Livy

From the Foundation of the City

Book 21 Chapters 1-31

1 In this preface to a part of my history I may properly assert what many an historian has declared at the outset of his entire work, to wit, that the war which I am going to describe was the most memorable of all wars ever waged —the war, that is, which, under the leadership of Hannibal, the Carthaginians waged with the Roman People. 2 For neither have states or nations met in arms possessed of ampler resources, nor was their own might and power ever so great. Nor yet were they strangers to one another's modes of fighting, which the First Punic War had made them understand. And so variable were the fortunes of the war and so uncertain was its outcome that those who ultimately conquered had been nearer ruin. 3 The animosity, too, with which they fought was almost greater than their strength: the Romans were enraged that the conquered should be actually drawing sword upon their conquerors; the Phoenicians, because they believed that the conquered had been treated with domineering arrogance and greed.

4 It is said moreover that when Hannibal, then about nine years old, was childishly teasing his father Hamilcar to take him with him into Spain, his father, who had finished the African war and was sacrificing, before crossing over with his army, led the boy up to the altar and made him touch the offerings and bind himself with an oath that so soon as he should be able he would be the declared enemy of the Roman People. 5 The loss of Sicily and Sardinia was a continual torture to the proud spirit of Hamilcar. For he maintained that they had surrendered Sicily in premature despair, and that the Romans had wrongfully appropriated Sardinia — and even imposed an indemnity on them besides —in the midst of their African disturbances.

2 Tormented by these thoughts, he so bore himself in the African War, which followed hard upon the Roman peace and lasted for five years, and likewise afterwards, during the nine years he spent in Spain in extending the Punic empire, that it was plain to see that he meditated a more important war than the one he was engaged in, and that if his life had been prolonged, 2 the Phoenicians would have invaded Italy under the leadership of Hamilcar, as they did in fact under that of Hannibal.

3 Hamilcar's very timely death and the boyhood of Hannibal delayed the war. In the interval betwixt father and son, the supreme command devolved, for about eight years, on Hasdrubal. 4 It was his youthful beauty, they say, that won for him in the first instance the favour of Hamilcar, who subsequently selected him, no doubt for other, that is mental, qualifications, to be his son-in-law. As such —through the influence of the Barcine faction which was very strong with the soldiers and the common people —he was given the command, though the leading citizens had no liking for this step. 5 Relying more often on policy than force, Hasdrubal enlarged the sway of Carthage rather by setting up friendly relations with the petty kings and winning over new tribes through the goodwill of their leaders than by war and arms. 6 But he was not a whit more safe for being at peace. A certain barbarian slew him openly, to avenge his master, whom Hasdrubal had put to death. On being seized by the bystanders he expressed in his countenance the cheerfulness of one who had escaped, and even as he was being tortured, joy so got the upper hand of agony that he seemed actually to smile. 7 With this Hasdrubal, because of the marvelous skill which he had shown in tempting the native tribes to join his empire, the Roman People had renewed their covenant, with the stipulation that neither side should extend its dominion beyond the Ebro, while the Saguntines, situated between the empires of the two peoples, should be preserved in independence.

3 For Hasdrubal's successor there could be no question but that the choice originating with the soldiers —who immediately bore young Hannibal into the praetorium and with loud and universal acclamation hailed him general —would obtain the ratification of the senate. The approval of the commons followed. 2 The new commander had been summoned to Spain by Hasdrubal when a mere lad, and the matter had even been debated in the senate. The Barcine party were urging that Hannibal should become inured to warfare and succeed to the resources of his father, when Hanno, the leader of the other faction, addressed the House. 3 “There is reason,” said he, “in Hasdrubal's request, nevertheless I am opposed to granting it.” 4 When astonishment at a speech so inconsistent had attracted everybody's attention, he continued: “The youthful charms which Hasdrubal himself permitted Hannibal's father to enjoy he considers that he has the right to require again at the hands of the son. But that we should accustom our young men, by way of military training, to gratify the concupiscence of our generals is most unseemly. 5 Or do we fear lest Hamilcar's son may too late behold the inordinate powers and the regal pomp which his father has set up? that the son of the king who left our armies as a legacy to his son-in-law may find us too slow in accepting him for our master? 6 For my part, I think that the young man should be kept at home and taught to live in submission to the laws and the magistrates, upon an equal footing with the others, lest one day this small fire kindle a great conflagration.”

4 A few, and these included nearly all the best men, supported Hanno, but, as often happens, the larger party prevailed over the better. Hannibal was sent to Spain, where he was no sooner come than he won the favour of the entire army. 2 The old soldiers thought that Hamilcar was restored to them as he had been in his youth; they beheld the same lively expression and piercing eye, tile same cast of countenance and features. But he soon brought it to pass that his likeness to his father was the least consideration in gaining him support. 3 Never was the same nature more adaptable to things the most diverse —obedience and command. And so one could not readily have told whether he were dearer to the general or the army. 4 When any bold or difficult deed was to be done, there was no one whom Hasdrubal liked better to entrust with it, nor did any other leader inspire his men with greater confidence or daring. 5 To reckless courage in incurring dangers he united the greatest judgment when in the midst of them. No toil could exhaust his body or overcome his spirit. Of heat and cold he was equally tolerant. His consumption of meat and drink was determined by natural desire, not by pleasure. 6 His times of waking and sleeping were not marked off by day or night: 7 what time remained when his work was done he gave to sleep, which he did not court with a soft bed or stillness, but was seen repeatedly by many lying on the ground wrapped in a common soldier's cloak amongst the sentinels and out-guards. His dress was in no way superior to that of his fellows, but his arms and horses were conspicuous. 8 Both of horsemen and of foot-soldiers he was undoubtedly the first —foremost to enter battle, and last to leave it when the fighting had begun. 9 These admirable qualities of the man were equalled by his monstrous vices: his cruelty was inhuman, his perfidy worse than Punic; he had no regard for truth, and none for sanctity, no fear of the gods, no reverence for an oath, no religious scruple. 10 With this endowment of good and evil traits he served for the space of three years under Hasdrubal, omitting nothing that should be done or seen by one who was to become a great commander.

5 For the rest, from the day on which he was proclaimed commander-in-chief, as though Italy had been assigned to him for his field of operations 2 and he had been instructed to make war on Rome, he felt that no postponement was permissible, lest he too, like his father Hamilcar, and afterwards Hasdrubal, should be overtaken, while delaying, by some accident, and resolved upon attacking the Saguntines. 3 But since an attack on them must certainly provoke the Romans to hostile action, he marched first into the territory of the Olcades —a tribe living south of the Ebro, within the limits of the Carthaginians but not under their dominion —that he might appear not to have aimed at the Saguntines but to have been drawn into that war by a chain of events, as he conquered the neighbouring nations and annexed their territories. 4 Cartala, a wealthy town, the capital of that tribe, he stormed and sacked; and this so terrified the lesser towns that they submitted and agreed to an indemnity. The victorious army, enriched with spoil, was led back to New Carthage for the winter. 5 There, by a generous partition of the booty and the faithful discharge of all arrears of pay, he confirmed them all, both citizens and allies, in their allegiance to himself; and early in the spring pushed forward into the land of 6 the Vaccaei. Their cities, Hermandica and Arbocala, were taken by assault. Arbocala, thanks to the bravery and numbers of its inhabitants, held out for a long time. 7 The fugitives from Hermandica, uniting with the exiles of the 8 Olcades —the tribe which had been subdued in the previous summer —roused up the Carpetani, and falling upon Hannibal as he was returning from the Vaccaei, not far from the river Tagus, threw his column, encumbered as it was with booty, into 9 some disorder. Hannibal refrained from battle and encamped on the bank of the river. As soon as the enemy were settled for the night and silent, he crossed the river by a ford, and so laid out his rampart as to allow them room for crossing, resolving to attack them as they were passing over. 10 He ordered his cavalry to charge their column of foot when they saw that it had entered the stream, and posted the elephants, of which he had forty, along the bank. 11 The Carpetani, together with the contingents of the Olcades and Vaccaei, numbered a hundred thousand —an invincible array, had they been going to fight in a fair field. 12 And so, inspired by a native intrepidity, confiding in their multitude, and believing—since they supposed that their enemies had retreated out of fear—that victory was delayed but till they should have passed the river, they broke into a cheer, and, staying for no man's orders, rushed into the stream wherever it happened to be nearest. 13 From the other side a great body of cavalry was sent in against them. 14 The meeting in mid-channel was no equal conflict, for there the footmen were unsteady, and, scarce trusting to the ford, might even have been overthrown by unarmed riders, urging their horses forward at haphazard; while the horsemen, having their bodies and weapons free and horses that were steady even in the deep pools, could fight either at close quarters or long range. 15 A great part of them perished in the stream; some the eddying current carried over to their enemies, where they were trampled down by 16 the elephants. The rearmost, who could retreat to their own bank more safely, were gathering from the various directions in which they had fled, when, before they could recover from so great a panic, Hannibal entered the stream in a fighting column, and driving them in confusion from the bank, laid waste their fields, and in a few days' time received the surrender of the Carpetani also. 17 And now everything south of the Ebro, except Saguntum, was in the hands of the Carthaginians.

6 With the Saguntines there was as yet no war, but quarrels that might be a pretext for it were already being sown betwixt them and their neighbours, especially the Turdetani. 2 Now when the side of the Turdetani was espoused by the same man who had sowed the quarrel, and it was clearly seen that he was aiming not at arbitration but force, the Saguntines sent ambassadors to Rome, imploring help for a war that was now indubitably imminent.  3 The Roman consuls at that time were Publius Cornelius Scipio and Tiberius Sempronius Longus. After introducing the ambassadors into the senate, they had brought up the question of public policy, and the senators had voted to dispatch envoys to Spain, to examine into the affairs of their allies, to the end that, 4 if there appeared to be just cause, they might formally warn Hannibal to keep aloof from the Saguntines, the allies of the Roman People; after which they were to cross over into Africa, to Carthage, and present the complaint of Rome's allies. 5 This embassy had been voted but not yet sent off, when, sooner than all expectation, came the news that Saguntum was besieged. 6 The case was then referred anew to the senate. Some were for sending the consuls into Spain and Africa respectively and waging war by land and sea; others wanted to direct their whole force against Spain and Hannibal; 7 some there were who argued that so grave a quarrel should not be lightly entered on, and proposed to await the return of the envoys out of Spain. 8 This last opinion, which seemed the safest, carried the day, and the envoys, Publius Valerius Flaccus and Quintus Baebius Tamphilus, were sent off with the more dispatch. They were to go to Saguntum first, to Hannibal, and thence, if he would not cease hostilities, to Carthage, to demand the surrender of the general himself in satisfaction of the broken treaty.

7 While the Romans were thus planning and deliberating, the siege of Saguntum was already being pressed with the greatest vigour. 2 This city was much the wealthiest of those beyond the Ebro and was situated about a mile from the sea. Its inhabitants are said to have come originally from the island of Zacynthus, and to have included also a strain from the Ardeate Rutulians. 3 Be this as it may, they had attained quickly to their great prosperity, whether owing to the produce of the sea or the land, to the growth of their population, or to the integrity of their discipline, 4 which caused  them to keep faith with their allies even to their own undoing. 5 Crossing their borders with a hostile army Hannibal laid waste their country far and wide and advanced in three divisions against their city. There was an angle of the wall that gave on a valley more open and more level than the other ground about the town. 6 Against this he determined to bring up pent-houses, that under their cover the battering-rams might be brought into contact with the walls. 7 But though the ground at some distance from the wall was smooth enough for moving the pent-houses, the attempt succeeded very ill when it came to the final execution of it. There was a great overhanging tower, and the wall —as was natural in a suspected place —had been carried up to a greater height than elsewhere, and the pick of the fighting men having been stationed there, where the greatest danger threatened, offered a more strenuous resistance. 8 At first they drove the assailants off with missiles and left no spot safe for their pioneers; 9 afterwards not only did their javelins dart from wall and tower, but they even had the hardihood to sally out against the pickets and earthworks of their enemies, and in these rough-and-tumble fights hardly more Saguntines fell than Phoenicians. 10 But when Hannibal himself, who had somewhat incautiously ventured up under the wall, was severely wounded in the front of his thigh with a heavy javelin and sank to the ground, those about him fell into such confusion and dismay as almost to abandon their works and pent-houses.

8 For the next few days, while the general's hurt was healing, there was rather a blockade than an assault; but though during this interval there was rest from combat, yet was there no slackening in the preparation of engines and defences. 2 Accordingly the fighting broke out afresh more fiercely than before, and pent-houses began to be pushed forward and rams brought up at many points, though in some places the ground would hardly admit of them. 3 The Phoenician was lavishly equipped with men—he is credibly supposed to have had a hundred and fifty thousand under arms—4 but the townsmen, who, in order to guard and defend every quarter, had been divided into numerous companies, found their strength inadequate. 5 And so now the walls were being battered with rams and in many places had been severely shaken. One section, giving way continuously for some distance, had exposed the town: three towers in a row, together with the wall connecting them, had come down with a loud crash. 6 The Phoenicians believed that the town was taken with that breach, through which from either side men rushed to attack, as though the wall had protected both parties alike. 7 It was not at all like the mellays that commonly occur in sieges, where one side gets an opportunity, but regular battle lines had formed, as in an open field, between the ruins of the wall and the buildings of the city, which stood at some distance off. 8 On this side hope, on that despair inspired courage. The Phoenicians believed the city to be theirs, if they put forth a little effort. The Saguntines opposed their bodies to defend their city, denuded of its walls, nor would one of them draw back his foot lest he admit an enemy to the spot which he had vacated. 9 And the harder both sides fought and the more they crowded in together, the greater was the number of those wounded, for no missile fell without taking effect on shield or body. 10 The Saguntines had a javelin, called a phalarica, with a shaft of fir, which was round except at the end whence the iron projected; this part, four-sided as in the pilum, they wrapped with tow and smeared with pitch. 11 Now the iron was three feet long, that it might be able to go through both shield and body. But what chiefly made it terrible, even if it stuck fast in the shield and did not penetrate the body, was this, 12 that when it had been lighted at the middle and so hurled, the flames were fanned to a fiercer heat by its very motion, and it forced the soldier to let go his shield, and left him unprotected against the blows that followed.

9 When the outcome of the struggle had long been doubtful, and the Saguntines, because they were holding out beyond their hopes, had gained new courage, while the Phoenician, because he had not conquered, was as good as beaten; 2 suddenly the townspeople set up a shout and thrust forth their enemies amongst the ruins of the wall, and routing them out from thence, confused and frightened, drove them back at last in full flight to their camp.

In the meantime it was announced that ambassadors had come from Rome. 3 Hannibal sent men to the shore to meet them and say that it would not be safe for them to come to him through the armed bands of so many unruly tribes, and that he had no time for listening to embassies at so critical a juncture. It was clear that, if they were denied a hearing, they would at once proceed to Carthage. 4 He therefore dispatched couriers before them, with a letter for the leaders of the Barcine faction, so that they might prepare the minds of their adherents to prevent the opposing party from affording any satisfaction to the Roman People.

10 Accordingly, save for being admitted and allowed a hearing, this mission also was idle and of no effect. 2 Hanno stood alone in pleading for the treaty against the views of the senate. There was a deep hush while he spoke, by reason of his personal authority, but he was listened to without approval. He adjured the senators in the name of the gods, vouchers for treaties and their witnesses, to provoke not a Roman along with the Saguntine war. 3 He had advised them and forewarned them not to send the offspring of Hamilcar to the army; neither the man's ghost nor his progeny was at rest, nor ever, so long as any of the lineage and name of Barca should survive, would the treaty with the Romans rest untroubled. 4 “You have sent to your armies,” he went on, “as though heaping fuel on a fire, a youth who burns with lust for sovereign power and sees but one way to obtain it —if, by sowing seeds of war, he can raise up other wars and live girt round with arms and legions. 5 You have therefore fed these flames with which you are now ablaze. Your armies now invest Saguntum, which the treaty forbids them to approach: ere long the Roman legions will be investing Carthage, led by those very gods who helped them in the former war to avenge the broken treaty. 6 Is it your enemy you know not, or yourselves, or the fortunes of both peoples? When ambassadors came from allies on behalf of allies, your worthy general would not admit them to his camp, but thrust aside the law of nations; nevertheless these men, being driven from a place where even an enemy's envoys are admitted, have come to you. They seek amends in accordance with a treaty. That the state may be void of offence, they demand the author of the wrong, the man on whom they charge the guilt. 7 The more mildly they proceed, the more slowly they begin, the more obstinate, I fear, when they have begun, will be their rage. Set Eryx and the Aegatian islands before your eyes, and all that you suffered by land and sea for four and twenty years. 8 Nor was this boy your leader, but Hamilcar himself, the father, a second Mars, as his partisans will have it. But we could not keep our hands from Tarentum, that is, from Italy, as by treaty bound, even as now we cannot keep them from Saguntum. 9 Gods therefore vanquished men, and that which had been verbally disputed —which people of the twain had broken the treaty — the outcome of the war, like an impartial judge, decided, and to those who had the right granted the victory. 10 It is Carthage against which Hannibal is now bringing up his pent-houses and towers; it is the walls of Carthage he is battering with his rams. Saguntum's walls —may my prophecy prove false! — will fall upon our heads, and the war we have entered upon with the Saguntines we must carry on against the Romans. 11 'Shall we then surrender Hannibal?' someone will ask. I know that my influence is slight, because of my quarrel with his father; but I rejoiced when Hamilcar perished, for this reason, that were he living, we should now be at war with Rome; 12 and this young man, who, like a fury, now brandishes the torch of war, I loathe and abominate, and I hold, not only that he ought to be surrendered in expiation of the broken treaty, but that, if none demanded him, he ought to be deported to the farthest limits of land and sea —to be banished to a place whence neither name nor fame of his could reach us, nor he be able to vex the quiet of our state. 13 My opinion is this: we should send ambassadors at once to Rome, to give satisfaction to the senate; and others to announce to Hannibal that he must withdraw his army from Saguntum, and to hand over Hannibal himself to the Romans as the treaty requires; a third embassy I would send to make restitution to the Saguntines.”

11 When Hanno had concluded, not a single person found it necessary to oppose his arguments, so nearly unanimous was the senate in supporting Hannibal. They declared that Hanno had spoken more bitterly than Valerius Flaccus, the Roman envoy. 2 They then gave their answer to the envoys, to the effect that the war had been begun by the Saguntines, not by Hannibal, and that the Roman People would be doing wrong if they preferred the Saguntines to their very ancient alliance with the Carthaginians.

3 While the Romans were wasting time in dispatching embassies, Hannibal had allowed his soldiers, exhausted as they were with fighting and constructing works, to rest for a few days, after posting outguards to look to the pent-houses and other engines. Meanwhile he kindled their ardour, now by inciting them to rage against their enemies, again by holding out hopes of rewards. 4 But when he made a speech proclaiming that the spoils of the captured city should go to the soldiers, they were so excited, one and all, that if the signal had been given instantly, it seemed as if no force could have withstood them. 5 The Saguntines, though they had had a rest from fighting, neither attacking nor being attacked for several days, had laboured incessantly, both day and night, to replace the wall where its collapse had exposed the town.

The assault was now resumed, with far greater fury than before, and it was hard for the inhabitants to know, when shouts and cries were resounding on every hand, to what point they should first, or preferably, bring up supports. 6 Hannibal was present in person to urge on his men, where they were pushing up a movable tower that surpassed in height all the defences of the city. 7 As soon as it had been brought up, and the catapults and ballistae distributed through all its platforms had stripped the ramparts of defenders, Hannibal, believing that he now had his opportunity, sent about five hundred Africans with pickaxes to undermine the wall. This was no hard task, for the rubble had not been solidified with mortar, but filled in with mud, after an ancient mode of building. 8 It therefore fell for wider stretches than were actually hacked away, and through the breaches bands of armed men passed into the city. 9 They even seized an elevation, and setting up catapults and ballistae there, built a wall around it, so as to have within the town itself a stronghold that commanded it like a citadel. 10 The Saguntines too built a wall within the old one, to protect that part of the city that was not yet taken. On both sides the soldiers worked and fought with the utmost energy; but the Saguntines, contracting their defences, were bringing their city day by day within a smaller compass. 11 At the same time there was an increasing scarcity of everything, on account of the long blockade; and the prospect of help from without was growing less, 12 since the Romans, their only hope, were so far away, and all the country round about was in the possession of their enemies. 13 Yet their drooping spirits were revived for a little while by the sudden departure of Hannibal for the territories of the Oretani and the Carpetani. These two nations, exasperated by a rigorous conscription, had seized the recruiting officers and thereby given rise to fears of a revolt, but were caught unprepared by Hannibal's celerity, and laid down the arms they had taken up.

12 But the siege of Saguntum did not flag. Maharbal, the son of Himilco, whom Hannibal had left in charge, so bestirred himself that the absence of the general was felt neither by his countrymen nor by the enemy. 2 He fought a number of successful skirmishes, and with three battering-rams laid low a considerable portion of the wall, and on Hannibal's return, showed him the place all covered with the newly fallen ruins. 3 And so the troops were led at once against the citadel itself, and a fierce battle began, in which many on both sides were killed and a part of the citadel was taken.

An all but hopeless attempt to arrange a peace was then made by two men, Alco, a Saguntine, and a Spaniard named Alorcus. 4 Alco, thinking that something might be effected by entreaties, went over to Hannibal in the night, without the knowledge of the Sanguntines. But finding that tears were of no avail and that the terms obtainable were such as a wrathful conqueror would impose, he changed from pleader to deserter, and remained with the enemy, declaring that anybody who should treat for peace on those conditions would be put to death. 5 The conditions were as follows: they must make restitution to the Turdetani, and, delivering up all their gold and silver, quit their city with a single garment each and take up their abode where the Phoenician should direct them. 6 When Alco asserted that the Saguntines would not accept such terms, Alorcus, affirming that where all else is conquered the heart is conquered too, undertook the negotiation of a peace. He was at that time a soldier in the service of Hannibal, but was officially recognized by the Saguntines as their friend and guest. 7 Openly surrendering his weapon to the sentries, he passed the enemy's lines, and was conducted—by his own command —before the Saguntine general. 8 A crowd of all descriptions immediately flocked together there; but all save the senators were sent away, and Alorcus, being permitted to address them, spoke as follows:

13 “If Alco, your own fellow citizen, after going to Hannibal to sue for peace, had brought back to you the terms of peace which Hannibal offers, this journey of mine would have been superfluous, for I should have come to you neither as Hannibal's spokesman nor yet as a deserter. 2 But seeing that, whether through your fault or his own, he has stopped behind with your enemy —his own if his fears were feigned, yours if it is unsafe to bring you a true report —that you might not be ignorant that terms there are upon which you may enjoy both life and peace, I have come to you myself, having regard to the long-standing friendship which subsists between us. 3 Moreover, that I say what I say for your sake and no other's, you may take this as proof: so long as you held your ground with your own forces, and expected to receive help from the Romans, I never mentioned peace to you; 4 but now that you have no longer any hope from Rome, and neither your arms nor your fortifications are adequate to defend you, I bring you a peace more necessary than equitable. 5 That this peace may be realized there is some ground for hoping only if, even as Hannibal proposes it in the spirit of a conqueror, so you shall hearken to it in the spirit of the conquered, and shall not consider as lost what is taken from you, since all things are the victor's, but consider whatever is left you as a gift. 6 Your city, which he has in great part overthrown, and almost wholly captured, he takes from you: your lands he leaves you, and intends to designate a site whereon you may erect a new town. 7 All your gold and silver, both public and private, he orders to be brought to him: your persons, with those of your wives and children, he preserves inviolate, if you are willing to go forth unarmed from Saguntum with two garments each. 8 These terms a victorious enemy imposes on you; these terms, albeit harsh and cruel, your fortune counsels you to accept. Indeed I am not without hope that when full control of everything shall have been granted him, he may remit somewhat of this severity; 9 but even this you ought, I think, rather to endure than to suffer yourselves to be massacred and your wives and children to be forcibly dragged away into captivity before your eyes, in accordance with the laws of war.”

14 To hear this speech the populace had little by little crowded round, and the people's council had mingled with the senate, when on a sudden the leading men, withdrawing from the throng before an answer could be given, fetched all the gold and silver, both of state and private ownership, into the market-place, and casting it into a fire which they had hurriedly made up for this purpose, many threw themselves headlong into the same flames. 2 The resulting panic and dismay had no sooner spread to all the city, than another loud noise and outcry were heard from the citadel. A tower that had long been battered had collapsed, and through the breach a cohort of Phoenicians had rushed in and signaled to the general that the city was denuded of its customary guards and sentinels. 3 Hannibal, deeming it no time to hesitate, when such an opportunity offered, attacked with all his strength and captured the city out of hand. 4 He had given orders that all the grown inhabitants be put to the sword —a cruel command, but found in the upshot to have been well-nigh inevitable; for who could be spared of those who either shut themselves up with their wives and children and burned the houses over their own heads, or took arms and never gave over fighting till they died?

15 The captured town yielded enormous spoils. For although much property had been destroyed on purpose by its owners, and in the carnage rage had scarce made any distinction of years, and the captives had been given as booty to the soldiers, 2 nevertheless it is agreed that a large sum was realized from the sale of goods, and much valuable furniture and apparel sent to Carthage.

3 Some have recorded that Saguntum was taken in the eighth month from the beginning of the siege; that Hannibal then retired to New Carthage, into winter quarters; and then, after leaving New Carthage, arrived in the fifth month in Italy. 4 If this is so, it cannot have been the case that Publius Cornelius and Tiberius Sempronius were the consuls to whom the Saguntine envoys were dispatched in the beginning of the siege, and who, in their own year of office, fought with Hannibal, the one at the river Ticinus, and both —a little later —at the Trebia. 5 Either all these things took up somewhat less time, or Saguntum was not first besieged but finally captured in the outset of the year which had Cornelius and Sempronius as consuls. 6 For the battle at the Trebia cannot have been fought as late as the consulship of Gnaeus Servilius and Gaius Flaminius; for Gaius Flaminius began his consulship at Ariminum, having been elected under the presidency of Tiberius Sempronius who was then consul, and had, after the battle at the Trebia, come to Rome to hold the consular elections, and then returned to the winter quarters of the army.

16 At almost the same time the ambassadors who had returned from Carthage brought back word to Rome that all was hostile in that quarter, and the fall of Saguntum was announced. 2 And so great was the grief of the senators, and their pity at the unmerited doom of their allies, and their shame at having failed to help them, and their wrath against the Carthaginians and fear for the safety of the commonwealth —as though the enemy were already at their gates —that, confounded with so many simultaneous emotions, they rather trembled than deliberated. 3 For they felt that they had never encountered a fiercer or more warlike foe, and that Rome had never been so torpid and unwarlike. The Sardinians and Corsicans, the Histrians and Illyrians, had provoked but had hardly exercised the Roman arms; 4 while against the Gauls there had been desultory fighting rather than real war. But the Phoenician was an old and experienced enemy, who in the hardest kind of service amongst the Spanish tribes had for three and twenty years invariably got the victory; 5 he was accustomed to the keenest of commanders, was flushed with the conquest of a very wealthy city, and crossing the Ebro and drawing after him the many Spanish peoples which he had enlisted, would be rousing up the Gallic tribes—6 always eager to unsheathe the sword —and the Romans would have to contend in war with all the world, in Italy and under the walls of Rome.

17 The fields of operation of the consuls had already been named: they were now commanded to draw lots for them. Cornelius obtained Spain, Sempronius Africa with Sicily. 2 Six legions were voted for that year, with such allied contingents as the consuls themselves should approve and as large a fleet as could be got ready. There were enrolled four and twenty thousand Roman foot-soldiers and eighteen hundred horsemen, and of the allies forty thousand foot-soldiers and four thousand four hundred horsemen. 3 Of ships there were launched two hundred and twenty quinquiremes, and twenty swift cruisers. 4 The question was then laid before the people whether it were their will and pleasure that war be declared against the people of Carthage; and on their voting in the affirmative a supplication was held throughout the City and the gods were besought to grant a fair and prosperous outcome to the war which the Roman People had decreed.

5 The forces were divided between the consuls as follows: Sempronius received two legions —each numbering four thousand foot and three hundred horse —sixteen thousand foot of the allies, and eighteen hundred horse, together with a hundred and sixty warships and twelve swift cruisers. 6 With these forces for land and sea Tiberius Sempronius was dispatched to Sicily, that he might cross by that way into Africa, if the other consul were able to keep the Phoenicians out of Italy. 7 Cornelius was given fewer troops, since Lucius Manlius, the praetor, was also being sent into Gaul with a not inconsiderable army; 8 and of ships, in particular, he received a smaller number, namely, sixty quinquiremes, for they did not suppose that the enemy would come by sea or use that kind of warfare. He had two Roman legions with their proper complement of horse, and fourteen thousand infantry of the allies, with sixteen hundred horse. 9 The province of Gaul received two Roman legions and ten thousand foot of the allies, with a thousand allied and six hundred Roman horse. These troops were designed for the same service —the Punic War.

18 When these arrangements had been made, in order that, before going to war, they might observe all the formalities, they dispatched into Africa an embassy consisting of certain older men, to wit, Quintus Fabius, Marcus Livius, Lucius Aemilius, Gaius Licinius, and Quintus Baebius, to demand of the Carthaginians whether Hannibal had attacked Saguntum with the sanction of the state; 2 and if, as seemed likely to be the case, they should avow the act and stand to it as their public policy, to declare war on the Carthaginian People. 3 As soon as the Romans had come to Carthage and the senate had granted them an audience, Quintus Fabius asked only the one question contained in his instructions. 4 Then one of the Carthaginians replied: “There was something headlong, Romans, even in your former embassy, when you demanded that we surrender Hannibal on the ground that he was laying siege to Saguntum on his own responsibility; but your present embassy, though expressed thus far more mildly, is in reality more harsh. 5 For on that occasion Hannibal was both accused and his surrender called for; at present you are trying to wring a confession from us, and, as though we had pleaded guilty, demand instant satisfaction. 6 But to me it would seem that you ought to ask, not whether Saguntum was besieged as the result of private or of public policy, but whether justly or unjustly. 7 For it belongs to us to enquire what our fellow citizen has done on our authority or his own, and to punish him; with you the only question we have to discuss is this, whether what he did was permissible under the treaty. 8 Well then, since you wish that a distinction should be drawn between the things that generals do by direction of the state and the acts for which they are themselves responsible, 9 let me remind you that we have a treaty with you, which Gaius Lutatius, your consul, made, wherein, although the allies of both sides were protected, there was no provision made regarding the Saguntines, for as yet they were not your allies. 10 'But,' you will say, 'in that treaty which was made with Hasdrubal, the Saguntines are expressly cared for.' To this I shall make no other answer than the one that I have learnt from you. For you denied that you were bound by the treaty which Gaius Lutatius, the consul, originally entered into with us, because it had been made without the senate's sanction or the people's command; accordingly a new treaty, having the approval of the state, was entered into. 11 Now, if you are not bound by your treaties, unless they are concluded at your own instance or command, no more could the treaty of Hasdrubal, which he made without our knowledge, be binding upon us. 12 Cease then to prate of Saguntum and the Ebro, and bring forth at last the thought with which your mind has long been in travail!” 13 Then the Roman, gathering up his toga into a fold, said, “We bring you here both war and peace; choose which you will!” When he had said these words, they cried out with no less truculence that he might give them whichever he liked; 14 and on his shaking out the fold again, and announcing that he gave them war, they all replied that they accepted it, and in that same spirit in which they accepted it were resolved to wage it.

19 This straightforward demand and declaration of war seemed more in keeping with the dignity of the Roman People than to bandy words regarding the rights involved in treaties, especially at that moment, when Saguntum had been destroyed. 2 Though for that matter, had it been proper to debate the question, what comparison could there be between Hasdrubal's treaty and the earlier treaty of Lutatius, which was altered? 3 For in the treaty of Lutatius it had been expressly added that it should be valid only if the people ratified it; but in Hasdrubal's treaty no such proviso had been made, and by the silence of so many years the treaty had during his lifetime been so sanctioned that even on its author's death no slightest change was made in it. 4 And yet, even if the earlier treaty were adhered to, the Saguntines had been sufficiently protected by the provision made concerning the allies of both the parties; for there had been no specification of “those who were then allies,” nor exception of “such as might afterwards be received.” 5 And since they were permitted to take new allies, who would think it fair either that they should admit no one, however deserving, to their friendship, or that, having once taken people under their protection, they should not defend them —provided only that allies of the Carthaginians should not be tempted to desert them nor be made welcome if they left them voluntarily?

6 The ambassadors, conformably to the instructions given them in Rome, crossed over from Carthage into Spain for the purpose of approaching the different states and winning them to an alliance, or at least detaching them from the Phoenicians. 7 The Bargusii were the first they visited, and being warmly welcomed by them, for men were wearying of the Punic sway, they aroused in many nations south of the Ebro a desire to revolt. 8 From there they came to the Volciani, who gave them an answer that was carried all over Spain and turned all the other states against an alliance with the Romans. 9 For the eldest of them replied as follows in their council: “With what face, Romans, can you ask us to prefer your friendship to the Carthaginian, when those who did so have been more cruelly betrayed by you, their allies, than destroyed by their enemy, the Phoenician? You must seek allies, in my opinion, only where the disaster of Saguntum is unknown. 10 To the Spanish peoples the ruins of Saguntum will constitute a warning, no less emphatic than deplorable, that none should trust to the honour or alliance of the Romans.” 11 Being then bidden straightway to depart out of the borders of the Volciani, they received from that day forth no kinder response from any Spanish council. Accordingly, having traversed that country to no purpose, they passed over into Gaul.

20 There they beheld a strange and terrifying spectacle, for the Gauls, as was customary with the race, came armed to their assembly. 2 When the envoys, boasting of the renown and valour of the Roman People and the extent of their dominion, requested the Gauls to deny the Phoenician a passage through their lands and cities, if he should attempt to carry the war into Italy, 3 it is said that they burst out into such peals of laughter that the magistrates and elders could scarce reduce the younger men to order 4 —so stupid and impudent a thing it seemed, to propose that the Gauls should not suffer the invaders to pass into Italy, but bring down the war on their own heads, and offer their own fields to be pillaged in place of other men's. 5 When at last the uproar had been quelled, the Gauls made answer to the envoys that they owed the Romans no kindness nor the Carthaginians any grudge, to induce them to draw the sword in behalf of the former or against the latter; on the contrary, 6 they heard that men of their own race were being driven from the land and even out of the borders of Italy by the Roman People, and were paying tribute and suffering every other humiliation. 7 In the rest of the Gallic councils their proposals and the replies they got were to substantially the same effect, nor did they hear a single word of a truly friendly or peaceable tenor until they reached Massilia. 8 Here they learned of all that had happened from their allies, who had made enquiries with faithful diligence. They reported that Hannibal had been beforehand with the Romans in gaining the good-will of the Gauls, but that even he would find them hardly tractable —so fierce and untamed was their nature —unless from time to time he should make use of gold, of which the race is very covetous, to secure the favour of their principal men. 9 So the envoys, having travelled through the nations of Spain and Gaul, returned to Rome, not long after the consuls had set out for their respective commands. They found the citizens all on tip-toe with expectation of the war, for the rumour persisted that the Phoenicians had already crossed the Ebro.

21 Hannibal, after the capture of Saguntum, had withdrawn his army into winter quarters at New Carthage. There he learned what had been done in Rome and Carthage and what had been decreed, and that he was not only commander in the war, but the cause of it as well. 2 So, having divided or sold off what was left of the plunder, he thought best to defer his plans no longer, and, calling together the soldiers of Spanish blood, thus addressed them: 3 “My allies, I doubt not that you yourselves perceive how, having conquered every tribe in Spain, we must either bring our campaigning to a close and disband our armies, or shift the seat of war to other countries. 4 For these nations here will enjoy the blessings not merely of peace, but also of victory, only if we look to other nations for spoils and glory. 5 Since, therefore, you are on the eve of an expedition that will carry you far afield, and it is uncertain when you will see again your homes and what there is dear to each of you, if any of you desires to visit his friends, I grant him furlough. 6 Be at hand, I charge you, with the first signs of spring, that with Heaven's good help we may begin a war that shall bring us vast renown and booty.” 7 There were very few who did not welcome the opportunity thus freely proffered of visiting their homes, for they were already homesick and looked forward to an even longer separation from their friends. 8 The full winter's rest between the labours already undergone and those that were presently to come gave them new strength and courage for a fresh encounter with every hardship. 9 Early in the spring they assembled in obedience to their orders.

When Hannibal had reviewed the contingents sent in by all the nations, he went to Gades and discharged his vows to Hercules, binding himself with fresh ones, in case he should be successful in the remainder of his undertaking. 10 Then, with equal concern for attack and defence, lest while he should be himself advancing upon Italy by an overland march through Spain and Gaul, Africa might lie exposed and open to a Roman invasion on the side of Sicily, he resolved to garrison that country with a powerful force. 11 To supply its place he requisitioned troops for himself from Africa —lightarmed slingers chiefly —so that Africans might serve in Spain and Spaniards in Africa, and both be the better soldiers for being far from home, as though mutually pledged to loyalty. 12 Thirteen thousand eight hundred and fifty targeteers and eight hundred and seventy Baliaric slingers, with twelve hundred horsemen drawn from many nations, he sent to Africa. 13 A part of these troops were to be a garrison for Carthage, a part to be distributed through the country. At the same time he directed that recruiting officers be sent out into the states, and that four thousand picked men be brought to Carthage, to serve at once as defenders and as hostages.

22 And considering that neither must Spain be neglected, and so much the less since he was not unaware that Roman ambassadors had journeyed through it to seek the support of its leading men, he appointed it to be the charge of his brother Hasdrubal —an active, energetic man —and secured it with troops, for the most part African. 2 Of infantry there were eleven thousand eight hundred and fifty Africans, three hundred Ligurians, and five hundred Baliares. 3 To these infantry forces he added the following units of cavalry: four hundred and fifty Libyphoenicians —a race of mixed Punic and African blood —and some eight hundred Numidians and Moors, who dwell near the ocean, and a little company of three hundred Spanish Ilergetes. Finally, that no sort of land force might be lacking, there were twenty-one elephants. 4 He also assigned a fleet to Spain, for the protection of its seaboard, since it might be expected that the Romans would again on this occasion employ that mode of warfare in which they had been victorious. There were fifty quinquiremes, two quadriremes, and five triremes. But only thirty-two quinquiremes and the five triremes were equipped and manned with rowers.

From Gades Hannibal returned to New Carthage, to the winter quarters of his army. 5 Setting out from thence, he marched along the coast, past the city of Onusa, to the Ebro. 6 It was there, as they tell, that he saw in his sleep a youth of godlike aspect, who declared that he was sent by Jupiter to lead him into Italy: let him follow, therefore, nor anywhere turn his eyes away from his guide. 7 At first he was afraid and followed, neither looking to the right nor to the left, nor yet behind him; but presently wondering, with that curiosity to which all of us are prone, what it could be that he had been forbidden to look back upon, he was unable to command his eyes; 8 then he saw behind him a serpent of monstrous size, that moved along with vast destruction of trees and underbrush, and a storm-cloud coming after, with loud claps of thunder; 9 and, on his asking what this prodigious portent was, he was told that it was the devastation of Italy: he was therefore to go on, nor enquire further, but suffer destiny to be wrapped in darkness.

23 Rejoicing at this vision, he led his troops across the Ebro in three columns, after sending agents ahead, to win over with presents the Gauls who dwelt in the region which the army had to cross, and to explore the passes of the Alps. 2 He had ninety thousand foot and twelve thousand horse when he crossed the Ebro. He now subdued the Ilergetes, and the Bargusii and Ausetani, and also Lacetania, which lies at the foot of the Pyrenees. All this coast he put in charge of Hanno, that the passes connecting Spain and Gaul might be under his control. 3 To garrison this district, he gave Hanno ten thousand foot and a thousand horse.

4 When the army had entered the defiles which lead over the Pyrenees, and more definite rumours had spread amongst the barbarians that the war was to be with Rome, three thousand of the Carpetanian foot turned back. It was understood that they were influenced not so much by the war as by the long march and the impossibility of crossing the Alps. 5 To recall them or to detain them forcibly would have been hazardous, for it might have roused resentment in the savage bosoms of the others. 6 And so Hannibal sent back to their homes above seven thousand more, whom he had perceived to be chafing at the service, pretending that he had also dismissed the Carpetani.

24 Then, in order that his troops might not become demoralized by delay and inaction, he crossed the Pyrenees with the remainder of his forces and pitched his camp by the town of Iliberri. 2 The Gauls, though they heard that the war was aimed at Italy, nevertheless, because it was said that the Spaniards beyond the Pyrenees had been forcibly subjugated and strong garrisons imposed upon them, were driven by the fear of servitude to arm themselves, and several tribes assembled at Ruscino. 3 When Hannibal was apprised of this, he was more afraid of delay than of fighting, and dispatched ambassadors to their chieftains to inform them that he wished to confer with them in person, and suggested that either they come nearer to Iliberri or that he would go forward to Ruscino, so that being close to one another they might meet more easily. 4 He would be glad, he said, to receive them in his camp, nor would he hesitate to go to them. He had come into Gaul as a friend, not as an enemy, and would keep his sword sheathed, if the Gauls would let him, till he had entered Italy. 5 Thus far his emissaries. But when the Gallic chieftains, moving up their camp at once near Iliberri, came, nothing loath, to the Phoenician, they were captivated by his gifts, and permitted the army to march unmolested through their borders and past the town of Ruscino.

25 In Italy meanwhile nothing more was known than that Hannibal had crossed the Ebro —which was the news that Massiliot envoys brought to Rome —when, as though he had already crossed the Alps, the Boi, after rousing up the Insubres, revolted. 2 To this they were incited not so much by their old animosity against the Roman People as by vexation at the recent establishment of colonies in Gallic territory, near the Po, at Placentia and Cremona. 3 Flying to arms they made an incursion into that very district, and spread such terror and confusion that not only the rural population, but the Roman commissioners themselves, who had come for the purpose of assigning lands, not trusting to the walls of Placentia, fled to Mutina. Their names were Gaius Lutatius, Gaius Servilius, and Marcus Annius. There is no question about Lutatius: for Annius and Servilius, some annals have Manius Acilius and Gaius Herennius, others Publius Cornelius Asina and Gaius Papirius Maso. 4 This, too, is uncertain, whether envoys sent to expostulate with the Boi were maltreated, or an attack was made upon the three commissioners as they were measuring off the land. 5 Whilst they lay shut up in Mutina, the Gauls —who know nothing of the art of assaulting cities, and, besides, are very indolent in regard to siege-works, and were now sitting idly down before the walls without attempting them 6—feigned a readiness to treat for peace; and their leaders having invited the Romans to send out spokesmen to confer with them, they seized these envoys, in violation not only of the law of nations, 7 but also of a pledge which they had given for this time, and declared that they would not let them go unless their own hostages were restored to them. When word arrived of this affair of the envoys, and Mutina and its garrison were in danger, Lucius Manlius, the praetor, blazing with resentment, set out for Mutina with his army in loose marching order. 8 In those days the road led through a forest, as the country was not, for the most part, under cultivation, and Manlius, advancing without reconnaissance, plunged into an ambush, and after sustaining heavy losses, managed with difficulty to get through into the open fields. 9 There he entrenched a camp, and since the Gauls lacked heart to assail it, 10 the soldiers recovered their spirits, though it was no secret that as many as five hundred men had fallen. 11 Then they began their march again, nor, so long as the column advanced through open country, was the enemy to be seen; 12 but when they had once more got into the woods, the Gauls attacked their rear, and throwing the whole column into terror and confusion, slew seven hundred soldiers and carried off six ensigns. 13 The alarming onsets of the Gauls and the panic of the Romans ended when they got clear of the trackless woods and thickets. Thereafter, marching across open ground, the Romans had no difficulty in protecting their column, and hastened to Tannetum, a village lying near the Po, 14 where by means of temporary fortifications and supplies got in by the river, and with the help also of the Brixian Gauls, they defended themselves against the enemy, whose numbers were increasing daily.

26 When the news of this sudden insurrection was brought to Rome, and the Fathers learnt that the Punic War was augmented by a war with the Gauls, they commanded Gaius Atilius, the praetor, to take one Roman legion and five thousand of the allies—2 a force which the consul had just levied —and proceed to the relief of Manlius. Atilius reached Tannetum without any fighting, for the enemy had retired in alarm.

3 Publius Cornelius, too, after enrolling a new legion in place of that which had been sent with the praetor, set out from the City with sixty ships of war, and coasting Etruria and the mountainous country of Liguria and the Salui, arrived at Massilia, and went into camp at the nearest mouth of the Rhone —4 for the river discharges itself into the sea by several—hardly believing, even then, that Hannibal could have crossed the Pyrenees. 5 But when he found that Hannibal was actually planning how to cross the Rhone, being uncertain where he should encounter him, and his soldiers not having as yet fully recovered from the tossing of the sea, he sent out a chosen band of three hundred cavalry, with Massiliot guides and Gallic auxiliaries, to make, while he was waiting, a thorough reconnaissance, and have a look at the enemy from a safe distance.

6 Hannibal, having pacified the others through fear or bribery, had now reached the territory of a powerful nation called the Volcae. They inhabit both banks of the Rhone, but doubting their ability to keep the Phoenician from the western bank, they had brought nearly all their people over the Rhone, so as to have the river for a bulwark, and were holding the eastern bank with arms. 7 The rest of the dwellers by the river, and such of the Volcae themselves as had clung to their homes, were enticed by Hannibal's gifts to assemble large boats from every quarter and to fashion new ones; and indeed they themselves were eager to have the army set across as soon as possible and to relieve their district of the burden of so huge a horde of men. So they brought together a vast number of boats, and of canoes roughly fashioned for local traffic, and made new ones by hollowing out single trees. 8 The Gauls took the lead in this, but the soldiers presently fell to work themselves, when they found the timber plentiful and the labour light. 9 They were unshapely troughs, but the men could make them quickly, and their one concern was to get something that would float and hold a cargo, in which they might ferry themselves and their belongings over.

27 Everything was now in readiness for the crossing, which, however, was menaced by the enemy on the other side, who covered the whole bank with their horse and foot. 2 In order to draw them off, Hannibal ordered Hanno, the son of Bomilcar, to set out in the first watch of the night with a part of the troops, chiefly Spaniards, 3 and, making a march of one day up the stream, to take the first opportunity of crossing it, with the greatest secrecy, and fetch a compass with his column, so that, when the time came, he might assail the enemy in the rear. 4 The Gauls who had been appointed to be his guides informed him that some five-and-twenty miles upstream the river flowed round a little island, and being wider where it divided, and therefore shallower, afforded a passage. There they quickly felled some trees and constructed rafts to transport the men and horses and other burdens. 5 The Spaniards without more ado stuffed their clothes into skins, and placing their bucklers on top of these and supporting themselves by means of them, swam across. The rest of the force, too, got over, by means of the rafts which they had made, and went into camp near the river. 6 They were tired by the night march and their strenuous exertions, but their commander allowed them but one day to rest, being intent on carrying out the stratagem at the proper time. 7 Resuming their march on the following day they sent up a smoke-signal from an elevated place, to show that they had got over the river and were not far off. When Hannibal saw this, he gave the order to cross, so as not to miss the favourable moment. 8 The infantry had their skiffs all ready and equipped, while the cavalry had large boats, for the most part, on account of their horses. The large boats were sent across higher up the stream, to take the force of the current, and provided smooth water for the skiffs that crossed below them. 9 A good part of the horses swam and were towed by their halters from the sterns of the boats, except those which they had saddled and bridled and put on board, that their riders might have them ready for instant use on landing.

28 The Gauls rushed to meet them on the bank, with all sorts of yells and their customary songs, clashing their shields together above their heads and brandishing darts in their right hands, 2 despite the menace of so great a multitude of vessels coming against them and the loud roaring of the river and the confused hallooing of the boatmen and the sailors, as they strove to force their way athwart the current or shouted encouragement to their fellows from the further bank. 3 But the tribesmen were already somewhat daunted by the tumult which confronted them, when a still more appalling clamour arose in the rear, where Hanno had captured their camp. He was soon on the scene himself, and a twofold terror hemmed them in, as that mighty force of armed men came out upon the shore and the unlooked-for line of battle closed in from behind. 4 When the Gauls had attempted charges in both directions and found themselves repulsed, they broke through where the way seemed least beset, and fled in confusion to their several villages. Hannibal brought over at leisure the rest of his forces, and giving himself no more concern over Gallic outbreaks, pitched his camp.

I believe that there were various plans for transporting the elephants; at all events the tradition varies as to how it was accomplished. 5 Some say that the elephants were first assembled on the bank, and then the keeper of the fiercest of them provoked the beast and fled into the water; as he swam off, the elephant pursued him and drew the herd in his train; and though they were afraid of the deep water, yet as soon as each of them got out of his depth, the current itself swept him over to the other bank. 6 It is, however, more generally believed that they were carried across on rafts; this method, as it would be the safer, if the thing were to be done, so, in view of its accomplishment, is more probably the one employed. 7 A raft, two hundred feet long and fifty feet wide, was thrust out from the shore into the stream, and, after being moored to the bank above by a number of stout hawsers, so as not to be carried down the current, was covered with earth, like a bridge, in order that the beasts might boldly venture upon it, as on solid ground. 8 A second raft, of equal width and a hundred feet long, and fit for crossing the river, was coupled to the first. Then the elephants, with the females leading, were driven out over the stationary raft, as over a road; and after they had passed on to the smaller raft adjoining it, the ropes by which this had been loosely attached were cast off and it was towed across by some rowboats to the eastern bank. 9 After landing the first contingent in this fashion, they returned and fetched the others over. 10 The elephants exhibited no signs of fear so long as they were being driven along as though on a connected bridge; they first became frightened when the raft was cast loose from the other and was carried out into mid-channel. 11 The crowding together which resulted, as those on the outside shrank back from the water, gave rise to a slight panic, till terror itself, as they looked at the water all about them, made them quiet. 12 Some, in their frenzy, even fell overboard; but, steadied by their very weight, threw off their riders, and feeling their way to the shallow places, got out upon the land.

29 Whilst the elephants were being got across, Hannibal had dispatched five hundred Numidian horsemen in the direction of the Roman camp, to find out where the enemy were and in what force, and what they meant to do. 2 This body fell in with the three hundred Roman horsemen, sent out, as was mentioned before, from the mouth of the Rhone. 3 The battle that followed was more hotly fought than the size of the contending forces would suggest, for besides the many who were wounded, the numbers of the slain were about equal on both sides, and only the dismay and panic of the Numidians gave the victory to the Romans, who were by that time fairly exhausted. The victors lost about a hundred and forty, not all Romans but some of them Gauls; the vanquished about two hundred. 4 This was at once the beginning of the war and an omen that promised the Romans success in the final outcome, though their victory would be by no means without bloodshed and would only come after a doubtful struggle.

5 When the participants in this affair had returned to their respective generals, it was impossible for Scipio to adopt any settled plan, except to frame his own measures to meet the strategy and movements of the enemy; 6 while Hannibal, uncertain whether to march on, as he had begun, to Italy, or give battle to the first Roman army that had come in his way, was diverted from an immediate trial of strength by the arrival of Boian envoys, with their chief Magalus. These assured him that they would guide his march and share its perils, and urged him to avoid a battle and to keep his forces whole and unimpaired for the invasion of Italy. 7 The rank and file were fearful of the enemy —for their memory of the former war was not yet erased —but more fearful of the interminable march over the Alps, an undertaking which rumour made appalling, at any rate to the inexperienced.

30 Accordingly Hannibal, having settled in his own mind to go forward and advance on Italy, called the soldiers together and worked on their feelings with alternate chiding and encouragement. 2 He marvelled, he said, what sudden terror had invaded breasts that had ever been dauntless. For these many years they had been victorious in war, nor had they quitted Spain until all the tribes and territories which lay between two distant seas were in the power of the Carthaginians. 3 Then, indignant that the Roman People should demand that whoever had laid siege to Saguntum be surrendered up to them, as though to expiate a felony, they had crossed the Ebro, in order to wipe out the Roman name and liberate the world. 4 The march had not then seemed long to any of them, though they meant to advance from the setting to the rising sun; 5 but now, when they could see that they had measured off the greater part of it; when they had made their way, through the fiercest tribes, over the Pyrenees; when they had crossed the Rhone —that mighty river —in the teeth of so many thousand Gauls, overcoming, too, the violence of the stream itself; when the Alps, the other side of which was in Italy, were in full sight —6 were they halting now, as though exhausted, at the very gates of their enemies? 7 What else did they think that the Alps were but high mountains? They might fancy them higher than the ranges of the Pyrenees; but surely no lands touched the skies or were impassable to man. The Alps indeed were inhabited, were tilled, produced and supported living beings; their defiles were practicable for armies. 8 Those very ambassadors whom they beheld had not crossed the Alps in the air on wings. Even the ancestors of these men had not been natives of Italy, but had lived there as foreign settlers, and had often crossed these very Alps in great companies, with their children and their wives, in the manner of emigrants. 9 For armed soldiers, taking nothing with them but the instruments of war, what could be impassable or insurmountable? To capture Saguntum, what dangers or what hardships had they not endured for eight long months? 10 Now that Rome, the capital of the world, was their objective, could anything seem so painful or so difficult as to delay their enterprise? 11 Had Gauls once captured that which the Phoenician despaired of approaching? Then let them yield in spirit and manhood to a race which they had so often vanquished in the course of the last few days, or look to end their march in the field that lay between the Tiber and the walls of Rome.

31 After encouraging them with this exhortation, he bade them refresh themselves and make ready for the march. 2 Setting out the following day he advanced up the Rhone towards the interior of Gaul, not that it was the more direct way to the Alps, but believing that the farther he retired from the sea, the less likely he was to fall in with the Romans, 3 with whom he had no mind to fight a battle until he should arrive in Italy. The fourth day's march brought him to the Island. 4 There the rivers Isara and Rhone, rushing down from different Alps, unite their waters, after enclosing a considerable territory, and the Island is the name which has been given to the plains lying between them. 5 Near by is the country of the Allobroges, a tribe, even at that early day, inferior to no Gallic tribe in wealth or reputation. Just then it was a prey to discord. 6 Two brothers were disputing the sovereignty. The elder, Braneus by name, who had held sway before, was being driven out by a faction of juniors headed by the younger brother, whose right was less but his might greater. 7 This quarrel having very opportunely been referred to Hannibal for settlement, who thus became arbiter of the kingdom, he espoused the sentiments of the senate and the leading men and restored the sovereign power to the elder. 8 In requital of this service he was assisted with provisions and supplies of every sort, particularly clothing, which the notorious cold of the Alps made it necessary to provide.

9 Having settled the contentions of the Allobroges, Hannibal was now ready for the Alps; but instead of marching directly towards them, he turned to the left, to the country of the Tricastini, and thence proceeded through the outer borders of the territory of the Vocontii to the Tricorii, by a road which nowhere presented any difficulties, until he came to the Druentia. 10 This, too, is an Alpine river and by far the most difficult of all the rivers of Gaul to cross; 11 for, though it brings down a vast volume of water, it does not admit of navigation, since, not being confined within any banks, but flowing at once in several channels, not always the same, it is ever forming new shallows and new pools —a fact which makes it dangerous for foot-passengers as well —besides which it rolls down jagged stones and affords no sure or stable footing to one who enters it. 12 And at that time, as it happened, it was swollen with rains, and the crossing took place amidst the wildest tumult, for the men —besides their other difficulties —were confused by their own excitement and bewildered outcries.