13.81
Here they were overtaken by Cinna and Caecilius, messengers from Rome, who said that the Senate was at a loss to know why, after so many disasters had befallen them in Spain, Aemilius should be seeking a new war, and they placed in his hands a decree warning him not to attack the Vaccaei. But he, having actually begun the war, considered that the Senate was ignorant of that, and of the fact that Brutus was coöperating with him, and that the Vaccaei had aided the Numantines with provisions, money, and men. Accordingly he made answer that it would be dangerous to abandon the war, since nearly all Spain would rebel if they should imagine that the Romans were afraid. He sent Cinna’s party home without having accomplished their errand, and he wrote in this sense to the Senate. After this he began, in a fortified place, to construct engines and collect provisions. While he was thus engaged, Flaccus, who had been sent out on a foraging expedition, found himself in an ambuscade but he saved himself by a trick. He cunningly spread a rumor among his men that Aemilius had captured Pallantia. The soldiers raised a shout of victory. The barbarians, hearing it and thinking that the report was true, withdrew. In this B.C.136 way Flaccus rescued his convoy from danger.
