Sertorius   

himself with the ordinary expressions of their language requisite
for common intercourse, he threw himself in amongst the barbarians;
where having carefully seen with his own eyes, or having been fully
informed by persons upon the place of all their most important concerns,
he returned to Marius, from whose hands he received the rewards of
valour; and afterwards giving frequent proof both of conduct and courage
in all the following war, he was advanced to places of honour and
trust under his general. After the wars with the Cimbri and Teutones,
he was sent into Spain, having the command of a thousand men under
Didius, the Roman general, and wintered in the country of the Celtiberians,
in the city of Castulo, where the soldiers enjoying great plenty,
and growing insolent and continually drinking, the inhabitants despised
them and sent for aid by night to the Gyrisoenians, their near neighbours,
who fell upon the Romans in their lodgings and slew a great number
of them. Sertorius, with a few of his soldiers, made his way out,
and rallying together the rest who escaped, he marched round about
the walls, and finding the gate open, by which the Gyrisoenians had
made their secret entrance, he gave not them the same opportunity,
but placing a guard at the gate, and seizing upon all quarters of
the city, he slew all who were of age to bear arms, and then ordering
his soldiers to lay aside their weapons and put off their own clothes,
and put on the accoutrements of the barbarians, he commanded them
to follow him to the city from whence the men came who had made this
night attack upon the Romans. And thus deceiving the Gyrisoenians
with the sight of their own armour, he found the gates of their city
open, and took a great number prisoners, who came out thinking to
meet their friends and fellow-citizens come home from a successful
expedition. Most of them were thus slain by the Romans at their own
gates, and the rest within yielded up themselves and were sold for
slaves.
This action made Sertorius highly renowned throughout all Spain, and
as soon as be returned to Rome he was appointed quaestor of Cisalpine
Gaul, at a very seasonable moment for his country, the Marsian war
being on the point of breaking out. Sertorius was ordered to raise
soldiers and provide arms, which he performed with a diligence and
alacrity, so contrasting with the feebleness and slothfulness of other
officers of his age, that he got the repute of a man whose life would
be one of action. Nor did he relinquish the part of a soldier, now
that he had arrived at the dignity of a commander, but performed wonders
with his own hands, and never sparing himself, but exposing his body
freely in all conflicts, he lost one of his eyes. This he always esteemed
an honour to him; observing that others do not continually carry about
with them the marks and testimonies of their valour, but must often
lay aside their chains of gold, their spears and crowns; whereas his
ensigns of honour, and the manifestations of his courage, always remained
with him, and those who beheld his misfortune must at the same time
recognize his merits. The people also paid him the respect he deserved,
and when he came into the theatre, received him with plaudits and
joyful acclamations, an honour rarely bestowed even on persons of
advanced standing and established reputation. Yet, notwithstanding
this popularity, when he stood to be tribune of the people, he was
disappointed, and lost the place, being opposed by the party of Sylla,
which seems to have been the principal cause of his subsequent enmity
to Sylla.
After that Marius was overcome by Sylla and fled into Africa, and
Sylla had left Italy to go to the wars against Mithridates, and of
the two consuls Octavius and Cinna, Octavius remained steadfast to
the policy of Sylla, but Cinna, desirous of a new revolution, attempted
to recall the lost interest of Marius, Sertorius joined Cinna's party,
more particularly as he saw that Octavius was not very capable, and
was also suspicious of any one that was a friend to Marius. When a
great battle was fought between the two consuls in the forum, Octavius
overcame, and Cinna and Sertorius, having lost not less than ten thousand
men, left the city, and gaining over most part of the troops who were