Sertorius and the Struggle for Spain

by Philip Matyszak

The epic battle to liberate Spain from Roman rule is a masterclass of ancient guerilla warfare, recounted by the author of Ancient Rome on 5 Denarii a Day.   In the year 82 BC, after a brutal civil war, the dictator Sulla took power in Rome. But among those who refused to accept his rule was the young army officer 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—and claiming to receive divine guidance from Artemis—Sertorius came close to driving the Romans out of Spain altogether.   Rome responded by sending reinforcements under the control of Gen. Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus, who would go on to become Pompey the Great. The epic struggle between these two commanders, known as the Sertorian War, is a masterclass of ancient strategy and tactical maneuver. Massively outnumbered, Sertorius remained undefeated on the battlefield, but was eventually assassinated by jealous subordinates, none of whom proved a match for Pompey.   The tale of Sertorius is both the story of a people struggling to liberate themselves from oppressive rule, and the story of a man 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.

Genres: History, Biography, Nonfiction, Ancient History, Spain, Roman History, Military Fiction

279 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 9, 2013

About the author

Philip Matyszak is a British nonfiction author, primarily of historical works relating to ancient Rome. Matyszak has a doctorate in Roman history from St. John's College, Oxford. In addition to being a professional author, he also teaches ancient history for Madingley Hall Institute of Continuing Education, Cambridge University.

Reviews

[Iset · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a nice accompaniment to the previous book I just read about the Roman general Lucullus who flourished a generation before Pompey and seems largely forgotten to popular memory. Quintus Sertorius was a contemporary of Lucullus, but on the opposite side. Whereas Lucullus was a loyal lieutenant of the dictator Sulla who later came into his own power after his mentor’s death, Sertorius found himself on Sulla’s execution lists.

Fleeing to the Roman province of Hispania, which he had briefly governed, Sertorius was still in danger after the dictator’s death, as Sulla’s supporters managed to retain control in Rome, and so began a campaign that would last years. As a youth trying to break into Roman politics, Sertorius had struggled against the prejudice directed to his Italian background – he was from one of Rome’s Italian allies, but not Roman by birth – until finding his talents in the military arena. In Hispania he performed an extraordinary balancing act, winning over the local Celtiberian and Lusitanian tribes, who were often hostile to Rome, by bucking the trend of corrupt governors and treating them with fairness. Aware that he would never find peace in Rome if he was perceived as a pro-barbarian rebel, Sertorius presented himself as thoroughly Roman and encouraged the Romanisation of the locals with a view to their gaining citizenship, and his cause as not that of an enemy but of a civil war. His hope was that the shifting world of Roman politics would one day bring a friendlier regime to power that would cast out Sulla’s successors and welcome Sertorius’ return.

Unfortunately, and despite being a brilliant battle commander who thrashed Pompey so comprehensively that Pompey thereafter avoided ever personally commanding a pitched battle again, Sertorius persistently found himself on the losing side of history.

I find that Matyszak has a certain clarity to his writing style that makes it far easier to stay engaged than a lot of drier non-fiction, so I had no trouble here with an interest in Sertorius’ story, or wanting to turn the next page. Or perhaps that is down to the subject – Sertorius is a classic underdog, whose misfortune makes us say “but what if…” or “if only…” I didn’t expect the maps, diagrams, and artefact photographs in the middle of the book, but they were a welcome addition and illustrated very well the points the author was trying to make about the strengths and weaknesses of Sertorius’ army. The book isn’t exhaustive, of course, but it provides the resources to examine Sertorius’ life in greater detail from the ancient accounts, and pulls all the information together in a handy overview that is a decent introduction for anyone who is new to Sertorius.

7 out of 10

[Adam McPhee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very informative. Matyszak is great at telling history. You feel kinda bad for Sertorius except that he was burning all those peasants' crops and that came back to haunt him. He really started running out of options after a while and its hard to see what he could've done. Still nice to imagine him linking up with Spartacus or something.

[Rindis · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is mostly a reconstruction of the Sertorian War. There's also some notes of the larger history of the Iberian peninsula, and people with an interest in the history of Iberia in general may want to pick this up too.

Back to the main subject, Sertorius is considered one of Rome's best and least known generals. While I generally agree, I can't help wondering if Sertorius was only successful because he was well-suited to the mixed force he had and the guerilla holding action he fought. That is, put him in charge of regular Roman legions in a more normal Roman war, would he have done so well, or would all of his superb qualities have been wasted in the standardized system, away from terrain he knew well? In any case, he was the perfect person for the role he did play, but that was unfortunately on the losing side of the civil wars of the early 1st Century BC. And the upshot of that is despite some glowing praise for his generalship, we don't know a lot about what exactly happened over the course of eight years of fighting.

However, scholars have combed through all the various references that do exist to what happened, many of which are just particular incidents without a lot of context, and assembled them into a framework that seems to work. This book is Matyszak's presentation of this framework for a popular audience. As there is so little go off of, a high percentage of the book is direct quotes from the ancient sources, woven together with explanations and probable interpretations.

As such, this is a very important book for those wanting to know more about Sertorius' campaigns, as this is about as fleshed out as it gets at the moment (and quite possibly, ever). I have some quibbles with yet another unneeded in medias res opening to a history book, and Matyszak is still too unforgiving on the character of Gaius Marius (but that's much more peripheral than it was in Cataclysm 90 BC). There's three maps of Iberia at the beginning of the book, and the fun one is 'from a campaigning point of view', and is keyed with 'merely unpleasant', 'rugged and mountainous', and 'practically impassible'. Overlaying the apparent routes of march of various campaigning seasons on that one would have been interesting.

[Christopher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Working with what sources we have available, Matyszak tells the story of the Marian bitter-ender and remarkably flexible commander who held much of Hispainia as his own pseudokingdom for years after being driven out of Italy for being on the wrong end of a civil war.

Though I have always been much more a fan of Mithradates VI when it comes to this era, it was nice to see the guerrilla generalship of Sertorious portrayed so well for modern audiences. The factors that made him successful (for his circumstances) as well as those that eventually undid him are covered in thorough detail.

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

As far as tragic historical figures go, Sertorius must rank among the top. Through no fault of his own, he wound up on the wrong side of history on multiple occasions, finding himself on the losing side of politics and civil wars.

Matyszak is explicit in stating his unequivocal opinion that Sertorius was a military genius of the highest order. At each mention of his prowess (dealing with other generals accomplished in their own right the way a professional athlete would beat an amateur) the reader is left wondering what could have been had Sertorius made different allegiances, or been born in a happier time. Surely, a general of his caliber could have been one of Rome's greatest heroes rather than one of its most notorious rebels. In an era where lesser generals made names for themselves with epic conquests for the Republic Sertorius could have achieved a great deal for the state.

The author does a wonderful job of weaving the patchwork sources into a coherent narrative, and when the sources are silent he does well to fill in the blanks and inform the reader of the logic behind his assumptions. For a book that could easily fall into hero-worship, Matyszak does excellently to avoid the blunder of excusing the atrocities committed by Sertorius however tame they might be relative to his contemporaries.

Any story about a supremely tragic and dramatic figure is attractive to a wide audience, and as this is one of most readable books on Sertorius I would highly recommend it. The story is essentially the tale of one man against the world in a battle he knew he would inevitably lose. In the forward Matyszak says that Sertorius' story should serve as an example to give hope to the hopeless, but I believe it would be more accurate to say that his story should serve as an example of how to preserve one's dignity in the face of hopelessness.

[Kiel Cone · Rating 4 out of 5]

I now know a lot more about guerrilla warfare.
The second Sertorius lost his Roman heavy infantry, thanks to his incompetent lieutenants, he was screwed. Can't protect towns and provide safety to your base of support, so they become starved and their allegiance more fickle. So you have food and towns being destroyed in scorched earth tactics and entire populations being starved. At that point people, even wild Iberian bandits, will choose a tyrannical peace over a just war.
At least the British had fleets that could keep people fed and subsidized at the western shore when they were scouring the countryside. Mithidates pirates aren't that reliable when it comes to logistics. They can just disrupt supplies and make the food shortage even worse and the fighting over forage even more competitive.

Well just like the impact of the contemporary 3rd Servile War (Spartacus!!!) the Romans had such a hellish experience that life improved for their once terrorized subjects (Caesar's later plunder to pay his creditors not withstanding).

I read this as a chronological sequel to Mike Duncan's Storm Before the Storm. I think I'll read Matyszak's book on Mithridates to see Pompey grow into not sucking as a general. Apparently he becomes a logistics guy like Grant (he was a quartermaster before the Civil War).

[Jerry-Book · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sertorius was a follower of Gaius Marius. He never had a command in the Sulla v. Gaius Marius Civil War. When the Marian side lost, he had to flee to the Roman province of Spain where be began anti-Sulla activities.

He wanted to have it both ways. He wanted to fight against Rome as led by Sulla and he wanted to be accepted by Rome. He decided the only way to combat the regular Roman legions that were sent against him in Spain was to resort to guerrilla tactics. In this he was a genius. Finally, Rome sent two armies to Spain to quash Sertorius. One was led by Metellus and one by the up-and- coming Pompey the Great. Pompey quickly learned ordinary Roman warfare did not not work against Sertorius. Sertorius’ fatal flaw was he still wanted to be accepted by a Rome even after he had thrashed Roman armies. This mindset prevented him from being a Spanish revolutionary. Finally, the two Roman armies did start to wear down Sertorius. Before he could be defeated in battle, the Romans secured his assassination. Sertorius is an early example proving guerrilla warfare can be successful against conventional opponents even great generals like Pompey the Great.

[Kiril Valchev · Rating 4 out of 5]

"...Ако животът се състои в отлагане на неизбежното, Серторий със сигурност е живял пълноценно.".
" Sertorius and the Struggle for Spain " е историята на римския генерал Квинт Серторий и неговата обречена (и асиметрична) борба срещу собствените му сънародници, по време на т.нар. Серториански войни, водени на Иберийския п-ов между 82 и 71 г. пр.н.е. Или, по-скоро, не. Тази история е загубена. Оцелели са единствено отделни фрагменти, съответстващи на постове в Twitter и биографията на генерала, написана ок. два века по-късно от Плутарх. Така че, както казва авторът: "...тази книга не е история. Тя е реконструкция. Използвайки разказа на Плутарх като скеле, останалите фрагменти и анекдоти могат да бъдат внимателно приложени към него. Резултатът е нещо като судоку, което се играе с парченца доказателства.". Матижак, по мое мнение, се е справил отлично.

[Wilmington · Rating 5 out of 5]

Must read

Philip Matyszak graces us again with a brilliant and highly readable book on the Late Roman Republic. This book is about one of the greatest Roman generals of his age, but also about romanisation of Iberia, and how both Pompey and Caesar both made their teeth as generals.

[Joel Toppen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good History On A Challenging Subject

Chronicling the history of the enigmatic and fascinating Sertorius is a huge challenge. This book does an excellent job of piecing together not only an understanding of Sertorius and his war in Spain, but also places that conflict and its legacy into the framework of history with which we are more likely acquainted.

[Peter C Lyon · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun book with a unique, candid historiographical method.

The only shortcomings are that more detailed maps would have been helpful, as well as a timeline of Sertorius' life.

But overall, I loved it.

Best,

Pete

[Chance Tolman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good synthesis of available sources.

[Guy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Colleen McCullough touches upon Quintus Sertorius in 'The First Man in Rome' and later books in the series. Much of her portrayal is author's imagination as not very much is known about Sertorius. However, he was one of the first proponents of guerrilla warfare. Commanding mainly Spanish troops (plus a few legions) he harassed and harried Rome's slow cumbersome legions from the hills and valleys of Hispania. On a face-to-face battle, trying to slog it out with the legions he knew he would lose.

I suspect one of the finest generals Rome may have had - he certainly gave Pompey a drubbing. If you are interested in Ancient Rome and the Roman Army, this makes an interesting read. Sertorius is certainly one of my heroes and a man who set the seeds for modern Spain.