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HANNIBAL CROSSES THE ALPS


Cambridge University Press
London: Fetter Lane

New York
The Macmillan Co.

Bombay, Calcutta and Madras
Macmillan and Co., Ltd.

Toronto
The Macmillan Co. of
Canada, Ltd.

Tokyo
Maruzen-Kabushiki-Kaisha

All rights reserved


HANNIBAL CROSSES THE ALPS

by

CECIL TORR, M.A.


[Illustration]






Cambridge: at the
University Press
MCMXXIV

Printed in Great Britain




PREFACE


I have heard this question discussed ever since I was a child, but
have never yet written anything about it except in my _Small Talk at
Wreyland_. In the First Series, page 75, I was talking about travelling
on the Continent, and I said:

“Plenty of people went to Switzerland at the time when I first
went--1869--far more than when my father went there thirty years
before, but nothing like the crowds that go there now. They kept more
to peaks and passes then; and they were always talking of Hannibal’s
passage of the Alps. Junius was talked out: Tichborne and Dreyfus were
yet to come; and Hannibal filled the gap. I used to hear them at home
as well as there; and they all had their pet routes for Hannibal--Col
d’Argentière, Mont Genèvre, Mont Cenis, Little Mont Cenis, Little St
Bernard and Great St Bernard, and even Simplon and St Gothard. In 1871
I went looking for traces of the vinegar on the Great St Bernard. My
father upheld the Cenis routes as the only passes from which you can
look down upon the plains of Italy. I doubt if Hannibal did look down.
I think he may have shown his men their line of march upon a map, just
as Aristagoras used a map to show the Spartans their line of march 282
years earlier.”

I wrote Anaxagoras by mistake for Aristagoras, and passed it in the
proofs; and it was printed in the first impression of the First Series,
though corrected in the second impression. I mentioned my mistake in
the Second Series, page 102, and this and other instances led me on to
say:

“I fancy that the Greek and Latin authors wrote the wrong word now and
then, and never noticed it. That is not the view of textual critics
and editors: they ascribe all errors to the men who copied out the
manuscripts. But this limits them to errors that might arise in
copying, and thus restricts the choice of emendations far too much.
Take such an emendation as _Isara_ for _Arar_ in Livy, xxi. 31. This
makes Livy say that the river was the Isère, not the Saône; but the
context requires him to say it was the Durance, otherwise he would be
saying ‘right’ instead of ‘left’ a few lines further on. A copyist
might easily write _arar_ for _isara_, so this emendation is accepted,
although it does not suit.

“Such emendations are deceitful things. In this case they make Livy
say the Isère, and make Polybios say it also, iii. 49, though he says
something else; and then Members of the Alpine Club go saying that the
river must have been the Isère, since Livy and Polybios agree in saying
that it was. Other folk may say it does not matter what the river was;
but that is a reason for leaving the whole thing alone, not for getting
it wrong. If you take it up at all, you should not risk the sort of
snubbing that Westbury gave the herald after cross-examination--‘Go
away, you silly man: you don’t even understand your own silly
science.’”

That brought me letters from Members of the Alpine Club and from a
former President who is a champion of the Isère route. And this is my
reply.

                                        CECIL TORR.

 YONDER WREYLAND,
    LUSTLEIGH,
      DEVON.

POSTSCRIPT. I fear there is much repetition in the following pages, but
I have a reason for it. The same facts recur in different contexts; and
I have sometimes thought it better to re-state a fact than merely give
cross-references.


[Illustration:

  _Proposed route_  ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
  _Alternatives_    --------

  1. SIMPLON
  2. GREAT SAINT BERNARD
  3. LITTLE SAINT BERNARD
  4. MONT CENIS
  5. MONT GENÈVRE
  6. COL DE LA TRAVERSETTE
  7. COL D’ARGENTIÈRE]




[Illustration]


1. Polybios, of course, is far the best authority. He was born in
Hannibal’s lifetime; and he mentions (iii. 48. 12) that before he wrote
his account of Hannibal’s passage of the Alps, he went over the ground
himself to make quite sure.

2. As he writes in Greek, he gives the distances in stades--nine
stades make an English mile--and (iii. 39. 6–10) he reckons 2600
stades from Cartagena to the Ebro, 1600 from there to Ampurias, at the
Mediterranean end of the Pyrenees, 1600 from there to the crossing
(_diabasis_) of the Rhone, 1400 along the river from its crossing to
the ascent (_anabolê_) of the Alps, and 1200 across the Alps into Italy.

3. He says (iii. 39. 8) that he calculated the 1600 from Ampurias
to the crossing of the Rhone by the milestones on the Roman road,
reckoning eight stades to a Roman mile. Thus, in Roman miles his
distances would be 325 to the Ebro, 200 to Ampurias, 200 to the Rhone,
175 along the river, and 150 across the Alps. He also says (iii. 56. 3)
that Hannibal took fifteen days in marching the 1200 stades, and (iii.
50. 1) took ten days in marching 800, part of the 1400. Both cases give
an average of 80 stades or 10 Roman miles a day; and this looks as if
he knew the time employed here but did not know the distance covered,
and therefore calculated the distance from the time. He certainly knew
the time employed upon the march of fifteen days, as he elsewhere gives
the days in detail, iii. 50. 5, 8, 52. 1, 2, 53. 5, 6, 9, 54. 4, 55. 6,
8, 56. 1. But Hannibal would not really have gone at the same pace on
the fifteen days when he was fighting his way through the mountains as
on the ten days when he was marching up the river unopposed. Polybios
must have taken a standard rate, and used it indiscriminately when he
had no help from milestones.

4. After giving distances which amount to 8400 stades or 1050 Roman
miles in iii. 39. 6–10, he goes on in iii. 39. 11 to give their total
as about (_peri_) 9000 stades or 1125 Roman miles. There must be an
error in the total or the items. I fancy the total should be 8000
stades or 1000 Roman miles, as he was more likely to reckon 1050 as
‘about’ 1000 than as ‘about’ 1125. He mentions (iii. 56. 3) that
Hannibal took five months on the march; and 150 days for the 1050 miles
gives an average of 7 Roman miles a day. Large forces could not move
fast. The column would be some miles in length, and the advance-guard
might be close to the new camping-ground before the rear-guard left the
previous camp; and time would have to be allowed for the rear-guard to
come up.

5. Strabo was 150 years junior to Polybios; but the Roman road from
Spain would not have moved, and he says (iv. 1. 3) that it crossed the
Rhone at Tarascon. He goes on to say that it bifurcated there, one
branch going through Aix to Antibes on the Mediterranean coast, while
the other went through Cavaillon and along the Durance to the beginning
of the ascent (_anabasis_) of the Alps, 63 miles from Tarascon, thence
to Embrun, 99 miles further on, and thence through the Briançon
district in 71 miles to Césanne, the first town in Italy. (The road
must thus have crossed the Alps by the pass of Mont Genèvre.) Strabo
here treats the beginning of the ascent of the Alps as a definite
point, marked by a milestone, just as Polybios treats the ascent of
the Alps and the crossing of the Rhone as definite points from which
measurements could be made.

6. Roman roads were not built capriciously; and the road from Spain
would not have crossed the Rhone at Tarascon unless there was some
substantial reason for crossing it just there rather than a little
higher up or a little lower down. This reason must have existed at
the time when Hannibal crossed the Rhone a few years before the road
was made; and by reckoning Hannibal’s march according to the Roman
milestones, Polybios rather implies that Hannibal came that way. In any
case Hannibal cannot have deviated greatly from the Roman road, as that
ran near the coast, and Polybios says (iii. 41. 7) that Hannibal kept
the sea upon his right hand (_dexion echôn_) as he marched.

7. After mentioning (iii. 37. 8) that the Rhone entered the sea by
several mouths, Polybios says (iii. 42. 1) that Hannibal crossed it
where it was a single stream, about four days’ march from the sea. It
ceases to be a single stream at Arles, and divides there into branches
leading to the mouths; and Arles is eight English miles below Tarascon
and five-and-twenty from the sea. Four days at ten miles a day--see
paragraph 3--would give 40 Roman miles, or 37 English, for the distance
from Tarascon to the sea. But as Hannibal was coming from the west,
he would have to turn inland at the westernmost mouth of the Rhone,
somewhere near Aigues Mortes, whence the distance would be fully forty
miles. No doubt, there were many crossing-places on the Rhone, and
any of them might be known as a Diabasis--see paragraph 2--as this is
merely the Greek for crossing. But there were many crossing-places on
the Rhine, yet there was only one Trajectum, and many on the Euphrates,
but only one Zeugma; and Polybios always speaks of the Diabasis of the
Rhone as if there were no other.

8. According to Polybios (iii. 41. 2, 4–9, 44. 3, 45. 1–6, 47. 1, 49.
1) Scipio was taking a Roman army from Italy to Spain by sea, but
stopped at the easternmost mouth of the Rhone and disembarked the army
there, on hearing that Hannibal had already reached the crossing of
the Rhone. He sent out cavalry to scout, and Hannibal likewise sent
out cavalry, having heard of the arrival of the Roman ships. These two
forces met: Scipio’s drove Hannibal’s back and pushed on far enough
to see his camp, and then returned with information. Scipio forthwith
(_parautica_) re-embarked the baggage and then marched up along the
river with his whole force, as he was eager (_speudôn_) to attack the
enemy. But on reaching the crossing, he found that the enemy had left
their camp three days before, having started the morning after the
encounter of the cavalry.

9. If the camp was at Tarascon, Scipio’s cavalry had a ride of sixty
or seventy English miles, there and back, besides some fighting on the
way; and after their return there was the embarcation of the baggage;
so that Scipio could hardly have begun his march till the next morning
or next afternoon. He may have been marching on three days, though not
a full day’s march on the first day and perhaps not on the third; and
he would entrench his camp each night with extra care, as the enemy
were not far off. Even so, his progress seems a little slow; but had
he gone ten miles further in the time, there would have been a serious
check.

10. Ten miles above Tarascon the river Durance flows into the Rhone.
Livy (xxi. 31) says that, of all the rivers of Gaul, the Durance was
far the most difficult to cross, _longe difficillimus transitu_; and
he mentions that it happened to be swollen by rains (_forte imbribus
auctus_) at the time when Hannibal was there. If Hannibal had crossed
the Rhone more than ten miles above Tarascon, he would have had the
Durance between Scipio’s forces and his own; and Polybios says nothing
to suggest that there was any obstacle between.

11. At this period the Romans had only a militia; and Scipio’s marches
must not be calculated on the scale of marches by the regular army that
Marius created a century later on. Still less should they be calculated
from statements by Vegetius, who lived six centuries later and dealt
with marches along Roman roads to established forts and towns. At this
period a Roman force entrenched itself each night, and the entrenching
took some time.

12. According to Polybios (iii. 49. 5–7) Hannibal marched up along the
river after leaving his camp at the crossing of the Rhone, and arrived
in four days at the Island, a populous and fertile place with the Rhone
running along one side of it and the Scôras along the other. It was not
strictly an island, but was (Polybios says) of the shape and size of
the Delta of the Nile, with river on two sides and a range of mountains
instead of the sea for the third side. Livy (xxi. 31) follows Polybios
almost word for word in saying that Hannibal marched up along the Rhone
to a district called the Island, where another river flowed into the
Rhone. But he calls the other river the Arar, which is the Saône, and
thus brings Hannibal up to Lyons, 200 miles from the sea. This would
mean an average of 25 miles a day, the confluence being four days from
the crossing and the crossing being four days from the sea, whereas
Polybios gives an average of only 7 miles a day for the whole march and
10 miles a day for 250 miles out of the final 325 after the crossing of
the Rhone: see paragraphs 3, 4.

13. As a reason for Hannibal’s going so far inland, Livy says (xxi.
31) that Hannibal did not wish to fight a battle against the Romans
till he was actually in Italy, and the further he kept away from the
sea, the less was the risk of meeting the enemy. But this is not borne
out by what he says just afterwards (xxi. 32) where he is copying from
Polybios, iii. 49. 2, 3. He says there that Scipio marched back to his
ships on finding that the enemy had quitted their camp at the crossing
of the Rhone, re-embarked the army and sent the bulk of it on to Spain,
and returned to Italy himself to take command there if Hannibal got
through the Alps. The march-back and the embarcation must have been
as brisk as the march-up, Polybios using the same term for both,
_speudôn_, iii. 45. 4, 49. 4. Hannibal had good information: he soon
knew of the arrival of the Roman ships at the mouth of the Rhone--see
paragraph 8--and would soon know of their departure; and he would not
go 200 miles inland to avoid the enemy if he knew they were not there.

14. In order to reduce the distance, the editors of Livy have tampered
with the text, and have printed “Isara” in place of “Arar,” thus
changing the Saône into the Isère. They seem to have forgotten Silius
Italicus, iii. 442–476. He was almost a contemporary of Livy--born only
eight years after Livy’s death--and in his description of Hannibal’s
march he not only speaks of the confluence of the Arar and the Rhone,
but contrasts the rapidity of the Rhone with the quiet flow of the
Arar; and that is just the difference between the Rhone and the Saône
at Lyons, a difference remarked by Seneca (LUDUS, 7) and other ancient
writers. Silius goes on to speak of the Tricastini and the Vocontii and
the river Durance exactly as Livy (xxi. 31) goes on to speak of them,
and in almost the same words. It seems clear that Silius had Livy’s
words before him when he wrote, and that he found “Arar” there, not
“Isara,” and had no doubts about the river being the Saône. That really
is decisive for the text of Livy. The only pretext of the editors is
that there is a mark like an _s_ between the words _ibi_ and _Arar_ in
one of the manuscripts of Livy.

15. These editors were very unwise in making Livy say “Isara,” as he
would not have mentioned the confluence of the Isère and the Rhone
without saying a good deal more. The monuments of the victory of 8
August 121 B.C. were at the confluence of the Isère and the Rhone.
Strabo mentions them (iv. 1. 11) and Livy, who was his contemporary,
must have known that they were there. (Livy described the victory in
one of his lost books, lxi, the contents of which are known from the
epitome.) Livy says (xxi. 31) that as soon as Hannibal reached the
confluence of the Saône and the Rhone, he secured the support of the
Allobriges. If this had happened at the confluence of the Isère and the
Rhone, Livy would have made a telling point of the contrast between
Hannibal’s securing the support of the Allobriges for his onslaught
on Rome, and their subjugation by the Romans at the very same place a
century later on.

16. No doubt the Saône rises in the Vosges and not in what we call the
Alps; but Strabo (iv. 1. 11) and Ptolemy (ii. 10. 3) describe it as
rising in the Alps, and Livy is probably taking the same view in saying
that it rose there. It seems unwise to argue that he must have meant
the Isère because the Isère rises in the Alps.

17. Ammianus says (xv. 11. 17) that the Arar was also known as the
Saucona, _Ararim, quem Sauconam appellant_. He quotes Timagenes by
name in xv. 9. 2, and probably quotes him here, as the pseudo-Plutarch
(DE FLUVIIS, 6) quotes him for information about the Arar, which
information (it says) he copied from Callisthenes. Timagenes was
a contemporary of Livy; and I suspect that when Livy was copying
Polybios, he took Scôras for Saucona or a variant of that name, but
translated it as Arar because this name was better known.

18. The editors of Polybios have also tampered with their text and
printed “Isaras” for “Scôras” in iii. 49. 6, as if the river was
clearly the Isère. They seem to have forgotten what he says in the
next sentence. As already mentioned in paragraph 12, he says that the
so-called island between the Scôras and the Rhone was of the same
shape as the Delta of the Nile, with these two rivers as the sides
and a range of mountains (instead of sea) as the base. But it is a
quadrangle, not a triangle, between the Isère and the Rhone: the Isère
on the south, the Mont du Chat on the east, and the Rhone on the north
as well as on the west, as its course turns round a right-angle at
Lyons. When Polybios wanted to say that a place was quadrangular, he
said so--he says _tetragônos topos_ in vi. 27. 2--and he would have
said so here, if that had been his meaning.

19. Some of the manuscripts have “Scôras” and others have “Scaras”;
and this discrepancy is not uncommon in manuscripts of Polybios, as
if they all were copied from the writing of a man who made his Alphas
and Omegas very much alike. Casaubon altered “Scôras” or “Scaras” into
“Araros” to make it agree with Livy. Cluver altered it into “Isaras”
to make it agree with the alteration in Livy. Neither of them had any
better reason for the change. When editors doubt a reading they ought
to query it. These editors should have printed “Arar (? Isara)” and
“Scôras (? Isaras),” or printed “Arar” in the text and “Isara” in a
footnote, as in Drakenborch’s edition of Livy; but they have printed
“Isara” and “Isaras” in the text itself, and in many editions they have
not even added footnotes. Readers are thereby misled, and think they
have the authority of Livy and Polybios for saying that the Island was
at the confluence of the Isère and the Rhone, when in reality they have
only the authority of editors who knew no more about the matter than
they know themselves.

       *       *       *       *       *

20. After taking Hannibal up to the confluence of the Saône and the
Rhone, Livy says (xxi. 31) that instead of making straight for the
Alps, Hannibal then turned to the left, _ad lævam_. Strabo twice says
(iv. 6. 7, 11) that there were two roads from Lyons to Italy, one
over the Pennine pass, and the second through the territory of the
Centrones, meeting the first in the territory of the Salassi. These
clearly were the Great and Little St Bernard routes, meeting at Aosta;
and if Hannibal was near Lyons and took the Great instead of the
Little, he might fairly be described as turning to his left instead
of making straight for the Alps. Livy says (xxi. 38) that many people
thought that Hannibal crossed the Pennine pass (the Great St Bernard)
as they fancied that the name “Pennine” was derived from “Punic.” He
also says that Cœlius thought that Hannibal had crossed the “Cremonis
jugum,” and he assumes that this must be the Little St Bernard, as
he says that both these routes would have brought Hannibal into the
territory of the Libici, and Ptolemy (iii. 1. 30, 32) fixes Aosta and
Ivrea as the cities of the Salassi, and Vercelli and Lomello as the
cities of the Libici.

21. Livy (xxi. 38) rejects both the St Bernard routes as bringing
Hannibal down into the territory of the Libici, whereas everyone
agreed (_quum inter omnes constet_) that Hannibal came down into the
territory of the Taurini. This, however, is not exactly what Polybios
says. He remarks in iii. 55. 9 that although the higher parts of the
Alps were bare and tree-less and covered with perpetual snow, there
were trees and shrubs and habitations half-way up the slopes (_hypo
mesên tên parôreian_) on either side; and he says in iii. 56. 3, 60.
2, 8 that Hannibal came down to the plains of the Po in the territory
of the Insubres and pitched camp just below the slopes (_hyp’ antên
tên parôreian_) and that he subsequently (_meta de tauta_) attacked
the Taurini who lived near the slopes (_pros têi parôreiai_) and were
hostile to the Insubres. Ptolemy (iii. 1. 29, 31) fixes Novara, Como,
Milan and Pavia as the cities of the Insubres, and Voghera, Tortona,
Turin and Bene as the cities of the Taurini. Bene is about 35 miles
south of Turin; and if it was a city of the Taurini, Hannibal would
have come down into their territory if he crossed the Alps by the Col
d’Argentière, or by the Col de la Traversette, just as much as if he
crossed by Mont Cenis or Mont Genèvre.

22. Of course the boundaries between the territories of the Taurini
and the Insubres may not have been the same in Hannibal’s time as in
Ptolemy’s time or Livy’s. He may have come down into territory which
then belonged to the Insubres but afterwards belonged to the Taurini,
and might be described as territory of the Taurini by writers of a
later age.

23. Strabo says (iv. 6. 12) that only four passes across the Alps were
mentioned by Polybios. The nearest to the Mediterranean went through
the territory of the Ligures; the next, “which Hannibal crossed,”
through the territory of the Taurini; the next, through the territory
of the Salassi; and the fourth, through the territory of the Rhæti.
But the important words, “which Hannibal crossed,” are not in all the
manuscripts of Strabo, and therefore are suspected as interpolations.
Polybios does not mention the Salassi or the Rhæti in the extant
portion of his work; but a pass through the territory of the Rhæti
might have brought Hannibal into the territory of the Insubres, as
Strabo (vii. 1. 5) says that these territories were conterminous, the
Rhæti having some territory on the south side of the Alps as well as
on the north side. The Rhætian pass might thus have been the Simplon;
but it is incredible that Hannibal should have crossed a pass so far
eastward as the Simplon or even the Great St Bernard.

24. Varro is quoted by Servius (AD ÆNEIDEM, x. 13) as mentioning five
passes across the Alps: one alongside the sea, through the territory
of the Ligures; a second, which Hannibal crossed; a third, by which
Pompey went to Spain; a fourth, by which Hasdrubal came into Italy;
and a fifth in the Graian Alps--presumably the Little St Bernard: see
paragraph 58. This agrees with Strabo’s quotation from Polybios in
making Hannibal cross the next pass to the coast-road; and if it were
Varro’s own statement at first hand, it would have high authority. But
similar interpolations may be suspected here, as it makes Hannibal and
Hasdrubal cross different passes, whereas Livy (xxvii. 39) and Appian
(HANNIBAL, 52) agree in saying that Hasdrubal crossed the same pass
that Hannibal had crossed twelve years before.

25. Pompey crossed another pass. He wrote a letter to the Senate after
he had gone to Spain--the letter has been preserved by Sallust, and is
printed in most editions of his works--and in this letter Pompey says
that he has made a new road across the Alps, taking another and more
convenient route than Hannibal’s, _iter aliud atque Hannibal, nobis
opportunius_. In mentioning the making of this road Appian says (DE
BELLIS CIVILIBUS, i. 109) that it passed near the sources of the Rhone
and the Po, which were not far apart. Strabo (iv. 6. 5) calls them the
sources of two tributaries of the Rhone and the Po, namely, the Durance
and the Dora; and this is enough to show that Pompey’s pass was Mont
Genèvre.

26. This was in 76 B.C., therefore in Varro’s lifetime, but after
Polybios was dead, and a few years before Strabo and Livy were born. As
already mentioned in paragraph 5, Strabo says (iv. 1. 3) that the Roman
road from Spain crossed the Rhone at Tarascon and bifurcated there, one
branch going through Aix to Antibes on the Mediterranean coast, and the
other going through Cavaillon and along the Durance to “the beginning
of the ascent of the Alps,” 63 Roman miles from Tarascon, thence to
Embrun, 99 miles further on, and thence through the Briançon district
in 71 miles to Césanne, the first town in Italy. The road must thus
have crossed the Alps by Mont Genèvre, and presumably was Pompey’s.

27. Strabo here speaks of “the beginning of the ascent of the Alps”
as a definite point, and reckons distances from there along the Roman
road. Polybios (iii. 39. 9, 10) likewise treats “the ascent of the
Alps” as a definite point, and reckons distances from there in both
directions along Hannibal’s line of march. Up to that point he reckons
the distance along the river, iii. 39. 9; and he says that after
marching along the river, Hannibal “began the ascent of the Alps,” iii.
50. 1. As he makes no further mention of the river, the inference is
that Hannibal quitted the river at that point; and if Polybios put the
point where Strabo puts it, this would mean that Hannibal turned off up
the Verdon valley. In that case the actual “ascent” would not be on the
Roman road, but on an older track diverging from it at the sixty-third
milestone, the point which Strabo calls “the beginning of the ascent.”

28. If Hannibal went up the Verdon valley, he would be heading for a
pass between Pompey’s and the coast-road; and this is in conformity
with Varro’s statements. I imagine that the route would be from
Mirabeau to Castellane and Colmars, thence to Barcelonnette and across
the Col d’Argentière to Borgo San Dalmazzo near Cuneo. But the distance
would exceed the 150 Roman miles (1200 stades) which Polybios has
allotted to the march from the “ascent” to Italy. He computes it as 10
miles a day for 15 days, and there is no doubt about the 15 days, as
he sets them out in detail: see paragraph 3. But the usual average
could hardly be maintained in such wild country amongst hostile tribes,
and the distance really covered may have been much less.

29. Polybios (iii. 39. 9, 50. 1) puts the ascent 175 Roman miles (1400
stades) from the crossing of the Rhone, and says that the last 100 of
the 175 were marched in 10 days. The first 75 would answer to Strabo’s
63 from the crossing to the point he calls “the beginning of the
ascent,” the difference being that Strabo is reckoning along the Roman
road whereas Polybios would be reckoning along the river, and the Rhone
and Durance make a bend between Tarascon and Cavaillon. The other 100
in Polybios would answer to Strabo’s 99 to Embrun by the road along the
Durance from “the beginning of the ascent” near Mirabeau; and Polybios
would thus be speaking of some place near Embrun when he says that
Hannibal began the ascent after this march of 100 miles along the river.

30. Hannibal might have quitted the Durance at La Bréole, twelve miles
below Embrun, gone up the Ubaye valley to Barcelonnette and across the
Col d’Argentière to Borgo San Dalmazzo, a distance of about 80 Roman
miles; or he might have quitted the Durance at Mont Dauphin, ten miles
above Embrun, gone up the Guil valley to Abriès and across the Col de
la Traversette to Saluzzo, a distance of about 70 Roman miles. (The
Col de la Traversette is known also as the Col de Viso, and the Col
d’Argentière as the Col della Maddalena or Col de Larche.) As the Guil
is merely a mountain torrent, that route is not open to the objection
that Hannibal would still be marching “along the river”--an objection
that may be urged against the Ubaye and the Verdon routes. Also, by
going on past Embrun to Mont Dauphin, Hannibal would be entering the
territory of the Tricorii, as Livy says he did: see paragraph 39.

31. Polybios does not give the river’s name when he says that Hannibal
marched up along the river as far as the “ascent.” He often mentions
the Rhone, but does not give the name of any other river in those parts
except the Scôras, a tributary of the Rhone. There is no mention of a
river Scôras in any ancient author but Polybios; and the presumption is
that although the name was used in his time, it afterwards went out of
use. As the Saône had two names, Arar and Saucona, the Durance might
also have two names, Druentia and Scôras. This, of course, is merely a
conjecture; but it seems to meet the case.

       *       *       *       *       *

32. Apparently, Livy thought the Scôras was the Saône--see paragraph
17--in which case there is no question of Hannibal’s marching up any
other river than the Rhone. Livy, however, contradicts himself. He says
(xxi. 31) that instead of going straight from the confluence to the
Alps, Hannibal turned to the left (_ad lævam_) into the territory of
the Tricastini, skirted the territory of the Vocontii and entered the
territory of the Tricorii. Whatever their exact boundaries may have
been--see paragraph 39--these territories were east of the Rhone, north
of the Durance and south of the Isère. Consequently, Hannibal could not
have reached them by turning to the _left_, unless he was starting
from the confluence of the Durance and the Rhone. If he had been as
far north as the confluence of the Saône and the Rhone, or even of the
Isère and the Rhone, he must have turned to the _right_. This should
have struck the editors who tampered with the text of Livy and changed
the Saône to the Isère: they should have changed it to the Durance, or
else put “right” for “left.”

33. Livy very often contradicts himself, as he compiled his history out
of older histories and did not always take the trouble to reconcile
them. Polybios was his usual source for this part of his work, but he
quotes Cœlius on one point and Cincius on another, xxi. 38, and when he
quotes Polybios, he does not always quote him accurately.

34. Livy says (xxi. 31) that after getting across the Rhone, Hannibal
marched up the other bank towards the interior of Gaul, whereas
Polybios says (iii. 47. 1) that he marched eastward (_hôs epi tên heô_)
going along the river up-stream. (His phrase for “up-stream” here is
“away from the sea, towards the interior of Europe,” and in iii. 39.
9, speaking of the same march, his phrase is “towards the sources.”)
Livy has put Gaul for Europe, and omitted “eastward.” But if Hannibal
marched eastward here, he must have marched along the Durance, not the
Rhone, as the Durance here runs from east to west and the Rhone from
north to south. No doubt, Polybios says (iii. 47. 2, 3) that the Rhone
had its sources on the north side of the Alps, its sources facing west
(_pros tên hesperan_), and that its course was south-west (_pros tas
cheimerinas dyseis_) to the sea. And as a general statement, that is
true; but if he had imagined that the Rhone was running south-west
at the point where Hannibal crossed it, he surely would have said
that Hannibal marched north-east--he would not distinguish west and
south-west in one sentence and confound east and north-east in the next.

35. According to Polybios (iii. 49. 5, 8–13) Hannibal marched in four
days from the crossing of the Rhone to the so-called Island between
the Rhone and the Scôras, found a civil-war in progress there, joined
one faction in crushing the other, and obtained supplies from the
successful faction as the price of his support. He must have crossed
the Scôras and marched into the Island, as Polybios says “joined in
attacking and expelling”--_synepithemenos kai synekbalôn_--which
certainly implies that he did something more than make a demonstration
from the other bank. And if the crossing over was comprised in the four
days, the march may have been less than 40 Roman miles at 10 Roman
miles a day: see paragraph 3.

36. Suppose that Hannibal marched up from Tarascon, going first along
the Rhone and then along the Durance from the confluence of the two:
he would reach a point just opposite Cavaillon in 30 Roman miles. The
obvious route from Tarascon to Cavaillon is straight across country, on
the line of the Roman road; and in saying so emphatically that Hannibal
marched along the river (_para ton potamon_, iii. 47. 1) or close
along the river (_par’ auton ton potamon_, iii. 39. 9) Polybios may
be saying it to negative the notion of his marching straight across.
Strabo mentions (iv. 1. 3) that Cavaillon was on the Roman road from
Tarascon to the Alps; and as it was on the north bank of the Durance,
people coming from Tarascon must have crossed. He elsewhere (iv. 1. 11)
mentions the ferry (_porthmeion_) at Cavaillon in speaking of people
going from Marseilles to places between the north bank of the Durance
and the Rhone. The ferry would not have been established there unless
that was the most convenient place for crossing; and when Polybios says
that Hannibal reached the Island, he presumably is speaking of the
usual point for crossing to it, not the point whence it could first be
seen. In fact, whilst Scipio was looking for Hannibal at the crossing
of the Rhone, Hannibal had reached the crossing of the Durance and
could retire further north if Scipio came on. Scipio, however, went
back.

37. Livy’s version (xxi. 31) is that the civil-war in the Island
was between two factions of the Allobriges who lived near there;
and that after finishing off their war, Hannibal did not take the
direct route to the Alps, but turned to the left into the territory
of the Tricastini, skirted the territory of the Vocontii, entered
the territory of the Tricorii, and met no check until he reached the
Durance, but had serious difficulties there. Polybios, however, says
nothing of any difficulties at the Durance, nor does he mention any of
these tribes except the Allobriges; and he does not mention this tribe
here, but only at a later stage of Hannibal’s march. He says (iii.
49. 13) that the successful faction in the Island sent a force with
Hannibal to act as rear-guard and keep off attacks by the Allobriges;
but if both the factions had been Allobriges, as Livy says, Polybios
would have spoken of attacks by the defeated faction only, not attacks
by the Allobriges.

38. Strabo says (iv. 1. 11) that in his time, which also was Livy’s
time, the Allobriges were merely husbandmen, though in former ages
they had armies of tens of thousands in the field. He mentions Vienne,
on the Rhone, as their chief town; but Dion Cassius (xlvi. 50) shows
clearly that they did not take Vienne till a century and a half after
Hannibal’s time--the city of Lyons was founded in 43 B.C. to house
the inhabitants of Vienne after the Allobriges had driven them out.
And other tribes may likewise have shifted their position between
Hannibal’s time and the time of Polybios or Ptolemy or Strabo.

39. In dealing with the part of Provence on the east side of the Rhone,
Ptolemy (ii. 10. 7, 8) fixes Vienne as the city of the Allobriges;
Valence as the city of the Segallauni; Orange, Avignon and Cavaillon as
cities of the Cavari; and Vaison as the city of the Vocontii; and he
places the Tricastini east of the Segallauni, north of the Vocontii and
south of the Allobriges. He does not mention the Tricorii, but Strabo
says (iv. 1. 11, 6. 5) that the Vocontii were “above” the Cavari, and
the Tricorii “above” the Vocontii. The Tricorii would thus be east or
north-east of Embrun, as he states (iv. 1. 3) that the territory of the
Vocontii extended along the Durance up to Embrun.

40. Strabo says here (iv. 1. 3) that the Roman road from Tarascon to
the Alps entered the territory of the Vocontii at “the beginning of
the ascent,” 63 Roman miles from Tarascon and therefore near Mirabeau,
and quitted it again at Embrun, 99 miles further on. And as he says
here that the road ran along the Durance, and elsewhere (iv. 1. 11, cf.
6. 3, 4) treats the Durance as the frontier of the Salyes, the road
might be described as running along the extreme edge of the territory
of the Vocontii--_per extremam oram Vocontiorum agri_--which is the
phrase employed by Livy (xxi. 31) for Hannibal’s line of march. The
distances, the 63 and 99 miles, agree with what Polybios says of
Hannibal’s march--see paragraph 29--and the digression would not be
included in the distances he gives as marched “along the river,” iii.
39. 9, 50. 1. It would thus appear that after Hannibal had turned to
the left into the territory of the Tricastini, he came back on to the
line of what was afterwards the Roman road, and followed it from a
point near Mirabeau to some point near Embrun.

41. Hannibal must have reached the Island the day after Scipio reached
the crossing of the Rhone, as Polybios says (iii. 49. 1, 5) that
Hannibal was four days on the march and had started from the crossing
three days before Scipio got there. Polybios also says (iii. 49. 3,
4) that Scipio went back as fast as he came, re-embarked his forces
and sailed off. Thus, by about the fifth day after Hannibal reached
the Island, there was nothing to prevent his returning to the direct
route to the Alps, supposing that he had quitted it in order to avoid
a battle with the Romans. But this deviation, into the territory of
the Tricastini, may really have been part of Hannibal’s movements in
the civil-war in the Island, for Polybios says (iii. 49. 10) that
Hannibal not only joined one faction in attacking the other, but joined
in driving it out. As a matter of fact, Livy (xxi. 31) does not exactly
say that Hannibal entered the territory of the Tricastini: he merely
says _in Tricastinos_ and afterwards says _in Tricorios_, whereas in
the intervening words, already quoted, he speaks of the “territory” of
the Vocontii; and the difference may be more than merely verbal.

42. Supposing that the Vocontii had the same boundaries in Hannibal’s
time as in Strabo’s time and Livy’s, Hannibal would thus have quitted
their territory at Embrun and therefore crossed the Durance higher up.
Livy (xxi. 31) mentions that the Durance happened to be swollen by
rains; and when in flood, it may be difficult to cross, even in that
early portion of its course. But when he says that “of all the rivers
of Gaul” it was far the most difficult to cross, he must be thinking of
the river a long way further down, nearer to its confluence with the
Rhone.

       *       *       *       *       *

43. In the next part of his narrative (xxi. 32–35) Livy says exactly
what Polybios says (iii. 50–53) though he says it more rhetorically;
but where Polybios (iii. 50. 1) merely says “the river,” Livy (xxi. 32)
says “the Durance.”

44. On quitting the river and beginning the ascent, Hannibal proceeded
very cautiously, as he suspected that the Allobriges and other natives
would attack him. On the first day he soon halted, and sent his
guides out for intelligence: on the second day he merely moved into
position for a night attack, and had no fighting till the third day,
when he was going through a gorge. He had occupied the summits on the
previous night while the natives were off guard; but the natives made
their way along the slopes and stampeded the cavalry-horses and the
baggage-animals--the natives were too much frightened of the elephants
to go anywhere near them. As the track was not only steep and narrow
but ran along a cliff, many of the animals were pushed over and fell
down the cliff; and the stampede got worse still when Hannibal charged
down from the summits to drive the natives off. He killed most of the
Allobriges, and then took the town that served them as a base; and
he remained there for a day, that is, the fourth day. He made fair
progress on the next three days, but on the fourth day (that is the
eighth day of the march) he was attacked again while going through a
gorge. The natives were on the higher ground, and rolled rocks down or
came down the slopes themselves and threw stones by hand, causing a
stampede again with heavy loss of animals and men. Hannibal himself got
through with the advance-guard, but the remainder of the army spent the
whole night in getting through. The next day (the ninth) he reached the
summit of the pass.

45. There is next to nothing in all this to indicate the route. As for
the Allobriges whom Polybios (iii. 51. 9) mentions in the fight at the
first gorge, they certainly were not the population of the district, as
he says (iii. 49. 13–50. 3) they had been following Hannibal’s army for
a hundred miles or more, not daring to attack it till it was entangled
in hill-country where its cavalry could not act. Narrow gorges can be
found on any Alpine route, and also rocks such as Polybios describes.
He says (iii. 53. 5) that Hannibal halted on the eighth night at a
defensible white rock, _ti leukopetron ochyron_. But “white rock” means
no more than “bare rock,” for he says elsewhere (x. 30. 5) that the
white rocks themselves could be climbed up by active men; and, clearly,
the colour of the rock would make no difference in the climb. There is,
however, a rock that is not only bare but white, the Roche Blanche,
on the Little St Bernard, another (near St Michel) on the Mont Cenis,
and others on other passes, all identified as Hannibal’s; but Polybios
(iii. 53. 4, 5) places the rock at the far end of a gorge into which
Hannibal was led by the treachery of his guides. Thus, unless the rock
was at the point where he regained the proper route, it will not be
found on the main road of any pass at all; nor will the gorge be found
on the main road of any pass, as it was on a deviation. Yet people
have been identifying gorges on the main roads of the different passes
as the very gorge that Hannibal passed through by deviating from the
proper route.

46. Polybios (iii. 53. 5, 6) remarks, as something quite unusual,
that Hannibal was separated from a large part of his force on the
eighth night of the march. If the whole force was brought together on
the other nights, the rate of marching would be very slow. Polybios
(iii. 56. 4) says that, in spite of heavy losses in the Alps, Hannibal
arrived in Italy with 20,000 infantry and 6,000 cavalry; and such
a force, with elephants and baggage-train, would form a column of
enormous length when marching along a narrow track. The head could not
advance beyond a point which the rear could reach on the same day; and
the distance would be much less than the average march--see paragraph
3--which Polybios reckons as 10 Roman miles a day.

47. It is about forty Roman miles from the Durance at Mont Dauphin to
the summit of the Col de la Traversette, and also about forty from the
Durance at La Bréole to the summit of the Col d’Argentière. Hannibal,
however, deviated from whatever route he meant to take. Polybios says
(iii. 52. 3–8) that Hannibal was led into a dangerous gorge by the
treachery of some guides he had engaged two days before, their object
being to draw him into a position where he could be attacked on every
side from higher ground. (Polybios has not made it clear why these
guides were engaged: he states in iii. 44. 5, 7, 48. 11 that guides
had come over from Italy to meet Hannibal at the crossing of the
Rhone--perhaps they were all killed at the first gorge.) Livy (xxi. 35)
suggests that instead of following the guides, Hannibal took a line of
his own as soon as he lost confidence in them, and thus went astray
into impassable places, _per invia pleraque et errores_. His actual
march must have been a good deal longer than his intended route.

       *       *       *       *       *

48. According to Polybios (iii. 54. 1–3) Hannibal made a speech at the
summit of the pass, telling the soldiers that the worst part of their
march was done; and he not only pointed to the plain of the Po spread
out before them, but indicated the position (_topos_) of Rome itself.
As he was a good 300 miles from Rome, he could not have managed this
unless he used a map. Herodotos says (v. 49. 1, 5) that Aristagoras
used a map to show the route, when he was trying to induce the Spartans
to march through Asia Minor in 500 B.C.; and Hannibal may likewise have
used a map in 218 B.C., when maps were commoner. No doubt, a map could
not be seen except by men who were close by, but a speech could not be
heard by men who were far off; and I conceive that when Hannibal (or
any other general) addressed an army of 20,000 or 30,000 men, he relied
on those who heard him to convey the substance of his speech to those
who could not hear. The more important officers would be standing near
the general, and they would see the map and tell the others about it.

49. He must at any rate have had a good view of the plain from the
summit of the pass he crossed--else his speech would be absurd--and
there are (I believe) only two passes with summits commanding such a
view. In the old ALPINE GUIDE, pt. 1, p. 25, ed. 1863, Ball describes
the Col de la Traversette. “To those who approach from the side of
France, the view suddenly unfolded at the summit, extending (in clear
weather) across the entire plain of Piedmont as far as Milan, is
extremely striking.” On p. 55 he endorses Bonney’s description of the
Cenis passes. “Between the plateau of the Little Mont Cenis and La
Grande Croix [on the Great Mont Cenis] a ridge can be gained by a few
minutes’ walk, whence is seen the country to the east of the Po, and
the south of the Tanaro, as far as the Apennines.” He says nothing
(p. 57) of any view from the Col du Clapier, just south of the Cenis
passes though north of the Cenis tunnel; but a similar view can be
obtained in a few minutes’ walk from there.--Polybios (iii. 54. 3,
4) says that Hannibal made his speech about the view while the army
was encamped upon the summit of the pass, but Livy (xxi. 35) puts the
speech the following day, immediately on starting on the downward
march; and he says that Hannibal halted the men at an eminence (_in
promontorio quodam_) commanding that great view, and made his speech
there. The word _promontorium_ suggests a point of view a little way
off the road.

50. Several of the passes have a plateau at the top; and Hannibal
may have gone over one of these, as Polybios (iii. 53. 9) and Livy
(xxi. 35) say that he encamped at the top, and the plateau would be
a suitable place for camping. But they say nothing about a plateau,
only saying that he encamped to rest the men who had arrived, and wait
for the arrival of the others. And as that is all they say, a plateau
is not really so essential as a view for determining which pass he
crossed. In fact, if a plateau was essential for his camping, he must
have found a plateau every night all through his march.

51. On the first day of his march down from the summit, he came to a
bad place where a landslip had destroyed the track for a distance of
about 300 yards, and he had to encamp there, as the baggage-animals and
elephants could not get past. One day’s repairs made the track passable
for the baggage-animals, and these and the cavalry-horses were sent on
ahead and turned out to graze on the pastures down below. But three
days’ repairs were needed to make the track passable for the elephants,
who meanwhile nearly died for want of food.--That is the substance of
what Polybios says, iii. 54. 4–7, 55. 6–8, and Livy follows him.

52. The complete skeleton of an elephant was found on the Little
St Bernard two centuries ago. It is mentioned by Saint-Simon in
the preface to his HISTOIRE DE LA GUERRE DES ALPES. (This was the
campaign of 1744, in which he himself took part, and his book came
out in 1770.) He says, “On s’est encore plus attaché de nos jours à
soutenir qu’Annibal a dû passer par le Petit St Bernard depuis qu’on
assure qu’on a trouvé dans cette montagne tous les ossemens d’un
éléphant ... dans un pays qu’on appelle dans plusieurs cartes La
Grande Route des Romains.” But Hannibal was not the only person who
used elephants. For instance, Suetonius mentions (NERO, 2) that Nero’s
great-great-great-grandfather went riding about Provence on an elephant
when he was there in 121 B.C.

53. The landslip that stopped the animals, did not stop the men: the
infantry went on and reached the plain in three days’ march from there.
Polybios reckons (iii. 53. 9, 54. 4, 55. 6, 56. 1) that Hannibal
reached the summit on the ninth day, camped there for two days, that
is, the tenth and eleventh, came to the landslip the next day, that is
the twelfth, and reached the plain on the third day from there, that
is, the fifteenth day: which agrees with his statement (iii. 56. 3)
that Hannibal took fifteen days to cross the Alps. The cavalry were
left behind to repair the track for the elephants, Polybios saying
(iii. 55. 8) that it was repaired by the Numidians, which is his usual
name for Carthaginian cavalry.

54. A landslip might occur on any pass, and almost every pass has
places where the track is steep and narrow and running along a cliff,
just as Polybios (iii. 54. 5–7) describes the track here. But there
are exceptionally bad places just below the summits of the Col du
Clapier and of the Col de la Traversette--the Clapier is also known
as l’Escalier, the descent being as steep as a staircase for the
first 4000 feet, and the Traversette takes its name from a tunnel
built in 1480 to avoid a precipitous bit near the top. And both these
summits command a wide view of the plain. From each of these two
summits the distance to the plain is about 30 English (or 33 Roman)
miles--measuring to Avigliana in the one case and to Saluzzo in the
other--and this would fully occupy four days, as there was a landslip
to be passed and in the earlier part of the descent there was the snow.
Polybios says (iii. 54. 5, 55. 1–5) that the new autumn snow was lying
loose on the old winter snow which now was frozen hard; and men and
animals slipped and fell, when they trod through the new snow on to the
icy surface of the old.

       *       *       *       *       *

55. From the summits of the other passes the distance to the plain
is about 40 English miles for the Argentière, measuring to Borgo San
Dalmazzo; about 45 for the Genèvre, to Avigliana; about 55 for the
Simplon, to Arona; about 60 for the Great St Bernard, to Ivrea; and
about 75 for the Little St Bernard, also to Ivrea. These 75 miles (more
than 80 Roman miles) would not be marched in the four days; and even if
the 55 or 60 could be marched in that time, there would be a difficulty
about the total distance marched. Polybios makes it 2600 stades from
the crossing of the Rhone to Italy, and he reckons 8 stades to the
mile, thus arriving at a total of 325 Roman miles, or 300 English:
see paragraphs 2, 3. Subtracting the 55 or 60, this leaves only 240
or 245 English miles from the crossing of the Rhone to the summits of
the Great St Bernard and the Simplon, or roughly 100 and 150 miles too
little. And to reach either of those passes, Hannibal would have to
march along the lake of Geneva from one end to the other, a distance
of 45 miles. Polybios says repeatedly (iii. 39. 9, 47. 1, 50. 1) that
Hannibal marched along a river, but says nothing of his marching along
a lake.

56. According to Livy, xxi. 38, most people thought (_vulgo credere_)
that Hannibal had crossed the Great St Bernard. But this was not
unreasonable if they thought that he was coming from Lyons, as Livy and
Silius say: see paragraph 14. And if Polybios had not specified the
distances, it might be argued that the tributary which he calls the
Scôras really was the Saucona, or Saône; and that when he speaks of
Hannibal’s marching along a river, he means the Rhone all through. But
if Hannibal had got as far as that, he surely would have crossed the
Simplon rather than the Great St Bernard, as the Simplon would bring
him down into the territory of the Insubres, his allies against Rome.

57. Livy rejects the Little St Bernard as well as the Great on the
ground that it would likewise bring Hannibal down into the territory of
the Libici; and it cannot be the pass of which Polybios speaks, as the
summit has no view towards the plain, and is too far away for Hannibal
to reach the plain in four days’ march from there. But Livy (xxi.
38) quotes Cœlius as saying that Hannibal went that way. Cœlius was
a contemporary of Polybios, though perhaps a younger man; and Cicero
remarks (DE DIVINATIONE, i. 24) that Cœlius copied from the writings of
Silenos, a Greek who was with Hannibal. That being so, Cœlius should
be as trustworthy as Polybios himself, yet contradicts him here. Livy,
however, may be quoting Cœlius quite correctly as saying that Hannibal
crossed the Alps _per Cremonis jugum_--an expression that does not
occur elsewhere--but may be wrong in thinking that Cœlius thereby meant
the Little St Bernard. He may be making a mistake that Strabo made.
There were two rivers called Duria in that part of Italy--Pliny, iii.
16 (20), 118, _Durias duas_--now distinguished as the Dora Riparia,
which rises on the Mont Genèvre pass and joins the Po near Turin, and
the Dora Baltea, which rises on the Little St Bernard pass, and joins
the Po five-and-twenty miles below Turin. Strabo (iv. 6. 5) makes these
two rivers into one, with the source of the Dora Riparia and the course
of the Dora Baltea. Livy may have made the same mistake and fancied
that Hannibal would go down the Dora Baltea into the territory of the
Libici, when Cœlius really meant the pass at the source of the Dora
Riparia.

58. There is also an ambiguity in the statement of Nepos (HANNIBAL,
3) that Hannibal crossed the Graian Alps. This normally would mean
crossing by the Little St Bernard; but it might also mean crossing by
the Mont Genèvre, as Ptolemy (iii. i. 35, 36) makes the Graian Alps
include Briançon and Embrun. Tacitus (HISTORIÆ, ii. 66) speaks of a
legion marching from Turin across the Graian Alps, clearly meaning the
Genèvre or Cenis passes, as the Little St Bernard is not accessible
from Turin.

59. Servius quotes Varro as mentioning five passes through the Alps,
the coast-road, Hannibal’s road, Pompey’s road, Hasdrubal’s road, and
the road through the Graian Alps; thus making Hasdrubal and Hannibal
cross different passes, though other writers make them cross the same
pass: see paragraph 62. Thus, if Servius quotes correctly, Varro
seems to have assigned the Cenis route to Hasdrubal. This route, or
the St Bernard routes, would suit an army coming from Lyons; and
Hasdrubal most probably came from that direction. According to Appian
(HISPANIA, 28) Hasdrubal came round the north-west corner of the
Pyrenees--Hannibal came round the south-east corner and marched along
the coast: see Polybios, iii. 39. 7, 8, 41. 7--and Hasdrubal must have
kept a long way from the coast, as Livy (xxvii. 39) speaks of his
meeting the Arverni, whose territory answered roughly to Auvergne.

60. Possibly, and I think probably, some of the ancients confused the
routes of these two Carthaginian armies, and thus made Hannibal go
to Lyons when in reality it was only Hasdrubal who went there. And
such confusion might easily arise, as Hannibal’s march was celebrated,
whilst Hasdrubal’s was forgotten or ignored: which is not surprising,
as his march had no results. It was Trasimene and Cannæ and their other
disasters that made the Romans remember Hannibal’s march so well,
whereas they might nearly have forgotten it, if he had been defeated
and killed at the Trebia, as Hasdrubal was at the Metaurus, immediately
on entering Italy.

61. In speaking of Hasdrubal’s march, Livy merely says (xxvii. 39)
that after meeting the Arverni, he met other Gallic tribes and Alpine
tribes, and crossed the pass that Hannibal had opened up. If he met
the Arverni in Auvergne, he might take some such route as Livy (xxi.
31) has assigned to Hannibal, first meeting the Allobriges, then the
Tricastini, the Vocontii and the Tricorii, and then crossing the
Durance on his way to the pass; and Livy may have had this route in
mind when he was writing of Hannibal, though he excludes it by his
statement that Hannibal turned to the _left_ to reach the territory of
the Tricastini.

62. Livy says most distinctly that Hasdrubal used the pass which
Hannibal had opened up, xxvii. 39, _per munita pleraque transitu
fratris, quæ antea invia fuerant_. Appian (HANNIBAL, 52) says the
same thing in Greek, _hôdopoiêmena proteron hypo Annibou_. Thus, if
Hasdrubal went over the Little St Bernard or Mont Cenis, Hannibal must
have gone that way, and Livy must be wrong in saying that he crossed
the Durance in the territory of the Tricorii, that is, above Embrun--he
would not cross it there, except in going to passes further south
than Mont Genèvre, as the river rises on that pass. On the other hand,
if Hannibal crossed it there, and Hasdrubal went over the Little St
Bernard or Mont Cenis, Livy (and Appian also) must be wrong in saying
that they both used the same pass; and there is Varro’s statement
(though only at second hand) that they used different passes: see
paragraph 24.

63. The northern passes would best suit Hasdrubal, coming from the Bay
of Biscay and Auvergne, whereas the southern passes would be better for
Hannibal, coming from the Mediterranean coast. Hasdrubal might gain
by going to a southern pass that Hannibal had opened up, but Hannibal
would gain nothing by going to a northern pass. And if he went up the
Rhone to Lyons, as Livy and Silius say, there is no sense in what
Polybios says about the distance marched. To reach Lyons he would have
to average 25 Roman miles a day instead of his usual 10 miles--see
paragraph 12--and he would then have to march 100 Roman miles along the
Rhone to the ascent of the Alps--see paragraph 29--and this 100 miles
would bring him to Geneva, whereas the distance is only 50 Roman miles
to Yenne, where he presumably would quit the Rhone if he were making
for the Little St Bernard or Mont Cenis.

64. There is no difficulty about the distance if the river was the
Durance, as Livy states explicitly in xxi. 32 and certainly implies in
xxi. 31. Excepting his mention of the Saône in xxi. 31, his statements
are consistent with the statements of Polybios as to Hannibal’s
route--he only supplements Polybios by quoting some one else about the
Vocontii and other tribes and the crossing of the Durance. No doubt,
Polybios says nothing of Hannibal’s crossing any river but the Rhone;
but he implies that Hannibal crossed a tributary of it--see paragraph
35. If the tributary was the Durance, he must have crossed it a second
time a good deal further up, if Livy’s statement is correct. Polybios
might ignore a second crossing just as he ignores the first, but Livy
represents this second crossing as an operation of great difficulty,
the river being then swollen by rain. His description, however, seems
inapplicable to the Durance so far up--see paragraph 42--and I suspect
that he was copying a description of the Durance much further down its
course.

       *       *       *       *       *

65. To recapitulate all this. The main difficulty is that Polybios
speaks of a tributary of the Rhone as the Scôras, and no other ancient
author speaks of any river of that name. The river Saône had two names,
Saucona and Arar--see paragraph 17--and I conjecture that the river
Durance also had two names, Druentia and Scôras, and that the name of
Scôras was current when Polybios wrote, but obsolete when Livy wrote.
My reasons are:--

While Polybios (iii. 50. 1) merely says “the river,” Livy (xxi. 32)
says “the Durance”; and in this part of his narrative he is copying
Polybios almost word for word.

Polybios gives distances for Hannibal’s march along the river which
are curiously like the distances that Strabo gives for the Roman road
along the Durance from Tarascon to the Alps: see paragraph 29.

Polybios says that Hannibal marched eastward from the crossing of the
Rhone, following the river up-stream. As the crossing was at Tarascon
(or close by) an eastward march would carry him along the Durance,
which here runs from east to west: see paragraph 34.

Livy says that on leaving the so-called Island at the confluence of
the tributary and the Rhone, Hannibal turned to the _left_ into the
territory of the Tricastini instead of going straight on to the Alps;
and Hannibal could not have done this unless he was on the route along
the Durance to the Alps. He would turn to the _right_ to reach their
territory if he were going along the Isère or any other river further
north; see paragraph 32.

66. On the other hand, there is Livy’s statement that the tributary
river was the Saône, contradicting his own statement about Hannibal’s
turning to the left, and also contradicting the statements of Polybios
about the length of Hannibal’s march. But why should Livy contradict
himself and also contradict Polybios, whom he usually follows word for
word? My suggestion is that he took “Scôras” in Polybios for Saucona
or a variant of that name, and called the tributary the Saône without
considering what that implied. The error would not be striking, if
Hasdrubal went that way, as people would confuse his route with
Hannibal’s.

67. There is really nothing in the argument that Hannibal would not
venture to march along the Durance as the Romans might attack him on
the flank. In the first place, there were no Romans there. As soon
as Scipio found he was too late to defend the crossing of the Rhone,
he went straight back to the coast, re-embarked his army, and sailed
off: he was not ashore for more than about a week--see paragraph 41.
In the second place, Hannibal had no reason to fear the Romans. He was
in superior force, and could have crushed Scipio then as easily as he
crushed him at the Trebia two months later on, but he did not want to
fight just then, as he saw that victories in Provence would not produce
the same effect at Rome as victories in Italy itself: see paragraph 13.

68. Supposing that Hannibal followed the Durance to some point near
Embrun, one wonders why he did not follow it to its source at Mont
Genèvre and cross that easy pass. But the summit of the pass is less
than ten miles from the river, and Polybios says that Hannibal took
nine days in going from the river to the summit--Livy says nine days
from the Durance. Nine days, I think, are not inconsistent with the
distance from the Durance at Mont Dauphin to the Col de la Traversette,
or from the Durance at La Bréole to the Col d’Argentière; see
paragraphs 46, 47. I think Mont Dauphin the more likely point, partly
because Hannibal would have to go through the territory of the Tricorii
(as Livy says he did) in order to reach it, but not to reach La Bréole;
and partly because there is only a mountain torrent (the Guil) coming
down the valley there, but a river (the Ubaye) coming down the valley
at La Bréole, and Polybios might regard a march along the Ubaye as a
march along “the river.”

69. Whatever pass it was that Hannibal crossed, the summit must have
commanded a wide view of the plain of the Po, else he would not
have made his speech there. There is such a view from the Col de la
Traversette, but not from the summit of the Mont Genèvre pass or from
the Col d’Argentière; or in fact from any other pass southward of the
Little Mont Cenis and the adjacent Col du Clapier. And those two passes
are unlikely, as Hannibal had no motive for going so far north.

70. The points that I have mentioned hitherto are only details of the
route, and are subordinate to one main point affecting the entire
route. The autumn was advancing; and it was a matter of life or death
for Hannibal to complete his march before the snows had made the Alps
impassable. He would therefore take the very shortest route with no
more digression than was really needed for getting supplies or avoiding
Scipio’s army during the week it was ashore. And the shortest routes
are by the Col de la Traversette and the Col d’Argentière.

       *       *       *       *       *

71. On questions of this sort no certainty can be attained, but I think
the balance of probability inclines to some such route as I suggest
for Hannibal. The earliest Roman road from Spain to Italy crossed the
Rhone at Tarascon and crossed the Durance at (or near) Cavaillon, and
then followed the Durance to its source on the pass of Mont Genèvre.
I think that Hannibal took this route from Spain as far as Tarascon,
but instead of going straight across country (as the road did) from
Tarascon to Cavaillon, he followed the Rhone to its confluence with the
Durance and then followed the Durance to Cavaillon or somewhere near
there. Then he went out of his way, going a little to the north, either
to avoid Scipio or obtain supplies; but he returned to the Durance
somewhere near Mirabeau and followed it as far as Mont Dauphin--but not
as far as Mont Genèvre, for that was Pompey’s pass, and Pompey’s was a
different pass from Hannibal’s. Leaving the Durance at Mont Dauphin, he
went up the valley of the Guil, seized the gorge below the Château de
Queyras on the second night and camped near Ville Vieille on the third
and fourth nights; camped near Aiguilles on the fifth night, near La
Monta on the sixth and somewhere above Les Chalps on the seventh; went
astray into a gorge next day, but reached the summit the day after, and
camped there on the ninth, tenth and eleventh nights. On beginning the
descent he was stopped by a landslip, and camped there on the twelfth
night; camped near Crissolo on the thirteenth night, near Paesana on
the fourteenth and near Saluzzo on the fifteenth, but without his
elephants, as the landslip stopped them for three days.

72. In speaking of the battle of Raphia, the year after Hannibal’s
passage of the Alps, Polybios says (v. 84. 5, 6) that Antiochos had
Indian elephants and Ptolemy had African elephants, and that the
African gave way before the Indian, being no match for it in size or
strength. African elephants might be expected in an army coming from
Africa, yet Polybios speaks of the mahouts as Indians (i. 40. 15, iii.
46. 7, xi. 1. 12) not only in Hannibal’s army but in other armies
coming from there. The elephants, however, are clearly African (as
shown by their large ears) on the coins the Carthaginians struck at
Cartagena while they were in possession of Spain. The elephant here,
and the other at the beginning, are taken from two of these coins which
are nearly contemporary with Hannibal.

[Illustration]


CAMBRIDGE: PRINTED BY W. LEWIS AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS




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Transcriber’s note:

Punctuation, hyphenation, and spelling were made consistent when a
predominant preference was found in the original book; otherwise they
were not changed.

Simple typographical errors were corrected.

Extra blank lines between some sections are indicated by rows of five
spaced asterisks.

The first uncaptioned illustration is the Publisher’s logo; the two
other uncaptioned illustrations are elephants.