d the skins to the people in the city, to bring out of the
town all the useless people, that the water might last the longer for
those who defended the place. When the news reached Metellus he was
much annoyed, for his soldiers had already consumed their provisions;
but he sent Aquinius,[143] at the head of six thousand men, to forage.
Sertorius got notice of this, and laid an ambush on the road of three
thousand men who starting up out of a bushy ravine, fell on Aquinius
as he was returning. Sertorius attacked in front and put the Romans to
flight, killing some and taking others prisoners. Aquinius returned
with the loss of both his armour and horse, and Metellus made a
disgraceful retreat amidst the jeers of the Iberians.

XIV. By such acts as these Sertorius gained the admiration and love of
the barbarians; and, by introducing among them the Roman armour, and
discipline, and signals, he took away the frantic and brutal part of
their courage, and transformed them from a huge band of robbers into
an efficient regular army. Besides, he employed gold and silver
unsparingly for the decoration of their helmets, and he ornamented
their shields, and accustomed them to the use of flowered cloaks and
tunics, and, by supplying them with money for such purposes, and
entering into a kind of honourable rivalry with them, he made himself
popular. But they were most gained by what he did for their children.
The youths of noblest birth he collected from the several nations at
Osca,[144] a large city, and set over them teachers of Greek and
Roman learning; and thus he really had them as hostages under the show
of educating them, as if he intended to give them a share in the
government and the administration when they attained to man's estate.
The fathers were wonderfully pleased at seeing their children dressed
in robes with purple borders, and going so orderly to the schools of
Sertorius, who paid for their education, and often had examinations
into their proficiency, and gave rewards to the deserving, and
presented them with golden ornaments for the neck, which the Romans
call "bullae."[145] It was an Iberian usage for those whose station was
about the commander to die with him when he fell in battle, which the
barbarians in those parts express by a term equivalent to the Greek
"devotion."[146] Now only a few shield-bearers and companions followed
the rest of the commanders; but many thousands followed Sertorius, and
were devoted to