XXIII. His negociations with Mithridates also were a proof of his magnanimity; for now that Mithridates, rising from the fall that he had from Sulla, as it were, to a second contest, had again attacked Asia, and the fame of Sertorius was great, and had gone abroad to all parts, and those who sailed from the West had filled the Pontus with the reports about him, as if with so many foreign wares, Mithridates was moved to send an embassy to him, being urged thereto mainly by the fulsome exaggerations of his flatterers, who compared Sertorius to Hannibal and Mithridates to Pyrrhus, and said that if the Romans were attacked on both sides, they could not hold out against such great abilities and powers combined, when the most expert of commanders had joined the greatest of kings. Accordingly, Mithridates sent ambassadors to Iberia, with letters to Sertorius and proposals. On his part he offered to supply money and ships for the war, and he asked from Sertorius a confirmation of his title to the whole of Asia, which he had given up to the Romans pursuant to the treaty made with Sulla. Sertorius assembled a council, which he called a senate, and all the members advised to accept the king's proposal, and to be well content with it; they said the king only asked of them a name and an empty answer touching things that were not in their power, in return for which they were to receive what they happened to stand most in need of. But Sertorius would not listen to this; he said he did not grudge Mithridates having Bithynia and Cappadocia; these were nations that were accustomed to a king, and the Romans had nothing to do with them; but the province which belonged to the Romans by the justest of titles, which Mithridates took from them and kept, from which, after a contest, he was driven out by Fimbria, and which he gave up by treaty with Sulla,[161] -that province he would never allow to fall again into the power of Mithridates; for it was fit that the Roman state should be extended by his success, not that his success should be owing to her humiliation. To a generous mind, victory by honest means was a thing to desire, but life itself was not worth having with dishonour.
XXIV. When this was reported to Mithridates he was amazed, and it is said that he remarked to his friends--what terms, then, will Sertorius impose when he is seated on the Palatium,[162] if now, when he is driven to the shores of the Atlantic, he fixes limits to our kingdom, and threatens us with war if we make any attempt upon Asia? However, a treaty was made, and ratified by oath, on the following terms: Mithridates[163] was to have Cappadocia and Bithynia, and Sertorius was to send him a general and soldiers; and Sertorius was to receive from Mithridates three thousand talents, and forty ships. Sertorius sent as general to Asia Marcus Marius, one of the Senators who had fled to him; and Mithridates, after assisting him to take some of the Asiatic cities,[164] followed Marius as he entered them with the fasces and axes, voluntarily taking the second place and the character of an inferior. Marius restored some of the cities to liberty, and he wrote to others to announce to them their freedom from taxation through the power of Sertorius; so that Asia, which was much troubled by the Publicani,[165] and oppressed by the rapacity and insolence of the soldiers quartered there, was again raised on the wings of hope, and longed for the expected change of masters.
XXV. In Iberia, the senators and nobles about Sertorius, as soon as they were put into a condition to hope that they were a match for the opposite party, and their fears were over, began to feel envious, and had a foolish jealousy of the power of Sertorius. Perpenna encouraged this feeling, being urged by the empty pride of high birth to aspire to the supreme command, and he secretly held treasonable language to those who were favourable to his designs. "What evil dæmon," he would say, "has got hold of us, and carried us from bad to worse--us who did not brook to stay at home and do the bidding of Sulla, though in a manner he was lord of all the earth and sea at once, but coming here with ill luck, in order to live free, have voluntarily become slaves by making ourselves the guards of Sertorius in his exile, and while we are called a senate, a name jeered at by all who hear it, we submit to insults, and orders, and sufferings as great as the Iberians and Lusitanians endure." Their minds filled with such suggestions as these, the majority did not, indeed, openly desert Sertorius, for they feared his power, but they secretly damaged all his measures, and they oppressed the barbarians by severe treatment and exactions, on the pretext that it was by the order of Sertorius. This caused revolts and disturbances in the cities; and those who were sent to settle and pacify these outbreaks returned after causing more wars, and increasing the existing insubordination; so that Sertorius, contrary to his former moderation and mildness, did a grievous wrong to the sons of the Iberians, who were educating at Osca,[166] by putting some to death, and selling others as slaves.
XXVI. Now Perpenna, having got several to join him in his conspiracy, gained over Manlius, one of those who were in command. This Manlius was much attached to a beautiful boy, and to give the youth a proof of his attachment he told him of the design, and urged him not to care for his other lovers; but to give his affections to him alone, as he would be a great man in a few days. The youth reported what Manlius said to Aufidius, another of his lovers, to whom he was more attached. On hearing this, Aufidius was startled, for he was engaged in the conspiracy against Sertorius, but he did not know that Manlius was a party to it. But when the youth named Perpenna and Graecinus,[167] and some others whom Aufidius knew to be in the conspiracy, he was confounded, yet he made light of the story to the youth, and told him to despise Manlius for a lying braggart; but he went to Perpenna, and, showing him the critical state of affairs, and the danger, urged him to the deed. The conspirators followed his advice, and having engaged a man to bring letters they introduced him to Sertorius. The letters gave information of a victory gained by one of the generals, and a great slaughter of the enemy. Upon this Sertorius was overjoyed, and offered a sacrifice for the happy tidings; and Perpenna proposed to feast him and his friends (and they were of the number of the conspirators), and after much entreaty he prevailed on Sertorius to come. Now whenever Sertorius was present, an entertainment was conducted with great propriety and decorum; for he would not tolerate any indecent act or expression, but accustomed his companions to enjoy mirth and merriment with orderly behaviour, and without any excess; but, on this occasion, in the midst of the feast, seeking to begin a quarrel, they openly used obscene language, and, pretending to be drunk, behaved indecently, for the purpose of irritating Sertorius. Whether it was that he was vexed at this disorderly conduct, or had now suspected their design by the flagging of the conversation[168] and their unusual contemptuous manner towards him, he changed his posture on the couch by throwing himself on his back, as if he was paying no attention to them, and not listening. On Perpenna taking a cup of wine, and in the middle of the draught throwing it from him and so making a noise, which was the signal agreed on, Antonius, who lay next to Sertorius, struck him with his sword. On receiving the blow, Sertorius turned himself, and at the same time attempted to rise, but Antonius, throwing himself upon his chest, held his hands, and he was despatched by blows from many of the conspirators, without even making any resistance.
XXVII.[169] Now most of the Iberians immediately sent ambassadors to Pompeius and Metellus, to make their submission; those who remained Perpenna took under his command, and attempted to do something. After employing the means that Sertorius had got together, just so far as to disgrace himself, and show that he was not suited either to command or to obey, he engaged with Pompeius. Being quickly crushed by him and taken prisoner, he did not behave himself even in this extremity as a commander should do; but having got possession of the papers of Sertorius, he offered to Pompeius to show him autograph letters from consular men and persons of the highest influence at Rome, in which Sertorius was invited to Italy, and was assured that there were many who were desirous to change the present settlement of affairs, and to alter the constitution. Now Pompeius, by behaving on this occasion, not like a young man, but one whose understanding was well formed and disciplined, relieved Rome from great dangers and revolutions. He got together all those letters, and all the papers of Sertorius, and burnt them, without either reading them himself or letting any one else read them; and he immediately put Perpenna to death, through fear that there might be defection and disturbance if the names were communicated to others. Of the fellow-conspirators of Perpenna, some were brought to Pompeius, and put to death; and others, who fled to Libya, were pierced by the Moorish spears. Not one escaped, except Aufidius, the rival of Manlius, and this happened, either because he escaped notice, or nobody took any trouble about him, and he lived to old age, in some barbarian village, in poverty and contempt.