ABSTRACT
The population of the peninsula was in fact varied both in ethnic origin and in attitude to the Roman state.2 The Pyrenees, the last area to be conquered, were inhabited by indigenous Iberians whose retention of a non-Indo-European language (Basque) to modern times testifies to an abiding independence. Such stubborn cultural vitality survived a particularly strong onslaught by Rome
at the start of the imperial period, for this was one of a number of areas of the empire where the local population was forced by the Romans to migrate to ensure stronger military control over their activities. Specifically, the inhabitants of the mountains were compelled by Agrippa to move to level ground, presumably of the plateau of central Spain, which was also the area where the Spanish legionary forces were quartered throughout the principate. Nevertheless, fighting against mountain bandits was still recorded under Nero. In the nature of things, the legionary camps flourished with their surrounding areas. But for the rest, towns were few and small, and none of the aristocracy of this part of Spain, the leaders of the indigenous tribes and their descendants, made any mark on the wider Roman world.
