34.20
Small
as the force was which he had with him, the consul captured several towns;
the Sedetani, the Ausetani, and the Suessetani went over to him. The
Lacetani, a remote forest tribe, remained in arms, partly through their native
love of fighting and partly through the fear of retribution from the tribes
friendly to Rome, amongst whom they had made plundering raids whilst the
consul was occupied with the war against the Turdetani. It was for this
reason that the consul brought up to attack them not only his Roman cohorts
but also the troops of the friendly tribes who had their own accounts to settle
with them. Their town was considerably greater in length than in breadth.
The consul halted his men a little less than half a mile from the place.
Leaving some picked cohorts on guard with strict orders not to move from
the spot till he returned to them, he led the rest of his force round to the
further side of the town. His auxiliaries were mostly Suessetani, and he
ordered them to advance up to the walls for the assault. As soon as the
Lacetani recognised their arms and standards and remembered how often
they had raided their fields with impunity and routed and scattered them in
battle they flung open their gates and all in a body rushed upon them. The
Suessetani did not wait for their battle-shout, much less their charge. The
consul expected this, and on seeing what had happened he galloped close
under the enemy's walls back to his cohorts and hurried them up to a part of
the town where all was silence and solitude, as the defenders had gone off in
pursuit of the Suessetani. The whole place passed into his hands before the
Lacetani returned. Finding that they had nothing left them but their arms,
they soon surrendered.
