difficulty and joined his troops; and now he again advanced against
the enemy in great force, and began to cut off their land supplies by
ambuscades, and hemming them in, and showing himself at every point,
inasmuch as his attacks were made with great expedition; and he cut
off all their maritime supplies by occupying the coast with his
piratical vessels, so that the generals opposed to him were obliged to
separate, one to march off into Gaul, and Pompeius to winter among the
Vaccæi[157] in great distress for want of supplies, and to write to
the Senate, that he would lead his army out of Iberia, if they did not
send him money, for he had spent all his own in defence of Italy.
There was great talk in Rome that Sertorius would come to Italy before
Pompeius[158] to such difficulties did Sertorius, by his military
abilities, reduce the first and ablest of the generals of that age.

XXII. Metellus also showed, that he feared the man and thought he was
powerful; for he made proclamation, that if any Roman killed Sertorius
he would give him a hundred talents of silver and twenty thousand
jugera of land; and, if he was an exile, permission to return, to
Rome: thus declaring that he despaired of being able to defeat
Sertorius in the field, and therefore would purchase his life by
treachery. Besides this, Metellus was so elated by a victory which on
one occasion he gained over Sertorius, and so well pleased with his
success, that he was proclaimed Imperator[159] and the cities received
him in his visits to them with sacrifices and altars. It is also said,
that he allowed chaplets to be placed on his head, and accepted
invitations to sumptuous feasts, at which he wore a triumphal vest;
and Victories[160] which were contrived to move by machinery,
descended and distributed golden trophies and crowns, and companies of
youths and women sang epinician hymns in honour of him. For this he
was with good reason ridiculed, for that after calling Sertorius a