SPAIN. 
After the death of Viriathus, the Romans ordered their 
new consul Popilius to break the treaty with the Numan- 
tines. His infamous conduct met with the reward it 
deserved; the Numantines sallying out, put the whole 
Roman army to flight with such slaughter, that they 
were in no condition to act during the whole campaign. 
Mancinus, who succeeded Popilius, met with still worse 
success; his great army, consisting of 30,000 men, was 
utterly defeated by 4000 Numantines, and 20,000 of them 
killed in the pursuit. The remaining 10,000, with their 
general, were pent up by the Numantines in such a manner 
that they could neither advance nor retreat, and would cer¬ 
tainly have been all put to the sword or made prisoners, bad 
not the Numantines, with a generosity which their enemies 
never possessed, offered to let them depart upon condition 
that a treaty should be concluded with them upon very mo¬ 
derate terms. This the consul very willingly promised, but 
found himself unable to perform. On the contrary, the 
people, not satisfied with declaring his treaty null and void, 
ordered him to be delivered up to the Numantines. The 
latter refused to accept him, unless he had along with him 
the 10,000 men whom they had relieved as before related. 
At last, after the consul had remained a whole day before the 
city, his successor Furius, thinking this a sufficient recom¬ 
pense to the Numantines for breaking the treaty, ordered 
him to be received again into the camp. However, Furius 
did not chuse to engage with such a desperate and resolute 
enemy as the Numantines had showed themselves; and the 
war with them was discontinued till the year 133 B. C. when 
Scipio iEmilianus, the destroyer of Carthage, was sent against 
them. Against this renowned commander the Numantines 
with all their valour were not able to contend. Scipio, 
having with the utmost care introduced strict discipline 
among his troops, and reformed the abuses which his prede¬ 
cessors had suffered in their armies, by degrees brought the 
Romans to face their enemies, which at his arrival they had 
absolutely refused to do. Having then ravaged all the coun¬ 
try round the town, it was soon blocked up on all sides, and 
the inhabitants began to feel the want of provisions. At last 
they resolved to make one desperate attempt for their liberty, 
and either to break through their enemies, or perish in the 
attempt. With this view they marched out in good order 
by two gates, and fell upon the works of the Romans with 
the utmost fury. The Romans, unable to stand this desperate 
shock, were on the point of yielding, when Scipio, hastening 
to the places attacked, with no fewer than 20,000 men, the 
unhappy Numantines were at last driven into the city, where 
they sustained for a little longer the miseries of famine. 
Finding at last, however, that it was altogether impossible to 
hold out, it was resolved by the majority to submit to the 
pleasure of the Roman commander. But this resolution 
was not universally approved. Many shut themselses up in 
their houses, and died of hunger, while even those who had 
agreed to surrender repented their offer, and setting fire to 
their houses, perished in the flames with their wives and 
children, so that not a single Numantine was left alive to 
grace the triumph of the conqueror of Carthage. 
After the destruction of Numantia the whole of Spain 
submitted to the Roman yoke; and nothing remarkable 
happened till the times of the Cimbri, when a praetorian army 
was cut off - in Spain by the Lusitanians. From this time 
N nothing remarkable occurs in the history of Spain till the 
civil war between Marius and Sylla, The latter having 
crushed the Marian faction, as related under the article 
Rome, proscribed all those that had sided against him 
whom he could not immediately destroy. Among these was 
Sertorius, a man of consummate valour and experience in 
war. He bad been appointed prator of Spain by Marius ; 
and upon the overthrow of Marius, retired to that province. 
Sylla no sooner heard of his arrival in that country, than he 
sent thither one Caius Annius with a powerful army to drive 
him out. As Sertorius had but few troops along with him, 
he dispatched one Julius Salinator with a body of 6000 men 
to guard the passes of the Pyrenees, and to prevent Annius 
from entering the country. But Salinator having been 
Vol. XXIII. No. 1578. 
397 
treacherously murdered by assassins hired by Annius for that 
purpose, he no longer met with any obstacle ; and Sertorius 
was obliged to embark for the coast of Africa with 3000 men, 
being all he had now remaining. With these he landed in 
Mauritania; but as his men were straggling carelessly about, 
great numbers of them were cut off by the Barbarians. This 
new misfortune obliged Sertorius to re-embark for Spain ; 
but finding the whole coast lined with the troops of Annius, 
he put to sea again, not knowing what course to steer. In 
this new voyage he met with a small fleet of Cilician pirates; 
and having prevailed with them to join him, he made a 
descent on the coast of Ivica, overpowered the garrison left 
there by Annius, and gained a considerable booty. On the 
news of this victory Annius set sail for Ivica, with a consi¬ 
derable squadron, having 5000 land forces on board. Ser¬ 
torius prepared to give them battle. But a violent storm 
arising, most of the ships were driven on shore and dashed 
to pieces, Sertorius himself with great difficulty escaping with 
the small remains of his fleet. He then passed the straits of 
Gades, now Gibraltar, and landed near the mouth of the 
river Bsetis. Here he met with some seamen newly arrived 
from the Atlantic or Fortunate islands ; and was so charmed 
with the account which they gave him of those happy 
regions, that he resolved to retire thither to spend the rest of 
his life in quiet and happiness. But having communicated 
this design to the Cilician pirates, they immediately aban¬ 
doned him, and set sail for Africa, with an intention to assist 
one of the barbarous kings against his subjects who had 
rebelled. Upon this Sertorius sailed thither also, but took the 
opposite side ; and having defeated the king named Ascalis, 
obliged him to shut himself up in the city of Tingis, now 
Tangier, which he closely besieged. But in the mean time 
Pacianus, who had been sent by Sylla to assist the king, 
advanced with a considerable army against Sertorius. Upon 
this the latter, leaving part of his forces before the city, 
marched with the rest to meet Pacianus, whose army, though 
greatly superior to his own in number, he entirely defeated; 
killed the general, and took all his forces prisoners.—The 
fame of this victory soon reached Spain; and the Lusitanians, 
being threatened with a new war from Annius, invited 
Sertorius to head their armies. With this request he very 
readily complied, and soon became very formidable to the 
Romans. Titus Didius, governor of that part of Spain 
called Boetica, first entered the lists with him ; but he being 
defeated, Sylla next dispatched Metellus, reckoned one of 
the best commanders in Rome, to stop the progress of this 
new enemy. But Metellus, notwithstanding all his experi¬ 
ence, knew not how to act against Sertorius, who was con¬ 
tinually changing his station, putting his army into new 
forms, and contriving new stratagems. On his first arrival, 
he sent for L. Domitius, then praetor of Hither Spain, to his 
assistance; but Sertorius being informed of his march, de¬ 
tached Hirtuleius, or Herculeius, his quaestor, against him, 
who gave him a total overthrow. Metellus then dispatched 
Lucius Lollius praetor of Narbonne Gaul against Hirtuleius ■ 
but he met with no better success, being utterly defeated, and 
his lieutenant-general killed. 
The fame of these victories brought to the camp of Ser¬ 
torius such a number of illustrious Roman citizens of the 
Marian faction, that he formed a design of erecting Lusitania 
into a republic in opposition to that of Rome. Sylla was 
continually sending fresh supplies to Metellus; but Sertorius, 
with a handlul of men, so harassed the Roman army, that 
Metellus himself began to be quite discouraged. At Jast, Ser¬ 
torius hearing that Metellus had spoken disrespectfully of his 
courage, challenged his antagonist to end the war by single 
combat; but Metellus very prudently declined the combat, 
as being advanced in years; yet this refusal brought upon 
him the contempt of the unthinking multitude, upon which 
Metellus resolved to retrieve his reputation by some signal 
exploit, and therefore laid siege to hacobriga, a considerable 
city in those parts; This he hoped to reduce in two days, 
as there was but one well in the place; but Sertorius having 
previously removed all those who could be of no service 
during the siege, and conveyed 6000 skins full of water into 
51 the. 
