+Context.+ In 143 B.C. the Celtiberians (of Middle Spain), encouraged by the successes of the Lusitanians, took up arms once more. Their most important town was Numantia, situated near the sources of the R. Durius (Douro), strongly fortified by nature and by art. Consul after consul failed to take it, until in 134 B.C. Scipio Africanus Minor, the conqueror of Carthage, was sent out to Spain to reduce the stubborn city.
[Linenotes: 2-3. +Sic redacto ... a Scipione.+ ‘Scipio’s first task, when he arrived in Spain, was to accustom the army which he found there, once more to Roman discipline. Luxury and indulgence were rife, and cowardice--the most unroman of all vices--had begun to creep in.’ --Ihne. 7. +lorica+ = _a breastwork_, serving as _a screen_. Usu. = _a cuirass_. 11. +sedit+ = _was decided on_, lit. _settled_. 16. +Macte+ = _a blessing on_ or _hail to thee_. +Mactus+ prob. from √μακ, e.g. in μάκ-αρ = _blessed_, but cf. _mag-nus_. 18. +Asseruit+ = _it protected_. +assero+ (_ad + sero_) = lit. _join-to_.]
+Destruction of Numantia.+ Scipio, of his own accord, razed the town to the ground, and received the added surname of +Numantinus+.
Dixitque tandem perfidus Hannibal: ‘Cervi, luporum praeda rapacium, Sectamur ultro, quos opimus Fallere et effugere est triumphus. 52 Gens, quae cremato fortis ab Ilio Iactata Tuscis aequoribus sacra Natosque maturosque patres Pertulit Ausonias ad urbes, 56 Duris ut ilex tonsa bipennibus Nigrae feraci frondis in Algido, Per damna, per caedes ab ipso Ducit opes animumque ferro 60 Non Hydra secto corpore firmior Vinci dolentem crevit in Herculem, Monstrumve submisere Colchi Maius Echioniaeve Thebae. 64 Merses profundo: pulchrior evenit; Luctere: multa proruet integrum Cum laude victorem geretque Proelia coniugibus loquenda.’ 68
[Linenotes: 51. +ultro+ = _aggressively, needlessly_. --Wickham. 51-52. +opimus triumphus+ = _a rare_ (lit. _rich, noble_) _triumph_. Cf. _spolia opima_. 53-56. ‘This stanza is a _résumé_ of the story of the _Aeneid_.’ --W. 53. +gens+ (sc. +illa+), i.e. the Roman stock. 57-60. ‘The idea of this stanza is that their very calamities only gave them fresh heart and vigour. They rise like the Phoenix from its pyre.’ --W. 58. +frondis+ with +feraci+. Cf. _fertilis frugum_. 59-60. +ab ipso ... ferro+ = _from the very edge of the steel itself, the holm-oak_ (= _the Roman stock_) _draws fresh power and spirit_. 61-62. Cf. the saying of Pyrrhus, recorded by Floras i. 18, ‘I see that I was born under the constellation of Hercules, since so many heads of enemies, that were cut off, arise upon me afresh out of their own blood, as if from the Lernaean serpent.’ 63-64. i.e. of the armed warriors which sprang from the dragon’s teeth sown by Jason at Colchis or by Cadmus at Thebes. 63. +submisere+ = _produced, raised_. 64. +Echioniae Thebae.+ Echion was one of the five survivors of the Σπαρτοί (sown men). He helped Cadmus to found Thebes. 65. +Merses+ (= +si mersaris+) = _plunge it if you will_. +evenit+ = _it emerges (comes forth)_. 66-67. +multa cum laude+ = _amid loud applause_, of a feat in a wrestling match. --W. 68. +coniugibus+ = i. _by Roman wives_ or ii. _by Carthaginian widows_. So Conington, ‘Whose story widow’d wives shall tell.’]