Editing Quintus Sertorius (section)

=== Flight from Hispania to Tangier ===
Unable to convince the Spanish tribes to fight for him, Sertorius was seriously outnumbered and he abandoned his provinces. He fled to [[Cartagena, Spain|Nova Carthago]] and with 3,000 of his most loyal followers set sail to [[Mauritania]], perhaps attempting some sort of attack on the coastal cities to keep his forces together, but was driven off by the locals. He then fell in with a band of [[Cilician pirates]] who were pillaging the Spanish coast. Together they attacked and took [[Pityusic Islands|Pityussa]], the most southerly of the [[Balearic Islands]], which they started using as a base. When this was reported to Annius, he sent a fleet of warships and almost a full legion to drive Sertorius and his pirate allies from the Balearics. Sertorius engaged this superior fleet in a naval battle to avoid allowing them to disembark,{{sfn|Konrad|1994|p=103}} but adverse winds broke most of his lighter ships, and he eventually fled the islands. 

Sertorius heard of, and had a genuine interest in the [[Fortunate Isles|Isles of the Blessed]], ascribing the isles to the Celto-Hispanian belief of an afterlife in the western ocean and learning more for his own political purposes.{{sfn|Konrad|1994|p=110}} While he was idle Sertorius' pirate allies defected and went to Africa to help install the tyrant Ascalis on the throne of [[Tangier|Tingis]]. Sertorius followed them to Africa in the fall of 81 or the spring of 80&nbsp;BC, rallied the locals in the vicinity of Tingis, and defeated Ascalis' men and the pirates in battle. After gaining control over Tingis, Sertorius defeated and killed the general Vibius Paciaecus and his army, who was probably sent by Annius against him.{{sfn|Spann|1987|p=51}} Paciaecus' defeated army then joined Sertorius.{{sfn|Konrad|1994|p=112}} 

Sertorius remained in Tangier for some time,{{sfn|Spann|1987|p=53}} and became involved with local customs.{{sfnm|Plut. ''Sert.''|1loc=9, which reports the story that Sertorius unearthed the body of [[Antaeus]], the son of [[Poseidon]] and [[Gaia]] and husband of Tinge (the namesake of Tingis). Sertorius apparently found the body to be sixty cubits, or ninety feet, tall. He reburied the body after performing a sacrifice, and, according to Plutarch, was thereafter was among those promoting its traditions and honours.||Konrad|1994|2p=113-114 believes this story shows Sertorius' "skill at manipulating native beliefs and traditions to his own advantage"}} News of his success against Ascalis spread, and won Sertorius fame among the [[Pre-Roman peoples of the Iberian Peninsula|people of Hispania]], particularly that of the [[Lusitanians]] in the west. The Lusitanians, being threatened by a Sullan governor again, asked Sertorius to be their war leader. 

It is likely they were influenced by Sertorius' tenure as governor being far gentler than his predecessors, who often extracted very high taxes and warred against tribes arbitrarily for glory and plunder, neither of which Sertorius had done.{{sfn|Spann|1987|p=54}} The Lusitanians were also implored by Sertorius' "friends in Spain",{{sfn|Plut. ''Sert.''|loc=22.6}} likely Roman exiles who knew Sertorius, but were unable to flee with him when Annius retook Hispania and had consequently taken refuge in Lusitania.{{sfn|Konrad|1987|p=526}} Sertorius did not lead the Lusitanians in a 'war of liberation' from the Roman Republic however; instead, the Lusitanians, hoping for his milder administration to return, offered their support for him to revive the defeated Marian cause with Hispania as his base.{{sfn|Spann|1987|pp=58–62}}{{sfn|Konrad|1994|p=116}}

While considering the offer, Sertorius learned of his mother's death in Italy and "almost died of grief", lying in his tent, unable to speak for a week.{{sfnm|Spann|1987|1p=55|Plut. ''Sert.''|2loc=22}} With the aid of his companions, Sertorius eventually left his tent. He accepted the Lusitanian offer, and prepared his army and fleet to return to Hispania.