40.39
As his
successor was somewhat late in reaching Spain, Fulvius Flaccus led out his
army from winter quarters and began to devastate the more distant parts of
Celtiberia, where the inhabitants had not come in to surrender. By this action
he irritated the natives more than he intimidated them, and secretly collecting
a force they beset the Manlian Pass, through which they were tolerably
certain that the Romans would march. Gracchus had instructed his
colleague, L. Postumius Albinus, who was on his way to Further Spain, to
inform Q. Fulvius that he was to bring his army to Tarraco, where he
intended to disband the old soldiers, incorporate the reinforcements into the
various corps and reorganise the whole army. Fulvius was also informed of
the date of his successor's arrival which was close at hand. This information
compelled Flaccus to abandon his projected operations and withdraw his
army hastily from Celtiberia. The barbarians, ignorant of the true reason, and
imagining that he had become aware of their rising and secret gathering in
arms and was afraid of them, invested the pass all the more closely. When
the Roman column entered the pass, the enemy rushed down upon it from
both sides. As soon as Flaccus saw this, he allayed the first symptoms of
tumult in the column by giving the order through the centurions for every
man to stand where he was and get his weapons ready. The packs of the
baggage animals were piled up in one place, and partly by his own exertions,
partly through his officers, he got the whole force into such fighting order as
the time and place required. He reminded his men that they had to deal with
those who had twice made their submission and who were impelled by
treachery, not by true courage. His soldiers, he told them, would have
returned home without distinguishing themselves; the enemy had given them
the chance of a glorious and memorable homecoming. They would carry in
triumph through Rome swords reddened with the slaughter of their foes and
spoils dripping with their blood. Time did not allow him to say more; the
enemy were upon them and fighting was already begun at the outermost
points. Then the two lines closed.
