Gaius Terentius Varro was a Consul of the Roman Republic in 216 BC and a Roman general during the Second Punic War, best known for his decisive defeat at the Battle of Cannae.
Biography[]
Gaius Terentius Varro was a member of a plebeian family, the son of a butcher. He became a magistrate known for prosecuting those of higher status, rising to the rank of quaestor and then aedile, and becoming known as a populist politician of the Roman Republic. He served in the Illyrian Wars and in Sardinia as praetor in 218 BC, and, in 217 BC, he was one of few senators who supported appointing Marcus Minucius Rufus to the dictatorship amid the Second Punic War. In 216 BC, he became a consul and led an army to confront the Carthaginian general Hannibal, resulting in the Battle of Cannae. Varro's army was destroyed, and many senators killed in the process. He was prorogued several times to resume army command in southern and central Italy, and he suppressed Etruscan unrest in Arretium (Arezzo) in 207 BC. In 200 BC, he was sent to Carthage as an ambassador, demanding the cessation of Carthaginian operations in Gaul and the repatriation of Roman deserters; he also brought gifts to the allied ruler Masinissa. By 197 BC, he served as minter of coins.