What if Sempronius (the Consul sent from Sicily during the Second Punic War to aid Scipio against Hannibal) listens to Scipio and and allows his army caution when dealing with Hannibal? How does his invasion of Italy play out?
But would it still be as huge a loss as OTL Trebia was?I'm highly skeptical Scipio was as cautiuous as he is portrayed. Remember, Polybius' patron and close friend was Scipio Aemilianus-it was in his interests to make the Scipio's look like they understood Hannibal and had all the right ideas before anyone else figured him out. Remember also, Scipio died in Africa as a result of being too aggressive and cocky.
Anyway, let's assume Sempronius does use caution-he's still drawn to battle at some point and defeated. The Roman military mindset was far too aggressive in nature for them to hold back. They had to learn from their mistakes, and it took at least 3 massive ones before they started to catch on-even after Cannae they got caught in a few massacres. Sempronius is going to be brought to battle at some point before the year is out, because he wants to win before he has to hand over the consulship to someone else and let them have the glory of defeating the invader. And when he is, he will almost certainly lose.