The Romans, probably for a moment, cherished a hope that they were done with their tough antagonist.
The Sertorian army had disappeared; the Roman troops, penetrating far into the interior, besieged the general himself in the fortress Clunia on the upper Douro.

But while they vainly invested this rocky stronghold, the contingents of the insurgent communities assembled elsewhere; Sertorius stole out of the fortress and even before the expiry of the year stood once more as general at the head of an army.
Again the Roman generals had to take up their winter quarters with the cheerless prospect of an inevitable renewal of their Sisyphean war-toils.

It was not even possible to choose quarters in the region of Valentia, so important on account of the communication with Italy and the east, but fearfully devastated by friend and foe; Pompeius led his troops first into the territory of the Vascones( 22) (Biscay) and then spent the winter in the territory of the Vaccaei (about Valladolid), and Metellus even in Gaul.
Indefinite and Perilous Character of the Sertorian War For five years the Sertorian war thus continued, and still there seemed no prospect of its termination.

The state suffered from it beyond description.

The flower of the Italian youth perished amid the exhausting fatigues of these campaigns.