Civil Wars

The following year, which was in the 176th Olympiad, [*](B.C. 74) two countries were acquired by the Romans by bequest. Bithynia was left to them by Nicomedes, and Cyrene by Ptolemy Apion, of the house of the Lagidæ. There were wars and wars; the Sertorian was raging in Spain, the Mithridatic in the East, that of the pirates on the entire sea, and another one around Crete against the Cretans themselves, besides the gladiatorial war in Italy, which started suddenly and became very serious. Although distracted by so many conflicts the Romans sent another army of two legions into Spain. With these and the other forces in their hands Metellus and Pompey again descended from the Pyrenees mountains to the Ebro and Sertorius and Perpenna advanced from Lusitania to meet them. At this juncture many of the soldiers of Sertorius deserted to Metellus.

Sertorius was so exasperated by this that he visited savage and barbarous punishment upon many of his men and fell into disrepute in consequence. The soldiers blamed him particularly because wherever he went he surrounded himself with a body-guard of Celtiberian spearmen instead of Romans, removing the latter in favor of the former. Nor could they bear to be reproached with treachery by him while they were serving under an enemy of the Roman people. That they should be charged with bad faith by Sertorius while they were acting in bad faith to their country on his account, was the very thing that vexed them most. Nor did they consider it just that those who remained with the standards should be condemned because others deserted. Moreover, the Celtiberians took this occasion to insult them as men under suspicion. Still they were not altogether alienated from Sertorius since they derived advantages from his service, for there was no other man of that period more skilled in the art of war or more successful in it. For this reason, and on account of the rapidity of his movements, the Celtiberians gave him the name of Hannibal, whom they considered the boldest and most crafty general ever known in their country. In this way the army stood affected toward Sertorius. The forces of Metellus overran many of his towns and brought the men belonging to them under subjection. While Pompey was laying siege to Pallantia and underrunning the walls with wooden supports, Sertorius suddenly appeared on the scene and raised the siege. Pompey hastily set fire to the timbers and retreated to Metellus. Sertorius rebuilt the part of the wall which had fallen and then attacked his enemies who were encamped around the castle of Calagurris and killed 3000 of them. And so this year went by in Spain. [*](A letter from Pompey to the Senate describing his desperate condition and threatening, unless supplied with money, to return to Italy, with Sertorius probably in close pursuit, is preserved in the writings of Sallust.) [*](Y.R. 681)

In the following year the Roman generals plucked [*](B.C. 73) up rather more courage and advanced in an audacious manner against the towns that adhered to Sertorius, drew many away from him, assaulted others, and were much elated by their success. No great battle was fought, but again [*](Schweighäuser detects a lacuna here which he fills with the words "there were skirmishes here and there.") . . . until the following year, when they advanced again even more audaciously. Sertorius was now [*](Y.R. 682) evidently misled by a god, for he relaxed his labors, fell [*](B.C. 72) into habits of luxury, and gave himself up to women, and to carousing and drinking, for which reason he was defeated continually. He became hot-tempered, from various suspicions, and extremely cruel in punishment, and distrustful of everybody, [*](Plutarch represents Sertorius as temperate, unassailable by either pleasure or fear, and "very sparing and backward in punishing offenders." (Life of Sertorius, 10.)) so much so that Perpenna, who had belonged to the faction of Lepidus and had come hither as a volunteer with a considerable army, began to fear for his own safety and formed a conspiracy with ten other men against him. The conspiracy was betrayed, some of the guilty ones were punished and others fled, but Perpenna escaped detection in some unaccountable manner and applied himself all the more to carry out the design. As Sertorius was never without his guard of spearmen, Perpenna invited him to a banquet, plied him and his guards with wine, and assassinated him after the feast.

The soldiers straightway rose in tumult and anger against Perpenna, their hatred of Sertorius being suddenly turned to affection for him, as people generally mollify their anger toward the dead, and when the one who has injured them is no longer before their eyes recall his virtues with tender memory. Reflecting on their present situation they despised Perpenna as though he had been a private individual, for they considered that the bravery of Sertorius had been their only salvation. They were angry with Perpenna, and the barbarians were no less so; most of all were the Lusitanians, of whose services Sertorius had especially availed himself. When the will of Sertorius was opened a bequest to Perpenna was found in it, and thereupon still greater anger and hatred of him entered into the minds of all, since he had committed such an abominable crime, not merely against his ruler and commanding general, but against his friend and benefactor. And they would not have abstained from violence had not Perpenna bestirred himself, making gifts to some and promises to others. Some he terrified with threats and some he killed in order to strike terror into the rest. He came forward and made a speech to the multitude, and released from confinement some whom Sertorius had imprisoned, and dismissed some of the Spanish hostages. Reduced to submission in this way they obeyed him as prætor (for he held the next rank to Sertorius) yet they were not without bitterness toward him even then. As he grew bolder he became very cruel in punishments, and put to death three of the nobility who had fled together from Rome to him, and also his own nephew.

As Metellus had gone to other parts of Spain,-- for he considered it no longer a difficult task for Pompey alone to vanquish Perpenna, -- these two skirmished and made tests of each other for several days, but did not bring their whole strength into the field. On the tenth day, however, a great battle was fought between them. They resolved to decide the contest by one engagement--Pompey because he despised the generalship of Perpenna; Perpenna because he did not believe that his army would long remain faithful to him, and he could now engage with nearly his whole strength. Pompey, as might have been expected, soon got the better of this inferior general and disaffected army. Perpenna was defeated all along the line and concealed himself in a thicket, more fearful of his own troops than of the enemy's. He was seized by some horsemen and dragged toward Pompey's headquarters, loaded with the execrations of his own men, as the murderer of Sertorius, and crying out that he could give Pompey a great deal of information about the factions in Rome. This he said either because it was true, or in order to be brought safe to Pompey's presence, but the latter sent orders to kill him before bringing him into his presence, fearing lest the news that Perpenna wanted to communicate should be the source of new troubles at Rome. Pompey seems to have behaved very prudently in this matter, and his action added to his high reputation. So ended the war in Spain with the life of Sertorius. I think that if he had lived longer the war would not have ended so soon or so successfully.[*](Plutarch says that Perpenna, having the papers of Sertorius in his hands, offered to show Pompey letters from persons of the highest quality in Rome inviting Sertorius to march to Italy in order to bring about a change in the government, but that Pompey took the papers and burned them without reading them, or allowing anybody else to do so. He says also that all of the conspirators against Sertorius who fell into Pompey's hands were put to death by his orders. (Life of Sertorius, 27.))

At the same time Spartacus, a Thracian by birth, who had once served as a soldier with the Romans, but had since been a prisoner and sold for a gladiator, and was in the gladiatorial training-school at Capua, persuaded about [*](B.C. 73) seventy of his comrades to strike for their own freedom rather than for the amusement of spectators. They overcame the guards and ran away. They armed themselves with clubs and daggers that they took from people on the roads and took refuge on Mount Vesuvius. There many fugitive slaves and even some freemen from the fields joined Spartacus, and he plundered the neighboring country, having for subordinate officers two gladiators named Œnomaus and Crixus. As he divided the plunder impartially he soon had plenty of men. Varinius Glaber was first sent against him and afterward Publius Valerius, not with regular armies, but with forces picked up in haste and at random, for the Romans did not consider this a war as yet, but a raid, something like an outbreak of robbery. When they attacked Spartacus they were beaten. Spartacus even captured the horse of Varinius; so narrowly did a Roman prætor escape being captured by a gladiator. After this still greater numbers flocked to Spartacus till his army numbered 70,000 men. For these he manufactured weapons and collected apparatus. [*](Y.R. 682)