Victories of Metellus

Meanwhile Metellus fought with better fortune.  In a sharp engagement at Italica (not far from Seville), which Hirtuleius had imprudently risked, and in which both generals fought hand to hand and Hirtuleius was wounded, Metellus defeated him and compelled him to evacuate the Roman territory proper, and to throw himself into Lusitania.  This victory permitted Metellus to unite with Pompeius.  The two generals took up their winter-quarters in 678-79 at the Pyrenees, and in the next campaign in 679 they resolved to make a joint attack on the enemy in his position near Valentia.  But while Metellus was advancing, Pompeius offered battle beforehand to the main army of the enemy, with a view to wipe out the stain of Lauro and to gain the expected laurels, if possible, alone.  With joy Sertorius embraced the opportunity of fighting with Pompeius before Metellus arrived.

Battle on the Sucro

The armies met on the river Sucro (Xucar):  after a sharp conflict Pompeius was beaten on the right wing, and was himself carried from the field severely wounded.  Afranius no doubt conquered with the left and took the camp of the Sertorians, but during its pillage he was suddenly assailed by Sertorius and compelled also to give way.  Had Sertorius been able to renew the battle on the following day, the army of Pompeius would perhaps have been annihilated.  But meanwhile Metellus had come up, had overthrown the corps of Perpenna ranged against him, and taken his camp:  it was not possible to resume the battle against the two armies united.  The successes of Metellus, the junction of the hostile forces, the sudden stagnation after the victory, diffused terror among the Sertorians; and, as not unfrequently happened with Spanish armies, in consequence of this turn of things the greater portion of the Sertorian soldiers dispersed.  But the despondency passed away as quickly as it had come; the white fawn, which represented in the eyes of the multitude the military plans of the general, was soon more popular than ever; in a short time Sertorius appeared with a new army confronting the Romans in the level country to the south of Saguntum (Murviedro), which firmly adhered to Rome, while the Sertorian privateers impeded the Roman supplies by sea, and scarcity was already making itself felt in the Roman camp.  Another battle took place in the plains of the river Turia (Guadalaviar), and the struggle was long undecided.  Pompeius with the cavalry was defeated by Sertorius, and his brother-in-law and quaestor, the brave Lucius Memmius, was slain; on the other hand Metellus vanquished Perpenna, and victoriously repelled the attack of the enemy’s main army directed against him, receiving himself a wound in the conflict.  Once more the Sertorian army dispersed.  Valentia, which Gaius Herennius held for Sertorius, was taken and razed to the ground.  The Romans, probably for a moment, cherished a hope that they were done with their tough antagonist.  The Sertorian army had disappeared; the Roman troops, penetrating far into the interior, besieged the general himself in the fortress Clunia on the upper Douro.  But while they vainly invested this rocky stronghold, the contingents of the insurgent communities assembled elsewhere; Sertorius stole out of the fortress and even before the expiry of the year stood once more as general at the head of an army.