15. CALLAECUS) or
CALLAICUS, son of No. 12 and brother of No. 13, was a contemporary
of the Gracchi, and one of the most celebrated generals of his age. He belonged to the
aristocratical party, and in his consulship with P. Cornelius Scipio Nasica, in de Leg.
3.9.) The province of Further Spain was assigned to Brutus, whither he proceeded in the same
year. In order to pacify the province, he assigned lands to those who had served under
Viriathus, and founded the town of Valentia. But as Lusitania continued to be overrun with
parties of marauders, he laid waste the country in every direction, took numerous towns, and
advanced as far as the river Lethe or Oblivio, as the Romans translated the name of the river,
which was also called Limaea, Limia or Belion, now Lima. (H.N. 4.22. s. 35.) Here the soldiers
at first refused to march further; but when Brutus seized the standard from the
standard-bearer, and began to cross the river alone, they immediately followed him. From
thence they advanced to the Minius (Minho), which he crossed and continued his march till he
arrived at the ocean, where the Romans saw with astonishment the sun set in its waters. In
this country he subdued various tribes, among whom the Bracari are mentioned as the most
warlike. He also conquered the Gallacci, who had come to the assistance of their neighbours
with an army of 60,000 men, and it was from his victory over them that he obtained the surname
of Gallaecus. The work of subjugation, however, proceeded but slowly, as many towns after
submission again revolted, among which Talabriga is particularly mentioned. In the midst of
his successes, he was recalled into Nearer Spain by his relation, Aemilius Lepidus (Appian,
Gesch. Roms, vol. iv. p. 8),
misled apparently by a passage in Eutropius (pro Balb. 17; Plut. Quaest. Rom. 34, Ti. Gracch. 21;
With the booty obtained in Spain, Brutus erected temples and other public buildings, for
which the poet L. Accius wrote inscriptions in verse. (Cic. pro Arch. 11;
Brutus was a patron of the poet L. Accius, and for the times was well versed in Greek and
Roman literature; he was also not deficient in oratorical talent. (de Am. 2), that he was
augur. The Clodia mentioned by Cicero in a letter to Atticus (12.22), whom Orelli supposes to
be the mother of this Brutus, was in all probability his wife, and the mother of the consul of
l.c.)