§28.19.1Hispaniae sicut a bello Punico quietae erant, ita quasdam civitates propter conscientiam culpae metu magis quam fide quietas esse apparebat, quarum maxume insignes et magnitudine et noxa Iliturgi et Castulo erant. §28.19.2Castulo cum prosperis rebus socii fuissent, post caesos cum exercitibus Scipiones defecerat ad Poenos; Iliturgitani prodendis, qui ex illa clade ad eos perfugerant, interficiendisque scelus etiam defectioni addiderant. §28.19.3in eos populos primo adventu, cum dubiae Hispaniae essent, merito magis quam utiliter saevitum foret; §28.19.4tunc iam tranquillis rebus quia tempus expetendae poenae videbatur venisse, accitum ab Tarracone L. Marcium cum tertia parte copiarum ad Castulonem oppugnandum mittit; ipse cum cetero exercitu quintis fere ad Iliturgin castris pervenit. §28.19.5clausae erant portae omniaque instructa et parata ad oppugnationem arcendam; adeo conscientia, quid se meritos scirent, pro indicto eis bello fuerat.
Although the Spains were quiet from the Carthaginian war, it was clear that certain cities were quiet more out of fear than loyalty because of the consciousness of their guilt, of which the most prominent both in size and in crime were Iliturgi and Castulo. Castulo, though they had been allies in times of prosperity, had defected to the Carthaginians after the Scipios were slain along with their armies; the people of Iliturgi had added even a crime to their defection by betraying and putting to death those who had fled to them from that disaster. Against these peoples, at Scipio's first arrival, when the Spains were wavering, punishment would have been inflicted more deservedly than usefully; but then, since affairs were now tranquil and the time for seeking punishment seemed to have come, he summoned L. Marcius from Tarraco and sent him with a third part of the forces to besiege Castulo; he himself with the rest of the army arrived at Iliturgi on about the fifth day of march. The gates were closed and everything was drawn up and prepared to repel the siege; so much had the consciousness of what they knew they deserved served as a declared war for them.
hinc et hortari milites Scipio orsus est: §28.19.6ipsos claudendo portas indicasse Hispanos, quid ut timerent meriti essent.
From this Scipio also began to encourage his soldiers: that the Spaniards themselves, by closing their gates, had indicated what they had deserved to fear.
itaque multo infestioribus animis cum eis quam cum Carthaginiensibus bellum gerendum esse; §28.19.7quippe cum illis prope sine ira de imperio et gloria certari, ab his perfidiae et crudelitatis et sceleris poenas expetendas esse. §28.19.8venisse tempus, quo et nefandam commilitonum necem et in semet ipsos, si eodem fuga delati forent, instructam fraudem ulciscerentur, et in omne tempus gravi documento sancirent, ne quis umquam Romanum civem militemve in ulla fortuna opportunum iniuriae duceret. §28.19.9ab hac cohortatione ducis incitati scalas electis per manipulos viris dividunt; partitoque exercitu ita, ut parti alteri Laelius praeesset legatus, duobus simul locis ancipiti terrore urbem adgrediuntur. §28.19.10non dux unus aut plures principes oppidanos, sed suus ipsorum ex conscientia culpae metus ad defendendam inpigre urbem hortatur; et meminerant §28.19.11et admonebant alii alios supplicium ex se, non victoriam peti; ubi quisque mortem oppeteret, id referre, utrum in pugna et in acie, ubi Mars communis et victum saepe erigeret et adfligeret victorem, §28.19.12an postmodo, cremata et diruta urbe, ante ora captarum coniugum liberorumque, inter verbera et vincula, omnia foeda atque indigna passi exspirarent. §28.19.13igitur non militaris modo aetas aut viri tantum sed feminae puerique supra animi corporisque vires adsunt, propugnantibus tela ministrant, saxa in muros munientibus gerunt. §28.19.14non libertas solum agebatur, quae virorum fortium tantum pectora acuit, sed ultima omnium supplicia et foeda mors ob oculos erat.
Therefore, war must be waged against them with much more hostile minds than against the Carthaginians; for with the former, the contest for empire and glory was waged almost without anger, whereas from the latter, punishment for treachery, cruelty, and crime must be exacted. The time had come to avenge both the heinous murder of their fellow soldiers and the treachery prepared against themselves, had they been carried to the same place in flight, and to establish for all time by a severe example that no one should ever consider a Roman citizen or soldier a fit object for injury in any fortune. Incited by this encouragement of their general, they distributed the scaling ladders to men selected throughout the maniples; and having divided the army in such a way that Laelius, the legate, commanded the other part, they attacked the city in two places at once with a double terror. It was not a single leader or several chiefs who urged the townsmen to defend the city energetically, but their own fear arising from the consciousness of guilt; and they remembered and warned one another that punishment, not victory, was being sought from them; that when each met death, it mattered whether it was in battle and in the line of march, where Mars, common to both sides, often raised the vanquished and cast down the victor, or afterwards, when the city was burned and destroyed, before the eyes of their captive wives and children, amid scourgings and chains, having suffered all shameful and unworthy things, they should draw their last breath. Therefore, not only those of military age or men alone, but women and children also, beyond the strength of their minds and bodies, were present, supplying weapons to those fighting and carrying stones to those defending the walls. It was not liberty alone that was at stake—which sharpens the hearts of brave men only—but the ultimate punishment of all and a horrible death were before their eyes.
accendebantur animi et certamine laboris ac periculi atque ipso inter se conspectu. §28.19.15itaque tanto ardore certamen initum est, ut domitor ille totius Hispaniae exercitus ab unius oppidi iuventute saepe repulsus a muris haud satis decoro proelio trepidarit. §28.19.16id ubi vidit Scipio, veritus, ne vanis tot conatibus suorum et hostibus cresceret animus et segnior miles fieret, sibimet conandum ac partem periculi capessendam esse ratus, increpita ignavia militum ferri scalas iubet et se ipsum, si ceteri cunctentur, escensurum minatur. §28.19.17iam subierat haud mediocri periculo moenia cum clamor undique ab sollicitis vicem imperatoris militibus sublatus scalaeque multis simul partibus erigi coeptae;
Their minds were inflamed both by the rivalry of labor and danger, and by the very sight of one another. Thus the contest was begun with such ardor that that army, the conqueror of all Spain, was repeatedly repulsed from the walls by the youth of a single town and trembled in a battle that was hardly honorable. When Scipio saw this, fearing lest by so many fruitless attempts of his men the courage of the enemy might grow and his own soldiers become more sluggish, thinking that he must try for himself and take his share of the danger, he rebuked the cowardice of the soldiers, ordered the ladders to be brought, and threatened that he himself would scale the walls if the others hesitated. Already he had approached the walls at no small risk, when a shout was raised from all sides by the soldiers anxious on the general's account and scaling ladders began to be raised in many places at once; and on the other side, Laelius pressed on.
§28.19.18et ex altera parte Laelius institit. tum victa oppidanorum vis, deiectisque propugnatoribus occupantur muri; arx etiam ab ea parte, qua inexpugnabilis videbatur, inter tumultum capta est.
Then the force of the townsmen was overcome, and the defenders being cast down, the walls were occupied; even the citadel was captured during the tumult on that side where it seemed impregnable.