The Carthaginians continued their march through Etruria, then Umbria to the Adriatic coast; continuing their devastation and plundering of the territory they crossed and the killing of any adult males captured. The Carthaginian soldiers accumulated so much booty they had to cease looting because they could not carry any more. The army then marched south into Apulia, in the hope of winning over some of the ethnic Greek and Italic city states of southern Italy. News of the defeat caused a panic in Rome. Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus was elected dictator and adopted the "Fabian strategy" of avoiding pitched conflict, relying instead on low-level harassment to wear the invader down, until Rome could rebuild its military strength. Next year the Romans elected Lucius Aemilius Paullus and Gaius Terentius Varro as consuls. These more aggressive commanders offered battle to Hannibal, who accepted and won a victory at Cannae which Richard Miles describes as "Rome's greatest military disaster". Subsequently the Carthaginians campaigned in southern Italy for a further 13 years.