Sed tota certaminum moles cum Lusitanis fuit et Numantinis. Quippe solis gentium Hispaniae duces contigerunt. Lusitanos Viriathus erexit, vir calliditatis acerrimae. Qui ex venatore latro, ex latrone subito dux atque imperator et, si fortuna {5} cessisset, Hispaniae Romulus, non contentus libertatem suorum defendere, per quattuordecim annos omnia citra ultraque Hiberum et Tagum igni ferroque populatus, castra etiam praetoria et praesidia aggressus Claudium Unimanum paene ad internecionem {10} exercitus cecidit et insignia trabeis et fascibus nostris quae ceperat in montibus suis tropaea fixit. Tandem eum iam Fabius Maximus consul oppresserat; sed a successore Popilio violata victoria est. Quippe qui conficiendae rei cupidus, fractum ducem et extrema {15} deditionis agitantem per fraudem et insidias et domesticos percussores aggressus hanc hosti gloriam dedit ut videretur aliter vinci non posse. FLORUS, II. xvii. 13-17 (sel.). +Context.+ After the defeat of Perseus (168 B.C.) and before the outbreak of the third Punic War (149 B.C.) a suitable opportunity seemed to present itself to Rome for continuing the interrupted conquest of Spain; but ‘for eight long years Viriathus, although a barbarian and of humble origin, defied the armies of Rome, and thereby secured for himself a position in history almost equal to that of Hannibal and Mithridates.’ Ihne. [Linenotes: 1. +cum Lusitanis.+ The Lusitani (S. of the R. Tagus = mod. Portugal, and part of Estremadura and Toledo) were not finally subdued till after the capture of Numantia by Scipio in 133 B.C. 6. +cessisset+ (= _concessisset_) = _had permitted._ 10-12. +Claudium Unimanum ... fixit+, i.e. in 147 B.C. ‘The captured fasces of the lictors were exhibited, with other trophies (e.g. +trabeis+, l. 11), far and wide on the Spanish mountains.’ --Ihne. 13. +Fabius Maximus consul+, i.e. Quintus Fabius Maximus Servilianus, who allowed himself to be decoyed into an ambush 141 B.C., and was compelled to grant an honourable peace, which Rome soon found a pretext for breaking. 17. +percussores+ = _assassins_, lit. _strikers_ (_per + cutio_ = _quatio_). Cf. the fate of Sertorius, 72 B.C.] +The War with Viriathus.+ ‘It was sad and disgraceful for the Roman arms, but in a far higher degree for Roman morals. It sowed, moreover, the seeds of the Numantine War, in which both the warlike ability and the moral virtues of the Roman nation appear more deteriorated than even in the war with Viriathus.’ --Ihne. C51 NUMANTINE WAR, 143-133 B.C. _Destruction of Numantia, 133 B.C._