It is
said, that he longed to return home chiefly on account of his mother,
who brought him up after his father's death, and to whom he was
completely devoted. At the time when his friends in Iberia invited him
to take the command, he heard of the death of his mother, and he was
near dying of grief. He lay in his tent for seven days without giving
the watchword, or being seen by any of his friends; and it was with
difficulty that his fellow-generals and those of like rank with
himself, who had assembled about his tent, prevailed on him to come
out to the soldiers, and take a share in the administration of
affairs, which were going on well. This made many people think that
Sertorius was naturally a man of mild temper, and well disposed to a
quiet life; but that, owing to uncontrollable causes, and contrary to
his wishes, he entered on the career of a commander, and then, when he
could not ensure his safety, and was driven to arms by his enemies, he
had recourse to war as the only means by which he could protect his
life.
XXIII. His negociations with Mithridates also were a proof of his
magnanimity; for now that Mithridates, rising from the fall that he
had from Sulla, as it were, to a second contest, had again attacked
Asia, and the fame of Sertorius was great, and had gone abroad to all
parts, and those who sailed from the West had filled the Pontus with
the reports about him, as if with so many foreign wares, Mithridates
was moved to send an embassy to him, being urged thereto mainly by the
fulsome exaggerations of his flatterers, who compared Sertorius to
Hannibal and Mithridates to Pyrrhus, and said that if the Romans were
attacked on both sides, they could not hold out against such great
abilities and powers combined, when the most expert of commanders had
joined the greatest of kings.
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