Editing Quintus Sertorius (section)

=== Political legacy and motives ===
Sertorius' motives cannot really be known, though evidence suggests he saw himself fighting for the survival and re-enfranchisement of those disinherited and proscribed after Sulla's victory in 82&nbsp;BC (including himself, who, like the rest, had no prospects in Sulla's republic).{{sfn|Gruen|1995|p=18}}<ref>Florus, ''Epitome,'' Book 2, 10.22</ref> Plutarch reports that Sertorius himself repeatedly sought terms with Metellus and Pompey to return to Rome (after a victory in the field), telling them he would rather "live in Rome as her meanest citizen rather than to live in exile from his country and be called supreme ruler of all the rest of the world together".{{sfn|Plut. ''Sert.''|loc=22}} Katz believes this wish for a negotiated settlement may, in part, explain Sertorius' cautious strategy throughout his war.{{sfn|Katz|1983|p=65}}

To the proscribed, Sertorius represented a chance for re-emergence in Roman politics, and a return to their properties and lives in Rome. Sertorius' war is, resultantly, seen as "an inheritance from the Sullan proscription",{{sfn|Gruen|1995|p=18}} and its end, along with his death, signalled the close of the civil wars started by Sulla's [[March on Rome (88 BC)|First March on Rome]]. None of the proscribed, including those who fought with Sertorius, are known to have received a pardon.{{sfn|Konrad|1988|pp=257}} Ironically, the defeat of Sertorius (and thus the last Marian resistance) may have caused the repealing of several of Sulla's laws, as there was no longer "fear that the [Sullan] structure itself might crumble".{{sfn|Gruen|1995|p=27}} According to Steel, Sertorius' seizure of Hispania was "highly significant" as a display, similar to Sulla in his civil war, of how Roman foreign policy in the late second century relied greatly on domestic affairs.<ref name=":4" />

Spann believes that "Sertorius, if successful in Spain, clearly meant to invade Italy. He would not have set up some sort of independent state in Spain",{{sfn|Spann|1987|pp=213–14}} and so Gruen, "Sertorius' target was the government in Rome... of his political enemies. Had he been victorious, there would have been a change in leadership, not in social or political system".{{sfn|Gruen|1995|p=413}} Spann and Konrad view Sertorius' success in a march on Rome as unlikely;{{sfn|Spann|1987|pp=147–48}}{{sfn|Konrad|1994|pp=179–80}} however, Konrad believes existing discontent within the Sullan government "might have provided him [Sertorius] with enough support to mount a serious challenge to the regime once he crossed the Alps".{{sfn|Konrad|1994|p=180}}