Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 3.djvu/801

Rh SERTORIUS. mies in order to prevent his recal from banish- ment, and in conjunction with his colleague, Q. Numerius llufus, offered the most vigorous resist- ance to Cicero's friends. When the consul Lentulus proposed in the senate on the 1st of January the recal of Cicero, Serranus begged that the question might be adjourned, in order that he might have a night to consider it : this time he employed in securing for himself increase of the pay which he had already received. After Cicero's return to Rome, Serranus put his veto upon the decree of the senate restoring to Cicero the site on which his house had stood, but lie found it advisable to withdraw his opposition. (Cic. pro Sest. 33, 34, 39, 43, post Red. ad Quir. 5, ud Ait. iv. 2 § 4, c?e Harusp. Resp. 15 ; Ascon. in Pison. p. 1 1, ed. Orelli.) 11. (Attilius.p) Serranus Domesticus, the funeral of whose son B. c. 54, is spoken of by Cicero (ad Q. Fr. iii. 8. § 5.) It is uncertain to which member of the family the annexed coin refers. It bears on the obverse the head of Pallas, with saran., and on the reverse the Dioscuri, with M. atil., and below roma. (Eckhel, vol. v. p. 146.) SERTORIUS. 789 COIN OP M. ATILIUS SERRANUS. SERRA'NUS, a Roman poet mentioned by Juvenal (vii. 80), to whom Sarpe assigns the Eclogues which have come down to us under the nameof CalpurniusSiculus [Calpurnius]. (Sarpe, Quaest. PJiilol Rostoch, 1819.) Q. SERTO'RIUS, was the son of a reputable father, of Nursia, a Sabine village. His father died young, and he owed a good education to the care of a mother, to whom he was most affectionately attached. ( Pint. Sertor. 2, 22.) Sertorius had no ancestral dignity, and he left no children to perpetuate his name. He had acquired some re- putation as a speaker even before he became a soldier. Cicero, who was acquainted with him, commends his facile speech and the sharpness of his judgment. {Brutus, 48.) Bodily strength, endurance of fatigue, sagacity and fertility of re- sources, qualified him for the life of adventure which it was his lot to have. The ancient writers have amused themselves with comparing him with other remarkable men. Plutarch has instituted a parallel between Sertorius and Eumenes, which is not inappropriate. The comparison with Hannibal, Philippus, and Antigonus, is mainly a classification of one-eyed men ; for Sertorius also had lost an eye. His military career commenced in Gaul. He was in the bloody battle on the Rhone (b. c. 105), in which the proconsul, Q. Servilius Caepio, was defeated by the Germans ; and though wounded, Sertorius saved his life by swimming across the river in his armour. He was with Marius, B. c. 102, at Aix (Aquae Sextiae), and before the battle he entered the camp of the Teutones in disguise as a spy, for which hazardous underUiking his intrepid character and some knowledge of the Gallic language well qualified him. He served as tribunus militum in Spain under T. Didius (B. c. 97). During his residence in winter quar- ters at Castulo, which was probably on the Guadal- quivr, he was expelled by the inhabitants on account of the oppressive conduct of the Roman garrison ; but as the Spaniards left their gate unguarded, Sertorius made his way into the town again, and massacred all who were capable of bearing arms. He then distributed the dresses and armour of the barbaVians who had been killed among his men, and under this guise obtained admission into a town which had sent men to aid the people of Castulo in ejecting the Roman sol- diers ; most of the persons in the town were killed, and the rest were sold. On his return to Rome he obtained the quaestor- ship in Gaul upon the Po, and he held this office at a critical time (b. c. 91), for the Marsic war was impending. He actively exerted himself in raising troops and procuring arms, and probably he held some command during the war ; but the Roman annalists did not care to record the heroic acts of a man of unknown family. The marks of honour which he bore were, as he said, his scars, and the loss of an eye. Sertorius was well re- ceived in Rome ; the people acknowledged his merit by clapping of hands when he entered the theatre ; but L. Cornelius Sulla and his party suc- cessfully opposed him when he was a candidate for the tribuneship. On the outbreak of the civil war, B.C. 88, he declared himself against the party of the nobles, though he was by no means an admirer of his old commander, C. Marius, whose character he well understood. When Marius fled from Rome before Sulla, Sertorius remained ; and while Sulla was engaged in the war against Mithridates, Sertorius sided with L. Cornehus Cinna, the consul, against the other consul Octavius. The two consuls fought a battle in the Forum, which ended in the victory of Octavius, and the flight of Cinna and Sertorius. Cinna, however, soon rallied his party, and got a force together which made him a match for Octa- vius. In B. c. 87, Marius returned to Italy from Africa, and proposed to join Cinna. Sertorius was against receiving the proposals of Marius, ** a man who could endure no partner in power, and who was devoid of good faith." Cizma did not follow the advice of Sertorius, and Marius was allowed to join them. Sertorius commanded one of the four armies that presented themselves before Rome ; and he, in conjunction with Cinna, fought the battle against Ponipeius Sirabo before the CoUine gate. (Appian, BM. Civ. i. 67 ; Oro- sius, V. 19.) Sertorius is not charged with the guilt of the bloody massacre which ensued after Marius and Cinna entered Rome. The slaves whom Marius had invited to his standard, and now kept as guards, committed worse excesses than Marius himself ; they butchered their masters, lay with their masters' wives, and violated their children. Sertorius was at last roused, and either alone or with the concurrence of Cinna, he fell upon these scoundrels in their camp, and speared four thoU" sand of them. (Pint. Sertor. 5, Mar. 44.) In B.C. 83 Sertorius was praetor. Sulla was now returning home after reducing Mithridates to terms, and the party of Sertorius made prepara* 3s 3