The Sertorian War in Spain
A Roman rebel governed most of Spain for eight years and beat every army Rome sent against him. Quintus Sertorius had fought under Marius, survived Sulla's proscriptions by leaving Italy, and was driven out of Spain and out of Africa before the Lusitanians invited him back in 80 BC to lead them. What he built there was not a tribal revolt. He set up a senate of 300 Roman exiles, a school at Osca where the sons of Spanish nobles were taught Latin and Greek and given the purple-bordered toga — which was also a way of holding hostages politely — and an administration that collected taxes and issued its own coin. He insisted throughout that he was the legitimate Roman government in exile rather than a Spanish king. His method in the field was to avoid battle and destroy detachments, and the white fawn he kept and presented as a gift from Diana, which appeared to give him warnings, was a piece of theatre for his Spanish troops that worked. He beat Metellus Pius repeatedly, and Rome sent Pompey, who was beaten at Lauron and mauled at Sucro and wrote to the senate that he would bring his army back to Italy if he were not paid and reinforced. Sertorius was murdered at a banquet in 72 BC by his own second in command, Perperna, who then lost to Pompey immediately and was executed. Pompey burned Perperna's correspondence unread, which was probably wise. The war is also the closest thing the late Republic produced to a Roman government outside Rome that claimed to be the real one. Sertorius refused offers from Mithridates that would have cost him Roman territory, on the grounds that he intended to go home and be judged by Romans.
- Year: 80 BCE
- Category: Military
