28.19
Spain
was now quiet as far as war with Carthage was concerned, but it was quite
evident that some communities conscious of wrong-doing were kept quiet
more by their fears than by any feeling of loyalty to Rome. Amongst these
Iliturgi and Castulo were foremost in importance and foremost in guilt. As
long as Roman arms were successful Castulo remained true to her alliance;
after the Scipios and their armies were destroyed they revolted to Carthage.
Iliturgi had gone further, for the inhabitants had betrayed and put to death
those who had sought refuge with them after those disasters, thus
aggravating their treason by crime. To take action against these cities
immediately on his arrival in Spain, whilst the issue was still undecided,
might have been justifiable but hardly wise. Now, however, that matters
were settled, it was felt that the hour of punishment had arrived. Scipio sent
orders to L. Marcius to take a third part of his force to Castulo and at once
invest the place, and with the remainder he himself marched to Iliturgi where
he arrived after a five days' march. The gates were closed and every
preparation had been made to repel an assault; the townsmen were quite
conscious of the punishment they deserved, and any formal declaration of
war was, therefore, unnecessary. Scipio made this the subject of his address
to his soldiers. "The Spaniards," he said, "by closing their gates have shown
how well they deserve the punishment which they fear. We must treat them
with much greater severity than we treated the Carthaginians; with the latter
we contend for glory and dominion, with hardly any feeling of anger, but
from the former we have to exact the penalty for cruelty, treachery and
murder. The time has come for you to avenge the atrocious massacre of your
fellow-soldiers and the treachery meditated against yourselves had you been
carried there in your flight. You will make it clear for all time by this awful
example that no one must ever consider a Roman citizen or a Roman soldier
a fit subject for ill-treatment, whatever his condition may be."
Roused by their general's words the men began to prepare for the
assault, storming parties were picked out of all the maniples and supplied
with ladders, and the army was formed into two divisions, one being placed
under the command of Laelius, so that the town might be attacked from
opposite sides and a twofold terror created. The defenders were stimulated
to a determined and prolonged resistance not by their general or their chiefs
but by the fear which came from a consciousness of guilt. With their past
crime in mind they warned each other that the enemy was seeking not
victory so much as vengeance. The question was not how to escape from
death but where to meet it, whether, sword in hand, on the battlefield where
the fortune of war often raises up the vanquished and flings the victor to the
ground, or amidst the ashes of their city before the eyes of their captive
wives and children after being torn with the lash and subjected to shameful
and horrible tortures. With this prospect before them every man who could
carry arms took his part in the fighting, and even the women and children
working beyond their strength supplied missiles to the combatants, and
carried stones up to the walls for those who were strengthening the
defences. Not only was their liberty at stake -that motive only inspires the
brave -but they had before their eyes the very extremity of torture and a
shameful death. As they looked at each other and saw that each was trying
to outdo all the rest in toil and danger, their courage was fired, and they
offered such a furious resistance that the army which had conquered Spain
was again and again repulsed from the walls of one solitary city, and fell
back in confusion after a contest which brought it no honour. Scipio was
afraid that the futile efforts of his troops might raise the enemies' courage
and depress his own men, and he decided to take his part in the fighting and
his share of the danger. Reproaching his soldiers for their cowardice he
ordered the ladders to be brought up and threatened to mount himself if the
rest hung back. He had already reached the foot of the wall and was in
imminent danger when shouts arose on all sides from the soldiers who were
anxious for their commander's safety, and the ladders were at once planted
against the wall. Laelius now delivered his attack from the other side of the
town. This broke the back of the resistance; the walls were cleared of their
defenders and seized by the Romans, and in the tumult the citadel also was
captured on that side where it was considered impregnable.