be placed on his head, and accepted
invitations to sumptuous feasts, at which he wore a triumphal vest;
and Victories[160] which were contrived to move by machinery,
descended and distributed golden trophies and crowns, and companies of
youths and women sang epinician hymns in honour of him. For this he
was with good reason ridiculed, for that after calling Sertorius a
runaway slave of Sulla, and a remnant of the routed party of Carbo, he
was so puffed up and transported with delight because he had gained an
advantage over Sertorius, who had been compelled to retire. But it was
a proof of the magnanimous character of Sertorius, first, that he gave
the name of Senate to the Senators who fled from Rome and joined him,
and that he appointed quaestors and generals from among them, and
arranged everything of this kind according to Roman usage; and next,
that though he availed himself of the arms, the money and the cities
of the Iberians, he never yielded to them one *tittle of the Roman
supremacy, but he appointed Romans to be their generals and
commanders, considering that he was recovering freedom for the Romans,
and was not strengthening the Iberians against the Romans; for
Sertorius loved his country and had a great desire to return home.
Notwithstanding this, in his reverses he behaved like a brave man, and
never humbled himself before his enemies; and after his victories he
would send to Metellus and to Pompeius, and declare that he was ready
to lay down his arms and to live in a private station, if he might be
allowed to return home; for, he said, he would rather be the obscurest
citizen in Rome than an exile from his country, though he were
proclaimed supreme ruler of all other countries in the world. It is
said, that he longed to return home chiefly on account of his mother,
who brought him up after his father's death, and to whom he was
completely devoted. At the time when his friends in Iberia invited him
to take the command, he heard of the death of his mother, and he was
near dying of grief. He lay in his tent for seven days without giving
the watchword, or being seen by any of his friends; and it was with
difficulty that his fellow-generals and those of like rank with
himself, who had assembled about his tent, prevailed on him to come
out to the soldiers, and take a share in the administration of
affairs, which were going on well. This made many people think that
Sertorius was naturally a man of mild temper, and