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In reply to these questions Minucius said that neither he nor any one else could possibly divine what the intentions of the Celtiberi were at the time or what they might be in the future. He could not therefore deny that it might be better for an army to be sent even to those of the natives who had been reduced to submission but were not accustomed to our rule. But whether there was need of the old army or of a new one was for him to say who was in a position to know how far the Celtiberi would keep the peace, and who had also definitely ascertained whether the soldiers would take it quietly if they were retained in the province. If their sentiments were to be inferred from what they say to one another, or from their exclamations when their commander addresses them on parade, then it ought to be known that they had openly and loudly declared that they would either keep their general in the province or else go back with him to Italy. This discussion was interrupted by the consuls, who gave it as their opinion that the right and proper course was for their province to be provided for before the question of a praetor's army was raised. A whole new army was decreed for the consuls; two Roman legions for each with their full complement of cavalry and the usual proportion of Latin and allied troops, namely 15,000 infantry and 800 cavalry. With this army they were commissioned to make war on the Apuani in Liguria. P. Cornelius and M. Baebius were ordered to retain their commands until the consuls arrived, then after disbanding their army they were to return to Rome.
