early day was appointed for the assembling of the troops. Claudius almost overtook his own letter. On his arrival he called an assembly, that he might represent the conduct of Manlius and Junius; and, staying only three days in Rome, he offered his vows in the Capitol, put on the military habit, and, attended by his lictors, set out to his province with the same rapid speed which he had used in the former journey. 11. A few days before his arrival, Junius and Manlius had laid vigorous siege to the town of Nesatium, in which the principal Istrians, and Epulo their king, had shut themselves up. Claudius, bringing thither the two new legions, dismissed the old army, with its commanders; invested the town himself; and prosecuted the siege with regular works. He by the labour of many days changed the course of, and carried away in a new channel, a river which flowed on the outside of the wall, and greatly impeded the proceedings of the besiegers, while it supplied the Istrians with water. This event, of the water being cut off, terrified the barbarians, as if effected by some supernatural power; yet still they entertained no thoughts of peace, but set about killing their wives and children; exhibiting a spectacle shocking even to their enemies; and, after putting them to death in open view on the walls, tumbled them down. Amid the simultaneous shrieking of women and children, and this horrid carnage, the soldiers, scaling the walls, effected an entrance into the town. As soon as the king heard the uproar of the captured city, from the cries of terror uttered by the flying inhabitants, he plunged his sword into his breast, that he might not be taken alive; the rest were either killed or taken prisoners. After this, two other towns, Mutila and Faveria, were stormed and destroyed. The booty, which exceeded expectation, considering the poverty of the nation, was all given up to the soldiers. Five thousand six hundred and thirty-two persons were sold by auction, and the fomenters of the war were beaten with rods and beheaded. By the destruction of these three towns, and the death of the king, the whole country of Istria was brought to terms of peace; every one of its states, giving hostages, submitted to the dominion of the Romans.