But in reality Hannibal had completely attained in this campaign all that arms could attain: not a single material operation had been frustrated either by his impetuous or by his deliberate opponent; and his foraging, though not unattended with difficulty, had yet been in the main so successful that the army passed the winter without complaint in the camp at Gerunium.

It was not the Cunctator that saved Rome, but the compact structure of its confederacy and, not less perhaps, the national hatred with which the Phoenician hero was regarded on the part of Occidentals.
New War-like Preparations in Rome Paullus and Varro Despite all its misfortunes, Roman pride stood no less unshaken than the Roman symmachy.

The donations which were offered by king Hiero of Syracuse and the Greek cities in Italy for the next campaign--the war affected the latter less severely than the other Italian allies of Rome, for they sent no contingents to the land army--were declined with thanks; the chieftains of Illyria were informed that they could not be allowed to neglect payment of their tribute; and even the king of Macedonia was once more summoned to surrender Demetrius of Pharos.

The majority of the senate, notwithstanding the semblance of legitimation which recent events had given to the Fabian system of delay, had firmly resolved to depart from a mode of war that was slowly but certainly ruining the state; if the popular dictator had failed in his more energetic method of warfare, they laid the blame of the failure, and not without reason, on the fact that they had adopted a half-measure and had given him too few troops.

This error they determined to avoid and to equip an army, such as Rome had never sent out before--eight legions, each raised a fifth above the normal strength, and a corresponding number of allies--enough to crush an opponent who was not half so strong.