[145] The Bulla was of a round form. See the copy of one from the British Museum in Smith's 'Dict. of Greek and Roman Antiquities.' Kaltwasser refers to Plutarch's Life of Romulus, c. 20, and his 'Roman Questions,' Part 3, in which he explains what the Bulla is.
[146] The Greek word κατάσπεισις signifies a "pouring out." Kaltwasser refers to a passage in Cæsar's 'Gallic War,' iii. 22, in which he speaks of the "devoted" (devoti), whom the Aquitani called Soldurii. As the Aquitani bordered on the Pyrenees, it is not surprising that the like usage prevailed among them and the Iberians.
[147] The orthography is Perperna, as is proved by inscriptions. M. Perperna, the grandfather of this Perperna, was consul B.C. 130. (see Life of Tib. Gracchus, c. 20, Notes.) The son of M. Perperna also was consul B.C. 92: he did not die till B.C. 49, and consequently survived his son, this Perperna of Plutarch. Perperna Vento had been prætor. He associated himself with Lepidus after the death of Sulla, and was like M. Lepidus driven from Rome (Life of Sulla, c. 34, Notes).
[148] This is the Ebro, which the Romans called Iberus, the large river which flows in a south-east direction and enters the Mediterranean.
It seems that Plutarch here means the nations between the Ebro and the Pyrenees, or the modern Aragon, Navarre, and Catalonia.
[149] The story is told by Frontinus, Stratagemata, i. 10, as Kaltwasser observes, and again, in iv. 7, in the very same words. It has been often remarked that Horatius probably alludes to this story (ii. Epist. I, 45).
[150] The Tagonius is either the Tagus (Tajo), or a branch of that large river, on the banks of which the Carpetani are placed by geographers, who also mark Caraca, a position on the Henares, a branch of the Tagus. If Caraca represents the country of the Charicatani, the Tagonius is the Nares or Henares, on which stood Complutum, the modern Alcalá de Henarea. But all this is merely conjecture.
[151] Lauron is placed near the coast, and near the outlet of the Sucro river, the modern Xucar. There was also a town Sucro near the mouth of the Sucro. Appian (Civil Wars, i. 109) says that when the city was captured, a soldier attempted violence on a woman (παρὰ φύσιν), who tore out his eyes with her fingers. Sertorius, who knew that the whole cohort was addicted to infamous practices, put them all to death though they were Romans. Frontinus (Stratagem. ii. 5) has a long account of this affair at Lauron, for which he quotes Livius, who says that Pompeius lost ten thousand men and all his baggage.
Pompeius began his Spanish campaign B.C. 76.
[152] These names are very uncertain in Plutarch. Tuttia may be the Turia, now the Guadalaviar, the river of Valencia, the outlet of which is about twenty-five miles north of the outlet of the Sucro. Other readings are Duria and Dusia (see the notes of Sintenis). If these rivers are properly identified, this campaign was carried on in the plains of the kingdom of Valencia. Tutia is mentioned by Florus (iii. 22) as one of the Spanish towns which surrendered to Pompeius after the death of Sertorius and Perperna.