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Sertorius: Part 2/2

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After Sertorius captured Tingis, the Lusitanians asked him to lead them in their struggle against the occupying Roman forces in Spain. He crossed over into Spain with 2600 Romans and 700 soldiers from North Africa. Some 4000 foot-soldiers and 700 horsemen from the locals joined Sertorius' forces. One of Sertorius' attractions for them was his pet white fawn, which he claimed was a gift from the goddess Diana, saying that the information he actually received from spies was revealed to him by the fawn.

By introducing Roman weapons and military methods to these forces, Sertorius held off 120,000 Roman foot-soldiers, 600 horsemen and 2000 archers and slingshot fighters. He demonstrated his reasoning with two horses, one a fine warhorse and the other a broken-down old nag, and two men, one a fine figure of a warrior and the other a small puny-looking man. He ordered the strong man to pull out the old nag's tail. When he couldn't do it, Sertorius ordered the weak man to pull out the warhorse's tail one hair at a time, which he easily managed. However, although he had come at the invitation of the Lusitanians and was training them in Roman military techniques, he was careful to keep power in his own hands and those of the Romans with him (who he called his Senate), insisting that his fight was against the regime and not against Rome itself.

The Roman part of Spain was divided into two provinces and Sertorius defeated the governors of both. Quintus Caecilius Metellus Pius was sent out from Rome against Sertorius (79), but Metellus' conventional tactics proved useless against the guerrilla tactics Sertorius used. When, for example, Metellus laid siege to a city of the Langobritae tribe, Sertorius had water smuggled into the city and then forced Metellus to retreat by harassing his foraging parties.

After his initial successes Sertorius was joined by more Romans unhappy with the new order of things. They were led by Perpenna Vento, but threatened to desert to Sertorius when they heard that Pompey was on his way(77). Perpenna had no choice but to acquiesce in his men's decision and join Sertorius.

Hitherto, Sertorius' success had been ascribed to Metellus' age and weakness, but he soon proved to be a match even for Pompey. Although when Pompey first arrived some amongst the locals were tempted to change sides, Sertorius' resounding victory at Lauron changed their minds back again. Sertorius was besieging Lauron when Pompey arrived and demanded that Sertorius surrender. Sertorius pointed out the troops he'd left in reserve who were in a good position to surround Pompey and trap him between Sertorius' forces. Lauron surrendered. Sertorius let the people go but burnt down the city, and Pompey was unable to stop him. In one incident during the seige, one of Sertorius' men tried to rape one of the inhabitants but she managed to blind him. When Sertorius heard what had happened he had the whole cohort executed to punish their brutality.

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