nd in which the cavalry
of the army of the second consul was cut to pieces. Hannibal began his
attempt to detach the Italians from the Roman alliance by releasing his
Italian prisoners to carry word to their cities that he had come to set
them free. Thereupon he marched into Samnium, ravaging the Roman territory
as he went.

The Romans in great consternation chose a dictator, Quintus Fabius
Maximus. Fabius recognized the superiority of Hannibal's generalship and
of the Carthaginian cavalry, and consequently refused to be drawn into a
general engagement. But he followed the enemy closely and continually
threatened an attack, so that Hannibal could not divide his forces for
purposes of raiding and foraging. Still he was able to penetrate into
Campania and thence to recross the mountains into Apulia, where he decided
to establish winter quarters. The strategy of Fabius, which had not
prevented the enemy from securing supplies and devastating wide areas,
grew so irksome to the Romans that they violated all precedent in
appointing Marcus Minucius, the master of the horse and an advocate of
aggressive tactics, as a second dictator. But when the latter risked an
engagement, he was badly beaten and only prompt assistance from Fabius
saved his army from destruction.

*Cannae: 216 B. C.* Next spring found the Romans and Carthaginians facing
each other in Apulia. The Romans were led by the new consuls, Lucius
Aemilius Paulus and Gaius Terentius Varro. The over-confidence of Varro
led to the battle of Cannae, one of the greatest battles of antiquity and
the bloodiest of all Roman defeats. Of 50,000 Romans and allies, about
25,000 were slain and 10,000 captured by the numerically inferior
Carthaginians. The consequences of the battle were serious. For the first
time Rome's allies showed serious signs of disloyalty. In Apulia and in
Bruttium Hannibal found many adherents; ambassadors from Philip of Macedon
appeared at his headquarters, the prelude to an alliance in the next year;
Syracuse also, where Hiero the friend of Rome had just died, wavered and
finally went over to Carthage; and, most serious of all, Capua opened its
gates to Hannibal.

Still the courage of the Romans never wavered. They at once levied a new
force to replace the army destroyed at Cannae. The central Italian allies,
the Greek cities in the south, and the Latins, remained true to their
allegiance, and the fortified towns of the latter proved to be the pillars