Kaltwasser refers to Frontinus, who speaks of one Hirtuleius, or Herculeius in some editions, as a general of Sertorius who was defeated by Metellus (Stratagem, ii. 1). In another passage (ii. 7) Frontinus states that Sertorius during a battle being informed by a native that Hirtuleius hod fallen, stabbed the man that he might not carry the news to others, and so dispirit his soldiers. Plutarch (Life of Pompeius c. 18) states that Pompeius defeated Herennius and Perperna near Valentia, and killed above ten thousand of their men. This is apparently the same battle that Plutarch is here speaking of.
[153] See the Life of Pompeius, c. 19; and Appian (Civil Wars, i. 110), who states that the battle took place near the town of Suero (which would be the more correct translation of the text of Plutarch), and that the wing which Perperna commanded was defeated by Metellus.
[154] This L. Afranius is the man whom Cicero calls "Auli filius" (Ad Attic, i. 16), by which he meant that he was of obscure origin. He was consul with Q. Metellus Celer B.C. 60. Afranius and Petreius commanded for Pompeius in Spain B.C. 49, but C. Julius Cæsar compelled them to surrender, and pardoned them on the condition that they should not again serve against him. Afranius broke his promise and again joined Pompeius. He was in the battle of Thapsus in Africa B.C. 46, and after the defeat he attempted to escape into Mauritania, but was caught and given up to Cæsar, and shortly afterwards put to death by the soldiers.
[155] Appian (Civil Wars, i. 110) has the same story about the dear being found.
[156] Seguntum, or Saguntia, as it is written in Appian (i. 110). It is not certain what place is meant. Some critics would read "in the plains of the Saguntini," by which might be meant the neighbourhood of Saguntum, a town on the east coast between the mouths of the Ebro and the Xucar, which was taken by Hannibal in the second Punic War (Liv. 21, c. 15). The maps place a Segontia on the Tagonius, another on the Salo (Xalon), a branch of the Ebro, and a Saguntia in the country of the Vaccæi on the northern branch of the Douro. Pompeius in his letter to the Senate speaks of the capture of the camp of Sertorius near Sucro, his defeat on the Durius, and the capture of Valentia. If the Durius be the Douro, this Segontia may be one of the towns called Segontia in the north-west of Spain. But the Durius may be the Turia, the river of Valentia, and Segontia may be Saguntum. The fact of Pompeius wintering among the Vaccæi is perhaps in favour of a north-west Segontia; but still I think that Saguntum was the battle-field. This battle is mentioned by Appian (Civil Wars, i. 110), who says that Pompeius lost six thousand men, but that Metellus defeated Perperua, who lost about five thousand men.
[157] The Vaccæi occupied part of the country immediately north of the Durius (Douro); but the limits cannot be accurately defined.
[158] Compare the Life of Lucullus, c. 5, and the Life of Crassus, c. 11. The letter of Pompeius to the Senate is in the third book of the Fragments of the Roman History of Sallustius. The letter concludes with the following words, which Plutarch had apparently read: "Ego non rem familiarem modo, verum etiam fidem consumpsi. Reliqui vos estis, qui nisi subvenitis, invito et praedicente me, exercitus hinc et cum eo omne bellum Hispaniae in Italiam transgredientur."
[159] This appears to be the event which is described in the fragment of the Second Book of the History of Sallustius, which is preserved by Macrobius, Saturnalia, ii. 9, in the chapter "De Luxu."
[160] Compare the Life of Sulla, c. 11.
[161] See the Life of Sulla, c. 24.