§28.31.1Laelius victor Carteiam revectus auditis, quae acta Gadibus erant, §28.31.2patefactam proditionem coniuratosque missos Carthaginem, spem ad inritum redactam, qua venissent, nuntiis ad L. Marcium missis, nisi i si terere frustra tempus sedendo ad Gades vellent, redeundum ad imperatorem esse, adsentiente Marcio paucos post dies ambo Carthaginem rediere. §28.31.3ad quorum discessum non respiravit modo Mago, cum terra marique ancipiti metu urgeretur, sed etiam audita rebellione Ilergetum spem recuperandae Hispaniae nanctus, §28.31.4nuntios Carthaginem ad senatum mittit, qui simul seditionem civilem in castris Romanis, simul defectionem sociorum in maius verbis extollentes hortarentur, ut auxilia mitterent, quibus traditum a patribus imperium Hispaniae repeti posset.
Laelius, returning as victor to Carteia, having heard what had taken place at Gades— namely, that the treachery had been disclosed, the conspirators sent to Carthage, and the hope for which they had come reduced to nothing—sent messengers to Lucius Marcius to say that, unless they wished to waste time in vain by sitting near Gades, they must return to the general; and with Marcius consenting, a few days later both returned to New Carthage. At their departure, Mago not only breathed a sigh of relief, since he was being hard pressed by a double fear from land and sea, but also, having heard of the rebellion of the Ilergetes, conceived a hope of recovering Hispania, and sent messengers to the senate at Carthage, who, exaggerating in their words both the civil mutiny in the Roman camp and the defection of the allies, were to urge them to send reinforcements, by which the dominion of Hispania handed down by their fathers might be reclaimed.
Mandonius et Indibilis in fines regressi paulisper, §28.31.5dum, quidnam de seditione statueretur, scirent, suspensi quieverunt, si civium errori ignosceretur, non diffidentes sibi quoque ignosci posse. §28.31.6postquam vulgata est atrocitas supplicii, suam quoque noxam pari poena aestimatam rati, §28.31.7vocatis rursus ad arma popularibus contractisque quae ante habuerant auxiliis in Sedetanum agrum, ubi principio defectionis stativa habuerant, cum viginti milibus peditum, duobus milibus equitum et quingentis transcenderunt.
Meanwhile Mandonius and Indibilis, having returned into their own territory, for a little while, remained quiet in suspense, until they should know what indeed was decided concerning the mutiny, not doubting that if the error of the citizens were pardoned, they also might be pardoned. But after the cruelty of the punishment was made known, thinking that their own offense was also estimated at an equal penalty, they again called their countrymen to arms, and having assembled the auxiliary forces they had previously held, crossed over into the Sedetanian territory, where at the beginning of their defection they had had their permanent camp, with twenty thousand infantry and two thousand five hundred cavalry.