in 209 bc, after gathering large contingents of celtiberian and cantabrian mercenaries, hasdrubal departed hispania for italy in order to meet with hannibal. his army arrived in 207 only to be discovered and defeated in the battle of the metaurus, where hasdrubal was killed among the spaniards, the last punic forces to fall. some celtiberians managed to cut their way out and reach hannibal. the same year, generals mago barca and hanno moved to celtiberia to collect another army, but a new roman attack, this time by marcus silanus behind local guides and under orders from scipio africanus, ended it before they could depart too. this would be a tough decision for the roman side, as their intrusion in the celtiberians's lands would put them against rome again, making them join indibilis and mandonius's iberian ilergete revolt. anyhow, mago managed to flee with 2,000 survivors to gadir. after the battle of ilipa, he sent a prefect also named hanno to gather yet another celtiberian contingent, but the resultant battle of the guadalquivir ended the third and final attempt to maintain a large scale native army. the remnant mercenaries, now 12,000 after the last levies, were placed by mago in an improvised fleet, which finally sailed towards italy after having unsuccessfully retake cartagena, not without hiring other 2,000 balearics on the way.