Cecil Torr

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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 ”

“ 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 Hannibal37 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ African elephants might be expected in an army40 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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.” ”

“ The cavalry were left behind to repair the29 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. ”

“ 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 not24 act. Narrow gorges can be found on any Alpine route, and also rocks such as Polybios describes. ”