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Rome, 23 AD
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Early in the morning, the young quaestor Antonia Vitellius awoke to the loud noise of a legionary unit, 80 men strong, marching rhythmically outside her house. The commander of the century, Antoninus Nervae, yelled to the door, “Anybody home?! Is this the house of Antonia?” For a brief moment the quaestor thought the force had come to arrest her. The previous Agrarian Law that she had proposed to the Senate aggravated some important Roman landlords and was completely ignored by most politicians in Rome. Although she had some friends in Rome, she didn´t feel secure because of her Republican sentiments and controversial actions. She had even received notice from some fellow Romans about the arrest and execution of her friend, General Castor Augustus Servo, and about rebel activities in northern Italy. Without a word, she nervously looked through the window to the tall and strong centurion and his men standing just outside her door. Suddenly a familiar voice came from outside through the window, “Hey, Antonia! Are you there?!” Antonia Vitellius recognized the voice of her friend and colleague, the young quaestor Brutus Crassus Dio. Relieved, she slowly opened the door and said, “Hail my friend, why you and these soldiers here?” The centurion didn´t give time for Crassus Dio to respond. He immediately rose his right arm and with a salute said, “Hail, quaestor of Rome! I have orders from the Senate to escort and protect you and your friend on your mission to Hispania. Please hurry! We need to leave Rome at once.” The centurion´s words made her remember her mission to Hispania. She had practically forgotten that the Proconsul Julius Daia, despite previous arguments she had had with him, trusted her with this very important mission.

After she dressed she looked again to the letter she received from Senator Castilius Lucius Agrippa. In that letter she had all the details for her mission to Hispania. Both must travel through Hispania, make contact the local citizens, find out the root of the problems in the region and in the final report summarize the economic, political, social, and military situation in Hispania. In 30 minutes Antonia Vitellius joined Crassus Dio and the legionary century. In her baggage she had some food, some clothes, and a lady´s personal items for the long journey. The centurion Antoninus Nervae looked to the two quaestors, smiled, and then yelled to his men, “Forward march!” The two quaestors smiled to one another in silence, both knowing this was a dangerous mission, but they also knew they had a sacred duty to Rome and her people. Because of the rebel legions in northern Italy, the small convoy embarked from Ostia and voyaged by sea to southern Hispania. Of the men in the century, only the centurion and ten soldiers boarded the ship. With a Civil War ongoing in the north, the military authorities had not been willing to send any significant number of troops on a civilian government mission. However, the Military Consular Office had arranged for a force of auxiliaries in Hispania to provide additional protection.

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Mediterranean Sea, 52 miles South-West from Corsica
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After the small convoy embarked from Ostia, the centurion and the two quaestors held a short meeting on board. Crassus Dio was the first to speak, “Tell us Antonia, what we should expect from these natives?” Antonia Vitellius responded with a short description of the land and tribes of Hispania:

“Well, there are many tribes in Hispania, each of them with their own religion, customs, and language. In western Hispania live the Lusitani, a proud and war-like tribe. In southern, central, and eastern Hispania live the Belli, Titti, and Lusones. They are warriors and farmers. They are also excellent blacksmiths and their weapons are known across the Roman Empire for their quality. In northern Hispania lives the powerful Arevaci tribe. They are warriors and merchants, but they have a very strong nationalist sentiment.” Crassus Dio interrupted his friend Antonia, “What do the natives of Hispania rely on for commerce?” Antonia Vitellius continued, “In eastern Hispania they produce grapes, wine, and olive oil. In central Hispania they mine silver, while in Gallica there are iron and gold mines. As you can see, they have industry and jewelry, too.”

The centurion listened to Antonia´s description and commented, “The gold mines in Hispania must be a reason for the constant warfare. All of this is important, but tell me, quaestor, should I be worried about attacks from the natives? I mean if they attack us, we will only have a small guard force.” Antonia Vitellius noticed Antonius Nervae’s concern and tried to reassure him. “Don´t worry, they will not attack us if we don´t provoke them. Besides, I speak their language so we can negotiate at any time should we need to.” As the Roman ship crossed the Mediterranean Sea swiftly, the small group of soldiers reveled in the voyage. Many of them had never seen the sea and marveled at such beauty. Others played games and sang some military songs. After 21 days of voyage, the Roman ship arrived at Carthago Nova in Southern Hispania.

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Southern Hispania
City of Hispalis
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After the ship arrived in Carthago Nova, the centurion met with seventy auxiliaries. These troops had been assigned the duty of protecting the Quaestors; combined with the ten legionaries, the escort was eighty strong. Soon, the convoy departed from Cathago Nova and moved toward the city of Hispalis, Antonia Vitellius´ homeland, 178 miles west of Carthago Nova. During the travel both quaestors took notes about what they saw. It was obvious to the quaestors that famine was the worst problem in southern Hispania. They saw hundred of people begging for food and money. Crassus Dio, moved to compassion by the suffering, and gave some food and denarii to dozens of children and women. Dio’s kindness, however, rose tensions between the two quaestors and the centurion Antoninus Nervae. Although Dio’s actions were altruistic, they were also dangerous because they could have attracted attention to the convoy and endangered their security. After a short but tense argument between the centurion and the two quaestors, the two parts agreed that the command of the mission belonged to the quaestor Antonia Vitellius and consequently she was the only one responsible for civilian and military actions. After one week the convoy finally arrived in the city of Hispalis.

Hispalis was small and part of the city had been destroyed during the Hispanic rebellion. The quaestor Antonia Vitellius hardly recognized her own town and commented to the centurion “It is a pity the town is almost destroyed. It was so beautiful. As you can see, my home is small so I cannot give you and your men shelter inside, but you may camp outside on my fields.” The centurion looked at Antonia Vitellius and said “We are used to camping in the countryside, don´t worry,” then he yelled to his men, “Quickly, prepare to camp here before the nightfall!”

The next morning the two quaestors, with a small escort of 8 legionaries and auxiliaries, went to the local market. With sorrow on her face and tears in her eyes, Antonia Vitellius realized how serious the famine was. Crassus Dio tried to comfort her, “You will see, Antonia, soon they will have another good harvest and this problem will be solved.” Antonia Vitellius looked sadly to his friend and whispered, “This is not so simple, look at them.” While the two quaestors looked to the poor townspeople, a drunk approached them and started to shout, “Roman dogs, hic!, because of you the people are dying, hic!, go home and don´t come back, hic!” “What did he say?” asked Crassus Dio. But Antonia Vitellius remained in silence until some legionaries tried to arrest the drunk. “No, leave him alone. He is drunk and he is in pain” she commanded the legionaries.

Meanwhile a small crowd surrounded the two quaestors and their small escort. The legionaries tried to disperse the crowd but Antonia Vitellius didn´t allow that and spoke openly to the crowd, “ My good people, I am your sister because I was born here, in this land. The Senate of Rome and the Emperor send us to Hispania to get information about your problems. We will...“ “Will you exploit us more, Roman!?” shouted a young man from the crowd. “Maybe raise our taxes!? Or maybe threaten our women!? We are all tired of you, all of you Romans! You make me sick!” The crowd murmured in agreement. Meanwhile the crowd grew to over three hundred people. A legionary whispered to Antonia Vitellius, “My lady we must leave now. We can not assure your safety with a crowd of such size. It is better we leave while we have the chance.” But Antonia Vitellius, with Crassus Dio at her side, continued the speech in the native tongue, “When I was young I played with your children, maybe with some of you, and for many years I lived among you, ate among you, cried with you, and felt your needs. I am not a stranger here and I love this land as much as you do. When I die I want to be buried here. My home is over there and you are welcome to my humble house any time. If there are corrupt Romans who oppress the people, you must tell me their names. Yes, I am a Roman, but a Roman who cares about you all. I am not here to destroy, I am here to build. Will you help me?” Although the legionaries and Crassus Dio didn´t understand what she said in the native tongue, they saw that her words calmed the crowd. For a brief moment, the crowd remained in silence, and then many of them simply left the market and went to their houses peacefully. But this wasn´t what the quaestor Antonia Vitellius wanted. She wanted names, she wanted to know the truth and some kind of reaction from the natives who she considered her brothers and sisters. Two men approached the quaestors and one of them said with a tremble in his voice, “I believe you. Do you really want to help us?” and Antonia Vitellius replied without hesitation “Of course, my brother. I am here to listen to your problems. Go ahead and tell me the names of those who rule here.” The man looked around and said, “Not here. We must go to your house. There we can speak freely.”

In a few hours the two men described an incredible history about the corrupt local officials, most of them Romans of low political and military rank, and the way they killed, threatened, oppressed, and took advantage of the local population. While the two natives spoke, Antonia Vitellius translated their words to Crassus Dio and Antonius Nervae. Crassus Dio could not believe such perfidy! “So in southern, central, and western Hispania, the corruption has spread like a disease? If you add to this the famine in southern Hispania and the warring among the tribes, we can begin to understand the root of the problems in Hispania.” Antoninus Nervae shook his head and said, “This is incredible! In fact there is a web of corruption across Hispania, which principal bases are in western and northern Hispania and we even know now the names of those Romans who have neglected their duties! These two natives rendered a good service to Rome. Sadly, I fear that there might be similar cases of corruption around the empire."

Two days after their meeting with the quaestors, the two native men were hanged by unidentified men near their own houses. Many locals said this was because they helped the two quaestors. Antonia Vitellius felt grief and heartfelt sorrow because she felt their deaths were her fault. Sobbing, she said, “These two poor men died because of me. They paid with their lives for information they gave us.” Antoninus Nervae said with urgency, “Lady, please stop crying! This is not good for the moral of my men. The two natives were good men but we must proceed with our mission. It is clear to me someone is trying to intimidate us, trying to scare us into giving up our mission. Be strong young Lady, be strong.” Crassus Dio agreed with the centurion´s comments, saying, “He is right Antonia, you must be strong. We must carry on with our plan.” She turned her head to her friend and responded “You are right. Tomorrow must continue to Hispalis and northern Hispania.”

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Northern Hispania
The Ambush
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The two quaestors didn´t suspect that their convoy was being followed by the same men who killed the two natives in Hispalis. These men were deserters of the Roman army and local warriors at the service of the local Roman officials. They had strict orders to ambush and kill the two quaestors in order to prevent their findings from reaching Rome and the Senate. For 8 days the convoy advanced without problems, and on the 9th day they stopped near a tributary of the Iberius River, 42 miles northeast of the city of Numantia. While the legionaries and auxiliaries drank water and ate their small rations of grain, assassin eyes observed all their movements. The leader of the bandits, a former soldier from the Roman army who served in Hispania during the Hispanic Rebellion, explained his plan to the others, “This is a suitable place for an ambush. There are many trees and rocks, so we can hide and attack them under cover. Use arrows and try to kill the two quaestors. They are our main targets.” Almost 90 bandits took positions behind trees and rocks. The sentries were silently eliminated and suddenly the leader of the bandits gave the signal to attack. A whistle echoed in the forest and the bandits launched a massive attack with arrows against the unprepared legionaries and auxiliaries.

Before the soldiers could react to the onslaught, one arrow found its mark, piercing the left arm of Antonia Vitellius. The bandits continued their attack, loosing many more arrows before the legionaries could react. “Quickly, form a testudo around the quaestors!” shouted Antonius Nervae to his troops. “Protecting their lives is what we are here for!”

The onslaught of arrows lessened as the testudo proved its effectiveness and absorbed all arrows loosed in the direction of the quaestors. Next, the legionaries and auxiliaries, protected by their long shields, advanced in a straight-line formation to the bandits´ position and prepared to engage in close combat with the bandits. The bandits realized they could not match the professional soldiers’ superior military training and experience and retreated into the woods. “Damn cowards!” griped Antonius Nervae. “Fortunately we took some prisoners. They will tell us all we want to know, I promise you that!”

With the skirmish at an end, the centurion turned his attention to Antonia Vitellius. “Let me see her. Yes, she was wounded by an arrow in her left arm and lost some blood but this is not serious. I will remove the arrow and then use some medical herbs to heal her wound.” “Aiiii!! My Goddess Venus please help me!!!” Antonia Vitellius screamed in pain as Antonius Nervae removed the arrow from her left arm. “Stay calm, be brave. Press here to stop the bleeding," said the centurion. He spoke with one of the auxiliaries, who had rudimentary medical experience. "Do you think we'll have to amputate the arm? Such a move may be required to save her life?" The auxiliary examined the injury carefully and responded, "Thank the gods, it was a fairly clean cut. No amputation is necessary, in my opinion." After the centurion treated Antonia Vitellius’ wound, he turned to one legionary and said, “Report our casualties and bring me any prisoners for interrogation.” In a few minutes the three bandits were brought before the centurion. “Sir, I regret to inform you we lost 12 men and have 15 wounded. Some of them will not survive their injuries.” The centurion was furious at this news. With only 53 capable men he knew he could not advance any further north. He gave orders to his men to torture the prisoners, away from the attention of the quaestors. In only two hours the prisoners revealed some important and awesome information. According to their information, the corrupt Roman officials, low in political and military rank, controlled some gold and silver mines in Hispania. They became powerful in Hispania because of their treacherous alliance with the Arevaci tribe in northern Hispania. The Arevaci tribe had plans to rebel against Rome and create an independent kingdom in northern Hispania. The Arevaci were also planning to join the Gallic tribes and move east in order to attack the rear of the imperial forces. For that they were training a small army of 30,000 men.

Antonius Nervae knew this wasn´t good news for Rome. Crassus Dio interrupted Antoninus Nervae´s thoughts, “Centurion, where are the prisoners? I want to talk with them.” The centurion looked up in silence to Crassus Dio and said, “Too late, they are dead.” Crassus Dio was surprised with the centurion´s comment and asked for more information. “Dead?! Why!? You killed them!?” The centurion became furious and yelled, “Look, Quaestor, I lost many men on this mission! You have already accomplished your mission and you already have enough information for your report to the Senate. I will not risk my lives and the lives of my men by venturing any farther north. From now on, this is a military mission and I am in charge!”

Crassus Dio tempered his slowly rising anger, and said, “This mission belongs to us, and as we agreed before, the quaestor Antonia Vitellius is in charge and...” but suddenly, a legionary interrupted and said, “Sir, bad news! Some of our men seized several horses from the local natives and did a small reconnaissance raid in the area. It seems the bandits are regrouping and will attack us again with a force larger than before.” The centurion turned to Crassus Dio and said “See? We must leave at once. I will now command the mission and when we are all safe I will give the command back to Antonia.” Given the quickly developing news and Antonia Vitellius’ physical health, Crassus Dio had no choice but to agree. “Quickly leave the dead and dying where they are. Prepare to move on immediately. If the bandits catch us this time, none of us will be able to set foot in Rome again.”

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Central Hispania
City of Valentia, at 3 miles from the sea coast.
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For 8 days the convoy advanced swiftly through northern and central Hispania and managed to escape the bandits. Upon arrival in Valentia, Antonia Vitellius spoke to her colleague and the centurion and decided to write a letter to the Senate:

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“Distinguished Proconsul and Noble Members of the Senate:

I have grave news from Hispania. The people in southern Hispania are suffering from a severe famine. To make the things worse, local politicians have taken advantage of the void left in the territories by the previous rebellion and the current civil war. Sensing the power vacuum, Roman officials from the local garrison were corrupted by some politicians and took control of silver and gold mines in northern Hispania. They have exploited and oppressed the natives, taking their food, money, and dignity. However, the extent of their oppressive influences does not stop there. Using their new-found wealth, they have made a loose military alliance with the Arevaci tribe of northern Hispania. The Arevaci seek to create an independent kingdom in northern Hispania, free from Roman rule. Their main bases are the cities of Numantia and Okilis. According to the information we have, they are amassing an army of 30,000 men. It is very likely that they will join with the Gallic tribes in order to attack the rear of the imperial forces. These are the names of the traitors of Rome we know were instrumental in the events that have unfolded in Hispania:

Gaius Maximus Arius
Augustus Romulus Boronus
Severus Thrax Caesiro
Castilius Lucius Venanus
Cenius Jovinius Casaeus
Scipio Gaius Panillus

One last thing - there is a serious lack of basic facilities in some regions of Hispania. When we arrive in Rome, Crassus Dio and I will give you more details.

Yours Sincerely,

Quaestor Antonia Vitellius”
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The centurion Antoninus Nervae and a few legionaries went down to the city ports and found a merchant ship that was scheduled to depart for Rome the following morning. After offering the captain money and protection from pirate raiders, the small convoy embarked on the voyage back to Rome the following morning. Twenty-three days later, Antonia Vitellius was climbing the steps to the Senate house, followed by Crassus Dio, letter in hand, ready to tell the Senate about Hispania.

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Authors: Aggripina Antonia Vitellius and Brutus Crassus Dio

Special Participation: Castilius Lucius Agrippa