Geography

​Although the Celtiberians themselves are divided into four parts, the strongest are the Arvaci, who live mostly toward the east and south, bordering on the Carpetani and the sources of the Tagus; their most famous city is Numantia. They proved their valor in the Celtiberian War against the Romans, which lasted for twenty years; for many armies with their generals were destroyed, and at last the Numantines, when besieged, endured even to starvation, except for a few who surrendered the wall. The Lusones also are toward the east, and they too border on the sources of the Tagus . Among the cities of the Arvaci are also Segeda and Pallantia. Numantia is distant from Caesaraugusta, which we said was situated on the Hebrus, about eight hundred stadia. Segobriga also is a city of the Celtiberians, as is Bilbilis, about which Metellus and Sertorius fought. Polybius, in detailing the tribes and territories of the Vaccaei and Celtiberians, lists Segesama and Intercatia in addition to the other cities. Posidonius says that Marcus Marcellus exacted a tribute of six hundred talents from Celtiberia, from which it can be inferred that the Celtiberians were both numerous and wealthy in resources, although they inhabited a very poor country. And when Polybius says that Tiberius Gracchus destroyed three hundred of their cities, he (Posidonius) says in mockery that the man did this to flatter Gracchus, calling towers cities, just as in triumphal processions. And perhaps he does not speak what is incredible; for both generals and historians are easily led to this falsehood to embellish their deeds, since those who claim that there were more than a thousand cities of the Iberians seem to me to be led to this, calling large villages cities. For neither is the nature of the country capable of receiving many cities because of its poverty, or because of its remoteness and wildness, nor do their lives and deeds (except for those along our coast) suggest any such thing; for those who live in villages are wild, and such are the majority of the Iberians; and even the cities themselves do not easily civilize when there is a predominance of those who inhabit the forests to the detriment of their neighbors.

​After the Celtiberians to the south are the Edetani, who inhabit the mountain Orospeda and the country about the Sucro, as far as Carthage, and the Bastetani and Oretani, almost as far as Malaca.

​The Iberians were all, so to speak, targeteers (peltasts) and light in their armor on account of their robber life, of the kind we said the Lusitanians were, using a javelin, a sling, and a dagger. And with the infantry forces there was also mixed cavalry, the horses being trained to climb mountains and to kneel down easily at a command whenever there was need of this. Iberia produces many gazelles and wild horses. In some places also the lakes abound in birds. There are swans and similar birds, and also many bustards. The rivers produce beavers, but the castor (castoreum) does not have the same efficacy as the Pontic; for the Pontic has a unique medicinal quality, just as many other things have. Since, as Posidonius says, only Cyprian copper produces the cadmean stone, chalcanthum, and spodium. Posidonius also mentions as peculiar to Iberia that the crows are black, and that the horses of the Celtiberians, which are grayish, change their color when they are transferred to outer Iberia. He says they resemble the Parthian horses; for they are swift and run better than the others.