there was a need to demobilise the Roman armies (particularly in Italy) and discharge the veterans. In 199 BC, the praetor Gaius Sergius was given the task of organising the distribution of land to the soldiers who had served for many years in Sicily, and Sardinia and Hispania. We are not told why this plan to have only one man in charge did not materialise and why Acidinus stayed behind. Also in 199 BC, the people of the city of Gades (Cadiz) in Hispania asked that no prefect should be sent to their town and this was granted (in 206 BC, the Romans had concluded a treaty with Gades in which it was agreed that a Roman centurion was to act as Roman prefect in the town). In 198 BC, the number of Roman praetors was increased from four to six because it was decided to create two new provinces: Hispania Citerior and Hispania Ulterior. The two capitals were Tarraco (Tarragona) and Curdoba (Córdoba). They were to be headed by praetors and the praetors for 197 BC, Gaius Sempronius Tuditanus and Marcus Helvius, were sent to Hispania Citerior and Ulterior respectively. They were given 8,000 Latin infantry and 400 cavalry each to replace the old soldiers, who were sent back home. They were also given the task of defining the border between the two provinces. Trouble developed as there was a large-scale warlike movement. Late in the year, war broke out in Hispania Ulterior. Helvius informed Rome about two simultaneous but independent rebellions by two chiefs in the area of the River Baetis (Guadalquivir), Culchas and Luxinius. The former was supported by 15 fortified cities and the latter by was supported by two strong cities, Carmo (Carmona) and Bardo, the Malacini and the Sexetani (form the coast in the southeast) and Baeturia (an area between the rivers Baetis and Guadiana). Other peoples had not yet disclosed their intentions, but would soon join the revolt. The senate did not take any immediate action and instead decided to get the new praetors to ask for instructions after they were elected in the forthcoming elections. At the end of the year, soon after the elections of the new consuls and praetors, news arrived that the army of Gaius Sempronius Tuditanus had been routed in Hispania Citerior and that the praetor had been mortally wounded. There is no record of what happened in Hispania