the permanent place he holds in Portuguese and Spanish memory as a revered hero who fought without respite. Viriathus was assassinated about 139 BC by Audax, Ditalcus and Minurus, probably paid off by the Roman General Marcus Popillius Lenas. With his death, the organized Lusitanian resistance did not disappear but Rome continued to expand into the region. Between 135 and 132 BC, Consul Decimus Junius Brutus brought about an expedition to Gallaecia (north of Portugal and Galicia). Almost simultaneously (133 BC) the Celtiberian city Numantia, the last bastion of the Celtiberians, was destroyed. This was the culminating point of the war between the Celtiberians and the Romans between 143 BC and 133 BC; the Celtiberian city had been taken by Publius Cornelius Scipio Æmilianus, when the opportunity was too much to resist. The Celtiberian chiefs committed suicide with their families and the rest of the population was sold into slavery. The city was razed. The Numantine War In 143 BC, the consul Quintus Caecilius Metellus Macedonicus subdued the Arevaci by attacking them suddenly while they were harvesting. He did not take Termantia and Numantia. In 142 BC, the praetor Quintus Pompeius Aulus took over with a well-trained army of 30,000 infantry and 2,000 cavalry. While he went away, the Numantines made a sortie against a cavalry detachment and destroyed it. On his return, the Numantines offered battle, but they withdrew slowly until he was drawn to the ditches and palisades. When his forces were repeatedly defeated in skirmishes Quintus Pompeius moved on to attack Termantia, but lost 700 men. In a third battle, the Romans were driven to a rocky place where many of them were forced down a precipice. An indecisive battle followed. Pompeius then went to the town of Malia, which was surrendered by treachery. He fought some brigands at Sedatania and defeated them. Pompeius went back to Numantia and tried to divert a river to reduce the town by famine. The men who were doing this work were constantly harassed and those who came to their rescue were attacked and forced into the Roman camp. The foragers were also attacked. A Roman envoy arrived with an army or raw and undisciplined recruits who were to replace the soldiers who had served their six years. Pompeius stayed in winter camps with these recruits, who were exposed to the cold without shelter and caught dysentery because they were not