Nasica won many battles south of the River Ebro, resulting in the surrender of 50 towns. He fell upon a large gang of Lusitanian bandits who were on their way back home from plundering Hispania Ulterior carrying their booty. This was near the city of Ilipa (Alcala del Rio, near Seville). His fresh and compact force fought against a long column that was hindered by many pack animals, and was tired from a long march. At first, the Lusitanians threw the Romans into confusion. Then the battle became more even, and eventually, the Romans won and pursued the fugitives. The Lusitanians lost 12,000 men and 140 men, mainly cavalrymen, were captured. The Romans lost 73 men. In 193 BC, the praetors Gaius Flaminius and Marcus Fulvius Nobilitor were assigned Hispania Citerior and Ulterior respectively. Gaius Flaminius was a veteran who had fought in Hispania during the Second Punic War. Because of the events of the previous year some friends told Gaius Flaminius that a great war had flared up in Hispania. He had little confidence in the troops of Sextus Digitus and asked the senate to give him a legion from Rome to supplement the scared remnant of this army in addition to the force he had been allowed to levy. This would have given him a total of 6,200 infantry and 300 cavalry, which he thought sufficient to carry on the campaign. The senate refused, saying that it could not pass decrees on the basis of rumours invented by private individuals to gratify officials. It would accept only reports from officers in Hispania. It added that in case of an emergency in Hispania he should raise emergency troops outside Italy. Gaius Flaminius sailed to Sicily to conduct a levy. Then, on his way to Hispania, a storm carried him to Africa and he recruited veterans who had settled there after the Second Punic War. He added a contingent in Hispania to the two from Sicily and Africa. When he arrived in Hispania he found that the report had been an exaggeration. For unknown reasons he seized the Oretani city of Inlucia. The Oretani lived in today's region of La Mancha (in south central Spain) and the eastern part of the Sierra Morena, outside Roman territory. He then took his troops to their winter stations. During the winter he fought several battles against raiding parties of brigands. Livy thought that