Plutarch's Lives, Volume 3 · Plutarch
LIFE OF SERTORIUS.
XXII. Metellus also showed, that he feared the man and thought he was powerful; for he made proclamation, that if any Roman killed Sertorius he would give him a hundred talents of silver and twenty thousand jugera of land; and, if he was an exile, permission to return, to Rome: thus declaring that he despaired of being able to defeat Sertorius in the field, and therefore would purchase his life by treachery. Besides this, Metellus was so elated by a victory which on one occasion he gained over Sertorius, and so well pleased with his success, that he was proclaimed Imperator[159] and the cities received him in his visits to them with sacrifices and altars. It is also said, that he allowed chaplets to be placed on his head, and accepted invitations to sumptuous feasts, at which he wore a triumphal vest; and Victories[160] which were contrived to move by machinery, descended and distributed golden trophies and crowns, and companies of youths and women sang epinician hymns in honour of him.
For this he was with good reason ridiculed, for that after calling Sertorius a runaway slave of Sulla, and a remnant of the routed party of Carbo, he was so puffed up and transported with delight because he had gained an advantage over Sertorius, who had been compelled to retire. But it was a proof of the magnanimous character of Sertorius, first, that he gave the name of Senate to the Senators who fled from Rome and joined him, and that he appointed quæstors and generals from among them, and arranged everything of this kind according to Roman usage; and next, that though he availed himself of the arms, the money and the cities of the Iberians, he never yielded to them one *tittle of the Roman supremacy, but he appointed Romans to be their generals and commanders, considering that he was recovering freedom for the Romans, and was not strengthening the Iberians against the Romans; for Sertorius loved his country and had a great desire to return home.
Notwithstanding this, in his reverses he behaved like a brave man, and never humbled himself before his enemies; and after his victories he would send to Metellus and to Pompeius, and declare that he was ready to lay down his arms and to live in a private station, if he might be allowed to return home; for, he said, he would rather be the obscurest citizen in Rome than an exile from his country, though he were proclaimed supreme ruler of all other countries in the world. It is said, that he longed to return home chiefly on account of his mother, who brought him up after his father's death, and to whom he was completely devoted. At the time when his friends in Iberia invited him to take the command, he heard of the death of his mother, and he was near dying of grief. He lay in his tent for seven days without giving the watchword, or being seen by any of his friends; and it was with difficulty that his fellow-generals and those of like rank with himself, who had assembled about his tent, prevailed on him to come out to the soldiers, and take a share in the administration of affairs, which were going on well. This made many people think that Sertorius was naturally a man of mild temper, and well disposed to a quiet life; but that, owing to uncontrollable causes, and contrary to his wishes, he entered on the career of a commander, and then, when he could not ensure his safety, and was driven to arms by his enemies, he had recourse to war as the only means by which he could protect his life.
XXIII. His negociations with Mithridates also were a proof of his magnanimity; for now that Mithridates, rising from the fall that he had from Sulla, as it were, to a second contest, had again attacked Asia, and the fame of Sertorius was great, and had gone abroad to all parts, and those who sailed from the West had filled the Pontus with the reports about him, as if with so many foreign wares, Mithridates was moved to send an embassy to him, being urged thereto mainly by the fulsome exaggerations of his flatterers, who compared Sertorius to Hannibal and Mithridates to Pyrrhus, and said that if the Romans were attacked on both sides, they could not hold out against such great abilities and powers combined, when the most expert of commanders had joined the greatest of kings. Accordingly, Mithridates sent ambassadors to Iberia, with letters to Sertorius and proposals. On his part he offered to supply money and ships for the war, and he asked from Sertorius a confirmation of his title to the whole of Asia, which he had given up to the Romans pursuant to the treaty made with Sulla.
Sertorius assembled a council, which he called a senate, and all the members advised to accept the king's proposal, and to be well content with it; they said the king only asked of them a name and an empty answer touching things that were not in their power, in return for which they were to receive what they happened to stand most in need of. But Sertorius would not listen to this; he said he did not grudge Mithridates having Bithynia and Cappadocia; these were nations that were accustomed to a king, and the Romans had nothing to do with them; but the province which belonged to the Romans by the justest of titles, which Mithridates took from them and kept, from which, after a contest, he was driven out by Fimbria, and which he gave up by treaty with Sulla,[161] -that province he would never allow to fall again into the power of Mithridates; for it was fit that the Roman state should be extended by his success, not that his success should be owing to her humiliation. To a generous mind, victory by honest means was a thing to desire, but life itself was not worth having with dishonour.
XXIV. When this was reported to Mithridates he was amazed, and it is said that he remarked to his friends--what terms, then, will Sertorius impose when he is seated on the Palatium,[162] if now, when he is driven to the shores of the Atlantic, he fixes limits to our kingdom, and threatens us with war if we make any attempt upon Asia? However, a treaty was made, and ratified by oath, on the following terms: Mithridates[163] was to have Cappadocia and Bithynia, and Sertorius was to send him a general and soldiers; and Sertorius was to receive from Mithridates three thousand talents, and forty ships. Sertorius sent as general to Asia Marcus Marius, one of the Senators who had fled to him; and Mithridates, after assisting him to take some of the Asiatic cities,[164] followed Marius as he entered them with the fasces and axes, voluntarily taking the second place and the character of an inferior. Marius restored some of the cities to liberty, and he wrote to others to announce to them their freedom from taxation through the power of Sertorius; so that Asia, which was much troubled by the Publicani,[165] and oppressed by the rapacity and insolence of the soldiers quartered there, was again raised on the wings of hope, and longed for the expected change of masters.
XXV. In Iberia, the senators and nobles about Sertorius, as soon as they were put into a condition to hope that they were a match for the opposite party, and their fears were over, began to feel envious, and had a foolish jealousy of the power of Sertorius. Perpenna encouraged this feeling, being urged by the empty pride of high birth to aspire to the supreme command, and he secretly held treasonable language to those who were favourable to his designs. "What evil dæmon," he would say, "has got hold of us, and carried us from bad to worse--us who did not brook to stay at home and do the bidding of Sulla, though in a manner he was lord of all the earth and sea at once, but coming here with ill luck, in order to live free, have voluntarily become slaves by making ourselves the guards of Sertorius in his exile, and while we are called a senate, a name jeered at by all who hear it, we submit to insults, and orders, and sufferings as great as the Iberians and Lusitanians endure." Their minds filled with such suggestions as these, the majority did not, indeed, openly desert Sertorius, for they feared his power, but they secretly damaged all his measures, and they oppressed the barbarians by severe treatment and exactions, on the pretext that it was by the order of Sertorius. This caused revolts and disturbances in the cities; and those who were sent to settle and pacify these outbreaks returned after causing more wars, and increasing the existing insubordination; so that Sertorius, contrary to his former moderation and mildness, did a grievous wrong to the sons of the Iberians, who were educating at Osca,[166] by putting some to death, and selling others as slaves.
XXVI. Now Perpenna, having got several to join him in his conspiracy, gained over Manlius, one of those who were in command. This Manlius was much attached to a beautiful boy, and to give the youth a proof of his attachment he told him of the design, and urged him not to care for his other lovers; but to give his affections to him alone, as he would be a great man in a few days. The youth reported what Manlius said to Aufidius, another of his lovers, to whom he was more attached. On hearing this, Aufidius was startled, for he was engaged in the conspiracy against Sertorius, but he did not know that Manlius was a party to it. But when the youth named Perpenna and Graecinus,[167] and some others whom Aufidius knew to be in the conspiracy, he was confounded, yet he made light of the story to the youth, and told him to despise Manlius for a lying braggart; but he went to Perpenna, and, showing him the critical state of affairs, and the danger, urged him to the deed. The conspirators followed his advice, and having engaged a man to bring letters they introduced him to Sertorius.
The letters gave information of a victory gained by one of the generals, and a great slaughter of the enemy. Upon this Sertorius was overjoyed, and offered a sacrifice for the happy tidings; and Perpenna proposed to feast him and his friends (and they were of the number of the conspirators), and after much entreaty he prevailed on Sertorius to come. Now whenever Sertorius was present, an entertainment was conducted with great propriety and decorum; for he would not tolerate any indecent act or expression, but accustomed his companions to enjoy mirth and merriment with orderly behaviour, and without any excess; but, on this occasion, in the midst of the feast, seeking to begin a quarrel, they openly used obscene language, and, pretending to be drunk, behaved indecently, for the purpose of irritating Sertorius. Whether it was that he was vexed at this disorderly conduct, or had now suspected their design by the flagging of the conversation[168] and their unusual contemptuous manner towards him, he changed his posture on the couch by throwing himself on his back, as if he was paying no attention to them, and not listening. On Perpenna taking a cup of wine, and in the middle of the draught throwing it from him and so making a noise, which was the signal agreed on, Antonius, who lay next to Sertorius, struck him with his sword. On receiving the blow, Sertorius turned himself, and at the same time attempted to rise, but Antonius, throwing himself upon his chest, held his hands, and he was despatched by blows from many of the conspirators, without even making any resistance.
XXVII.[169] Now most of the Iberians immediately sent ambassadors to Pompeius and Metellus, to make their submission; those who remained Perpenna took under his command, and attempted to do something. After employing the means that Sertorius had got together, just so far as to disgrace himself, and show that he was not suited either to command or to obey, he engaged with Pompeius. Being quickly crushed by him and taken prisoner, he did not behave himself even in this extremity as a commander should do; but having got possession of the papers of Sertorius, he offered to Pompeius to show him autograph letters from consular men and persons of the highest influence at Rome, in which Sertorius was invited to Italy, and was assured that there were many who were desirous to change the present settlement of affairs, and to alter the constitution. Now Pompeius, by behaving on this occasion, not like a young man, but one whose understanding was well formed and disciplined, relieved Rome from great dangers and revolutions. He got together all those letters, and all the papers of Sertorius, and burnt them, without either reading them himself or letting any one else read them; and he immediately put Perpenna to death, through fear that there might be defection and disturbance if the names were communicated to others. Of the fellow-conspirators of Perpenna, some were brought to Pompeius, and put to death; and others, who fled to Libya, were pierced by the Moorish spears. Not one escaped, except Aufidius, the rival of Manlius, and this happened, either because he escaped notice, or nobody took any trouble about him, and he lived to old age, in some barbarian village, in poverty and contempt.
Text from Project Gutenberg, public domain in the United States.