After an unsuccessful push towards the Tagus in 79 BC, and suffering a defeat by Sertorius at Lacobriga in 78 BC, Pius was forced to ask for help from Lucius Manlius, the governor of Gallia Transalpina, but Manlius was defeated by Sertorius's legate Lucius Hirtuleius upon entering the Iberian peninsula and had to retreat.Sallust, Histories, 1.113; Orosius, Contra Paganos, 5.23; Broughton II, pp. 82, 86; Brennan, p. 506; Philip Matyszak, Sertorius and the Struggle for Spain, pp. 83–84 The end result was that an exhausted Metellus was pushed out of his province (Hispania Ulterior).Brennan, p. 512 Metellus probably had a security problem. Sertorius was rumored to have many spies in his camp. On a later occasion a young officer asked Metellus the intention behind one of his order. He retorted: "If the shirt on my back knew what I have in mind, I would take it off and throw it into the fire."Philip Matyszak, Sertorius and the Struggle for Spain, p. 85.
