The streets were too narrow for cavalry to act, and Malchus and his comrades fought on foot.  The enemy, who had scattered on their work of slaughter, were in their turn taken at a disadvantage, and were unable to withstand the steady attack of the solid bodies.  These, in the first place, cut their way to the square in the centre of the town, and there united.  Hannibal, seeing he had now a solid body of troops under his command, at once broke them up into parties and advanced down all the streets leading from the central square.  The hand-to-hand fight which was going on all over the town was soon terminated.  The Carthaginians fell in in good order behind the ranks of their comrades, and the small bodies soon became columns which swept the enemy before them.

The enemy fought desperately, firing the houses, hurling stones from the roofs upon the columns, and throwing themselves with reckless bravery upon the spears, but their efforts were in vain.  Foot by foot they were driven back, until they were again expelled from the town.  Keeping together, and ever showing front to the Carthaginians, the Vacaei, now reduced to less than half their number, retired to an eminence near the town, and there prepared to sell their lives dearly.  The Carthaginians now fell into their regular ranks, and prepared to storm the enemy’s position; but Hannibal rode forward alone towards the Vacaei, being plainly visible to them in the broad blaze of light from the burning city.

From his long residence in Spain he was able to speak the Iberian tongue with fluency, and indeed could converse with all the troops of the various nationalities under the banner of Carthage in their own language.

“Men of Salamanca,” he said, “resist no longer.  Carthage knows how to honour a brave enemy, and never did men fight more valiantly in defence of their homes than you have done, and although further resistance would be hopeless, I will press you no further.  Your lives are spared.  You may retain the arms you know so well how to wield, and tomorrow my army will evacuate your town and leave you free to return to it.”

Hannibal’s clemency was politic.  He would have lost many more men before he finally overcame the desperate band, and he was by no means desirous of exciting a deep feeling of hate among any of the tribes, just as he was meditating withdrawing the greater portion of the army for his enterprise against Rome.  With the fall of Salamanca the resistance of the Vacaei ceased, and Hannibal prepared to march back to Carthagena.

A storm, however, had gathered in his rear.  Great numbers of the Vacaei had sought refuge among the Olcades, who had been subdued the previous autumn, and together they had included the whole of the fierce tribes known as the Carpatans, who inhabited the country on the right bank of the upper Tagus, to make common cause with them against the invaders.  As Hannibal approached their neighbourhood they took up their position on the right bank of the river near Toledo.  Here the stream is rapid and difficult of passage, its bed being thickly studded with great boulders brought down in time of flood from the mountains.  The country on each side of the river is sandy, free from forests or valleys, which would cover the movements of an army.