3 – Rome Finally Gains a Foothold
Once again, it was the turn of Scipio Aemilianus to come to Rome’s rescue. He had previously commanded the Roman army with distinction and played a pivotal role in the victory over Carthage in the Third Punic War. The people elected him to the role of consul in 135 BC, and he was tasked with finally ending the carnage in Numantia. As was the case when he first became consul, Scipio was technically too young, but they waived the age limit for the second time.
As was his way, Scipio did things differently to the commanders before him. First of all, he didn’t take any army by levy since Rome was already exhausted by numerous wars in the previous decade. Instead, he took volunteers sent by Rome’s allies and added 500 men he handpicked. In total, Scipio brought 4,000 men to Spain and planned to supplement them with the existing Roman army in the region. The men Scipio had handpicked were trusted friends with total loyalty to him. In many ways, it was one of the first examples of a Praetorian Guard.
Scipio learned that the army in Spain had the same problem as it did during the Third Punic War; it suffered from a lack of discipline. Once he arrived, he removed soothsayers, traders, and harlots from the camp and whipped his men into fighting shape. He limited the army’s food choices to make it easier to transport goods and forbade his men from sleeping on beds. Always one to lead by example, Scipio was the first to sleep on straw. Finally, he forced his men to walk when marching and didn’t allow anyone to ride on mules.
Now that he had the trust and respect of the men, Scipio knew he had to weaken Numantia by blockade as he would be unable to take the city otherwise. He cut off the city’s supplies and succeeded where his predecessors had failed by taking Pallantia and Cauca for good measure. Scipio approached Numantia from the west and took supplies from the fields as he marched. He created a defensive palisade with seven camps strategically placed around the city. The 4,000 defenders at Numantia were surrounded by 60,000 enemies. Scipio was close to becoming Rome’s hero once again.