Die spanische Stadt Numantia wurde ab 134 v.u.Z. im Krieg gegen die Keltiberer von dem römischen Consul Cornelius Scipio belagert; nach neun Monaten, im Jahre 133, kapitulierte die Stadt vor den Römern und dem Hunger. Appian berichtet in seiner Römischen Geschichte (VI 95-98):

95. The Numantines, being oppressed by hunger, sent five men to Scipio to ask whether he would treat them with moderation if they would surrender. Their leader, Avarus, discoursed much about the policy and bravery of the Numantines, and added that even now they had done no wrong, but had fallen into their present misery for the sake of their wives and children, and for the freedom of their country. “Therefore above all, Scipio,” he said, “it is worthy of you, a man renowned for virtue, to spare a brave and manly race and not to extend us, as a choice between evils, the humaner terms, terms which we shall be able to bear, now that we have at last experienced a change of fortune. It rests now not with us but with you whether you receive the surrender of our city by offering us fair terms [τὰ μέτρια], or allow it to perish in a last struggle.”
When Avarus had thus spoken, Scipio (who knew from prisoners the state of affairs inside) said merely that they must surrender their arms and place themselves and their city in his hands.
When this answer was made known, the Numantines, who were previously savage in temper because of their absolute freedom and quite unaccustomed to obey the orders of others, and were now wilder than ever and beside themselves by reason of their hardships, slew Avarus and the five ambassadors who had accompanied him, as bearers of evil tidings and thinking that perhaps they had made private terms for themselves with Scipio.

96. Soon after this, all their eatables being consumed, having neither grain, nor flocks, nor grass, they began, as people are sometimes forced to do in war, to lick boiled hides. When these also failed, they boiled and ate the bodies of human beings [ἐσαρκοφάγουν ἕψοντες τὰ ἀνθρώπεια], first of those who had died a natural death, chopping them in small bits for cooking. Afterwards being nauseated by the flesh of the sick, the stronger laid violent hands upon the weaker [καὶ τοὺς ἀσθενεστέρους ἐβιάζοντο οἱ δυνατώτεροι]. No form of misery was absent. They were rendered savage in mind of their food, and their bodies were reduced to the semblance of wild beasts by famine, plague, long hair, and neglect. In this condition they surrendered themselves to Scipio. He commanded them the same day to bring their arms to a place designated by him, and on the following day to assemble at another place. But they put off the day, declaring that many of them still clung to liberty and desired to take their own lives. Wherefore they asked for a day to arrange for death.

97. Such was the love of liberty and of valour which existed in this small barbarian town [Τοσόσδε ἔρως ἐλευθερίας καὶ ἀνδραγαθίας ἦν ἐν πόλει βαρβάρῳ τε καὶ σμικρᾷ]. With only 8000 fighting men before the war began, how many and what terrible reverses did they bring upon the Romans! What treaties did they make on equal terms [συνθήκας ἐπὶ ἴσῃ καὶ ὁμοίᾳ] with the Romans, which the latter would not consent to make with any other people! How often did they challenge to open battle the last general sent against them, who had invested them with an army of 60,000 men! But he showed himself more experienced in war than themselves, by refusing to join battle with wild beasts when he could reduce them by that invincible enemy [ἀμάχῳ κακῷ], hunger. In this way alone was it possible to capture the Numantines, and in this way alone they were captured.
Reflecting upon their small numbers and their endurance, their valiant deeds and the long time for which they held out, it has occurred to me to narrate these particulars of the Numantine history. First of all, those who wished to do so killed themselves, in various ways. Then the rest went out on the third day to the appointed place, a strange and shocking spectacle. Their bodies were foul, their hair and nails long, and they were smeared with dirt. They smelt most horribly, and the clothes they wore were likewise squalid and emitted and equally foul odour. For these reasons they appeared pitiable [ἐλεεινοί] to their enemies, but at the same time there was something fearful in the expression of their eyes – an expression of anger, pain, weariness, and the consciousness of having eaten human flesh.

98. Having chosen fifty of them for his triumph, Scipio sold the rest and razed the city to the ground. [...]

[Appian: Roman History, vol. I; ed. by Horace White. Cambridge (Mass.)/London 2002, p. 289-293]