the full complement of twenty - four lictors , and ordered the surviving Consul , Gnaeus Servilius Geminus , to dismiss his lictors ( in essence , surrendering his office ) , and to present himself before Fabius as a private citizen . Plutarch tells us that Fabius believed that the disaster at Lake Trasimene was due , in part , to the fact that the gods had become neglected . Before that battle , a series of omens had been witnessed , including a series of lightning bolts , which Fabius had believed were warnings from the gods . He had warned Flaminius of this , but Flaminius had ignored the warnings . And so Fabius , as Dictator , sought next to please the gods . He ordered a massive sacrifice of the whole product of the next harvest season throughout Italy , in particular that of cows , goats , swine , and sheep . In addition , he ordered that musical festivities be celebrated , and then told his fellow citizens to each spend a precise sum of 333 sestertia and 333 denarii . Plutarch isn ' t sure exactly how Fabius came up with this number , although he believes it was to honor of the perfection of the number three , as it is the first of the odd numbers , and one of the first of the prime number s . It is not known if Fabius truly believed that these actions had won the gods over to the Roman side , although the actions probably did ( as intended ) convince the average Roman that the gods had finally been won over . Fabian strategy . Fabius was well aware of the military superiority of the Carthaginians , and so Fabius refused to meet Hannibal in a pitched battle . Instead he kept his troops close to Hannibal , hoping to exhaust him in a long war of attrition . Fabius was able to harass the Carthaginian foraging parties , limiting Hannibal ' s ability to wreak destruction while conserving his own military force . The delaying tactics involved a pincer of not directly engaging Hannibal while also exercising a " scorched earth " practice to prevent Hannibal ' s forces from obtaining grain and other resources . The Romans were unimpressed with this defensive strategy and at first gave Fabius his epithet Cunctator as an insult . The strategy was in part ruined because of a lack of unity in the command of the Roman army , since Fabius ' Master of the Horse , Minucius , was a political enemy of Fabius . At one point , Fabius was called by the priests to assist with certain sacrifices , and as such , Fabius left the command of the army in the hands of Minucius during his absence . Fabius had told Minucius not to attack Hannibal in his absence , but Minucius disobeyed Fabius and attacked anyway . The attack , though of no strategic value , resulted in the retreat of several enemy units , and so the Roman people , desperate for good news , believed Minucius to be a hero . Upon hearing of this , Fabius became enraged , and as Dictator , he could have ordered Minucius ' execution for his disobedience . One of the Plebeian Tribunes ( chief representatives of the people ) for the year , Metilius , was a partisan of Minucius , and as such he sought to use his power to help Minucius . The Plebeian Tribunes were the only magistrates independent of the Dictator , and so with his protection , Minucius was relatively safe . Plutarch states that Metilius " boldly applied himself to the people in the behalf of Minucius " , and had Minucius granted powers equivalent to those of Fabius . By this , Plutarch probably means that as Plebeian Tribune , Metilius had the Plebeian Council , a popular assembly which only Tribunes could preside over , grant Minucius quasi - dictatorial powers . Fabius did not attempt to fight the promotion of the overly - ambitious Minucius , but rather decided to wait until Minucius ' rashness caused him to run headlong into some disaster . He realized what would happen when Minucius was defeated in battle by Hannibal . Fabius , we are told , reminded Minucius that it was Hannibal , and not he , who was the enemy . Minucius proposed that they share the joint control of the army , with command rotating between the two every other day . Fabius rejected this , and instead let Minucius command half of the army , while he commanded the other half . Minucius openly claimed that Fabius was cowardly because he failed to confront the Carthaginian forces . Near the present - day town of Larino in the Molise ( then called Larinum ) , Hannibal had taken up position in a town called Gerione . In the valley between Larino and Gerione , Minucius decided to make a broad frontal attack on Hannibal ' s troops . Several thousand men were involved on either side . It appeared that the Roman troops were winning , but Hannibal had set a trap . Soon the Roman troops were being slaughtered . Upon seeing the ambush of Minucius ' army , Fabius cried " O Hercules ! how much sooner than I expected , though later than he seemed to desire , hath Minucius destroyed himself ! " Upon ordering his army to join the battle and rescue their fellow Romans , Fabius exclaimed " We must make haste to rescue Minucius , who is a valiant man , and a lover of his country . " Fabius rushed to his co - commander ' s assistance and Hannibal ' s forces immediately retreated . After the battle there was some feeling that there would be conflict between Minucius and Fabius ; however , the younger soldier marched his men to Fabius ' encampment and he is reported to have said , " My father gave me life . Today you saved my life . You are my second father . I recognize your superior abilities as a commander . " It was only after Fabius had saved him from an attack by Hannibal that Minucius placed himself under Fabius ' command . When Fabius ' term as Dictator ended , Consular government was restored , and Gnaeus Servilius Geminus and Marcus Atilius Regulus assumed the Consulship for the remainder of the year . After his dictatorship . Shortly after Fabius had laid down his dictatorship , Gaius Terentius Varro was elected Consul . He rallied the people , through the Roman assemblies , and won their support for his plan to abandon Fabius ' strategy , and engage Hannibal directly . The rashness of Varro did not surprise Fabius , but when Fabius learned of the size of the army ( eighty - eight thousand soldiers ) that Varro had raised , he became quite concerned . Unlike the losses that had been suffered by Minucius , a major loss by Varro had the potential to kill so many soldiers that Rome might have had no further resources with which to continue the war . Fabius had warned the other Consul for the year , Aemilius Paullus , to make sure that Varro remained unable to directly engage Hannibal . According to Plutarch , Paullus replied to Fabius that he feared the votes in Rome more than Hannibal ' s army . When word reached Rome of the disastrous Roman defeat under Varro and Paullus at the Battle of Cannae , the Senate and the People of Rome turned to Fabius for guidance . They had believed his strategy to be flawed before , but now they thought him to be as wise as the gods . He walked the streets of Rome , assured as to eventual Roman victory , in an attempt to comfort his fellow Romans . Without his support , the senate might have remained too frightened to even meet . He placed guards at the gates of the city to stop the frightened Romans from fleeing , and regulated mourning activities . He set times and places for this mourning , and ordered that each family perform such observances within their own private walls , and that the mourning should be complete within a month ; following the completion of these mourning rituals , the entire city was purified of its blood - guilt in the deaths . This decree effectively outlawed competitive outdoor mourning , which could have had a devastating psychological impact upon the survivors . Honors and death . " Cunctator " became an honorific title , and his delaying tactic was followed for the rest of the war . Fabius ' own military success was small , aside from the reconquest of Tarentum in 209 BC . For this victory , Plutarch tells us , he was awarded a second triumph that was even more splendid than was the first . When Marcus Livius Macatus , the governor of Tarentum , claimed the merit of recovering the town , Fabius rejoined , " Certainly , had you not lost it , I would have never retaken it . " After serving as Dictator he served as Consul twice more in 215 BC , 214 BC , and for a fifth time in 209 BC . He was also Chief Augur ( at a very young age ) and Pontifex , but never Pontifex Maximus according to Gaius Stern ( citing Livy on Fabius ) . The holding of seats in the two highest colleges was not repeated until either Julius Caesar or possibly Sulla . In the senate he opposed the young and ambitious Scipio Africanus , who wanted to carry the war to Africa . Fabius continued to argue that confronting Hannibal directly was too dangerous . Scipio planned to take Roman forces to Carthage itself and force Hannibal to return to Africa to defend the city . Scipio was eventually given limited approval , despite continuous opposition from Fabius who blocked levies and restricted Scipio ' s access to troops . Fabius wished to ensure that sufficient forces remained to defend Roman territory if Scipio was defeated . Fabius became gravely ill and died in 203 BC , shortly after Hannibal ' s army left Italy , and before the eventual Roman victory over Hannibal at the Battle of Zama won by Scipio . Legacy . Later , he became a legendary figure and the model of a tough , courageous Roman , and was bestowed the honorific title , " The Shield of Rome " ( similar to Marcus Claudius Marcellus being named the " Sword of Rome " ) . According to Ennius , " unus homo nobis cunctando restituit rem " – " one man , by delaying , restored the state to us . " Virgil , in the Aeneid , has Aeneas ' father Anchises mention Fabius Maximus while in Hades as the greatest of the many great Fabii , quoting the same line . While Hannibal is mentioned in the company of history ' s greatest generals , military professionals have bestowed Fabius ' name on an entire strategic doctrine known as " Fabian strategy " , and George Washington has been called " the American Fabius . " According to its own ancient legend , the Roman princely family Massimo descends from Fabius Maximus .