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Quintus Sertorius (died 72 BC), Roman statesman
and general. He was a native of Nursia in Sabine
territory. 

After acquiring some reputation in Rome as a
jurist and orator, he entered upon a 
military career. He is first recorded as serving
under Marius in 102 BC, at the great battle of
Aquae Sextiae (now Aix-en-Provence, France) in
which the Teutones were decisively defeated. In 97
he was serving in Hispania. In 91 BC|91 he was
quaestor in Cisalpine Gaul, and on his return to
Rome he would have been elected to the tribuneship
but for the decided opposition of Lucius Cornelius
Sulla|Sulla.

He now declared for Marius and the democratic
party, though of Marius himself as a man he had
the worst opinion. He must have been a consenting
party to the hideous massacres of Marius and Cinna
in 87 BC|87, though he seems to have done what he
could to mitigate their horrors. On Sulla's return
from the East in 83 BC|83, Sertorius went to
Spain, where he represented the Marian or
democratic party, but without receiving any
definite commission or appointment.

Having been obliged to withdraw to North Africa in
consequence of the advance of the forces of Sulla
over the Pyrenees, he carried on a campaign in
Mauretania, in which he defeated one of Sulla's
generals and captured Tingis (Tangier). This
success recommended him to the people of Hispania,
more particularly to the Lusitanian tribes in the
west, whom Roman generals and governors of Sulla's
party had plundered and oppressed.

Brave and kindly, and gifted with a rough telling
eloquence, Sertorius was just the man to impress
them favourably, and the native militia, which he
organized, spoke of him as the "new Hannibal."
Many Roman refugees and deserters joined him, and
with these and his Spanish volunteers he
completely defeated one of Sulla's generals and
drove Q. Caecilius Metellus Pius, who had been
specially sent against him from Rome, out of
Lusitania, or Hispania Ulterior as the Romans
called it.

Sertorius owed much of his success to his
statesmanlike ability. His object was to build up
a stable government in the country with the
consent and co-operation of the people, whom he
wished to civilize after the Roman model. He
established a senate of 300 members, drawn from
Roman emigrants, with probably a sprinkling of the
best Spaniards, and surrounded himself with a
Spanish bodyguard. For the children of the chief
native families he provided a school at Osca
(Huesca), where they received a Roman education
and even adopted the dress of Roman youths.

Strict and severe as he was with his soldiers, he
was particularly considerate to the people
generally, and made their burdens as light as
possible. It seems clear that he had a peculiar
gift for evoking the enthusiasm of rude tribes,
and we can well understand how the famous white
fawn, a present from one of the natives, which was
his constant companion and was supposed to
communicate to him the advice of the goddess Diana
(goddess)|Diana, promoted his popularity.

For six years he may be said to have really ruled
Spain. In 77 BC|77 he was joined by Marcus
Perperna Vento from Rome, with a following of
Roman nobles, and in the same year the great
Pompey was sent to conquer him. Sertorius proved
himself more than a match for his adversaries,
utterly defeating their united forces on one
occasion near Saguntum. Pompey wrote to Rome for
reinforcements, without which, he said, he and
Metellus would be driven out of Spain.

Sertorius was in league with the pirates in the
Mediterranean, was negotiating with the formidable
Mithridates, and was in communication with the
insurgent slaves in Italy. But owing to jealousies
among the Roman officers who served under him and
the Spaniards of higher rank he could not maintain
his position, and his influence over the native
tribes slipped away from him, though he won
victories to the last. In 72 BC he was
assassinated at a banquet, Perperna Vento, it
seems, being the chief instigator of the deed.

See Plutarch's lives of Sertorius and Pompey;
Appian, Bell. civ. and Hispanica; the fragments of
Sallust; Dio Cassius xxxvi.

1911