In the meantime the praetor, P一Manlius, marched into Turdetania with the army which he had taken over from .Close of the Macedonian War 61 his predecessor Q. 1Vlinucius and, in addition, the force which Appius Claudius Nero had commanded in Further Spain. The Turdetani are considered the least warlike of all the Spanish tribes;nevertheless, trusting to their numbers, they ventured to oppose the Roman armies. A cavalry charge threw them at once into disorder;the infantry encounter -was hardly a contest, the seasoned troops, familiar with the tactics of the enemy, left no doubt as to the issue of the fight. Still, that battle did not end the war. The Turduli hired a force of io,ooo Celtiberian mercenaries and prepared to carry on hostilities with foreign arms. While this. was going on, the consul, seriously perturbed by the rising of the Bergistani, and convinced that all the other tribes would do the same whenever they had the chance, disarmed the whole of the Spanish population on this side of the Ebro. This step aroused such bitter feeling that many of them destroyed themselves, for they were a brave and high-spirited nation, and did not think life worth living without the possession of arms. On this being reported to the consul he surmoned the senators in all the cities to meet him.“It is not," he told them,“more in our interest than in yours that you should abstain from hostilities;hitherto your wars have always involved more suffering for the Spaniards than toil and trouble for the Romans. I know of only one way in which this can be prevented, and that is to put it out of your power to commence hostilities. I am anxious to attain that result with. as little harshness as possible. You must help me in this matter with your advice. I shall adopt no plan more gladly than the one which you vourselves suzzest." As thev remained silent. he said he would give them a tew days for deliberation. After they had been summoned to a second conference, at which they still remained silent, he levelled the walls of all their cities in a single day, and during his advance against those which were still refractory he received the submission of all the cities in each district into which he came. The sole exception was Segestica, and this important and wealthy city he took by storm.