…Military Superstar
"DURING THE period of Rome's early expansion across the Italian peninsula, the Roman general Quintus Fabius Maximus Rullianus fought and won possibly more than 35 engagements between 322 and 291 BC. This record would not be broken by any other Roman until Pompey and Caesar 250 years later.
Fabius smashed the armies of numerous rival peoples, including Samnites, Gauls, Etruscans, Umbrians and Apulians. Although little known in the present day, as late as the fourth century AD, Roman historians still praised Fabius as one of their most accomplished commanders.
Let us look at the career of this early Roman Imperator.
Fabius did not begin his career in a quiet fashion. In 328 BC an epidemic raged in Rome. According to the Roman historian Livy, Fabius, then serving as curule aedile (a type of junior magistrate), accused Rome's aristocratic women of poisoning the leading men of the city (Livy 8.18).
Fabius' scapegoating led to the conviction of 170 women and reflects the deep-seated distrust that male Roman elites had for women. Although a tragedy, many Roman men would have seen Fabius as a hero and it launched his reputation as a public figure.
Fabius' military career began during the early years of the Second Samnite War (324-303), which was fought against the Samnites, a powerful coalition of Oscan-speaking tribes located in the highlands of central-southern Italy…"
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ponders nirvana.