Episode 36. Sertorius: The Republic in Exile

Sources and Historiography

Plutarch's Life of Sertorius is the primary source, but it is itself a secondary source: Plutarch drew principally on Sallust's Histories, which covered the Sertorian War in substantial detail and which survive only in fragments. This transmission chain matters. What we have is Plutarch reading Sallust, and Sallust was a partisan of Caesar and an admirer of Sertorius—his account of Sertorius was written with evident political purpose, as a statement about what the popularis cause had been and what Sulla's victory had destroyed. Plutarch inherited that admiration. The result is a Life shaped at every level by writers who wanted Sertorius to be seen in a particular light.

The hostile counter-tradition—senatorial writers who portrayed Sertorius as a traitor and barbarian warlord—was largely suppressed by the Sallustian rehabilitation and survives mainly in passing hostile remarks. The modern historiography has worked to find the ground between these traditions. C. F. Konrad's commentary Plutarch's Sertorius is the scholarly standard and is careful about distinguishing what the sources actually say from later embellishment. Philip Spann's Quintus Sertorius and the Legacy of Sulla is more skeptical of the heroic portrait and usefully interrogates some of the set-piece scenes.

The Osca school is one of the most discussed details. Plutarch notes openly that “under this pretext he was really making them hostages.” Modern scholars have debated whether it was primarily a hostage system (Spann's reading), primarily a genuine Romanization program (Konrad's), or both simultaneously (which seems most likely). The parallel with Caesar's Romanization policy in Gaul is a modern observation but a significant one for understanding the popularis tradition's relationship to empire.

Works CitedPrimary Sources

• Appian. Civil Wars, Book I. Brief but useful on the Sertorian period.
• Plutarch. “Life of Pompey,” chapters 17–22 cover Pompey's Spanish campaigns; essential for Lauron, Sucro, and the aftermath.
• Plutarch. “Life of Sertorius.” The essential text; Plutarch draws heavily on Sallust's Histories (now fragmentary) and clearly admires his subject. The pairing with Eumenes of Cardia in the Comparison chapter is worth noting for the closing.
• Sallust. Histories (fragmentary). The original extended treatment of the Sertorian War, now surviving only in fragments. The Pompey letters to the Senate are preserved here and are extraordinary documents.

Secondary Sources

• Goldsworthy, Adrian. Caesar. 2006. For the Caesar-Sertorius connection and the place of the Sertorian War in the popularis tradition.
• Konrad, C. F. Plutarch's Sertorius: A Historical Commentary. 1994. The scholarly standard; essential for anything disputed in the sources.
• Matyszak, Philip. Sertorius and the Struggle for Spain. 2013. The most accessible modern account.
• Spann, Philip. Quintus Sertorius and the Legacy of Sulla. 1987. More skeptical of the heroic portrait; useful corrective.

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