a battle, he first
led out a number of cohorts, lightly accoutred, in regular order, to
ravage a part of the country which was yet unhurt; then hearing that
all the baggage of the Celtiberians was deposited at Saguntia,
he proceeded thither to attack that town, but was unable,
notwithstanding, to provoke them to stir. Paying, therefore, his own
troops and those of Minucius, he left the bulk of his army in the
praetor's camp, and, with seven cohorts, returned to the Iberus.

20. With that small force he took several towns. The Sidetonians,
Ausetanians, and Suessetanians came over to his side. The Lacetanians,
a remote and wild nation, still remained in arms; partly through their
natural ferocity, and partly through consciousness of guilt, in having
laid waste, by sudden incursions, the country of the allies, while the
consul and his army were employed in the war with the Turditanians.
He therefore marched to attack their capital, not only with the Roman
cohorts, but also with the troops of the allies, who were justly
incensed against them. The town was stretched out into considerable
length, but had not proportionable breadth. At the distance of about
four hundred paces from it he halted, and leaving there a party
composed of chosen cohorts, he charged them not to stir from that spot
until he himself should come to them; and then he led round the rest
of the men to the farther side of the town. The greater part of his
auxiliary troops were Suessetanians, and these he ordered to advance
and assault the wall. The Lacetanians, knowing their arms and
standards, and remembering how often they had themselves, with
impunity, committed every kind of outrage and insult in their
territory, how often defeated and routed them in pitched battles,
hastily threw open a gate, and all, in one body, rushed out against
them. The Suessetanians scarcely stood their shout, much less their
onset; and the consul, on seeing this happen, just as he had foreseen,
galloped back under the enemy's wall to his cohorts, brought them up
quickly to that part of the city where all was silence and solitude,
in consequence of the Lacetanians having sallied out on the
Suessetanians, and took possession of every part of it before the
Lacetanians returned; who, having nothing now left but their arms,
soon surrendered themselves also.

21. The conqueror marched thence, without delay, to the fort of
Vergium. This was, almost entirely, a receptacle of robbers a