56. In the same year Aulus Terentius Varro, the proprætor, fought some successful battles with the Celtiberians, not far from the river Iberus, in the territory of Auseta, reducing several towns, which they had fortified in that quarter. The Farther Spain was quiet during the whole year, because Publius Sempronius, the proprætor, was seized with a lingering disorder, and the Lusitanians, when no one attacked them, very opportunely kept quiet. In Liguria nothing extraordinary was performed by Quintus Fabius, the consul. Marcus Marcellus being recalled out of Istria to attend the elections, disbanded his army, and came home to Rome. He elected Cneius Bæbius Tamphilus and Lucius Æmilius Paulus consuls. This latter had been curule ædile, along with Marcus Æmilius Lepidus, from the time of whose consulate this was the fifth year; and this very Lepidus had been made consul after two repulses. Then Quintus Fulvius Flaccus, Marcus Valerius Lævinus, Publius Manlius a second time, Marcus Ogulnius Gallus, Lucius Cæcilius Denter, and Caius Terentius Istra, were elected prætors. Towards the close of the year, a supplication was performed on occasion of prodigies, for people were persuaded that it had rained blood for two days in the court of the temple of Concord; and an account was received, that near the coast of Sicily a new island, which had never been there before, rose out of the sea. Valerius, of Antium, asserts that Hannibal died in this year, and that besides Titus Quintius Flamininus, whose name was celebrated in this business, Lucius Scipio Asiaticus, and Publius Scipio Nasica, were sent ambassadors to Prusias on that occasion. BOOK XL