96 Facts About Quintus Sertorius

Quintus Sertorius first became prominent during the Cimbrian War fighting under Gaius Marius, and then served Rome in the Social War.

Quintus Sertorius led in the assault on Rome and restrained the reprisals that followed.

Quintus Sertorius criticised Gnaeus Papirius Carbo and other Marians' leadership of the anti-Sullan forces during the civil war with Sulla and was, late in the war, given command of Hispania.

Quintus Sertorius allied with Mithridates VI of Pontus and Cilician pirates in his struggle against the Roman government.

At the height of his power, Quintus Sertorius controlled nearly all of Hispania.

Quintus Sertorius successfully sustained his anti-Sullan resistance for many years, despite substantial efforts to subdue him by the Sullan regime and its generals Quintus Caecilius Metellus Pius and Pompey.

Quintus Sertorius's cause fell in defeat to Pompey shortly thereafter.

Quintus Sertorius' father died before he came of age and his mother, Rhea, focused all her energies on raising her only son.

Quintus Sertorius made sure he received the best education possible for a young man of his status.

Quintus Sertorius's speaking style made a sufficiently negative impression on the young Cicero to merit a special mention in a later treatise on oratory:.

Quintus Sertorius probably did not know enough of the German languages to comprehend detailed information, but could report on their numbers and formations: "after seeing or hearing what was of importance", he returned to Marius.

Quintus Sertorius became well-known and trusted by Marius during his service with him.

Some scholars believe that Quintus Sertorius' tactics and strategies during his revolt in Hispania greatly resembled those of Marius, and conclude that Quintus Sertorius' earlier service under Marius was an important learning experience.

Quintus Sertorius escaped and gathered the other surviving soldiers, who still had their weapons.

Quintus Sertorius secured the unguarded exits of the town, and then led his men inside, killing all native men of military age irrespective of participation in the revolt.

Quintus Sertorius then killed many of the towns' inhabitants and sold the rest into slavery.

Quintus Sertorius's quaestorship was unusual in that he largely governed the province while the actual governor, perhaps Gaius Coelius Caldus, spent time across the Alps subduing remnants of the Cimbric invasion.

Quintus Sertorius served under a series of commanders, probably Marius and Lucius Porcius Cato, most certainly under Gnaeus Pompeius Strabo.

Quintus Sertorius fought in an "especially bold" manner during the war, and sustained a wound which cost him the use of one of his eyes.

Quintus Sertorius took revenge on his enemies and forced Marius into exile, then left Italy to fight the First Mithridatic War against Mithridates VI of Pontus.

When Marius returned from exile in Africa to aid the Marian cause, Quintus Sertorius opposed granting him any command either out of fear his position would be diminished, or because he feared Marius' vindictiveness and what he would do when Rome was retaken.

Quintus Sertorius advised not to trust Marius, and although he greatly disliked Marius by then, he consented to Marius' return given he came at Cinna's request.

Quintus Sertorius went so far as to rebuke Marius and move Cinna to moderation.

Quintus Sertorius was not sent with Gaius Flavius Fimbria and Lucius Valerius Flaccus east for the First Mithridatic War.

Quintus Sertorius probably helped train and levy soldiers for Sulla's inevitable return.

Quintus Sertorius was present at the talks between the commanders, and advocated against letting Sulla's troops fraternize with Scipio's; he did not trust Sulla and advised Scipio to force a decisive action.

Quintus Sertorius made a detour along his way and captured the town of Suessa Aurunca which had gone over to Sulla.

When Sulla complained to Scipio about this breach of trust by Quintus Sertorius, Scipio gave back his hostages as a sign of good faith.

Quintus Sertorius's companions claimed it was an outrage; but Sertorius paid the tribe and commented that he was buying himself time, and that if a man had a lot to do, nothing is more precious than time.

Flaccus, the governor of the two Spanish provinces, did not recognize his authority, but Quintus Sertorius had an army at his back and used it to assume control.

Quintus Sertorius did not meet with significant resistance in his first seizure of Hispania.

Quintus Sertorius persuaded the local chieftains to accept him as the new governor and endeared himself to the general population by cutting taxes, and then began to construct ships and levy soldiers in preparation for the armies he expected to be sent after him by Sulla.

Quintus Sertorius learned that he was one of the foremost among the proscribed, among the first names listed.

Unable to convince the Spanish tribes to fight for him, Quintus Sertorius was seriously outnumbered and he abandoned his provinces.

Quintus Sertorius fled to Nova Carthago and with 3,000 of his most loyal followers set sail to Mauritania, perhaps attempting some sort of attack on the coastal cities to keep his forces together, but was driven off by the locals.

Quintus Sertorius then fell in with a band of Cilician pirates who were pillaging the Spanish coast.

Quintus Sertorius engaged this superior fleet in a naval battle to avoid allowing them to disembark, but adverse winds broke most of his lighter ships, and he eventually fled the islands.

Quintus Sertorius heard of, and had a genuine interest in the Isles of the Blessed, ascribing the isles to the Celto-Hispanian belief of an afterlife in the western ocean and learning more for his own political purposes.

Quintus Sertorius remained in Tangier for some time, and became involved with local customs.

The Lusitanians, being threatened by a Sullan governor again, asked Quintus Sertorius to be their war leader.

Quintus Sertorius did not lead the Lusitanians in a 'war of liberation' from the Roman Republic however; instead, the Lusitanians, hoping for his milder administration to return, offered their support for him to revive the defeated Marian cause with Hispania as his base.

News of Quintus Sertorius' victory spread throughout Hispania Ulterior, including a rumour that his army included fifty thousand cannibals.

Quintus Sertorius, who referred to Metellus as "the old woman", employed guerrilla warfare effectively and outmaneuvered Metellus through rapid and relentless campaigning.

Quintus Sertorius organized the natives into an army and adjoined them to his core Roman forces, commanding them under Roman officers.

Quintus Sertorius [Spanus] was struck by the unusual colour of the fawn, for it was pure white.

White animals were perceived as having oracular qualities among Germanic peoples, and in Hispania itself there existed a stag cult of funerary and oracular nature; this cult was most popular in western Hispania and Lusitania, where Quintus Sertorius drew his most fervent followers.

When Quintus Sertorius learned of Metellus' intention to siege Lacobriga, Quintus Sertorius supplied the city in response, and then prepared to meet Metellus there.

When Metellus arrived and sent out foragers, Quintus Sertorius ambushed them and killed many, forcing Metellus to leave, unsuccessful.

At some point during these years, Quintus Sertorius challenged Metellus to single combat, and when Metellus declined, his soldiers mocked him.

Quintus Sertorius made the Iberians an organized army through Roman formations and signals.

Quintus Sertorius encouraged them to decorate their armaments with precious metals, thus making them more likely to retain their equipment between engagements.

Famously, while organizing his armies, the natives under Quintus Sertorius' command wanted to take on the Roman legions head-on.

Quintus Sertorius ordered an old man to pull hairs from the strong horses' tail one by one, and a strong youth to pull on the weak horses' tail all at once; the old man completed his task, while the youth failed.

Quintus Sertorius then explained that the Roman army was similar to the horse tail, in that it could be defeated if attacked piece by piece, but if taken all at once victory was impossible.

Quintus Sertorius successfully sieged the native city of Contrebia in that year.

Quintus Sertorius paid close attention to Pompey's movements despite his open contempt toward the younger general, who he called "Sulla's pupil".

Quintus Sertorius was now at the height of his power, as near all of Iberia was under his control and he had several large armies throughout the peninsula with which to combat the Roman generals.

Quintus Sertorius began the year with minor raids into the lands of the Berones and Autricones, presumably wanting to set a reliable headquarters in northern Hispania.

Quintus Sertorius besieged the city, likely hoping to pull Pompey from Valentia by attacking a new ally of his.

Quintus Sertorius remarked that he would give a lesson to Pompey: that a general must look behind him rather than in front of him.

Quintus Sertorius outmaneuvered Pompey during the battle, forcing him to stay in place by threatening an attack from the rear, then killed his foragers and a Pompeian legion sent to relieve the foragers.

When Pompey tried to form up his entire army to save his forces, Quintus Sertorius led out his own army.

Quintus Sertorius let the native Lauronians go and burned down the city.

Quintus Sertorius then executed an entire Roman cohort due to their attempts to plunder and ravage the Lauronians after he gave orders that they were to be unharmed.

Quintus Sertorius probably rose men of equestrian rank and other young nobles to his Senate to swell its numbers, and personally appointed proquaestors and propraetors; some men apparently even advanced offices in his administration.

How often Quintus Sertorius convened his Senate aside from the treaty he formed with Mithridates VI, and indeed whether he had the power to do so regularly, is uncertain.

Metellus defeated Hirtuleius at the Battle of Italica, so Quintus Sertorius sent Perperna at the head of a large army to block Metellus from coming to Pompey's aid and engaged Pompey, who, for whatever reason, chose to accept the offer of battle rather than wait for his ally, beginning the Battle of Sucro late in the day.

Each general took the right flank; Pompey faced a Sertorian legate, while Quintus Sertorius faced Lucius Afranius.

When Quintus Sertorius saw his left wing falling to Pompey, he rallied them and led a counterattack which shattered the Pompeian right, nearly capturing Pompey himself.

Afranius had broken the Sertorian right and was plundering their camp; Quintus Sertorius rode over and forced Afranius to depart back to Pompey.

Unwilling to fight two armies who would outnumber him if joined, Quintus Sertorius decamped, bitterly commenting:.

Quintus Sertorius assembled his Senate to discuss the issue, and decided that Mithridates could get Bithynia and Cappadocia as they were kingdoms that "had nothing to do with the Romans".

Mithridates accepted these terms and sent 3,000 talents of gold and forty ships to Hispania; in return, Quintus Sertorius sent the general Marcus Marius and other soldiers to Pontus.

The coming Battle of Saguntum was the last pitched battle Quintus Sertorius fought, the largest battle of the war, and probably one he had not wanted in the first place.

Quintus Sertorius retired to a strong fortress town in the mountains called Clunia.

Pompey and Metellus rushed to besiege him, and during the siege, Quintus Sertorius made many sallies against them, inflicting heavy casualties.

Quintus Sertorius convinced Metellus and Pompey that he intended to remain besieged, and eventually broke through their lines, rejoined with a fresh Sertorian army, and resumed the war.

Quintus Sertorius lacked the men to meet them in open combat, though he continued to harry them with guerrilla warfare.

Mass defections to the Roman generals began, and Quintus Sertorius responded to this with harshness and punishments.

Quintus Sertorius continued to win some victories, but it was by now clear he could not achieve complete victory.

Quintus Sertorius was in league with the Cilician Pirates, who had bases and fleets all around the Mediterranean.

Quintus Sertorius executed and sold many of the Oscan schoolchildren into slavery as a result of these native revolts.

Perperna, with effort, persuaded Quintus Sertorius to attend to separate him from his bodyguards.

Plutarch reports that any festivities Quintus Sertorius was invited to were apparently very proper, but this banquet was purposely indecent, "with the hope of angering Quintus Sertorius".

Why the assassins wanted to goad Quintus Sertorius is unclear, given an agitated man would be harder to kill than an unsuspecting one.

Quintus Sertorius was only able to avoid violence from the soldiers and natives by giving gifts, releasing prisoners and hostages, and by executing several leading Sertorians, including his own nephew.

Quintus Sertorius' death led many to remember his virtues, and not his recent despotism.

Ancient sources generally concede Quintus Sertorius was a great military leader, and note his proficiency in warfare.

Appian states his belief that despite his apparent descent into debauchery and paranoia, "if Quintus Sertorius had lived longer the war would not have ended so soon or so easily".

Konrad notes that Quintus Sertorius proving "an instant master of the art" of guerrilla warfare is remarkable, given he was a Roman and probably did not train the skill.

Some modern sources believe Quintus Sertorius was a traitor to Rome for his war against the Sullan Senate, cooperation with native Iberians against Roman armies, and alliance with Mithridates; others believe he was a true patriot of a defeated regime.

Plutarch wrote that "He [Quintus Sertorius] was more continent than Philip, more faithful to his friends than Antigonus, and more merciful to his enemies than Hannibal; and that for prudence and judgment he gave place to none of them, but in fortune was inferior to them all".

Spann concluded, "Quintus Sertorius' talents were wasted, his life lost, in an inglorious struggle he did not want, could not win, and could not escape".

Pompey's highly irregular career was initiated by the aftermath of the civil wars of Sulla and Marius, but it was the strong military threat Quintus Sertorius posed which necessitated his extraordinary, illegal, effectively proconsular command and thereby deteriorated the Senate's control over the Roman army.

Catherine Steel notes that Pompey's defeat of Quintus Sertorius, which solidified Pompey's extraordinary position in the state, "created its own set of problems".

None of the proscribed, including those who fought with Quintus Sertorius, are known to have received a pardon.