Annius. Annius soon arrived with a large fleet and five thousand heavy
armed men, and Sertorius ventured on a naval battle with him, though
his vessels were light and built for quick sailing and not for
fighting; but the sea was disturbed by a strong west wind, which drove
most of the vessels of Sertorius upon the reefs, owing to their
lightness, and Sertorius, with a few ships, could not get out to sea
by reason of the wind, nor land on account of the enemy, and being
tossed about for ten days, with the wind and a violent sea against
him, he held out with great difficulty.

VIII. As the wind abated he set sail, and put in at some scattered
islands, which had no water. Leaving them, and passing through the
Straits of Gades,[121] he touched at those parts of Iberia on the
right which lie out of the strait, a little beyond the mouths of the
Bætis,[122] which flows into the Atlantic Sea,[123] and has given name
to those parts of Iberia which lie about it. There he fell in with
some sailors, who had returned from a voyage to the Atlantic[124]
Islands, which are two in number, separated by a very narrow channel,
and ten thousand stadia from the coast of Libya, and are called the
islands of the Happy. These islands have only moderate rains, but
generally they enjoy gentle breezes, which bring dews; they have a
rich and fertile soil, adapted for arable cultivation and planting;
they also produce fruit spontaneously, sufficient in quantity and
quality to maintain, without labour and trouble, a population at their
ease. The air of the island is agreeable, owing to the temperature of
the seasons, and the slightness of the changes; for the winds which
blow from our part of the world from the north and east, owing to the
great distance, fall upon a boundless space, and are dispersed and
fail before they reach these islands; but the winds which blow round
them from the ocean, the south and west, bring soft rains at