Plutarch's Lives Volume III Part 8

[Footnote 132: He was of the Aurelia Gens.]

[Footnote 133: Is a small town on the coast, east of the mouth of the Baetis (Guadalquivir) and near the Straits of Gibraltar. The channel must be the Straits of Gibraltar.]

[Footnote 134: This is undoubtedly the right name, though it is corrupted in the MSS. See the various readings in Sintenis, and _Sulla_ (c. 31), to which he refers. However, the corrupt readings of some MSS. clearly show what the true reading is.]

[Footnote 135: Sintenis reads Domitius Calvisius. But it should be Calvinus: Calvinus was a cognomen of the Domitii. (See Livius, _Epitome_, lib. 90.) The person who is meant is L. Domitius Ahen.o.barbus. He fell in this battle on the Guadiana, where he was defeated by Hirtuleius. (Drumann, _Geschichte Roms_, Ahen.o.barbi, 19.)]

[Footnote 136: That is the province which the Romans called Tarraconensis, from the town of Tarraco, Tarragona. The Tarraconensis was the north-eastern part of the Spanish peninsula. The true name of Thoranius is Thorius.]

[Footnote 137: This was Q. Metellus Pius, the son of Numidicus, who was banished through the artifices of C. Marius. (Life of Marius, c.

7, &c.) He was Proconsul in Spain from B.C. 78 to 72, and was sent there in consequence of the success of Sertorius against Cotta and Fufidius.]

[Footnote 138: Some critics read Lucius Lollius. See the various readings in Sintenis: his name was L. Manilius.]

[Footnote 139: I should rather have translated it "Gaul about Narbo."

Plutarch means the Roman Province in Gaul, which was called Narbonensis, from the town of Narbo Martius.]

[Footnote 140: Commonly called Pompey the Great, whose name occurs in the Lives of Sulla, Lucullus, and Cra.s.sus. Plutarch has written his Life at length.]

[Footnote 141: Probably the philosopher and pupil of Aristotle.]

[Footnote 142: Some writers would connect this name of a people with Langobriga, the name of a place. There were two places of the name, it is said, and one is placed near the mouth of the Douro. It is useless to attempt to fix the position of the Langobritae from what Plutarch has said.]

[Footnote 143: Or Aquinus or Aquilius. Cornelius Aquinus was his name.]

[Footnote 144: Osca was a town in the north-east of Spain, probably Huesca in Aragon. Mannert observes that this school must have greatly contributed to fix the Latin language in Spain. Spain however already contained Roman settlers, and at a later period it contained numerous Roman colonies: in fact the Peninsula was completely Romanized, of which the Spanish language and the establishment of the Roman Law in Spain are the still existing evidence. The short-lived school of Sertorius could not have done much towards fixing the Latin language in Spain.]

[Footnote 145: The Bulla was of a round form. See the copy of one from the British Museum in Smith's 'Dict. of Greek and Roman Antiquities.'

Kaltwa.s.ser refers to Plutarch's Life of Romulus, c. 20, and his 'Roman Questions,' Part 3, in which he explains what the Bulla is.]

[Footnote 146: The Greek word [Greek: kataspeisis] ?at?spe?s??

signifies a "pouring out." Kaltwa.s.ser refers to a pa.s.sage in Caesar's 'Gallic War,' iii. 22, in which he speaks of the "devoted" (devoti), whom the Aquitani called Soldurii. As the Aquitani bordered on the Pyrenees, it is not surprising that the like usage prevailed among them and the Iberians.]

[Footnote 147: The orthography is Perperna, as is proved by inscriptions. M. Perperna, the grandfather of this Perperna, was consul B.C. 130. (see Life of Tib. Gracchus, c. 20, Notes.) The son of M. Perperna also was consul B.C. 92: he did not die till B.C. 49, and consequently survived his son, this Perperna of Plutarch. Perperna Vento had been praetor. He a.s.sociated himself with Lepidus after the death of Sulla, and was like M. Lepidus driven from Rome (Life of Sulla, c. 34, Notes).]

[Footnote 148: This is the Ebro, which the Romans called Iberus, the large river which flows in a south-east direction and enters the Mediterranean.

It seems that Plutarch here means the nations between the Ebro and the Pyrenees, or the modern Aragon, Navarre, and Catalonia.]

[Footnote 149: The story is told by Frontinus, _Stratagemata_, i. 10, as Kaltwa.s.ser observes, and again, in iv. 7, in the very same words.

It has been often remarked that Horatius probably alludes to this story (ii. _Epist._ I, 45).]

[Footnote 150: The Tagonius is either the Tagus (Tajo), or a branch of that large river, on the banks of which the Carpetani are placed by geographers, who also mark Caraca, a position on the Henares, a branch of the Tagus. If Caraca represents the country of the Charicatani, the Tagonius is the Nares or Henares, on which stood Complutum, the modern Alcala de Henarea. But all this is merely conjecture.]

[Footnote 151: Lauron is placed near the coast, and near the outlet of the Sucro river, the modern Xucar. There was also a town Sucro near the mouth of the Sucro. Appian (_Civil Wars_, i. 109) says that when the city was captured, a soldier attempted violence on a woman ([Greek: para phusin] pa?? f?s??), who tore out his eyes with her fingers. Sertorius, who knew that the whole cohort was addicted to infamous practices, put them all to death though they were Romans.

Frontinus (_Stratagem._ ii. 5) has a long account of this affair at Lauron, for which he quotes Livius, who says that Pompeius lost ten thousand men and all his baggage.

Pompeius began his Spanish campaign B.C. 76.]

[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.

Kaltwa.s.ser 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 pa.s.sage (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 Caesar 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 Caesar, 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 Vaccaei 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 Vaccaei 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 Vaccaei 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 Cra.s.sus, c. 11. The letter of Pompeius to the Senate is in the third book of the Fragments of the Roman History of Sall.u.s.tius. 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 c.u.m 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 Sall.u.s.tius, 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: Kaltwa.s.ser quotes Reiske, who observes that Plutarch, who wrote under the Empire, expresses himself after the fas.h.i.+on of his age, when the Roman Caesars 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;"

Kaltwa.s.ser 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 princ.i.p.al, 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 ma.s.sacre 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 circ.u.mstances 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: te braduteti tes lalias.] t? ?ad?t?t? t??

?a???? The meaning of these words may be doubtful; but what I have given is perhaps consistent with the Greek and with the circ.u.mstances.

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 consuls.h.i.+p of L. Gellius Publicola and Cn. Cornelius Lentulus Clodia.n.u.s, 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 circ.u.mstance which throws doubt on the a.s.sertion 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 ma.s.sacre 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 pa.s.sages, we may collect that, however mild the temper of Sertorius was, circ.u.mstances 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. Prompt.i.tude and decision were among his characteristics; and in such a warfare prompt.i.tude 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.