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Valerius says, that they had twenty thousand effective men; that twelve thousand of them were killed, the town of Illiturgi taken, and all the adult males put to the sword.
Above twelve thousand were slain in the two battles, more than a thousand made prisoners, and thirty-six military standards captured. In consequence of this they retired from Illiturgi. After this the siege of Bigerra, a city which was also in alliance with the Romans, was commenced by the Carthaginians; but Scipio coming up, raised the siege without experiencing any opposition.
As Spain was undisturbed by a Carthaginian war, so it was evident that some of the states remained quiet more from fear, arising from a consciousness of demerit, than from sincere attachment. The most remarkable of them, both for their greatness and guilt, were Illiturgi and Castulo.
At the time when these supplies arrived, the town of Illiturgi was being besieged by Hasdrubal, Mago, and Hamilcar the son of Bomilcar, on account of its having gone over to the Romans.
The Scipios transferred the theatre of war in the following campaign from the Ebro to the Guadalquivir; and in Andalusia, in the very centre of the proper Carthaginian territory, they achieved at Illiturgi and Intibili two brilliant victories.
Hasdrubal, son of Hamilcar, was encamped at the black stones in Ausetania, a place situated between the towns Illiturgi and Mentissa. The entrance of this defile Nero seized, and Hasdrubal, to prevent his being shut up in it, sent a herald to engage that, if he were allowed to depart thence, he would convey the whole of his army out of Spain.
At the same time, as Marcus Helvius was going home from Farther Spain, with an escort of six thousand men, given him by the praetor, Appius Claudius, the Celtiberians, with a very numerous force, met him near the city of Illiturgi.
The Scipios transferred the theatre of war in the following campaign from the Ebro to the Guadalquivir; and in Andalusia, in the very centre of the proper Carthaginian territory, they achieved at Illiturgi and Intibili two brilliant victories.
It would have been more deserved than expedient to have executed severe vengeance upon these people on his first arrival, while the affairs of Spain were in an uncertain state; but now, when all was tranquil, as the time for visiting them with punishment appeared to have arrived, he summoned Lucius Marcius from Tarraco, and sent him with a third of his forces to attack Castulo, and with the rest of the army he himself reached Illiturgi, after about five days' march.
Castulo, a city of Spain, so strong and celebrated, and so closely connected with the Carthaginians, that Hannibal had taken a wife from it, revolted to the Romans. The Carthaginians commenced the siege of Illiturgi, because there was a Roman garrison in it; and it seemed that they would carry the place, chiefly in consequence of a lack of provisions.
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