Part 2
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.
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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.
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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.
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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.