129] contrary
to desert, may together with the daemon change their habit; and this I
think was the case with Sertorius when fortune began to fail him; for
as his circumstances became unfavourable, he became harsh to those who
had done him wrong.

XI. However, he then set sail from Libya, at the invitation of the
Lusitanians,[130] and got them into fighting condition, being
immediately made commander with full powers, and he subjected the
neighbouring parts of Iberia, most of which, indeed, voluntarily
joined him, chiefly by reason of his mild treatment and his activity;
but in some cases he availed himself of cunning to beguile and win
over the people, the chief of which was in the affair of the deer,
which was after this fashion:

Spanos, a native, and one of those who lived on their lands, fell in
with a deer[131] which had just brought forth a young one and was
flying from the hunters; he missed taking the deer, but he followed
the fawn, being struck with its unusual colour (it was completely
white), and caught it. It happened that Sertorius was staying in those
parts, and when people brought him as presents anything that they had
got in hunting, or from their farms, he would readily receive it and
make a liberal return to those who showed him such attentions.
Accordingly the man brought the fawn and gave it to Sertorius, who
accepted the present. At first he took no particular pleasure in the
animal, but in course of time, when he had made it so tame and
familiar that it would come to him when he called it, accompany him in
his walks, and cared not for a crowd and all the noise of the army, by
degrees he began to give the thing a supernatural character, saying
that the fawn was a gift from Artemis (Diana), and he gave out as a
token of this that the fawn showed him many hidden things; for he knew
that it is the nature of barbarians to be easily accessible to
superstition. He also resorted to such tricks as these: whenever he
had got secret information that the enemy had invaded any part of the
country, or were attempting to draw any city away from him, he would
pretend that the deer had spoken to him in his sleep, and bid him keep
his troops in readiness; and, on the other hand, when he heard that
his generals had got a victory, he would keep the messenger concealed,
and bring forward the deer crowned with chaplets, as is usual on the
occasion of good news, and tell his men to rejoice and sacrifice to
the gods, a