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 and Portugal published by the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, will be useful for reading the sketch in Drumann.  Plutarch had no good map, and, as already observed, he was not writing a campaign.  Some modern historical writers, who have maps, seem to have made very little use of them; and their narrative of military transactions is often us confused as Plutarch’s.

The nature of Guerilla warfare in Spain may be learned from the history of the Peninsular War.  The difficulties of a campaign in Navarre and the Basque provinces are well shown in the campaigns of Zumalacarregui, the Carlist chief, a modern Sertorius, whose extraordinary career was cut short by a chance ball before the walls of Bilbao, in 1835. (Henningsen, The most striking Events of a Twelve-month’s Campaign with Zumalacarregui, London, 1836.)]

[Footnote 169:  Metellus marched to another part of Spain, and left Pompeius to deal with Perperna.  According to Appian’s narrative the decisive action between Pompeius and Perperna took place “on the tenth day,” probably the tenth from the death of Sertorius.  Pompeius would not see Perperna after he was taken, and prudently put him to death.  “The death of Sertorius,” says Appian, “was the end of the Spanish war, and it is probable that if Sertorius had lived, it would not have been terminated so soon, or so easily.”]

LIFE OF EUMENES.