Civil Wars

Directly after their return from the funeral the consuls fell into a wordy quarrel and the citizens began to take sides with them. Lepidus, in order to curry favor with the Italians, said that he would restore the land which Sulla had taken from them. The Senate was afraid of both factions and made them take an oath that they would not carry their differences to the point of war. To Lepidus the province of transalpine Gaul was assigned by lot and he did not come back to the comitia because he would be released in the following year from his oath about making war on the Sullans; for it was considered that the oath was binding only during the term of office. As his designs did not escape observation he was recalled by the Senate, and as he knew why he was recalled he came with his whole army, intending to bring them into the city with him. As he was prevented from doing this, he ordered his men under arms and Catulus did the same on the other side. A battle was fought not far from the Campus Martius. Lepidus was defeated and, soon giving up the struggle, sailed shortly afterward to Sardinia, where he died of a wasting disease. His army was frittered away little by little and dissolved, the greater part of it was conducted by Perpenna to Sertorius in Spain.

There remained of the Sullan troubles the war with Sertorius, which had been going on for eight years, [*](More probably ten years, Mendelssohn thinks.) and was not an easy war to the Romans since it was waged not merely against Spaniards, but against other Romans and Sertorius. He had been chosen governor of Spain while he was coöperating with Carbo against Sulla; and after taking the city of Suessa during the armistice he fled and assumed his prætorship. He had an army from Italy itself and he raised another from the Celtiberians, and drove out of Spain the former prætors, who, in order to favor Sulla, refused to surrender the government to him. He had also fought nobly against Metellus, who had been sent against him by Sulla. Having acquired a reputation for bravery he enrolled a council of 300 members from the friends who were with him, and called it the Roman Senate in derision [*](Y.R. 677) of the real one. After Sulla died, and Lepidus later, he [*](B.C. 77) obtained another army of Italians which Perpenna, the lieutenant of Lepidus, brought to him and it was supposed that he intended to march against Italy itself, and would have done so had not the Senate become alarmed and sent another army and general into Spain in addition to the former ones. This general was Pompey, who was still a young man, but renowned for his exploits in the time of Sulla, in Africa and in Italy itself.

Pompey courageously crossed the Alps, not in the face of such difficulties as Hannibal experienced, but he opened another passage around the sources of the Rhone and the Eridanus. These issue from the Alpine mountains not far from each other. One of them runs through transalpine Gaul and empties into the Tyrrhenian sea; the other from the interior of the Alps to the Adriatic. The name of the latter has been changed from the Eridanus to the Po. [*](Y.R. 678) Directly Pompey arrived in Spain Sertorius cut in pieces [*](B.C. 76) a whole legion of his army, that had been sent out foraging, with its animals and servants. He also plundered and destroyed the Roman town of Lauro before the very eyes of Pompey. In this siege a woman tore out with her fingers the eyes of a soldier who had insulted her and was trying to commit an outrage upon her. When Sertorius heard of this he put to death the whole cohort that was supposed to be addicted to such brutality, although it was composed of Romans. Then the armies were separated by the advent of winter. [*](Y.R. 679)

When spring came they resumed hostilities, Metellus and Pompey coming from the Pyrenees mountains, where they had wintered, and Sertorius and Perpenna from Lusitania. They met near the town of Sucro. While the fight was going on flashes of lightning came unexpectedly from a clear sky, but these trained soldiers were not in the least dismayed. They continued the fight, with heavy slaughter on both sides, until Metellus defeated Perpenna and plundered his camp. On the other hand, Sertorius defeated Pompey, who received a dangerous wound from a spear in the thigh, and this put an end to that battle. Sertorius had a white fawn that was tame and allowed to move about freely. When this fawn was not visible Sertorius considered it a bad omen. He became low-spirited and abstained from fighting; nor did he mind the enemy's scoffing at the fawn. When she made her appearance running through the woods Sertorius would run to meet her and, as though he were inspired by her, he would begin to harass the enemy. Not long afterward Sertorius fought a great battle near Seguntia, lasting from noon till night. Sertorius fought on horseback and vanquished Pompey, killing nearly 6000 of his men and losing about half that number himself. Metellus at the same time destroyed [*](B.C. 75) about 5000 of Perpenna's army. The day after this battle Sertorius, with a large reënforcement of barbarians, attacked the camp of Metellus unexpectedly towards evening with the intention of besieging it with a trench, but Pompey hastened up and caused Sertorius to desist from his bold enterprise. In this way they passed the summer, and again they separated to winter quarters. [*](Y.R. 680)