When, after a brutal civil war, the dictator Sulla took power in Rome
(82 BC), among the many who refused to accept his rule was a young army
officer called Quintus Sertorius. Sertorius fled, first to Africa and
then to Spain, where he made common cause with the native people who had
been savagely oppressed by a succession of corrupt Roman governors.
Discovering a genius for guerilla warfare (he claimed he received divine
guidance from Artemis via a white fawn he kept), Sertorius came close to
driving the Romans out of Spain altogether. Rome responded by sending
reinforcements under the control of the up-and-coming young general
Gnaeus Pompey (later Pompey the Great). The epic struggle which followed
between these two great commanders is a masterclass of ancient strategy
and tactical manoeuvre. Massively outnumbered, Sertorious remained
undefeated on the battlefield, but was eventually assassinated by
jealous subordinates, none of whom proved a match for Pompey. This
proved the decisive end of the struggle for Spain, though recalcitrant
tribes held out until the time of Augustus. The tale of Sertorius is the
story of a people struggling to liberate themselves from oppressive
rule. It is also the story of Sertorius himself, who started as an
idealist, and ended almost as savage and despotic as his enemies. But
above all, it is the story of a duel between two great generals, fought
between two different styles of army in the valleys of the Spanish
interior
