Kitap 37
46
These triumphal rejoicings were marred by gloomy news from Spain. Six thousand men of the Roman army, under the command of the proconsul L. Aemilius, had fallen in an unsuccessful battle against the Lusitanians near the town of Lyco; the survivors fled to their camp, which they had difficulty in defending, and finally retreated by forced marches, as though fleeing from the enemy, into friendly territory. Such was the report received from Spain. A deputation arrived from Placentia and Cremona in Gaul, and were introduced to the senate by L. Aurunculeius. They complained of the scarcity of men; some had been carried off by the casualties of war, others by illness, and some had left owing to the annoyance from the Gauls in their neighbourhood. The senate decreed that the consul C. Laelius should, if he approved, draw up a list of 6000 families to be distributed between the two colonies, and L. Aurunculeius was to nominate the commissioners for settling the new colonists. Those nominated were M. Atilius Serranus, L. Valerius, P. F. Flaccus, L. Valerius and C. F. Tappo.
