Sertorious

Business Director for a sales training consultancy!!! Got talked into sciences at college - all I wanted to do was History but they said it would be a waste of time!!!! Consequently I have history as an all consuming hobby. I do a lot of historical interpretation on the Western Front and currently am heavily into the Republic and becoming more interested in the 'Classical' era. Guido

What a find! I am just moving back beyond the Republic to archaic & ancient Greece so these podcasts will be really helpful. Something other than Rammstein to listen to in the car. Thanks a lot for finding them Guido

An interesting article - I subscribed! As I recall, the Lord God instructed the Israelites when they approached Canaan which he was kindly 'giving' to them, to "slaughter every man, women & child and all beast on four legs" - or something in that vien (I think even the fowl copped for it too!). I was very shocked when I first read it some years ago and ever since have quoted it as a very early reference to genocide. Guy

A convenient falsehood but a lie nevertheless. Caesar offered no general amnesty after Pharsalus (when it might have brought a quick end to the civil war), preferring instead to dally with Cleopatra while the forces of the republic regrouped (master strategist that Caesar!) And when Scipio and his unseasoned troops then surrendered in North Africa, they were all summarily slaughtered. Caesar's excuse for slaughtering Scipio and his men was that he was having an epileptic attack at the time (!), but like his claim not to have stood in the presence of the Senate due to an acute bout of diaherria, the epilepsy excuse stinks to high heaven. By Pluto's thorny *$#%, this is rich! Although Pompey was clothed with supreme power, and had overthrown and added to Rome enemies far more formidable to the Romans (as opposed to the bunch of rag-tag iron age women and children that Caesar butchered by the hundreds of thousands), this POMPEY WAS SLAIN IN THE MIDST OF THE SENATE. Talk about the pot calling the kettle black! Moreover, and this is absolutely essential, ever since Publicola the killing of a man who declared himself king was required by law. Those cowards who failed to wield their daggers were the outlaws, not the liberators. As is well known, Caesar was known as king of Rome in everyplace but Italy, and he underscored this point by removing any tribune who contradicted his self-declared monarchy. Oh yeah?!? And WHY were these commanders and governors collecting an army? Because the lackeys of Caesar were collecting one as well and because they cast the first stone by assembling mobs to burn government buildings and the private homes and persons of their enemies. As for "barbarians", these toadies of Caesar were hip-high in the barbarian clients that Caesar had collected in his illegal war. And shall we even discuss these Caesarian boot-lickers' treatment of pro-republican cities? Just ask Livia's family about their mercy. Or the men, women and children of Praeneste, who were all murdered (regardless of their allegiances) by this craven cabal of cowards. And who exactly were on this notorious list? The very friends and families of Octavian and Antony, who--rather than trading indulgences for their loved ones--instead traded vendettas. If only some real Roman had been around to liberate their country of these new Tarquins! Unfortunately, the last true Roman was Cassius.

Thanks Porcius. I keep doing the spelling error. I shall certainly check out the Plutarch link. Cheers Quintus

Salve, QS! Apparently, the classic biography would be that from Adolph Schulten (1926?); a more recent work is Quintus Sertorius and the legacy of Sulla by Philip O. Spann, Fayetteville, the University of Arkansas press (1987). There's also Plutarch's Sertorius: a historical commentary by CF Konrad (1994). As you may imagine, books about contemporaries (Sulla, Marius, Caesar, Pompey, etc.) or globally of the late Roman Republic (vg, The Roman Revolution by R Syme) have many references about your homonym. Regarding primary sources, besides the obvious biography by Plutarch, please remember there is another Plutarch's book that made the comparison of Sertorius with the Greek Eumenes, multiple references in the Plutarch's biographies of Sulla, Marius, Pompey and Lucullus, and also in the respective chapters of other Greco-latin historians like Appian or Cassius Dio. Anyway, I sugest you to take advice from the senior members of UNVR. I hope this may be useful. Salve Asclepiades and my gratitude! I am an idiot - I meant Plutarch when I erroneousley typed Pluto. He does rather like Quintus, doesn't he? I shall start trying to track down some of the other works though. Thanks again Quintus!

Does anyone know if there is a published biography of Quintus Sertorious in existence. My efforts to date have failed to turn one up. I find him a very interesting character, and there are bits and pieces about other than Plato, but I cannot find s serious biography on him and his life. I was told of a Portugese book but have failed to find it - and I am an Englishman! Help

I think depending on which version you go with the effect he was aiming for was either (Plutarch Appian) we must show our intentions, is time to get on with it or (traditional) right well that's shown our cards the game's afoot I believe Vibius Tiberius has the gist of it. The saying is usually said today to mean "we are committed to a path" - the dice are thrown and this is the reult we are committed to. In fact I understand that what Gauis Julius meant intended more along the lines of "We've made our move, but who knows what the outcome will be?" - in effect, the dice are in the air but who knows what the result will be when they land!