It took 14 yrs, the entirety of the state treasury...severl times over, and a crippling percentage of male youth for te Romans to defeat the armies of Hannibal and compel terms of peace from Carthage.
Even then Carthage had to be destroyed in a separate campaign until it was destroyed and the ground sown with salt.
Fight 'em now or fight 'em later we must fight them nonetheless until one of us is destroyed. The last thing we need, though, are back-biting cowards.