A most interesting and important Roman General...that much I'll say.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fabius_Maximus

Questions which the interested reader will find helpful in seeing his relevance to 'now'.. are the following:

1/ What high political office was he appointed to during the punic wars?
2/ How had the Roman legions performed up till that time of his appointment against the forces of Carthage (Hannibal) ?

Think (not in order but tactics)

-Battle of Cannae http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Cannae
-Battle of Trasimine http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Roman_battles#2nd_century_BC
-Battle of Silarus http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Silarus

The issue clearly became "how can Rome defeat Hannibal"?

One thing was certain..."not in open combat"

So.... next question (and the most important for this thread) is:

3/ WHAT strategy did Fabius Maximus adopt to defeat Carthage and Hannibal?

4/ DID...it work?

5/ Can anyone see relevance for our current political direction?

6/ Can anyone identify major players in our political game who have embraced Fabius Maximus' strategy ?
7/ Where might those players be trying to take us as a culture and nation ?

You draw an interesting parallel here. I think, most of all, that it shows how unimaginative we can be when it comes to war. It appears that it has always been that way and, as current events in Afghanistan show, we still are.

[Deleted because of profanity.]

Hi Raw and Oto
I'm trying to draw out the 'method' used by Fabius in warfare against a militarily superior foe :)

This thread is but one of a number I intend to raise, which will develop into something which goes right to the top of Aussie politics and encompasses the world as a matter of fact.

I can't reveal too much at this stage as I'd rather people see it for themselves. You know..'bottom up' rather than top down :)

Raw, you say something clicked...then you mention a pestilence..but which one ?

Oto.. it has nothing to do with Afghanistan FYI. Although..... the strategy employed by Fabius 'could' be applied there to a degree.
If anything, the Taliban are employing his strategy already.

Think "The inevitability of gradualness"

I invite Pelican and Son of Gloin, Ludwig, Oliver, and any other fairly rational poster to participate here.. it will prove most enticing as time passes :) Pericles 'marks' have improved as a result of his fairly rational approach to Grateful so he is also welcome.

At the risk of anticipating the direction of your argument, would the Fabian Society have any relevance here?

I kinda like Plutarch's analysis, myself.

http://classics.mit.edu/Plutarch/fabius_p.html

"I do not find that Fabius won any set battle but that against the Ligurians, for which he had his triumph; whereas Pericles erected nine trophies for as many victories obtained by land and by sea."

Although he does go on to say...

"But no action of Pericles can be compared to that memorable rescue of Minucius, when Fabius redeemed both him and his army from utter destruction; a noble act combining the highest valour, wisdom, and humanity."

He's nothing if not even-handed, this Plutarch.

"On the other side, it does not appear that Pericles was ever so overreached as Fabius was by Hannibal with his flaming oxen. His enemy there had, without his agency, put himself accidentally into his power, yet Fabius let him slip in the night, and, when day came, was worsted by him, was anticipated in the moment of success, and mastered by his prisoner. If it is the part of a good general, not only to provide for the present, but also to have a clear foresight of things to come, in this point Pericles is the superior"

I'm enjoying this.

"Pericles, meantime, no man had ever greater opportunities to enrich himself, having had presents offered him from so many kings and princes and allies, yet no man was ever more free from corruption. And for the beauty and magnificence of temples and public edifices with which he adorned his country, it must be confessed, that all the ornaments and structures of Rome, to the time of the Caesars, had nothing to compare, either in greatness of design or of expense, with the lustre of those which Pericles only erected at Athens."

Good ol' Plutarch. Such a great historian. Thanks Boaz.

Although I am pretty sure you had some other "lesson" for us when opening this thread.

And I'm probably not alone when I shuddered slightly when I read this...

>>This thread is but one of a number I intend to raise...<<

Oh dear.