alias.] The meaning of these
words may be doubtful; but what I have given is perhaps consistent
with the Greek and with the circumstances. There was some hesitation
about beginning the attack, and the flagging of the conversation was a
natural consequence.

Sertorius was murdered B.C. 72, in the consulship of L. Gellius
Publicola and Cn. Cornelius Lentulus Clodianus, in the eighth year of
his command in Spain. (Livius, _Epitom._ 96.) Accordingly this places
the commencement of his command in B.C. 80; but he went to Spain in
B.C. 82, or at the end of B.C. 83. See Notes on c. 6. Appian (_Civil
Wars_, i. 114) states that when the will of Sertorius was opened it
was discovered that he had placed Perperna among his heredes, a
circumstance which throws doubt on the assertion of Appian that
Perperna was afraid that Sertorius intended to take his life. Appian
adds that when this was known, it created great enmity against
Perperna among his followers.

Plutarch's estimate of Sertorius may be a favourable one; yet he does
not omit to mention that act of his life which was most blamable, the
massacre of the youths at Osca. From the slight indications in
Frontinus, who found some material for his work on Military Stratagems
in the campaigns of Sertorius, and from other passages, we may collect
that, however mild the temper of Sertorius was, circumstances must
often have compelled him to acts of severity and even cruelty. The
difficulties of his position can only be estimated when we reflect on
the nature of a campaign in many parts of Spain and the kind of
soldiers he had under him. Promptitude and decision were among his
characteristics; and in such a warfare promptitude and decision cannot
be exercised at the time when alone they are of any use, if a man is
swayed by any other considerations than those of prudence and
necessity in the hour of danger. A general who could stab one of his
own men in the heat of battle, to prevent him dispiriting the army by
news of a loss, proved that his judgment was as clear as his
determination was resolved.

Plutarch's narrative is of no value as a campaign, and his apology
must be that he was not writing a campaign, but delineating a man's
character. Drumann _Geschichte Roms_, Pompeius, p. 350, &c.) has
attempted to give a connected history of this campaign against
Sertorius, and he has probably done it as well as it can be done with
such materials as we possess. The map of Antient Spain an