down Hannibal a century previously. The trick was not so much to win victories as to avoid defeat. Rome had an empire and could draw on it for money and manpower and if necessary simply outlast the Italians. This technique had worked with Hannibal, and it would work on the Italians, since after all the Italians that Rome was now fighting were pretty much the same Italians who had allied with Hannibal in that previous conflict. However, in order to wear down the Italians in the long term, Rome had to survive for the short term – and that was to prove none too easy.
