[Footnote 108:  Nursia was in the country of the Sabini among the Apennines, and near the source of the Nar.  It is now Norcia.  The MSS. of Plutarch have Nussa.]

[Footnote 109:  The date is B.C. 105.  See the Life of Marius, c. 10, and Notes.]

[Footnote 110:  Titus Didius and Q. Caecilius Metellus Nepos were consuls B.C. 98.  In B.C. 97 Didius was in Spain as Proconsul, and fought against the Celtiberi.  Gellius (ii. 27) quotes a passage from the Historiae of Sallustius, in which mention is made of Sertorius serving under Didius in Spain, and the character of Sertorius is given pretty nearly in the terms of Plutarch, who may have used Sallustius as one of his authorities.  Didius is mentioned by Cicero, Pro Cn.  Plancio, c. 25; and by Frontinus, i. 8. 5; ii. 10. 1; and by Appian (Iberica, c. 99).  The passage in the text should be translated, “he was sent out under Didius as commander, and wintered in Iberia, in Castlo,” &c.  Plutarch has used the word [Greek:  strategos], which means praetor; but to make the statement correct, we must translate it Proconsul, or commander.  See Life of Crassus, c. 4, Notes.]

[Footnote 111:  Castlo, Castalo, or Castulo, is placed on the north bank of the Baetis, the Guadalquivir.]

[Footnote 112:  See the Life of Marius, c. 32, Notes.  The events that are briefly alluded to at the end of this chapter are described in the Lives of Marius and Sulla.  The battle in the Forum is spoken of in the Life of Marius, c. 41.]

[Footnote 113:  The same story is told in the Life of Marius, c. 44, where it is stated that Cinna and Sertorius combined to put these scoundrels out of the way; but the number that were massacred is not stated there.]

[Footnote 114:  Compare the Life of Marius, c. 45, and of Sulla, c. 28, &c.  Cinna was murdered by his soldiers two years after the death of Marius, and in his fourth consulship, B.C. 84.  The younger Marius was Consul in B.C. 82, with Cn.  Papirius Carbo for his colleague.  This was Carbo’s third consulship.  According to Plutarch, Sertorius left Italy after the younger Marius was consul, and therefore not earlier than B.C. 82, unless we understand the passage in Plutarch as referring to the election of Marius, and not to the commencement of his consulship.  Appian (Civil Wars, i. 86) places the departure of Sertorius in the year B.C. 83.]

[Footnote 115:  Sertorius had not been Consul, and therefore he was not now Proconsul.  It is true that a man, who had not been Consul, might receive the government of a Province with the title of Proconsul. (See c. 7.) Sertorius may have assumed the title.]

[Footnote 116:  If Sertorius stayed at Rome till the younger Marius was elected Consul, as Plutarch states in the sixth chapter, he probably saw what he is here represented as hearing.]

[Footnote 117:  This Annius, surnamed Luscus, served under Q. Metellus in the Jugurthine War B.C. 107. (Sallust, Jug.  War, c. 77.) Sulla gave him the command in Spain with the title of Proconsul B.C. 81.  An extant medal seems to have been struck in honour of his Proconsulship.  (Eckhel, Doct.  Num.  Vet. v. 134.)]