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10This was the business in which these men were engaged. I shall now relate how Sextus had fared. When he had fled from Corduba on the former occasion, he first came to Lacetania and concealed himself there. He was pursued, to be sure, but eluded discovery because the natives were kindly disposed to him out of regard for his father’s memory. 2Later, when Caesar had set out for Italy and only a small army was left behind in Baetica, Sextus was joined both by the natives and by those who had escaped from the battle; and with them he came again into Baetica, because he thought it a more suitable region in which to carry on war. 3There he gained possession of soldiers and cities, particularly after Caesar’s death, some voluntarily and some forcibly; for the commander in charge of them, Gaius Asinius Pollio, had no strong force. He next set out against Spanish Carthage, 4but since in his absence Pollio made an attack and did some damage, he returned with a large force, met his opponent, and routed him, after which the following accident enabled him to terrify and conquer the rest also, who were contending fiercely. 5Pollio had cast off his general’s cloak, in order to suffer less chance of detection in his flight, and another man of the same name, a distinguished knight, had fallen. The soldiers, hearing the name of the latter, who was lying there, and seeing the garment, which had been captured, were deceived, thinking that their general had perished, and so surrendered. 6In this way Sextus conquered and gained possession of nearly the whole region. When he had thus become powerful, Lepidus arrived to govern the adjoining portion of Spain, and persuaded him to enter into an agreement on the condition of recovering his father’s estate. And Antony, influenced by his friendship for Lepidus and by his hostility toward Caesar, caused such a decree to be passed.
So Sextus, in this way and on these conditions, departed from Spain.
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