[1109] Vascones. Sil. Ital., x., 15. The Vascones lived in the northeast of Spain, near the Pyrenees, in parts of Navarre, Aragon, and old Castile. They and the Cantabri were the most warlike people of Hispania Tarrocensis. Their southern boundary was the Iberus (Ebro). Their chief cities were Calagurris Nassica (now Calahorra in New Castile), on the right bank of the Iberus; and Pompelon (now Pampeluna), at the foot of the Pyrenees, said to have been founded by Cn. Pompeius Magnus, vid. Plin., III., iii., 4. It is doubtful which of these two cities held out in the manner alluded to in the text. Sertorius was assasinated B.C. 72, and the Vascones, whose faith was pledged to him, sooner than submit to Pompey and Metellus, suffered the most horrible extremities, even devouring their wives and children. Cf. Liv., Epit. xciii. Flor., III., xxxii. Val. Max., VII., vi. Plut. in v. Sert. The Vascones afterward crossed the Pyrenees into Aquitania, and their name is still preserved in the province of Gascogne.
[1110] Egestas.
"When frowning war against them stood array'd
With the dire famine of a long blockade." Hodgson.
[1111] Miserabile. ii., 18, "Horum simplicitas miserabilis."
[1112] Post omnes herbas.
"For after every root and herb were gone,
And every aliment to hunger known;
When their lean frames and cheeks of sallow hue
Struck e'en the foe with pity at the view;
And all were ready their own flesh to tear,
They first adventured on this horrid fare." Gifford.
[1113] Viribus. The abstract used for the concrete. Another reading is, Urbibus, referring to Calagurris and Saguntus. Valesius proposed to read "Ventribus," which Orellius receives.
[1114] Quædam pro vita. Cf. Arist., Eth., iii., 1, Ἔνια δ' ἴσως οὐκ ἔστιν ἀναγκασθῆναι ἀλλὰ μᾶλλον ἀποθνητέον, παθόντα τὰ δεινότατα. Plin., xxviii., 1, "Vitam quidem non adeo expetendam censemus ut quoquo modo protrahenda sit." Sen., Ep. 72, "Non omni pretio vita emenda est."
[1115] Gallia. Cf. ad i., 44. Suet., Cal., xx., "Caligula instituit in Gallia, Lugduni, certamen Græcæ Latinæque facundiæ." Quintil., x., 1. Sat., vii., 148, "Accipiat te Gallia, vel potius nutricula causidicorum Africa, si placuit mercedem ponere linguæ."
[1116] Britannos. Tac., Agric., xxi, "Ingenia Britannorum studiis Gallorum anteferre: ut qui modo linguam Romanam abnuebant, eloquentiam concupiscerent."