unjust fortune in their end, for
both of them were the objects of conspiracy, and were cut off by the
hands of those with whom they were victorious over their enemies.

II. Quintus Sertorius belonged to a family not among the meanest in
Nussa,[108] a Sabine city. He was carefully brought up by a widowed
mother, for he had lost his father, and he appears to have been
exceedingly attached to her. His mother's name, they say, was Rhea. He
had a competent practical education in the courts of justice, and, as
a young man, he attained some influence in the city by his eloquence.
But his reputation and success in war diverted all his ambition in
that direction.

III. Now, first of all, after the Cimbri and Teutones had invaded
Gaul, he was serving under Caepio[109] at the time when the Romans were
defeated and put to flight; and, though he lost his horse and was
wounded in the body, he crossed the Rhone swimming in his cuirass and
with his shield against the powerful stream--so strong was his body
and disciplined by exercise. On a second occasion, when the same
barbarians were advancing with many thousand men and dreadful threats,
so that for a Roman to stand to his ranks at such a time, and to obey
his general, was a great matter, Marius had the command, and Sertorius
undertook to be a spy upon the enemy. Putting on a Celtic dress, and
making himself master of the most ordinary expressions of the
language, for the purpose of conversation when occasion might offer,
he mingled with the barbarians, and, either by his own eyes or by
inquiry, learning all that was important to know, he returned to
Marius. For this he obtained the prize of merit; and in the rest of
the campaign, having given many proofs of his judgment and daring, he
was honoured and trusted by his general. After the close of the war
with the Cimbri and Teutones, he was sent as tribune by Didius[110]
the praetor to Iberia, and he wintered in Castlo,[111] a city of the
Celtiberi. The soldiers, being in the midst of abundance, lost all
discipline, and were generally drunk, which brought them into contempt
with the barbarians, who, by night, sent for aid from their neighbours
the Gyrisoeni, and, coming on the soldiers in their lodgings, began to
slaughter them. Sertorius with a few others stole out, and, collecting
the soldiers who made their escape, surrounded the city. Finding the
gates open through which the barbarians had secretly entered, he did
not make the sa