[Footnote 152: These names are very uncertain in Plutarch. Tuttia may
be the Turia, now the Guadalaviar, the river of Valencia, the outlet
of which is about twenty-five miles north of the outlet of the Sucro.
Other readings are Duria and Dusia (see the notes of Sintenis). If
these rivers are properly identified, this campaign was carried on in
the plains of the kingdom of Valencia. Tutia is mentioned by Florus
(iii. 22) as one of the Spanish towns which surrendered to Pompeius
after the death of Sertorius and Perperna.
Kaltwasser refers to Frontinus, who speaks of one Hirtuleius, or
Herculeius in some editions, as a general of Sertorius who was
defeated by Metellus (_Stratagem_, ii. 1). In another passage (ii. 7)
Frontinus states that Sertorius during a battle being informed by a
native that Hirtuleius hod fallen, stabbed the man that he might not
carry the news to others, and so dispirit his soldiers. Plutarch (Life
of Pompeius c. 18) states that Pompeius defeated Herennius and
Perperna near Valentia, and killed above ten thousand of their men.
This is apparently the same battle that Plutarch is here speaking of.]
[Footnote 153: See the Life of Pompeius, c. 19; and Appian (_Civil
Wars_, i. 110), who states that the battle took place near the town of
Suero (which would be the more correct translation of the text of
Plutarch), and that the wing which Perperna commanded was defeated by
Metellus.]
[Footnote 154: This L. Afranius is the man whom Cicero calls "Auli
filius" (_Ad Attic,_ i. 16), by which he meant that he was of obscure
origin. He was consul with Q. Metellus Celer B.C. 60. Afranius and
Petreius commanded for Pompeius in Spain B.C. 49, but C. Julius Cæsar
compelled them to surrender, and pardoned them on the condition that
they should not again serve against him. Afranius broke his promise
and again joined Pompeius. He was in the battle of Thapsus in Africa
B.C. 46, and after the defeat he attempted to escape into Mauritania,
but was caught and given up to Cæsar, and shortly afterwards put to
death by the soldiers.]
[Footnote 155: Appian (_Civil Wars_, i. 110) has the same story about
the dear being found.]
[Footnote 156: Seguntum, or Saguntia, as it is written in Appian (i.
110). It is not certain what place is meant. Some critics would read
"in the plains of the Saguntini," by which might be meant the
neighbourhood of Saguntum, a town on the east coast between the mouths
of the Ebro and the Xucar, which was taken by Hannibal in the second
Punic War (Liv. 21, c. 15). The maps place a Segontia on the Tagonius,
another on the Salo (Xalon), a branch of the Ebro, and a Saguntia in
the country of the Vaccæi on the northern branch of the Douro.
Pompeius in his letter to the Senate speaks of the capture of the camp
of Sertorius near Sucro, his defeat on the Durius, and the capture of
Valentia. If the Durius be the Douro, this Segontia may be one of the
towns called Segontia in the north-west of Spain. But the Durius may
be the Turia, the river of Valentia, and Segontia may be Saguntum. The
fact of Pompeius wintering among the Vaccæi is perhaps in favour of a
north-west Segontia; but still I think that Saguntum was the
battle-field. This battle is mentioned by Appian (_Civil Wars_, i.
110), who says that Pompeius lost six thousand men, but that Metellus
defeated Perperua, who lost about five thousand men.]
[Footnote 157: The Vaccæi occupied part of the country immediately
north of the Durius (Douro); but the limits cannot be accurately
defined.]
[Footnote 158: Compare the Life of Lucullus, c. 5, and the Life of
Crassus, c. 11. The letter of Pompeius to the Senate is in the third
book of the Fragments of the Roman History of Sallustius. The letter
concludes with the following words, which Plutarch had apparently
read: "Ego non rem familiarem modo, verum etiam fidem consumpsi.
Reliqui vos estis, qui nisi subvenitis, invito et praedicente me,
exercitus hinc et cum eo omne bellum Hispaniae in Italiam
transgredientur."]
[Footnote 159: This appears to be the event which is described in the
fragment of the Second Book of the History of Sallustius, which is
preserved by Macrobius, _Saturnalia_, ii. 9, in the chapter "De
Luxu."]
[Footnote 160: Compare the Life of Sulla, c. 11.]
[Footnote 161: See the Life of Sulla, c. 24.]
[Footnote 162: Kaltwasser quotes Reiske, who observes that Plutarch,
who wrote under the Empire, expresses himself after the fashion of his
age, when the Roman Cæsars lived on the Palatine.]
[Footnote 163: The treaty with Mithridates was made B.C. 75. This
Marius is mentioned in the Life of Lucullus, c. 8. Appian
(_Mithridatic War_, c. 68) calls him Marcus Varius, and also states
that Sertorius agreed to give Mithridates, Asia, Bithynia,
Paphlagonia, Cappadocia, and Galatia. In the matter of Asia the
narratives of Plutarch and Appian are directly opposed to one
another.]
[Footnote 164: This may be literally rendered "Marcus Marius together
with whom Mithridates having captured some of the Asiatic cities;"
Kaltwasser renders it, "in connection with him (Marcus Marius)
Mithrdates conquered some towns in Asia." But the context shows that
Marcus Marius was to be considered the principal, and that the towns
were not conquered in order to be given to Mithridates.]
[Footnote 165: Compare the Life of Lucullus, c. 20.]
[Footnote 166: Appian (_Civil Wars_, i. 112) does not mention this
massacre of the Iberian boys; but he states that Sertorius had become
odious to the Romans whom he now distrusted, and that he employed
Iberians instead of the Romans as his body-guard. He also adds that
the character of Sertorius was changed, that he gave himself up to
wine and women, and was continually sustaining defeats. These
circumstances and fear for his own life, according to Appian, led
Perperna to conspire against Sertorius (i. 113).]
[Footnote 167: Perhaps Octavius Gracimus, as the name appears in
Frontinus (_Stratagem._ ii. 5, 31).]
[Footnote 168: [Greek: tê bradutêti tês lalias.] τῆ βραδυτῆτι τῆς
λαλιᾶς The meaning of these words may be doubtful; but what I have
given is perhaps consistent with the Greek and with the circumstances.
There was some hesitation about beginning the attack, and the flagging
of the conversation was a natural consequence.
Sertorius was murdered B.C. 72, in the consulship of L. Gellius
Publicola and Cn. Cornelius Lentulus Clodianus, in the eighth year of
his command in Spain. (Livius, _Epitom._ 96.) Accordingly this places
the commencement of his command in B.C. 80; but he went to Spain in
B.C. 82, or at the end of B.C. 83. See Notes on c. 6. Appian (_Civil
Wars_, i. 114) states that when the will of Sertorius was opened it
was discovered that he had placed Perperna among his heredes, a
circumstance which throws doubt on the assertion of Appian that
Perperna was afraid that Sertorius intended to take his life. Appian
adds that when this was known, it created great enmity against
Perperna among his followers.
Plutarch's estimate of Sertorius may be a favourable one; yet he does
not omit to mention that act of his life which was most blamable, the
massacre of the youths at Osca. From the slight indications in
Frontinus, who found some material for his work on Military Stratagems
in the campaigns of Sertorius, and from other passages, we may collect
that, however mild the temper of Sertorius was, circumstances must
often have compelled him to acts of severity and even cruelty. The
difficulties of his position can only be estimated when we reflect on
the nature of a campaign in many parts of Spain and the kind of
soldiers he had under him. Promptitude and decision were among his
characteristics; and in such a warfare promptitude and decision cannot
be exercised at the time when alone they are of any use, if a man is
swayed by any other considerations than those of prudence and
necessity in the hour of danger. A general who could stab one of his
own men in the heat of battle, to prevent him dispiriting the army by
news of a loss, proved that his judgment was as clear as his
determination was resolved.
Plutarch's narrative is of no value as a campaign, and his apology
must be that he was not writing a campaign, but delineating a man's
character. Drumann _Geschichte Roms_, Pompeius, p. 350, &c.) has
attempted to give a connected history of this campaign against
Sertorius, and he has probably done it as well as it can be done with
such materials as we possess. The map of Antient Spain and Portugal
published by the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, will
be useful for reading the sketch in Drumann. Plutarch had no good map,
and, as already observed, he was not writing a campaign. Some modern
historical writers, who have maps, seem to have made very little use
of them; and their narrative of military transactions is often us
confused as Plutarch's.
The nature of Guerilla warfare in Spain may be learned from the
history of the Peninsular War. The difficulties of a campaign in
Navarre and the Basque provinces are well shown in the campaigns of
Zumalacarregui, the Carlist chief, a modern Sertorius, whose
extraordinary career was cut short by a chance ball before the walls
of Bilbao, in 1835. (Henningsen, _The most striking Events of a
Twelve-month's Campaign with Zumalacarregui_, London, 1836.)]
[Footnote 169: Metellus marched to another part of Spain, and left
Pompeius to deal with Perperna. According to Appian's narrative the
decisive action between Pompeius and Perperna took place "on the tenth
day," probably the tenth from the death of Sertorius. Pompeius would
not see Perperna after he was taken, and prudently put him to death.
"The death of Sertorius," says Appian, "was the end of the Spanish
war, and it is probable that if Sertorius had lived, it would not have
been terminated so soon, or so easily."]