25 2 Augustus was planning an expedition into Britain, since the people there would not come to terms, but he was detained by the revolt of the Salassi and by the hostility of the Cantabri and Astures. The former dwell at the foot of the Alps, as I have stated, whereas both the other tribes occupy the strongest part of the Pyrenees on the side of Spain, together with the plain which lies below. 3 For these reasons Augustus, who was now consul for the ninth time, with Marcus Silanus as colleague, sent Terentius Varro against the Salassi. Varro invaded their country at many points at the same time, in order that they might not join forces and so be more difficult to subdue; and he conquered them very easily, inasmuch as they attacked his divisions only in small groups. 4 After forcing them to come to terms he demanded a stated sum of money, as if he were going to impose no other punishment; then, sending soldiers everywhere ostensibly to collect the money, he arrested those who were of military age and sold them, on the understanding that none of them should be liberated within twenty years. 5 The best of their land was given to some of the Pretorians, and later on received the city called Augusta Praetoria. Augustus himself waged war upon the Astures and upon the Cantabri at one and the same time. But these peoples would neither yield to him, because they were confident on account of their strongholds, 6 nor would they come to close quarters, owing to their inferior numbers and the circumstance that most of them were javelin-throwers, and, besides, they kept causing him a great deal of annoyance, always forestalling him by seizing the higher ground whenever a manoeuvre was attempted, and lying in ambush for him in the valleys and woods. 7 Accordingly Augustus found himself in very great embarrassment, and having fallen ill from over-exertion and anxiety, he retired to Tarraco and there remained in poor health. Meanwhile Gaius Antistius fought against them and accomplished a good deal, not because he was a better general than Augustus, 8 but because the barbarians felt contempt for him and so joined battle with the Romans and were defeated. In this way he captured a few places, and afterwards Titus Carisius took Lancia, the principal fortress of the Astures, after it had been abandoned, and also won over many other places.
26 1 Upon the conclusion of this war Augustus discharged the more aged of his soldiers and allowed them to found a city in Lusitania, called Augusta Emerita. For those who were still of military age he arranged some exhibitions in the very camps, under the direction of Tiberius and Marcellus, since they were aediles. 2 To Juba he gave portions of Gaetulia in return for the prince's hereditary domain, the most of whose inhabitants had been enrolled in the Roman state, and also the possessions of Bocchus and Bogud. 3 On the death of Amyntas he did not entrust his kingdom to the sons of the deceased, but made it a part of the subject territory. Thus Galatia together with Lycaonia obtained a Roman governor, and the portions of Pamphylia formerly assigned to Amyntas were restored to their own district. 4 About this same time Marcus Vinicius took vengeance upon some of the Germans because they had arrested and slain Romans who entered their country to trade with them; and thus he, too, caused the title of imperator to be bestowed upon Augustus. 5 For this and his other exploits of this period a triumph, as well as the title, was voted to Augustus; but as he did not care to celebrate it, a triumphal arch was erected in the Alps in his honour and he was granted the right always to wear both the crown and the triumphal garb on the first day of the year.
After these achievements in the wars Augustus closed the precinct of Janus, which had been opened because of these wars.
Cassisus Dio
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Florus describes the Cantabrian War:
XXXIII. The War against the Cantabrians and Asturians
(IIII, 12) 46 In the west almost all Spain had been subjugated, except that part which adjoins the cliffs where the Pyrenees end and is washed by the nearer waters of the Ocean.1 Here two powerful nations, the Cantabrians and the Asturians, lived in freedom from the rule of Rome. 47 The Cantabrians rose first and were more energetic and obstinate in their rebellion; not content with defending their liberty, they tried also to dominate their neighbours and harassed the Vaccaei, the Turmogi and the Autrigones by frequent raids. 48 The news of their unusual activity induced Caesar himself to undertake an expedition instead of entrusting it to another. He came personally to Segisama, where he pitched his camp, and then, dividing his army into three parts, enveloped the whole of Cantabria and enclosed its fierce people like wild beasts in a net. 49 Nor did he give them any peace on the side of the Ocean; for they were also assailed in the rear by the attacks of his fleet. The first battle against the Cantabrians was fought under the walls of Bergida. From here they fled to the lofty peak of Mount Vindius, to which they had thought the Roman army was less likely to ascend than the waters of the Ocean. 50 Next the town of Aracelium offered a stout resistance, but was eventually taken. The last incident was the siege of Mount Medullus. When it had been surrounded by a continuous earthwork extending over eighteen miles and the Romans were closing in upon it on every side, the barbarians, seeing that their last hour had come, vied with one another in hastening on their own deaths in the midst of a banquet by fire and the sword and a poison which is there commonly extracted from the yew-tree. Thus most of them saved themselves from a captivity which was deemed more grievous than death itself by men who had hitherto never been conquered. 51 Caesar received the news of these operations, which were carried out by Antistius and Furnius, his lieutenant-generals, and Agrippa, while he was wintering on the coast at Tarraco [See Tacitus Geographical Index.]. 52 Himself arriving quickly on the scene, he brought some of the inhabitants down from the mountains, secured the fidelity of others by taking hostages, and sold others, by right of conquest, into slavery. 53 His success was considered by the senate to be worthy of a laurel crown and a triumphal chariot; but Caesar was so mighty that he despised any glory that a triumph could bestow. 54 The Asturians meanwhile had come down from the snow-clad mountains in a vast host. This attack seems not to have been undertaken without consideration by the barbarians; but they pitched their camp at the river Astura and, dividing their forces into three parts, prepared a simultaneous attack on the three camps of the Romans. 55 With such brave enemies attacking suddenly and with so well-conceived a plan the struggle would have been doubtful and bloody - and I would I could think that the losses on both sides would have been equal - 56 had not the Brigaecini acted as traitors and had not Carisius arrived with his army as a result of their warnings. To have frustrated the enemy's designs meant victory, though, even so, the struggle was a bloody one. 57 The well-fortified city of Lancea opened its gates to the remains of the defeated army; here such efforts were needed to counteract the natural advantage of the place, that when firebrands were demanded to burn the captured city, it was only with difficulty that the general won mercy for it from the soldiers, 58 on the plea that it would form a better monument of the Roman victory if it were left standing than if it were burnt.
59 This was the end of Augustus' campaigns as well as of the rebellion in Spain. After this we were able to rely on the loyalty of the Spaniards, and uninterrupted peace ensued as a result both of their natural disposition for the arts of peace and also of the wise measures taken by Caesar, who, dreading the confidence inspired by the mountains into which they were wont to retire, ordered them to occupy and cultivate the district in the plain where his camp had been; 60 he urged that the council of the nation should be held there and the place regarded as the capital. The natural advantages of the place favoured his plan; for the whole district bears gold and is rich in chrysocolla, vermilion and other pigments; he, therefore, ordered that the soil should be tilled. Thus the Astures, digging deep into the ground in search of riches for others, gained their first knowledge of their own resources and wealth.
Florus [Loeb, 1929]
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Orosius Book 6
21. In the seven hundred and twenty-sixth year of the City, when the emperor Augustus Caesar was consul for the sixth time and M. Agrippa for the second time, Caesar, realizing how little had been accomplished in Spain in the course of two hundred years, since he permitted the Cantabri and Astures, the two bravest peoples of Spain, to enjoy their own laws, opened the gates of Janus and in person set out with an army for the Spanish provinces. The land of the Cantabri and Astures is part of the province of Gallaecia, where the extended range of the Pyrenees terminates in the north not far from the second ocean. These tribes, who not only were ready to defend their own freedom but also dared to take away the liberty of their neighbors, were ravaging the Vaccaei, Turmogidi, and Autrigones by incessant raids.
Caesar then pitched his camp near Segisama and invested almost all of Cantabria with three armies. After his army had long wearied itself without accomplishing anything and had often exposed itself to danger, Caesar finally ordered a fleet to be brought from the Gulf of Aquitania through the Ocean, and the troops to be disembarked while the enemy were off their guard. The Cantabri finally fought a mighty battle under the walls of Attica; when defeated they took refuge on Mount Vinnius, which was a natural fortress. They were there reduced to desperate straits by the hunger brought on by the siege. Next, the town of Racilium was captured and destroyed, though for a long time it offered strong resistance. The legates Antistius and Firmius fought many severe battles and subdued the further parts of Gallaecia, which are wooded and mountainous and which border on the Ocean. By means of a ditch fifteen miles long they also surrounded and besieged Mount Medullius, which towered above the Minius River;on this mountain a large number of the enemy had taken refuge. When this group of men, by nature wild and fierce, realized that they were neither able to withstand a siege nor strong enough to fight it out, they agreed to take their own lives because of their fear of slavery. Almost all unhesitatingly killed themselves by fire, sword, or poison.
The Astures, who had pitched camp near the Astura River, would have overpowered the Romans by the soundness of their strategy and the strength of their forces had they not been betrayed and forestalled. Their sudden attempt to overwhelm the three legates, whose legions were divided into equal columns, became known in time when their own men disclosed the plan. Later when they had withdrawn from the war, they were overcome in battle by Carisius, but not without causing the Romans to suffer heavy losses. Some of the Astures escaped from the battle and fled to Lancia. As the soldiers were preparing to attack the invested city with fire, the general Carisius not only persuaded his own men to desist from using fire but also prevailed upon the barbarians voluntarily to surrender. As a testimonial of his victory, he strove hard to leave the city intact and uninjured. Caesar carried away this reward from his Cantabrian victory: he could now order the gates of war to be barred fast. Thus for a second time in these days, through Caesar's efforts, Janus was closed; this was the fourth time that this had happened since the founding of the City.
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