Resumen de Sertorius between myth and history: The isles of the blessed episode in Sallust, Plutarch & Horace
At a pivotal moment early in his revolt against Rome, Quintus Sertorius, a key figure in Sallust's fragmentary Histories, is tempted by the opportunity to sail away to the “Isles of the Blessed.” Sallust's few fragments on these islands, when compared to Plutarch's more detailed description, reveal how the Roman historian, by emphasizing their place in the literary tradition rather than in the geography of the known world, constructs a commentary on two “histories”: Sertorius' impossible position in his revolt against Rome, and the tragic political conditions of his own day. The echoes of Sertorius' illusory escape to a utopia in Horace's Epode 16, in stark contrast to Plutarch's rationalizing account, help bring to light both of these histories in Sallust's brief account of this episode.
