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THE 
 
 MARCH OF HANNIBAL 
 
 FROM THE 
 
 RHONE TO THE ALPS. 
 
 BY 
 
 HENRY LAWES LONG, ESQ. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 J. RODWELL, 46, NEW BOND STREET. 
 
 1831. 
 
DGA47 
 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 IBOrSON AND PALMliR, PKINTERS, SAVOY STREET, STRAND, 
 
TO 
 
 HENRY L. WICKHAM, ESQ. 
 
 ONE OF THE AUTHORS OF THE 
 
 DISSERTATION UPON THE MARCH OF HANNIBAL 
 ACROSS THE ALPS." 
 
 My DEAR WiCKHAM, 
 
 I send you the result of a tour recently 
 made in Dauphiny, not without the hope that, 
 as I began with believing in you, you may 
 end in agreeing with me. 
 
 Most truly yours, 
 
 HENRY LA WES LONG. 
 Lausanne, June 1st, 1831. 
 
 E&m^ 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Among the many sources of interest which 
 engage our attention in passing through a 
 foreign country, neither its economy, political 
 and domestic, its natural curiosities, its scenery, 
 nor its field sports, more powerfully attract 
 the traveller, than the sight of places renowned 
 in history as the scenes where great events 
 have been transacted. The plains where 
 battles have been fought — the fortresses where 
 sieges have been undertaken — the mountain 
 passes which armies have traversed, most for- 
 cibly arrest the attention, for such events form 
 the materials of which the annals of the human 
 race are principally composed. To have, in- 
 stead of a map, the identical district laid out 
 before us — to tread upon the very ground de- 
 scribed — to look up to the same mountains 
 that hung over the heads of the warriors of 
 
 B 
 
2 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 whom we read j — all this adds immeasurably 
 to the interest of the story, and tries by a 
 severe test the accuracy of the author who 
 records it. Herodotus at Marathon, Thucy- 
 dides at Syracuse, and Polybius throughout 
 Italy, from the Alps to the Aufidus, are read 
 with increased pleasure when we find the 
 face of nature, itself incapable of any material 
 alteration, giving testimony in favour of their 
 correctness. The taunts of " Grsecorum nu- 
 gamenta" and "Graecia mendax" have been 
 thrown upon the historians of that country ; 
 but satire is not always truth ; and, with the 
 exception of Julius Caesar, whose rapid but 
 masterly sketches of a country enable us at 
 once to recognize it, the Roman authors them- 
 selves are more deserving of the reproach. 
 Livy, to say nothing of his portents and pro- 
 digies, is notoriously defective and unintel- 
 ligible in his geography ; and even Tacitus, 
 a writer of acknowledged accuracy, aifords us 
 insufficient light to follow Agricola through 
 his conquest of Britain with any degree of 
 certainty. 
 
 The madness of mankind still indulges in 
 warfare ; but it is humiliating to be forced to 
 confess, that the triumphs which are supposed 
 to adorn the page of history, have seldom 
 produced any visibly beneficial consequences ; 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 while the horrors that accompanied them must 
 always, for a time at least, have occasioned 
 incalculable mischief and misery. Modern na- 
 tions, at the conclusion of hostilities, are usually 
 left much in the same state (except as to their 
 finances) as they were at the beginning of a war. 
 In ancient times, however, this was not so fre- 
 quently the case. When we stand upon the 
 barrow of the Greeks at Marathon, where the 
 occasional loosening of the soil still exposes to 
 our view the fragments of the flint arrow-heads 
 of the Persian archers, we are conscious that 
 those arrows were aimed not only against the 
 rights and liberties of a free and independent 
 people, but against the cradle of all the arts 
 and sciences we now enjoy ; and the gallant 
 band that drove back the tide of barbarism 
 from their shores, preserved at the same time 
 to themselves and to us the rudiments of all 
 that is useful and honourable to mankind. 
 Thus, too, the conquest of the world by the 
 Roman was the march of civilization ; a check 
 in its progress would have influenced the con- 
 dition of ages yet unborn. The desperate 
 attack of Hannibal *' ad delendum nomen 
 Romanum, liberandumque orbem terrarum," 
 was unsuccessful 5 and as such, its consequences 
 affect us even to the present hour. It left 
 Rome the sovereign mistress of an undisputed 
 
 B 2 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 world, which she was allowed to fashion after 
 her own taste ; and, as we are not disposed 
 to object to our language, our literature, or 
 our laws, the greater portion of which we 
 have derived from her, we may be presumed 
 to be satisfied with the course she adopted. 
 What effect might have been produced upon 
 our domestic habits and political institutions, 
 had the Carthaginian triumphed, cannot be 
 conjectured ; but it is very certain, if the des- 
 tinies of the world had been so reversed, we 
 should not, in every sentence we utter, find 
 words of Roman origin. Under these cir- 
 cumstances the Carthaginian expedition into 
 Italy acquires an importance independent of 
 the interest excited by the novelty, hardihood 
 and conduct of the enterprise. Their march 
 upon Rome is not only the most remarkable 
 feature in one of the most remarkable 
 wars ever waged, " helium maxime omnium 
 memorabile quse unquam gesta sint," but, in 
 tracing their steps, we feel as if we were ap- 
 proaching the crisis of our own destinies ; and 
 while we acknowledge the courage and genius 
 of the African general, it is on the side of 
 Rome, the common parent of all Europe, that 
 we lean with a feeling of filial anxiety. 
 
 To those, therefore, who delight in picturing 
 to themselves the transactions of distant ages 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 on the very spot where they occurred, the 
 march of Hannibal across the Alps cannot 
 fail in producing the most lively interest. In 
 visiting" the scenes of this march, the traveller 
 is unusually fortunate in two particulars : — 
 he is led through the rich scenery of Dauphiny 
 and Savoy, some of the most picturesque in 
 Europe, and he has for his guide an historian 
 of unrivalled merit. In Polybius we meet 
 with a distinctness of detail which at once 
 discovers the soldier, who had thoroughly 
 investigated and understood every manoeuvre 
 of the hostile forces — the traveller, perfectly 
 acquainted with the country in which the 
 event he describes took place — and the faith- 
 ful and accomplished writer, who condensed 
 the materials without affecting the accuracy 
 of his narrative. Indeed, had the original 
 despatches sent by Hannibal to Carthage 
 come down to us, we could hardly have found 
 in them an account of the leading events of 
 the campaign arranged in a more intelligible 
 and interesting manner. Gibbon tells us, that 
 in Polybius there is a sterility of fancy. This 
 in an historian cannot surely be deemed a 
 fault ; but however true it may be, and 
 however little his style may bend from its 
 grave and dignified flow, his narrative is by 
 no means deficient in the art of addressing 
 
INTRODUCTION, 
 
 itself to our imagination. The events he de- 
 scribes are so clearly and vividly depicted, 
 that in reading him we seem almost to live 
 in the days of the Punic war, in defiance of 
 the fine lines of Lucretius, where the poet 
 exclaims — 
 
 iii. 844. Wi^m^ anteacto nil tempore sensimus segri. 
 
 Ad confligendum venientibus imdique Paenis ; 
 Omnia cum, belli trepido concussa tumultu, 
 Horrida, contremuere sub altis setheris auris; 
 111 dubioque fuere, utrorum ad regna cadundum 
 Omnibus humanis asset, terraque marique. 
 
 The nearer an author lives to the times of 
 which he writes the history, the more likely 
 he is to enter with spirit into the narrative, 
 and to communicate his enthusiasm to his 
 readers. Polybius lived but one generation 
 only after Hannibal ; his authorities were 
 men who had been actors in the very scenes 
 he describes, while his intimacy with the 
 " Virtus Scipiadse et mitis sapientia Lseli," 
 must have opened to him the purest sources 
 of information. It is possible, perhaps, to de- 
 tect in the historian an excusable partiality to- 
 wards the illustrious race of the Scipios ; but, 
 even if this is the case, no writer during the 
 lapse of nearly twenty centuries has yet ven- 
 tured to impugn his veracity ; while, of all the 
 losses that literature has to lament, none are 
 
INTRODUCTION. 7 
 
 more regretted than the defective portions of 
 Polybius. 
 
 It is well-known to all those whom the 
 march of Hannibal has at all interested, that 
 a great controversy exists as to the precise 
 road through the Alps traversed by the Car- 
 thaginian army ; and this has arisen from the 
 impossibility of producing any accordance be- 
 tween the accounts furnished us by Polybius 
 and Livy. In the time of Livy himself it was 
 already a subject of debate, and the additional 
 confusion into which it was plunged by that 
 historian has continued the dispute down to 
 our own times. In the account Polybius has 
 given us of the progress of the Carthaginian 
 army from Spain to Italy, he glances rapidly 
 over that portion of it preceding the passage 
 of the Rhone, as presenting no events worthy 
 of particular notice ; but the mode of effecting 
 the passage of that river, as well as the subse- 
 quent dangers and difficulties experienced by 
 the Carthaginians until they reached the plains 
 of the Po, are described with a precision 
 almost amounting to the minuteness of a daily 
 journal. The historian, who dwells with un- 
 usual interest upon this part of his narrative, 
 had journeyed through the Alps upon the 
 track of the Carthaginian army, to satisfy him- 
 
8 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 self by a personal investigation of the locali- 
 ties, previous to recounting- what was then 
 considered, and is still looked back upon, as 
 one of the most extraordinary performances 
 ever accomplished. As a proof of the estima- 
 tion in which Polybius was held even by his 
 rival Livy, and how much he was preferred as 
 an authority to all other writers, of whom 
 there must have been several whose very 
 names are now lost to us, we need only remark 
 the servile manner in which he is copied by 
 the Latin author — in some places so closely as 
 to be little else than merely translated. It 
 would have been fortunate, perhaps, had this 
 been uniformly the case ; but Polybius wrote 
 at least a century before Livy, and the court 
 of Augustus, for whom Livy undertook his 
 work, required a more refined style than that 
 of the Greek author ; accordingly, in Livy 
 we certainly discover Polybius, but it is Poly- 
 bius dressed up, ornamented, and amplified ; 
 very well suited, no doubt, to the taste of the 
 day, but utterly destructive of the simplicity 
 and fidelity of the original. In many places 
 inextricable confusion has been thus produced ; 
 and in no part so much as in the celebrated 
 description of the passage of the Alps by Han- 
 nibal ; for no more favourable opportunity 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 presented itself of indulging a fertile imagina- 
 tion in its disposition to exaggerate.^ We, 
 however, derive one advantage from Livy's 
 narrative ; it shows that Polybius alone was 
 his authority for the account, as he ought to 
 be ours. It is from Polybius that all the 
 events of the march are extracted ; they suc- 
 ceed each other precisely in the same order ; 
 but they are immensely dilated, and loaded 
 with many unnecessary remarks and extra- 
 neous matter ; above all, by Livy's giving the 
 names of certain Gallic tribes, through which 
 he affirms the Carthaginians to have passed, 
 as well as by positively declaring them to 
 have crossed the highest ridge of the Alps by 
 the Saltus Taurinus, (the Mont Genevre,) 
 the narrative of Polybius is attempted to be 
 fastened upon a line of country to which nei- 
 
   To show how easily a hvely fancy may unconsciously 
 fall into exaggeration upon a subject of this sort, I need 
 only quote a sentence from a justly admired author, an 
 ardent lover of truth : — " It was in this campaign that he 
 (Bonaparte) proved himself a worthy rival of Hannibal. 
 The energy which conducted an army, with its cavalry, 
 artillery, and supplies, across the Alps, by untried paths, 
 which only the chamois hunter, born and bred amidst gla- 
 ciers and everlasting snows, had trodden, gave an impres- 
 sion, which of all others he most desired to spread, of his 
 superiority to nature, as well as to human opposition. "- 
 Channing's Character of Bonaparte. 
 
10 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 ther time, nor space, nor geographical charac- 
 ter, nor common sense, can possibly unite it. 
 No doubt Livy imagined himself conducting 
 Hannibal by the road indicated by Polybius, 
 and that by supplying the names, he was 
 making amends for the deficiencies of that 
 author ; but he had not, like Polybius, visited 
 the mountains and ascertained the distances ; 
 and those who take him as a guide upon the 
 assurance of the names he furnishes, will soon 
 find themselves entangled in an inextricable 
 labyrinth. 
 
 The first steps towards attaining any thing 
 like a rational explanation of this march were 
 taken by M. Deluc, of Geneva,* who, in a 
 most able illustration of a theory made known 
 to him by the late General Melville, founded 
 wholly and solely upon the authority of Poly- 
 bius, by a diligent comparison of ancient with 
 modern topography, and by carefully attend- 
 ing to the time and distances which are re- 
 corded with sufficient precision, has at last 
 pointed out the only true mode of clearing up 
 the question. M. Deluc's publication was 
 almost immediately followed by that of two 
 members of the University of Oxford,! who 
 
 * Histoire du Passage des Alpes j^ar Annibal. Par J. 
 
 A. Delue, fils de feu G. A. Deluc, &c. &c. Geneve, 1818. 
 
 t Dissertation on the Passage of the Alps by Hannibal. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 1 1 
 
 had themselves minutely investigated the 
 whole country between the Rhone and the 
 Po. In this excellent performance, after some 
 very valuable remarks upon the early history 
 of the Alps, the claims of the Little St. Ber- 
 nard to the distinction of being the road of 
 Hannibal are set forth in a manner so clear, 
 and so convincing, that we feel as sure of the 
 fact as we do of the existence of Hannibal 
 himself. It is not the intention of the author 
 of the following pages to touch, except in a very 
 slight degree, upon that part of the topography 
 of the march which belongs to the Alps them- 
 selves — considering the above-mentioned pub- 
 lications to have effected nearly as much as 
 the nature of the subject, or the purposes of 
 history, required. It appears to him, however, 
 that neither General Melville, nor M. Deluc, 
 nor even the Oxford authors themselves, have 
 satisfactorily established the line of march be- 
 tween the Rhone and the foot of the Alps ; 
 on the contrary, that they have not been suc- 
 cessful in assimilating the narrative of Poly- 
 bius with the route they have adopted through 
 Dauphiny, and that these errors materially 
 affect their subsequent calculations during the 
 
 By Henry L. Wickham, Esq., and the Rev. J. Cramer, 
 late Students of Ch. Ch. Oxford. Second Edition. Lon- 
 don, 1828. 
 
12 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 passage of the Alps. Under these impressions, 
 after a close attention to every word in the 
 text of the Greek historian, and aided by an 
 additional recent examination of the country, 
 he now offers the result of his observations, 
 fully convinced that the road by which he 
 shows the Carthaginian general to have con- 
 ducted his army to the entrance of the valley 
 of the Little St. Bernard will be admitted to 
 correspond with that described by Polybius, as 
 to time, distance, and geographical character, 
 in a manner so close and incontrovertible as 
 to set this long pending discussion at rest for 
 ever. 
 
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THE MARCH OF HANNIBAL, 
 
 When Hannibal had reached the foot of the ^o\yh. iii. 
 
 39, 40. 
 
 Pyrenees on the Spanish side, half the distance 
 between New Carthage and the plains of the 
 Po was accomplished ; but the remaining- por- 
 tion, in point of difficulty, was by much the 
 most considerable. He had before him the 
 formidable obstacles of the Pyrenees, the 
 Rhone, and the Alps ; and the worst parts of 
 the country were occupied by the fierce and 
 fickle tribes of the Transalpine Celts. 
 
 This latter half of the march is divided by 
 Polybius into three portions — 
 
 I. From Emporium (Ampurias, on the Bay 
 of Rosas, in Catalonia) to the Rhone. 
 
 II. From the Rhone to the commencement 
 of the ascent of the Alps. 
 
14 ':*../ , %THfi''yArRCH OF HANNIBAL. 
 
 ••• • . 
 
 • • • • 
 
 '•iHl'' -Across ''the' Alps to the Plains of 
 the Po. 
 
 Of these divisions it is the second princi- 
 pally which forms the subject of the present 
 investigation. The route from Spain to the 
 Rhone is sufficiently evident ; and the passage 
 of the Alps has been already proved satisfac- 
 torily to be that of the Little St. Bernard. It 
 will, however, be necessary to examine, to a 
 certain extent, these portions of the march, in 
 order to connect them with the extremities of 
 the intermediate section ; and in so doing, a 
 few remarks upon the passage of the Alps will 
 be brought forward, tending to complete, if 
 any thing is needed to complete, the proof 
 that the Little St. Bernard was the road of 
 Hannibal. 
 
 First, then, with a view to determine the 
 exact point upon the Rhone where the Car- 
 thaginians passed that river, we have to take 
 into consideration the road across the Pyrenees, 
 and through Languedoc, by which they ad- 
 vanced to its banks. The notices of this 
 march, although quite sufficient for our pur- 
 pose, are very scanty. Hannibal is repre- 
 sented at first as under some apprehension of 
 the Celts, on account of the difficult nature of 
 c. 41. their country ; while Scipio calculated upon 
 the delay his enemies would experience from 
 
THE MARCH OF HANNIBAL. 15 
 
 the same circumstance, and from the multi- 
 tude of those barbarous tribes. These were 
 the Celts, elsewhere described by Polybius as 
 occupying all the country between the Py- c. sr 
 renees and the river Narbo, (Aude,) a tract 
 exactly coinciding with the limits of the terri- 
 tory of Roussillon, the modern department of 
 the Pyrenees Orientales.* The remaining 
 sentences descriptive of the march, separated 
 from tli« interruption of other details, stand as 
 follows — 
 
 'Avvij^ag ^E irapa^o^coQ, rovg /j-lv 'y^py]fxaai Trkiaaq c. 41. 
 rwv KfXrwv, rovq ^£ ^laaafjuvoq, riKe /Liera rwv 
 ^vvajmecjv, ^i^iov e^wv to ^ap^oviov ireXayogy eiri Ttjv 
 Tov 'Po^avou ^ia(5a<Jiv. 
 
 *AvVt/3aC ^£, WpOCT/JLL^aQ TOIQ TTSpl TOV TTOTafLOV g. 43. 
 
 TOTTOiq, ev^iiog kv^ykipu iroiua^ai tyiv ^iaj3a(nv KaTa 
 TTiv aTrXriv pvaiv ayj^ov i^^spwv TeTTapwv o^ov airkyjav 
 
 (TTpaTOTre^if) ttiq ^oXaTTYiQ. 
 
 " But Hannibal having, beyond all expecta- 
 
 * There is another passage of Polybius existing in the Poiyb. 
 shape of a fragment, presented in Athenseus, which con- ^^^\^- ^i^ 
 tains some curious particulars relating to the Roussillon Gallia, 
 country ; he speaks of certain fossil fish found in the neigh- 
 bourhood of the modern towns of Elne and Perpignan. 
 Organic remains of divers sorts are found in an osseous 
 breccia, common in several places along this coast of the 
 Mediterranean. Polybius imagines these fish to have made 
 their way from the rivers (the Tetand the Tech) in search of 
 their favourite food, the roots of the Agrostis. 
 
16 
 
 THE MARCH OF HANNIBAL. 
 
 tion, persuaded some of the Celts by presents, 
 and compelled others by force, advanced with 
 his forces towards the passage of the Rhone, 
 having the Sardinian sea to the right. 
 
 " And upon reaching the country in the 
 neighbourhood of the river, he immediately 
 prepared to make the passage, at the single 
 stream, having his army at the distance of 
 four days' journey from the sea." 
 
 To these materials must be added a pre- 
 vious, and more important extract : — 
 
 Kai /Lirjv svTEv^ev eiri tt^v tov 'Po^avov diaj3a(nvy 
 c. 38. nepi viXiovg e^a/cocriovc. ravra yap vvv p^pr]fxaTi(JTaiy 
 
 Kcii (JiiGrifxkiwTai Kara (jraciovQ oktio cia Piofxaidjv 
 eTTijuieXCjg, 
 
 ** And from thence (Emporium) to the pas- 
 sage of the Rhone, nearly 1,600 stadia, (200 
 M.p.,) for this distance has now been carefully 
 measured by the Romans, and marked every 
 eight stadia." 
 
 From these materials we have to trace the 
 march to the banks of the Rhone ; and as far 
 as Nismes, we meet with no obstacle to our 
 progress, for the great Roman way is per- 
 fectly well known from the Itineraries. 
 Nismes itself stands at a distance of 177 m.p. 
 from Emporium, according to the authors of 
 p. 230. the *' Dissertation." 
 
 The remainder of the distance to the Rhone 
 
THE MARCH OF HANNIBAL. 1^ 
 
 is not at first quite so apparent, for we have 
 to choose between three ways of reaching the 
 river from Nismes. One in a north-easterly 
 direction, conducting us to Roquemaure — 
 such, at least, is a road laid down by M. 
 Deluc and others, and stated by them to be 
 the road taken by Hannibal. Whether any 
 modern road exists in that direction or not, I 
 am unable to say ; but it is very certain that 
 no Roman way ever connected Nismes with 
 Roquemaure. Yet the words of Polybius 
 are decisive : he distinctly points out a road 
 between Emporium and the Ithone, measured 
 and marhed hy the Romans ; if, therefore, 
 we are to be guided by the authority of Poly- 
 bius, we must give up the road to Roque- 
 maure. 
 
 The other two roads leading from Nismes 
 to the Rhone are more to the purpose, for 
 they are really Roman, as well as being still in 
 use as important thoroughfares. Of these, 
 one runs in a direction due east from Nismes 
 to Beaucaire, the ancient Ugernum ; the 
 other takes a south-easterly course to the cele- 
 brated city of Aries, formerly the more cele- 
 brated Arelate. The road to Aries seems to 
 have been the most frequented of the two, 
 and appears in all the Itineraries ; that to 
 Beaucaire is given in the Theodosian Table, 
 
 c 
 
18 THE MARCH OF HANNIBAL. 
 
 and is noticed by Strabo. The geographer is 
 speaking of the way from Nismes to Aquae 
 Sextise (Aix.) 
 
 iv. c. 3. E/c Nf^avcrov ^£ ^la Ouyt^vou kul Tapa(jK(i)vog 
 
 eig TO. Seo^a vcara ra ^£C,Tia Ka\ov/j,Eva, 
 
 ** From Nismes, through Ugernum and 
 Tarasco, to the warm waters of Sextius." 
 And again, speaking of another road — 
 
 iv. c. 3. TtJv Sia OvoKOVTLijJV Kai tyiq Kottlov. fi^XP* 1^^^ 
 
 Ovy^pvov, Kai TapaoKtovog Koivrj o^og rj airo 
 ^ejLLav(Tov» 
 
 ** That through the Vocontii and the terri- 
 tory of Cottius, — the road as far as Ugernum 
 and Tarasco, is the same as that from 
 Nismes/' 
 
 No other Roman way leading from Nismes 
 to the Rhone, exists even in tradition ; it 
 follows, therefore, that either at Beaucaire or 
 Aries, Hannibal must have effected his pas- 
 sage ; and we are at once relieved from all 
 doubt as to which of the two places we are to 
 choose, by the words of Polybius himself. He 
 c. 42. says it was Kara TTiv airXriv pvaiv — at the place 
 where the river flowed *' m a single stream." 
 These words have been thought to mean a 
 part of the stream iminterrupted by any of 
 those islands with which the Rhone abounds, 
 an explanation in which I cannot at all 
 concur, for the words are most certainly ap- 
 
THE MARCH OF HANNIBAL. l9 
 
 plied by Polybius to the passage at Beaiicaire, 
 in contradistinction to the other passage at 
 Aries ; for at Aries the bifurcation of the 
 Rhone begins, — at Aries there are two streams, 
 and the passage there would have been Kara 
 rriv ^iirXnv pvaiv, Poljbius, Speaking of the Po, 
 employs the same expression, "• c. le. 
 
 Triv /JLEV yap irpujTrjv e/c twv TTJ^ywv e'^ei PY2IN 
 AFIAHN^ c^i^erat ^'eig Bvo fxkpy] Kara tovq 7rpo(T- 
 ayopevofxhovg T piya(56\ovg , 
 
 *' The river flows from its sources in a single 
 stream at first, but it is divided into two 
 branches in the country of the Trigaboli." 
 
 It remains to be shown, that in the distance 
 of Beaucaire from Emporium there is nothing 
 inconsistent with the " nearly 1,600 stadia 
 (200 M.p.)" of Polybius. From Emporium to 
 Nismes there are, as has been already stated, 
 about 177 Roman miles ; if to these we add 
 15, the number, according to the Theodo- 
 sian Table, between Nismes and Beaucaire, 
 we get a total of 192 miles, which falls short 
 of the Polybian distance by eight miles : this 
 is too considerable a defalcation to pass with- 
 out comment — and on this I have two remarks 
 to offer. 
 
 First — The Greek historian here makes use 
 of the word Trept, " nearly ;" we are not, 
 therefore, to expect to find an e3:aGt 200 m.p., 
 
 c 2 
 
20 THE MARCH OF HANNIBAL. 
 
 particularly as when he employs this word he 
 commonly exceeds the real distance in the 
 number he gives ; for instance, he gives the 
 distance from New Carthage to the plains of 
 the Po in this manner — 
 
 From New Carthage to the Iberus . 2,600 
 From the Iberus to Emporium . . 1,600 
 
 -4,200 
 
 From Emporium to the Rhone . . 1,600 
 From the Rhone to the Alps . . . 1,400 
 Across the Alps to the Plains of the Po 1 ,200 
 
 -4,200 
 
 8,400 
 
 Making altogether a length of 8,400 stadia ; 
 yet in summing it up he speaks in round num- 
 numbers, calling it " nearly 9jOOO stadia :" 
 
 iii. c. 39. WOT civai Tovg Travraq £K Kaivrjg TToAewc (TTaoiovg 
 TTEpi evvaKKT'^iXiovQ, 
 
 Secondly — If it should still be required to 
 p. 45. approach more closely to the 200 m.p., we 
 may remark that M. Deluc, in calculating the 
 distance between Emporium and Juncaria, (la 
 Junquera,) does not follow the main road 
 through Figueras, but thinks it probable the 
 ancients had some shorter and more direct line 
 through Peralada ; upon which supposition he 
 forms his computation. 
 
 Thus, therefore, in point of distance from 
 Emporium, there is nothing in the situation of 
 
THE MARCH OF HANNIBAL. 21 
 
 Beaucaire that militates against the account 
 given by Polybius. The three data — the dis- 
 tance, the Roman road, and the single stream, 
 by which we thus determine the place of the 
 passage, are of themselves, perhaps, sufficient ; 
 but there is yet a fourth — the distance from 
 the foot of the Alps, which is stated by Poly- 
 bius to be 1,400 stadia, or 17*5 Roman miles. 
 Out of these 175 m.p., one hundred have 
 been hitherto always assigned to that part of 
 the march above the Isere, between that river 
 and the first ascent of the Alps. According 
 to this division of the distance, the remaining 
 7*5 M.p. must of course be allotted to the 
 march between the passage of the Rhone and 
 the Isere. In this manner the place at which 
 the Rhone was crossed becomes easily dis- 
 coverable, since to find it we have only to 
 measure 75 m.p. down the stream from its 
 confluence with the Isere. Accordingly, M. 
 Deluc fixes the spot at Roquemaure ; and in 
 so doing he is aided by the support of all 
 other writers upon the subject.* It is not, 
 however, surprising that all authorities should 
 " agree so cordially upon this point, because the 
 absolute distance of 75 m.p., measured from 
 
 * The anonymous author of " Hannibal's Passage of the 
 Alps. By a Member of the University of Cambridge, 
 London, 1830," fixes upon Tarascon as the point of 
 passage. — Ed. ^ 
 
 ^.^^-^ c-^^.^^^, /^^— '-^-^ -—---/^ ; 
 
22 THE MARCH OF HANNIBAL. 
 
 the Isere southwards, must always terminate 
 at Roquemaure ; and nothing is left to pro- 
 duce any disunion of opinion. Whether this 
 mode of computing the distance is the correct 
 one or not, will be considered hereafter ; and 
 it will be shown, that in the number of miles 
 between Tarascon, opposite Beaucaire, and 
 the foot of the Alps, there is nothing which 
 does violence to the 175 of Polybius. 
 
 There is still another circumstance which 
 has been called in to assist in determining the 
 place at which the Rhone was passed, of which 
 some notice ought to be taken 5 it is derived 
 from the words of Polybius already quoted. 
 He is speaking of Hannibal — 
 
 TTjg OaXarrrig, 
 
 " Being distant with his army (or camp) 
 from the sea, a distance of nearly four days." 
 
 This distance has been usually measured 
 from the wstern mouth of the Rhone, be- 
 cause Scipio had arrived there with his army, 
 on his voyage towards Spain ; and a'^edov 
 TJiuiptDv TETTaptov o^ov IS supposed to mean four 
 days march. But as Polybius does not tell us 
 that the distance is to be reckoned from that 
 part of the sea-coast, and has not anywhere, 
 that I know of, assigned a definite length for 
 a day's march, any calculations founded upon 
 such constructions are very likely to prove 
 
THE MARCH OF HANNIBAL. 23 
 
 erroneous. In another part of his work the 
 historian uses the same expression : he is 
 speaking of Clusium, the modern town of 
 Chiusi, in Tuscany. This town, he says, 
 
 three days' journey from Rome." Now the 
 distance of Clusium from Rome is nearly 100 
 Roman miles, which would give upwards of 
 30 M. p. for a day's journey — a common dis- 
 tance for a traveller riding the same horse, 
 but which cannot be understood as the daily 
 march of a regular army. What Polybius 
 really does mean by these words is not quite 
 apparent. It would rather seem (but I speak 
 with great diffidence) that some place on the 
 coast of the Mediterranean is intended, which 
 Hannibal had already left behind him in his 
 march from Spain — perhaps the Emporium of 
 Narbonne, which is distant about 110 m. P., 
 nearly four days' journey of thirty miles a-day, strabo. 
 and which, from the importance of its re- 
 sources in early ages, is not unlikely to have 
 detained Hannibal for a short time after he 
 had emerged from the difficult country occu- 
 pied by the Celts ; that is the point also at 
 which mention had been made of the Sardinian 
 sea — that it lay to his right as he proceeded on 
 his march. 
 
 Be that as it may, the light afforded us by 
 
24 THE MARCH OF HANNIBAL. 
 
 Polybius is quite enough to conduct us with 
 sufficient certainty to Beaucaire, a place well 
 suited to the encampment of a large force. 
 itineraire " Sur uuc eminence qui commande la ville, 
 ii. p. 414.' s'elevait le chateau de Beaucaire, ou St. Louis 
 fit batir, avant son depart pour la Terre 
 Sainte, une chapelle qu'on y voit encore. Le 
 chateau qui n'existe deja plus, a remplace 
 celui de I'antique Ugernum, construit par les 
 Romains ; de cette hauteur on jouit d'une 
 magnifique perspective. Sur le bord du Rhone 
 regne une vaste prairie, bord^e de longues 
 allees d'ormes et de platanes, qui servent de 
 promenade." 
 
 Here Hannibal lost no time in preparing to 
 carry over his army, and Polybius here begins 
 a sort of diary of the operations, which is kept, 
 with but few interruptions, until the passage 
 of the Alps is completed. The days and 
 nights are not always specified ; but when 
 they are, the Greek text will be found inserted 
 in the following arrangement : — 
 Poiyb.iii. The FIRST night is to be reckoned as suc- 
 ceeding the day of the arrival of the army 
 upon the Rhone. 
 
 1st day. — Preparations for crossing are 
 commenced ; boats of all sorts are collected, 
 and rafts constructed. 
 2. Night. 
 
 C.42. 
 
THE MARCH OF HANNIBAL. ^ S5 
 
 2. Day. — Preparations for crossing are 
 continued with the utmost activity, each 
 individual striving to be independent of his 
 neighbour. At the conclusion of this second 
 day the preparations are completed. 'Ev ^vcrlv 
 r]/j,epaig TrXrjOog avaplOinriTov eyivaro TropOfxeiwv. 
 " In two days an innumerable multitude of 
 boats were provided." In the mean time a 
 band of fierce barbarians had been congre- 
 gating on the opposite bank, with a view to 
 dispute the passage of the river, and Hannibal 
 had concerted a scheme for their discomfiture. 
 
 O. JNlght. ^TTiyEvofJLtvrjg ttiq Tpirr^q vvKTog, 
 
 Hanno, the son of Bomilcar, with a large 
 division of the army, was despatched up the 
 river, under the guidance of some natives, to 
 the distance of 200 stadia, (25 m.p.) where he 
 reached a spot " at which the river happened 
 to be divided by an island." 'Ev (^ duvf/Satve 
 
 wepL Ti "^(jjpiov v»?(Tt2ov irepKr-^i^EG^ai tov irorafiov* 
 
 3. Day. — Hanno prepared his rafts from 
 the neighbouring wood. 
 
 4. Night. — Hanno carried his troops across 
 the river. 
 
 * At the distance of 25 M. P. up the river from Beau- 
 caire, we arrive opposite to Caderousse, where there is one 
 of the most considerable islands to be met with in the 
 Rhone — so large as to find a place in maps of a very 
 reduced scale. 
 
26 XHE MARCH OF HANNIBAL. 
 
 4. Day. — 'E/cavryv filv TTJv Yijuipav ^dfiHvav, 
 
 Hanno and his men, after taking* up a strong 
 position, *' remained quiet for the day," resting 
 themselves after the hardships they had under- 
 gone. 
 
 c. 43. 5. Night. — FATnyevojulvrjg Trig Tr^mTriq vvktoq, 
 
 ** The following night being the fifth," Hanno 
 set out along the river towards the barbarians, 
 VTTO TTjv £(i)9ivriv (^(pvXaKrjv^ " about the morning 
 watch," ^= that is, about 3 A. m. 
 
 5th day. — As soon as Hanno, by a pre- 
 concerted signal of smoke, had made known 
 his approach to Hannibal, the Carthaginians, 
 who were all prepared, dashed across the 
 river in the face of the barbarians, while 
 Hanno fell upon them in the rear. They soon 
 took flight, and the passage of the Rhone was 
 accomplished. 
 
 C.44, 6. Night.' — eKavrjv i^ev tyiv vvKTa, ** That 
 
 night" Hannibal encamped by the side of the 
 river. Tarascon, surrounded with fertile mea- 
 dows, is as favourable a situation for an army 
 as Beaucaire. 
 
 6. Day. — Tri ^'eiravpiov, " The next morn- 
 
 Veget. Re * The ancients divided the night (from surinaeto sunsi^; 
 
 Mil. iii. 8. jjj^q fQ^j. equal portions or watches. Hannibal crossed the 
 B-hone about the time of the autumnal equinox — when, as 
 the days and nights were of equal length, the morning 
 watch would commence at 3 a. M. 
 
THE MARCH OF HANNIBAL. 27 
 
 ing" Hannibal, having intelligence of the 
 Romans being at the mouth of the Rhone, 
 despatched 500 of his Numidian cavalry to 
 make a reconnaissance. Preparations were 
 made for getting over the elephants. An as* 
 semby of the troops was also held, at which 
 the chieftains from the plains of the Po were 
 introduced ; who, by means of interpreters, 
 boasted of their readiness to make common 
 cause against the Romans — and extolled the 
 grandeur and fertility of Italy, to which they 
 held out promises of a safe and speedy march. 
 The general himself next addressed the troops, 
 who manifested the utmost ardour, and he 
 dismissed the assembly, after giving orders to 
 hold themselves in readiness to march the 
 
 following morning : wc "C rriv avpiov avaZvyrjg 
 
 ((To/mivrjg, After this, the 500 Numidians were 
 driven back into the camp by a detachment ofc 47. 
 Roman and Gaulish horse,* who had been 
 sent out to reconnoitre by Scipio. 
 
 * The Gaulish horse were some troops Scipio found at Polyb. lib, 
 Marseilles. Some allusion to them appears to he made in ^^^i^- 
 a fragment of Polybius, not uninteresting to the English Geogr. 
 reader. It seems that when Scipio questioned them and 
 some other Gauls from Narbonne and other towns, virep ttjq 
 BperraviKtjq, " concerning Britain," ovdetq etj^e Xeyeiv 
 o'v^eV fxvriiiYiQ a^iov, "not one had any thing to say worth 
 remembering !" Polybius may perhaps be speaking of Scipio 
 Africanus, as he calls him "Scipio;" he usually calls the 
 father " Publius." 
 
28 
 
 THE MARCH OF HANNIBAL. 
 
 7. Night. 
 
 7* ^^J' — ^V /^aTtt TTo^ag Vf^'^^a rfJc kKK\r]aiaq, 
 
 *' The next day after the assembly," as soon 
 as it was light, Hannibal posted all his cavalry 
 on guard on the side towards the sea, while 
 the infantry commenced their march. The 
 elephants, thirty-seven in number, were then 
 brought over, and the curious manner in 
 
 c. 46. which this was contrived is very circumstan- 
 tially detailed by Polybius. With these animals 
 
 c. 47. and his cavalry, Hannibal proceeded along the 
 river, forming the rear guard of his army. 
 It has been supposed that he was occupied a 
 whole day, or even two days, in transporting the 
 elephants across the Rhone. There is nothing 
 in Polybius to justify this conjecture, nor is it 
 likely the general would have permitted so 
 prolonged a separation of his forces. The 
 cavalry, so remarkable for their celerity, and 
 then fresh after several days' repose ; and the 
 elephants, whose shuffle performs eight miles 
 an hour, would soon have overtaken the rest 
 of the army. 
 
 Thus we have Hannibal, with all his army, 
 fairly across the Rhone, and set forth on his 
 march towards the Alps. It now becomes ne- 
 cessary to examine the road he took to reach 
 those mountains. 
 
 Three roads leading across the Alps into 
 
THE MARCH OF HANNIBAL. 29 
 
 Italy, diverge from Tarascon — all of them fre- 
 quented by the Romans, and known as early as 
 the time of Polybius, for he speaks of them all. 
 
 1. One of them takes a south-easterly di- 
 rection, through the territory of the Ligures, 
 by the maritime Alp — the modern Corniche 
 road by Monaco to Genoa. Tliis is cele- 
 brated in the verses of Virgil as one of the 
 roads by which the legions of Julius Csesar 
 poured down upon Italy — 
 
 Aggeribus socer Alpinis atque arce Monoeci ^neid. vi, 
 
 Descendens ; gener adversis instructus Eols. 
 
 2. The second bears due east upon leaving 
 Tarascon, and then, in a north easterly direc- 
 tion by the valley of the Durance, ascends the 
 Cottian Alp, the modern Mont Genevre. 
 This, of all the passes of the Alps, was the 
 most frequented by the Romans, as leading to 
 a great part of Gaul, to the Province, and to 
 Spain. The new and magnificent road across 
 this mountain was the last undertaken by 
 Bonaparte. 
 
 3. The third road kept along the left bank 
 of the Rhone, due north from Tarascon, as 
 far as the territory of the Allobroges ; after 
 passing through them, it traversed the Graian 
 Alp, and descended into Italy by the valley 
 inhabited by the Salassi — that is, in modern 
 geography, up the Rhone as far as the depart- 
 
so THE MARCH OF HANNIBaL, 
 
 ment of the Isere, then to the Little St. Ber- 
 nard, and thence into Italy by the valley of 
 Aosta.* 
 
 By one of these routes Hannibal had to 
 make his way from Tarascon to Italy; and 
 the words irapa Tov TTora^oi;, " along the river,'* 
 which frequently occur in Polybius, imme- 
 diately discover that it was by the road up 
 the Rhone, towards the Graian Alp. 
 
 Along this road, then, by the side of the 
 river, we find Hannibal pressing forward with 
 
 Straho, * It is Strabo who informs us that these three passes, 
 
 together with one other by the Rhoetian Alps, are men- 
 tioned by Polybius — his words are important. 
 
 IloXv[3tOQ Terrapaq ^' virep^daeiq dvofid'Cei juovoy Btd 
 
 Aiyvcjp ^eV, ti]v eyyiffra rw Tvppiji^iKa TreXqyei' lira rr)v 
 Sid Tavpiv(t)Vf r]v *Avvi(3aq c)irj\dev' iira ti]v Sid ^dkaaaruiy' 
 T€rdprr]y Se, r^u hd ^Fairwy. If these words are really 
 the words of Polybius, and are to be preferred to the whole 
 of the existing history, we may spare ourselves any farther 
 trouble in seeking for a road for Hannibal across the Alps ; 
 because he is here decidedly stated to have gone by the 
 country of the Taurini, which means by the Cottian Alp ; 
 and we must be content to remain for ever dissatisfied with 
 the whole narrative of the march of Hannibal, which is 
 completely at variance with this road. But it is evident 
 that Strabo is not quoting any particular passage of Poly- 
 bius, but merely enumerating the only four roads through 
 the Alps mentioned by that author in dififerent parts of his 
 history. The interpolation, therefore, of ^v ^Avvifiaq dirjXdey, 
 h only a parenthetical comment, a gloss of Strabo's own, 
 and not to be considered as quoted from Polybius. 
 
THE MARCH OF HANNIBAL. SI 
 
 all possible expedition;* "and after having 
 marched," says Polybius, "for four days in 
 succession, subsequent to the passage of the 
 river, he came to a place called the Island." 
 
 *Avvi(5ag ^e irofnaafxtvoQ 1^t)Q eiri T^TTapag r]/uLepag c. 49. 
 rrjv TTopkav airo rfjc diaj^aaecog, r}Ke irpog rrfV koXov- 
 fiivrjv NritTOV. 
 
 The Island,! or " Insula AUobrogum," is 
 well known, and Polybius's description of it 
 
 * Ilpo^ye TTopct Toy Trorafidv aVo QaXdrrriq' tjg cVt rrjy eoj c. 47. 
 iroiovfievoQ Ti)y iropeiav wc etc ttjp fxeaoyaiov Ttjq EvjOwttj/c. 
 
 " He proceeded along the river away from the sea, — thus 
 marching first towards the east, then into the midland of 
 Europe." I have never seen any satisfactory explanation 
 of this sentence. Hannibal unquestionably marched up the 
 Rhone, that is, northwards, towards the heart of Europe ; 
 but eVi T7}v eo), " towards the east," seems utterly unintel- 
 ligible. I have placed the stop which usually follows the 
 word TTora^oi/, after 6a\c/rrnQ; and if we can understand 
 the rest of the sentence^to the march in general quite from 
 Spain, Hannibal might safely be said to advance first 
 " towards the east," then, crossing the Rhone and turning 
 along the river away from the sea, " towards the centre of 
 Europe." Some objection has been made to any passage of 
 the Rhone below its confluence with the Durance, thereby 
 incurring the necessity of crossing that river also ; but the 
 Durance in the autumn, at which time of the year Hannibal 
 reached it, presents no sort of difficulty. 
 
 f The " Insula" is composed of the first, second, and 
 almost the whole of the third arrondissement of the depart- 
 ment of the Isere, together with five cantons of the first 
 aiTondissement of the department of the Drome j and the 
 
32 THE MARCH OF HANNIBAL. 
 
 which follows, is perfectly applicable to its 
 present condition. It lies almost entirely 
 within the department of the Isere, and was 
 called an Island because the Rhone to the 
 north and west, the Isere to the south, and 
 the mountains of the Grande Chartreuse to 
 the east, completely insulate it ; and those who 
 have visited this beautiful country can vouch 
 for the justness of the appellation. 
 
 The distance of this island is about one 
 hundred Roman miles from Tarascon,* which 
 may appear an enormous space to be traversed 
 by the Carthaginian army in so short a time 
 as four days. Twenty-five miles per day is 
 unquestionably a severe march ; but it is in 
 perfect accordance with the usual pace of 
 Hannibal, who fell like a thunderbolt upon 
 Italy, with a rapidity that not only amazed 
 the conscript fathers at Rome, who found him 
 upon the Po almost before they fancied him 
 upon the Ebro ; but excited the astonish- 
 ment even of Scipio, who was himself dis. 
 
 population, according to a recent census, amounts to about 
 366,000 souls. Some of the richest land in France is to be 
 met with in this district. 
 
 * The distance between the Isere and Roquemaure is 
 stated by the Oxford authors to be precisely 75 miles ; that 
 between Roquemaure and Tarascon, measured on their map, 
 is about 25 — making altogether 100 M. p. 
 
THE MARCH OF HANNIBAL. S3 
 
 tinguished by the celerity of his movements. 
 Hannibal had every reason for hastening the 
 march — the wild country, and wilder tribes 
 which encompassed him — the advanced season 
 of the year — the precipitation of youthful am- 
 bition,* and, above all, an ardent desire to 
 anticipate the Romans in his descent upon 
 Italy, — all conspired to urge him onwards ; ^ 
 while his army, devotedly attached to its 
 general, and then particularly described as c. 35. 
 being evZ(jjvov, exhibited an impatience equal 
 to his own — even the Roman, 
 
 patriis acer Romanus in armis, Yirg, 
 
 Injiisto sub fasce viam quum carpit, ethosti Georg. iii. 
 
 Ante exspectatum positis stat in agmine castris. 
 
 The Roman soldier, with the enormous cic Tusc. 
 
 Qu.ii. 14. 
 
 burden he was compelled to carry, performed Veget. de 
 from twenty to twenty -two miles, as an ordi- i. i9. 
 nary day's march ; and we shall find that 
 even in the Alps, the Carthaginians did as 
 much, or even more than that, for the three 
 last days of their descent. 
 
 ' * Hannibal was at this time about twenty-eight or 
 twenty-nine years of age. The age of Bonaparte, when he 
 made his first campaign to Italy, was twenty-six ; he crossed 
 the Great St. Bernard when he was thirty. Polybius speaks iii. c 15. 
 of Hannibal are veoq pey wr, TrXyprjq ^e TToXefjiiKrjq dpfitjq 
 eTTtTV-^ijq, ^'eV rdiq eTTiftoXcuc. 
 
 D 
 
§i THE MARCH OF HANNIBAL. 
 
 The arrival of Hannibal at the island was 
 followed by some remarkable occurrences. 
 He here found two brothers in arms against 
 each other, contending for the sovereignty of 
 some Celtic tribe, the name of which is not 
 given by Polybius. The Carthaginian general 
 turned this quarrel to his own advantage ; 
 for, by lending his assistance to the elder 
 brother, and dispossessing the younger, he so 
 far gained the good-will of the successful 
 chieftain, as to receive from him in return 
 some very important favours. The Cartha^ 
 ginians obtained from the grateful barbarian a 
 fresh supply of provisions and arms — of clothing 
 and of shoes ; which latter equipment they 
 found of infinite use when they reached the 
 higher parts of the mountains ; but the greatest 
 service of all that he rendered them, was, that 
 while they were looking with anxiety towards 
 the march through the country of the Gauls, 
 
 c 49. called AllobrogeS — evXa^tJg ^laKei/ULhoig TTpog Trjv 
 
 ^la rvjv 'AXXoj3piy(i)V KaXov/nevcov FaXarajv Tropnav, 
 he protected the rear of the army with his 
 own forces, covering their march, and render- 
 ing their passage secure, while they neared 
 the main ascent of the Alps. 
 But, 
 
 ''As one who on his journey bates at noon, 
 Though bent on speed/' 
 
THE MARCH OF HANNIBAL. 35 
 
 SO must we pause awhile, and take into consi- 
 deration whereabouts Hannibal had halted, 
 and who these barbarians were, from whom 
 he received so much assistance. 
 
 In the slender materials as yet extracted 
 from Polybius, we have not sufficient light to 
 elucidate these two points fully ; but we may 
 find something" to assist us in the research. 
 
 Out of the three expressions, 
 
 VICE Trpog TT]v k aXov/Jiivriv Nriaov, 
 irpoQ r)V a^iKOfXEvoq, 
 and KaToXafiCjv kv avT^y 
 
 the last alone seems to indicate the arrival of 
 Hannibal in the island. Even that might have 
 the word x^P^ understood meaning the place 
 which Hannibal had reached ; but if it must 
 be considered as applied to the Nri(Toc, still it 
 does not bear out the conjecture that he had 
 made any progress in that country. On the 
 contrary, that he had not advanced into it, we 
 may collect both from the transaction with 
 the barbarians being described as occurring 
 immediately after the four days' march, with- 
 out notice of any subsequent movement, and 
 from the sentence quoted above — " That the 
 army was under great apprehensions at the 
 prospect of the march through the country of 
 the Gauls, called Allobroges." Now, the 
 Allobroges occupied the whole Insula, which 
 
 D 2 
 
36 
 
 THE MARCH OF HANNIBAL. 
 
 bore the name of the Insula Allobrogum ; and 
 if the army was looking forward with dismay 
 towards the march through the country of the 
 Allobroges, it does not appear probable that 
 they were further advanced than the mere 
 confines of that people. The army had just 
 grounds for its apprehensions. We shall find^ 
 as we proceed, that they were on the eve of 
 entering a very difficult country, and the 
 Allobroges are invariably represented as ene- 
 mies using every effort to obstruct the march, 
 until Hannibal completely routed them and 
 sacked their city. Some writers have sup- 
 posed that these friendly barbarians were a 
 conciliated portion of the Allobrogian tribe : 
 nothing in Polybius warrants this conjecture ; 
 he never says so, nor can it even be inferred 
 from any of his expressions : if they were not 
 Allobroges, they must have been the distinct 
 people who occupied the adjoining country 
 on the south bank of the Isere, and these were 
 the Segalauni.* 
 
 * The Segalamii might, perhaps, have had some lands on 
 the north hank of the Isere, although that river would seem 
 to form their natural boundary : outlying possessions of a 
 similar description are recorded as belonging to other Gallic 
 tribes. Three instances mentioned by Csesar present them- 
 selves at this moment : — 
 
 I. The Allobroges occupied certain lands on the right 
 bank of the Rhone, (b. g. i. 11.) 
 
THE MARCH OF HANNIBAL. 
 
 If we cast our eyes on any map of that part 
 of France which once bore the name of Dau- 
 phiny, we perceive that the three towns of 
 Valence, (Valentia,) Romans, and Tain, 
 (Tegna,) form a nearly equilateral triangle ; 
 the Rhone flows on its western side, while the 
 Isere, running from the eastern angle at Ro- 
 mans, divides the figure into nearly equal por- 
 tions. Somewhere within the limits of this 
 triangle, at one or other, perhaps, of the 
 above-mentioned towns, the Carthaginians must 
 have fallen in with their anonymous friends ; 
 and there, during a few days' halt, prepared 
 themselves for ulterior and more hazardous 
 operations. These extended limits are allowed 
 for the purpose of allaying the alarms of those 
 who, arguing from the words ev avry, require 
 Hannibal to be positively within the Insula. 
 In my own mind, I have not the slightest 
 doubt but that Valence was the scene of these 
 operations. Its distance from the place where 
 the Rhone was passed is exactly, or almost 
 exactly, 800 stadia, 100 m. p., and it will be 
 shown that its position equally well agrees 
 with the distance assigned to the first ascent 
 
 II. The Rhemi had some establishment north of tlie 
 Axona (Aisne.) (b. g. ii. 6.) 
 
 III. The Menapii are represented as having possessions 
 beyond the Rhine, (b. g. iv. 4.) 
 
38 THE MARCH OF HANNIBAL, 
 
 of the Alps. Hannibal is dealing* with a 
 people who are evidently not the Allobroges, 
 and can therefore be no other than the Se« 
 g-alauni, of whom Valence was the capital ; at 
 Valence, too, the high-road turns away from 
 the river, and leads directly towards the Alps. 
 How far this position agrees with Hannibal's 
 subsequent proceedings we shall discover as 
 we follow him on his march. 
 
 Hannibal has now to proceed on his march, 
 and at this point, all the doubts, difficulties, 
 and disputes of all writers who undertake 
 to trace his progress, have their origin. The 
 Roman historian, who leads the literary host, 
 makes the Carthaginians, after marching con- 
 tinually to the northward, now turn sharply 
 round towards the south-east, and pursue 
 their way to the Cottian Alp. In this he 
 is followed by several authors, who, in fruit- 
 less attempts to produce harmony between 
 him and Polybius, conduct Hannibal along 
 the south side of the Isere to the Mont 
 Genevre, or to the Mont Cenis. Others, 
 again, abandoning Livy, have almost proved, 
 from Polybius alone, that Hannibal marched 
 a considerable way along the Rhone above its 
 confluence with the Isere ; and then, crossing 
 the " Insula," and the mountains, which form 
 its eastern side, in the neighbourhood of Les 
 
THE MARCH OF HANNIBAL. 39 
 
 Echelles, found his way to the valley of the 
 Little St. Bernard by the town of Chambery, 
 the ancient Lemincum. Above all, the eru- 
 dite historian of Manchester, who has written 
 copiously on the question, has astonished all 
 those who have considered the subject, by 
 boldly carrying Hannibal by an inexplicable 
 route, to the foot of the Alps at Martigny, 
 and thence across the Great St. Bernard. 
 
 The only roads by which Hannibal could 
 possibly have gained the Cottian Alp from 
 his position near the confluence of the Isere 
 and the Rhone, are the following : — 
 
 I. The road by which Livy conducts the 
 Carthaginians, was one which any Roman 
 traveller in the days of Livy would probably 
 have chosen. It led from Valence up the 
 valley of the Druna, (Drome,) the country of 
 the Vocontii, and thence by Vapincum, (Gap,) 
 into the valley of the Durance, occupied by 
 the Caturiges. The Saltus Taurinus, or Alpis 
 Cottia, now the Mont Genevre, is at the 
 sources of the Durance. By this road we CaesarB.o.i. 
 
 Tacit. 
 
 find Csesar at the head of five legions hurrying Hist. *i. 46. 
 from Italy to oppose the Helvetii,* and Fa- xiv. 
 bins Valens from the Rhine leading a division 
 
 * Caesar was opposed by the Centrones, the Garoceli, and 
 the Caturiges — the inhabitants of the high valleys of the 
 Isere, the Arc, and the Durance. These mountaineers 
 
40 THE MARCH OF HANNIBAL. 
 
 of Vitellius's army against Otho. Constan- 
 tine, too, on his way to seize the empire, and 
 change the condition of the world. It seems 
 to have become the most frequented passage 
 of the mountains, after the Emilian Way and 
 other roads on the Italian side had opened a 
 more direct communication with the Cottian 
 Alp. 
 
 There is no road of any magnitude from 
 Valence along the south bank of the Isere, 
 owing to the impracticable nature of the 
 country. But, 
 
 II. Upon reaching the Drac, which falls 
 into the Isere just below Grenoble, a road 
 leads up the valley of that river, formerly the 
 country of the Tricorii, to Gap, and so to the 
 Cottian Alp. 
 
 III. From this road, another diverges, 
 from the banks of the Drac up the valley of a 
 tributary river, called the Romanche, anciently 
 inhabited by the Uceni ; and this road, which 
 is given in the Theodosian Table, reaches the 
 
 would easily have communicated by the Col de la Vanoise 
 between the Isere and the Arc ; and by the Col de Galibier 
 between the Arc and the Durance. Both these Cols were 
 frequented during the wars in the Alps, in the time of Louis 
 XIV. (See the Memoires of Marshall Berwick, vol. ii.) 
 Caesar treats the attacks of these people with great indif- 
 ference, " Compluribus his pulsis praeliis,'' etc. 
 
THE MARCH OF HANNIBAL. 41 
 
 foot of the Cottian Alp at Brigantio (Bri- 
 an9on.) 
 
 IV. The fourth and last road, leading-, not 
 indeed to the Mont Genevre, but to the Mont 
 Cenis, — and thus not to the Cottian Alp, 
 strictly speaking, — is the famous modern road 
 well known to all the world. It follows the 
 stream of the Arc up the valley formerly in- 
 habited by the Garoceli ; but although so easy 
 a pass to the modern traveller, there is no 
 authority for believing it to have been used 
 by the ancients. 
 
 All these roads have their respective advo- 
 cates, in the hopeless task of making Livy 
 agree with Polybius ; the result is, that they 
 accord with neither the Latin nor the Greek 
 historian. 
 
 To reach the Graian Alp from the neigh- 
 bourhood of Valence, Hannibal would have 
 had two roads : 
 
 I. One, Roman through its whole extent^ 
 which would have led him to the north along the 
 Rhone, as far as Vienne, the ancient " Vienna 
 Allobrogum," the capital of the " Insula ;" 
 thence nearly due east over the Mont du 
 Chat, where it would fall into the plain of 
 Chambery, and afford an easy approach to the 
 valley of Little St. Bernard. It is in this 
 direction that General Melville, and those 
 
4}i THE MARCH OF HANNIBAL. 
 
 writers who have adopted his opinion, con- 
 duct the Carthaginians ; and so ably has this 
 theory been supported, that to dispute it may 
 appear almost like presumption. Neverthe- 
 less, after having* been a complete convert to 
 it myself for a length of time, some recent 
 reflection upon the subject has allowed me to 
 perceive it was not without difficulties, which, 
 added to some further examination of the 
 country, has led me to its abandonment, and, 
 finally, to the adoption of a new line of march, 
 which I now bring forward with a thorough 
 conviction of its accuracy. The road which 
 appears to me to be the right one is, 
 
 II. A road from Valence, short, obvious, 
 and direct, up the valley of the Isere, crossing 
 that river at Romans into the country of the 
 Allobroges ; and thence, by Grenoble, the 
 ancient Gratianopolis, and still more ancient 
 Cularo, to the entrance of the valley of the 
 Little St. Bernard at Mont Meillan. It may, 
 perhaps, in limine be objected to this road, 
 that it was not open in the time of the 
 Romans, for it is not mentioned in their 
 Itineraries ; but are we to imagine that so 
 ostensible a line of communication, along so 
 magnificent a valley, containing so antique 
 and celebrated a city, and in which we now 
 find a great road of unknown origin, could 
 
THE MARCH OF HANNIBAL. 43 
 
 ever have been destitute of a way up and 
 down it, even in the earliest ages ? It cer- 
 tainly seems strange that no Roman road 
 through it is upon record 5 but Valence com- 
 municated with Italy by the Cottian Alps, 
 while Vienna and Lyons, on the north, 
 reached the Graian Alp by the Mont du 
 Chat. No post road, therefore, would have 
 been wanted between Valence and Mont 
 Meillan ; but I shall adduce one proof that 
 some sort of road existed there as early as 
 about B. c. 40 — ** Consule Planco,'' the ma- 
 terials of which are collected from the 10th 
 and 11th books of Cicero's Letters. 
 
 Lucius Munatius Plancus, at the head of an 
 army in Gaul, dates a letter to Cicero from 
 Cularo.* He was there evidently communi- 
 cating both up and down the valley, because 
 on the west he had thrown a bridge across the 
 Isere, near its union with the Rhone ; and on 
 the east he was expecting to be joined by the 
 forces of Decimus Brutus, who, at that time, 
 was at Eporedia, Ivrea in Piedmont, and 
 consequently intending to pass the Graian 
 
 Alp. 
 
 Up the valley of the Isere, by way of Gre- 
 
 * It is true that this date is commonly written, " Civa.- 
 rone, ex finibus Allobrogum," which is clearly a mistake for 
 " Culaxone" 
 
44 THE MARCH OF HANNIBAL. 
 
 noble, (the straightest road towards the Alps,) 
 I conceive Hannibal to have marched from 
 the city of Valence ; whether along a Roman 
 highway or not is of little consequence, for 
 we are not now, as we were, between the 
 Pyrenees and the Rhone, restricted to " a road 
 measured and marked by the Romans." 
 Polybius thus resumes the narrative — 
 
 c. 50. *Avvif3ag ^'ev 7]fJii^aiq ^lica — 7ro^^v%uq irapa rov 
 
 TTOTa/uLOv elg OKTaKoaiovq ara^iovQ, r]^^aro ti]q tt^oq 
 rag' AXtthq avapoXrjg, 
 
 " Hannibal, after ten days, having marched 
 along the Rhone to the distance of 800 stadia, 
 began the ascent towards the Alps." 
 
 The historian here sums up the time and 
 distance passed by Hannibal on the banks of 
 the Rhone previous to his striking away from 
 that river towards the Alps. The 800 stadia, 
 or 100 M. p., is exactly the distance between 
 Tarascon and Valence ; and the ten days 
 seem to be composed of the four days' march 
 from Tarascon, added to six which we may 
 safely assign as the period of his stay among 
 the friendly barbarians. 
 
 In common with the other readers of Poly- 
 bius, I had always, until lately, believed that 
 this distance of 800 stadia along the Rhone, 
 ought to be measured north of its confluence 
 with the Isere, apparently for no better reason 
 
THE MARCH OF HANNIBAL. 45 
 
 than because it happens to be mentioned after 
 the notice of Hannibal's arrival at the Insula. 
 But there is nothing in Polybius that supports 
 such a notion ; and two reasons out of many- 
 will be sufficient to allege against it ; perhaps 
 after the first is stated, the second may be 
 deemed superfluous. 
 
 I. In the first place, the thing cannot he 
 done. There is no possibility, with any 
 rational result, to produce a march of 100 
 M. p. along the river, after Hannibal's arrival 
 upon the Isere. Those who carry the Car- 
 thaginians to the Cottian Alp, and explain 
 Trapa tov TrorajuLov as meaning the Isere, the 
 Drac, the Romanche, or the Arc, are evi- 
 dently forcing a meaning from the words, of 
 which they will not admit ; while those who 
 point towards the Graian Alp, allow them- 
 selves great latitude, in measuring the distance 
 along the river, for they make Hannibal turn 
 away from it at Vienne, about forty miles 
 only above the Isere, and are satisfied with 
 his approaching it again at Aouste, near the 
 foot of the Mont du Chat. 
 
 II. If the 100 M. p. " along the river" are 
 measured after Hannibal's arrival at the In- 
 sula, wherever they terminate, the Alps ought 
 to begin ; because 75 m. p. having already 
 
46 THE MARCH OF HANNIBAL. 
 
 been calculated between Roquemaure and the 
 Isere, the whole Polybian distance (175 m. p.) 
 between the passage of the Rhone and the 
 Alps would be completed. But instead of 
 meeting with the Alps, we meet with a battle, 
 and the capture of a town, which is com- 
 pletely at variance with Polybius, who places 
 these events at the interval of two days' march 
 from the foot of the Alps. For we shall find 
 that a halt of one day at the captured town, 
 and a subsequent march of two days, are 
 reckoned among the eighteen days counted be- 
 tween the said town and the plains of the Po ; 
 out of which eighteen days, fifteen* only are 
 allotted to the passage of the Alps. It follows, 
 therefore, that the fight with the Allobroges, 
 and the capture of their town, was at the dis- 
 tance of two days' march before the com- 
 mencement of the Alps. 
 
 I might add, that 100 m. p. in ten days — ten 
 miles a day only — would have been extraordi- 
 narily slow marching, and so utterly unlike 
 
 p. 115. * The Oxford authors are of opinion that we ought to 
 
 read eighteen instead of fifteen days, in Polyhius ; because 
 
 Tit Liv. ^^^^ them the fight with the Allobroges, and the first ascent 
 
 ^^^- of the Alps, are contemporaneous events. But Livy, who 
 
 here translates Polybius, supports the reading, "Quinto 
 
 decimo die alpibus superatis.'' 
 
THE MARCH OF HANNIBAL. #7 
 
 the rest of Hannibal's proceedings, that of 
 itself it is sufficient to create some suspicion 
 of an erroneous interpretation. 
 
 It is, then, from the banks of the Rhone, in 
 the vicinity of its confluence with the Isere, 
 that Hannibal, " after ten days, having march- 
 ed along the river to the distance of 800 
 stadia," began the ascent irpog Tag'^AXireig '' to- 
 wards the Alps" — not rwv 'AXttewv *' of the 
 Alps" — the first day's march would have car- 
 ried him to the banks of the Isere, and the 
 hostile territory of the Allobroges, separated 
 by the stream of that river only, lay before him. 
 It will now become necessary to watch his 
 progress with increased vigilance, and to ob- 
 serve in what degree the nature of the country 
 corresponds with the events recorded by Poly- 
 bius. If this part of the march should be 
 found treated too much in detail, it must be 
 remembered that the topography is new as 
 connected with Hannibal's operations, having 
 never yet been compared with the description 
 given in history ; while the author, convinced 
 of the truth of his theory, pleads guilty to the 
 justness of the remark, 
 
 " To observations we ourselves do make. 
 We grow more partial for the observer's sake." 
 
 The town of Valence, situated close upon 
 
48 THE MARCH OF HANNIBAL. 
 
 the left bank of the Rhone, lays clahn to an 
 antiquity as remote as almost any town in 
 France, but it has preserved scarce a single 
 relic of its original inhabitants ; all that I met 
 with were two insignificant bas-reliefs inserted 
 in the walls of the convent of the Soeurs 
 Grises : one of these marbles, probably a 
 sepulchral memorial, represents a male and 
 female figure, together with two children. 
 In the other fragment an arch is discoverable, 
 under which stand two men — one clad appa- 
 rently in the '' weeds of peace^" the other in 
 the " paludamentum" of war: under an ad- 
 joining arch is seen the figure of a soldier 
 seated, and leaning forward on his shield. 
 No inscription which might have recorded the 
 name of the Segalauni was to be heard of; but 
 Notice de as D'Auvillc obscrvcs, " Ptolemee indiquant 
 590^^^'^' T^alentia chez les Segalauni, entre Vienne 
 des Allohroges et les Tricastin% ne laisse 
 aucun doute sur I'emplacement de ce 
 peuple." 
 
 The distance of Valence from Tarascon 
 agrees so closely with the 100 m. p. " along 
 the river," of Poly bins, that no objection to it 
 on that ground can possibly be raised ; while 
 its position in front of the " Insula," being 
 the last town before arriving in that country, 
 and distant not five miles from the Port de 
 
THE MARCH OF HANNIBAL. 49 
 
 I'Isere, agrees most satisfactorily with the 
 words Trprjg Trjv and TTpoQ rjv, as used by Poly- 
 bius. At Valence, the road by which we 
 arrive from Tarascon, divides ; forming two 
 branches, between which we have now to 
 choose. 
 
 I. One branch continues its course at no 
 great distance from the bank of the Rhone, 
 passing the Isere, near the confluence of the 
 two rivers, over a splendid stone bridge, 
 nearly 200 yards in length, composed of seven 
 arches, of which the last on the northern ex- 
 tremity has never been finished, but remains 
 constructed of wood, to prevent the sacrifice 
 of a stone arch in the event of war : on the 
 southern side, the bridge is approached by a 
 causeway of considerable magnitude ; this 
 traverses a low tract of land, cultivated, al- 
 though the furious devastations of the Isere 
 do not always allow the poor inhabitants to 
 reap what they sow. The road continues 
 along the side of the Rhone without interrup- 
 tion until it reaches Lyons ; and being the 
 principal thoroughfare between Marseilles and 
 that city, is thronged with an endless succes- 
 sion of loaded waggons. 
 
 II. The other road from Valence, quitting 
 the neighbourhood of the Rhone, and taking 
 a north-easterly direction, broad and straight, 
 
50 THE MARCH OF HANNIBAL. 
 
 traverses a continued plain, interrupted only 
 by two curious winding hollows in its surface, 
 resembling the deserted beds of rivers. The 
 upper soil of this plain is a gravelly clay, con- 
 taining large boulders, of which the old bat- 
 tlemented walls and turrets of Valence are 
 constructed. The country is far from beauti- 
 ful, but well cultivated, and produces great 
 quantities of silk. At the Peage de Pizan9on, 
 opposite the town of Romans, the road comes 
 upon the Isere, rolling a very considerable 
 body of water between deep and steep banks 
 of sand and alluvium. 
 
 Between these two roads, both conducting 
 us to the " Insula," we have no difficulty in 
 deciding. The distance of 800 stadia, 100 
 M. p., Tra^a tov -irorafxov " along the river," 
 having expired at Valence, we must at that 
 town turn away from the Rhone, and, conse- 
 quently, take the road leading towards Ro- 
 mans, which not only quits the banks of the 
 river, but encourages us as presenting a most 
 obvious and direct approach towards the Alps. 
 The distance between Valence and Romans is 
 about ten miles. Hannibal would, therefore, 
 easily reach the Peage de Pizan9on from Va- 
 lence in a short day's march ; and it probably 
 cost him but little time to carry his army over 
 the Isere. The river is here about 140 yards 
 
THE MARCH OF HANNIBAL. 51 
 
 across. Plancus, in his letters to Cicero, 
 more than once boasts of his expedition in 
 throwing a bridge across the Isere in a single 
 day. " Itaque in Isara, flumine maximo, cic. Ep. ad 
 quod in finibus est Allobrogum, ponte uno die l-'^i*. 
 facto, exercitum a. d. quartum Idus Maii 
 traduxi." This was in the month of May, at 
 which season the waters of this river are ^»^ 
 at their greatest height. Polybius does not 
 inform us by what means the Carthaginians 
 contrived to effect their passage : but we may 
 argue from his silence that they encountered 
 no obstacle, and reached the opposite shore of 
 the " Insula" in safety. 
 
 It was at Romans, therefore, that Hannibal 
 entered upon the dreaded territory of the Al- 
 lobroges "gens,'* as Livy calls them, '* jam Tit. Li v. 
 
 xxi, 31. 
 
 inde nulla gallica gente opibus aut fama in- 
 ferior ;" from whom, when they at last sub- 
 mitted to the Roman arms, one hundred 
 years after the time of Hannibal, a Fabius 
 Maximus did not disdain to receive the 
 honourable appellation of Allobrogicus. They 
 must either have been remarkable for their 
 ferocity, or have from the beginning declared 
 their determination to oppose Hannibal, for 
 his army began to entertain apprehensions of 
 them even before it entered their territories. 
 Hannibal had now fairly invaded the " Insula.^ 
 
 E 2 
 
52 THE MARCH OF HANNIBAL. 
 
 Polyb.in. j^^^ (Tvv£J3rj fuLeyiaroig avrov rrepiireaeiv kiv^vvoiq. 
 
 " And it happened that very great dangers 
 befell him." 
 
 But not immediately, for Polybius goes on 
 to inform us that, 
 
 ecog fiev yap Iv roig ETrtTrcooic vcjav, airUyovro 
 TTavreQ avrCjv ot Kara jjLQpog -nyejULOveg tCjv AXXo- 
 f^jiyijjv, TO. /idv Tovg linreig ^e^ioreg, ra ^e rovg 
 TrapaTTc/HTrovTag (5apf3apovg. 
 
 *' As long as they (the Carthaginians) were 
 in the plains, all the chieftains of the Allo- 
 broges, in succession, kept aloof from them, 
 some fearing the cavalry, others the barbarians 
 who accompanied the army." 
 
 For some time, therefore, we are not to 
 expect to meet any mountains 5 and we shall 
 observe in the sequel how far an open country 
 answering that description will be found to 
 extend. 
 
 Leaving the old walls and battlements of 
 Romans behind us, we ascend to a wide ele- 
 vated plain, across which the road, broad, 
 direct, and lined on each side with mulberry 
 and walnut trees, stretches for about seven 
 miles as straight as an arrow towards the Poste 
 of Les Fauris. On looking back, the view to 
 the westward is bounded by the distant hazy 
 hills of the Viverais beyond the Rhone ; on 
 our right, on the opposite side of the Isere, a 
 
THE MARCH OF HANNIBAL. 53 
 
 fine range of limestone mountains takes a 
 course from south-west to north-east. We 
 see their sides, which form the boundary of 
 the low country in that direction, riven and 
 split into the most fantastic and picturesque 
 gorges, cliffs, and chasms, one of which, at Pont 
 en Royans, is a favourite resort of the Parisian 
 artists. A low range of undulating sand-hills, 
 forming a semicircular sweep from Romans to 
 Les Fauris, bounds the plain towards the 
 north. These hills, compared with the plain, 
 have a sterile aspect ; they are, nevertheless, 
 extensively cultivated, and the vine thrives in 
 many places along their sides. They are, in 
 fact, a part of the same range, which, at its 
 western extremity, near Tain, upon the Rhone, 
 after undergoing a change of soil, produces 
 the famous Vin de I'Ermitage ; and there an 
 acre of its slope sells for a thousand guineas. 
 These hills confine the view on the north, and 
 by approaching the Isere at Les Fauris, they 
 oblige the road to descend close to the river, 
 and to continue under their sandstone cliffs 
 and slopes until it emerges again, after passing 
 the stream of the Furand. We pass this tor- 
 rent, which, although generally a mere rivulet, 
 is sometimes a considerable river, by a ford. 
 Its waters, some years ago, carried away a 
 stone bridge, which has not yet been replaced. 
 
54 THE MARCH OF HANNIBAL. 
 
 The ruins of an ancient chateau, which once 
 defended the passage, are seen upon the 
 heights to the left. Many such old dilapidated 
 forts are scattered over this country once 
 tenanted by the powerful and turbulent Seig- 
 neurs of Dauphiny, the successors, and pro- 
 bably no bad representatives, of the Allobro- 
 gian chieftains of the days of Hannibal. 
 Rising from the bed of the Furand, we find 
 ourselves again upon a plain similar to the 
 last ; the sand-hills once more retire to the 
 left ; they are now more wooded, and many 
 houses are visible on their sides. On the 
 right, the plain through which the Isere flows, 
 in a bed too deep to admit of its being visible, 
 reaches to the foot of the lofty limestone 
 mountains of Sassenage, which we begin to 
 perceive we are approaching in an oblique 
 direction. The road again continues in a 
 perfectly straight line for some males, until it 
 reaches the little town of St. Marcellin, where 
 the sand-hills, having formed another semi- 
 circular sweep, again come in contact with it. 
 From the terrace above St. Marcellin, on the 
 north, near the chateau of Bellevue, we com- 
 mand a magnificent prospect — a plain on each 
 side of the town, traversed by our road, lies 
 to the west and east. In front is expanded 
 all the rich valley intermediate between us 
 
THE MARCH OF HANNIBAL. 55 
 
 and the Sassenage mountains ; these are now 
 so near that all their romantic crevices are 
 perfectly distinguishable, and are lighted up 
 to great advantage by an evening sun. The 
 most remarkable are, one towards Pont en 
 Royans before mentioned, and another at 
 Iseron, further to the east. Between the two, 
 overhanging a ravine, we see the ruins of the 
 ancient Castle of Beauvoir, once the residence 
 of the old Dauphins ; where, in 1385, Andre, 
 the infant heir of Humbert II., the last of 
 the Dauphins, came to some doubtful and un- 
 timely end. The little inn of St. Marcellin, 
 Le petit Paris, enjoys the distinction of being 
 noticed by the ** Hermite en Provence :" 
 the talkative old landlord, Vhistorien des 
 vignes de Vlsere^ appears to have been 
 gathered unto his fathers, but his cellar and 
 good cheer survive in great perfection ; and 
 mine hostess makes amends for the unpro- 
 mising exterior of her mansion by supplying 
 her guests with excellent beds. After tra- 
 versing another plain upon quitting St. Mar- 
 cellin, we again meet the sand-hills, and are 
 near enough to the Isere to see it flowing in 
 a deep channel at their base : their slopes are 
 a mixture of cultivation and coppices of 
 Spanish chesnut. We descend again at the 
 mill of Tesche \ the plain now assumes a very 
 
56 THE MARCH OF HANNIBAL. 
 
 luxuriant aspect, and is well protected on the 
 north by the sand-hills, which are here com- 
 pletely covered with a rich clothing of vines. 
 In the middle of the plain stands Vinay, at 
 the extremity Lalbenc. We now commence 
 an ascent winding between the hills, which 
 undulate agreeably, and are covered with 
 brushwood. Among them, in a little elevated 
 plain, the village of Chantese is prettily 
 situated. Ascending again, we find ourselves 
 considerably above the Isere and its plain. 
 Connected with the sand-hills on which we 
 are, and at no great distance on the right of 
 our road, we may observe low blocks of lime- 
 stone appearing in several places, remarkable 
 as beino' detached from the massive ranere of 
 
 'to 
 
 range 
 
 that rock on the other side of the Isere. Just 
 before we commence the descent of these hills, 
 and about a quarter of an hour before reach- 
 ing Tullins, at the inn of Morette, we come 
 upon a fine bold "boutdu monde," presenting 
 a magnificent prospect. A plain of extraor- 
 dinary fertility lies below us ; the hills on 
 which we stand forming a semicircular bend 
 to the north, are connected at their eastern 
 extremity with the fine craggy mountains of 
 the Grande Chartreuse, which rise imme- 
 diately in front of us to the eastward. Those 
 of Sassenage on our right are nearer and more 
 
THE MARCH OF HANNIBAL. 5^ 
 
 magnificent than ever ; and the Isere, in a 
 wide straggling current, is seen emerging 
 from the jaws of its valley at Voreppe. Near 
 this town the precipices of the Sassenage and 
 the cliffs of the Grande Chartreuse lock so 
 closely, that the entrance of the valley leading 
 to Grenoble is, in some lights, absolutely in- 
 distinguishable, and we are at a loss to know 
 whence the river can possibly come. Tullins 
 is nearly at the bottom of the descent ; the 
 adjacent country is some of the richest of all 
 the rich vale of Gresivaudan ; a proverb 
 exists, *' Si le Dauphine etait un Mouton 
 Tullins en serait le rognon." Through this 
 luxuriant tract we continue until we arrive at 
 Moirans. Moirans is the ancient Morginnum, 
 and is thus noticed by D'Anville : — " On Notice de 
 trouve ce lieu dans la Table Theodosienne sur p. 465. 
 la route de Vienne a Cularo ou Grenoble — et 
 la distance a Tegard de Cularo est marquee 
 XIIII. Cetle distance est tres-convenable 
 entre Grenoble et Moirans selon la mesure 
 du mille comme on ne pent se dispenser de 
 I'employer dans I'etendue de la Province Ro- 
 maine, et le nom de Moirans conserve encore 
 du rapport a la denomination qui donne la 
 Table. Dans les titres du Dauphine ce nom 
 est Moirencum, et il n'est pas encore hors 
 
58 THE MARCH OF HANNIBAL. 
 
 d'usage d'ecrire Moirenc." This is the first 
 town since leaving* Valence that is noticed by 
 any Roman writer, or in any of the Itinera- 
 ries. No doubt, however, can be entertained 
 of a road having- existed from the earliest 
 periods, and kept the very line we now travel. 
 Along this line are seated the towns of Ro- 
 mans, St. Marcellin, Vinay, Lalbenc, and 
 Tullins, and have so existed immemorially ; 
 while the wrecks of numerous old castles, 
 destined for the defence or plunder of the 
 country, point out this as the principal line of 
 communication. 
 
 At Moirans we are almost at the extremity 
 of the plains. In less than an hour from it we 
 find ourselves immediately under an abrupt 
 escarpment of limestone rocks, which extend- 
 ing from Voreppe upon the Isere to St. Genix 
 upon the Rhone, completely shut up the " In- 
 sula" on the east with a natural wall of pre- 
 cipices, well described by Polybius as 
 
 iii. 49. ^9V ^vcnrpoaoca Kai cvat/j,poXay Kai c^eoov, tog 
 
 kireiVf aTTpoGira, 
 
 ** Mountains hard of approach and ascent, 
 and almost, one might say, inaccessible." 
 
 These are the mountains, in the heart of 
 which, at a great elevation, encircled by 
 rocks, forests^ and waterfalls of the most 
 
THE MARCH OF HANNIBAL. 59 
 
 terrific grandeur, stands the famous monastery 
 of the Grande Chartreuse. 
 
 " Del rigido Brunon segreta stanza." 
 
 Those awful mountain solitudes where the 
 imagination of Gray discovered the haunt of 
 the *' Spirit of the Fell." 
 
 " Non leve 
 Nativa nam certe fluenta 
 Numen habet, veteresque sylvas, 
 Prsesentiorem et conspicimus Deum 
 Per invias rupes, fera per juga, 
 Clivosque preeruptos, sonantes 
 
 Inter aquas, nemorumque noctem." 
 
 At the foot of these mountains, the plains, 
 such as I have described them, come to an 
 end. These were the plains traversed by 
 the Carthaginians under the escort of the 
 friendly barbarians. It must have been at 
 Moirans that this people took leave of Han- 
 nibal ; by venturing to accompany him farther 
 into the narrow valley of the Isere, they 
 might have compromised the security of their 
 march homewards. Moirans may be about 
 thirty-two miles from Romans — two easy 
 days' march. St. Marcellin, which is exactly 
 half-way, was perhaps the spot, then some 
 Allobrogian village, at which the army halted 
 during the night. 
 
60 THE MARCH OF HANNIBAL. 
 
 The chieftains* of the Allobroges Kara 
 ^£^oc, ** in detail," had hitherto offered no in- 
 terruption to the march of the Carthaginians ; 
 but we now find them collecting together a 
 sufficient force, and projecting a combined 
 attack upon Hannibal, to be made at a certain 
 part of the road farther on, where the nature 
 of the ground afforded them peculiar advan- 
 tages. 
 50. kurelSri ^'^Keivoi /ulIv H£ ttjv oiKciav aTnyXXayijcav^ oi 
 
 ^£ irepi Tov AvvijSav rip^avTO Trpoayeiv Eig rag 
 SvcT'^wpiag, Tore (Tvva^poiG^hrcg ol rCjv AWofSpiyMv 
 rjyeij.ovegy Ikuvov ro TrXiiSfoc, 7rpoKarcXa(5ovro rovg kv 
 Kaipovg roTTOvg, oi wv £0£i rovg Tr^pi rov Avvipav 
 Kar avayKtjv Troieicr^ai ri}v avaj3o\riv. 
 
 " But when they (the friendly barbarians) 
 turned back to their own country, and Han- 
 nibal's people began to approach the difficult 
 places, then the chieftains of the Allobroges, 
 collecting together a sufficient number, pre- 
 
 Polyb. ii. * These Allobrogian chieftains were probably the heads 
 ^' . of separate clans. We find the Cisalpine Gauls prided 
 15. themselves on the number of followers they could retain, 
 
 ch! xi'ii. * CJsesar tells the same of the Gauls in general ; and Tacitus 
 in like manner describes the sort of clanship that existed in 
 Germany. This state of society is, in fact, common to all 
 barbarous nations. It is justly remarked by Gibbon, that 
 *' many of those institutions, refeiTed by an easy solution 
 to the feudal system, are derived from the Celtic bar- 
 barians.'' 
 
THE MARCH OF HANNIBAL. 6l 
 
 occupied the advantageous positions, through 
 which it was absolutely necessary for Han- 
 nibal's men to make a passage." 
 
 We shall discover, as we proceed, where 
 these ^ucr^wjotat and ^vKaipoi TOTToi are to be 
 found ; in the mean time, it is only necessary 
 to remark, that the words kut dvajKr^v imply 
 but one single pass, through which alone the 
 march could possibly be effected. This would 
 clearly be the case if an army had got into the 
 valley of the Isere, on the southern side of 
 the ** Insula," by Voreppe ; whereas, from 
 St. Genix, at the northern extremity of the 
 mountainous range, the Mont du Chat, the 
 Montague de I'Epine, and the Aiguebellette, 
 each offer roads much alike in point of 
 practicability, and consequently the words 
 Kar dvayKTiv are inapplicable to any one of 
 them. 
 
 To proceed — Polybius informs us, that had 
 the enemy but kept their intentions secret, 
 they must infallibly have destroyed the Car- 
 thaginian army ; but, as their design became 
 apparent, although they did great injury to 
 Hannibal, they suffered no less severely them- 
 selves in return. 
 
 TvovQ yap o dTpaTi^yog rtjv Kap-^rjdoviwv, on 
 irpOKare^ovaiv ot (5ap(5apoi rovg tvKaipovg roTrovg, 
 
62 THE MARCH OF HANNIBAL. 
 
 avTog /LLev fcaracTTparoTre^eutrac irpog tcllq vireppoXaig, 
 
 €7r£/X£V£. 
 
 " But the general of the Carthaginians, 
 knowing that the barbarians were pre-occu- 
 pying the advantageous positions, remained 
 himself encamped in front of the heights." 
 
 It is quite impossible to hesitate for a mo- 
 ment in perceiving that this place of Hanni- 
 bal's encampment, wpog raig vTrepf^oXaig, was at 
 Moirans, or in its immediate vicinity. It is so 
 clearly ''just in front of the heights" of the 
 Grande Chartreuse, and so ostensible a situa- 
 tion for a halt, while the plans of the enemy 
 in advance were investigated, that no doubt 
 can be entertained upon the subject. Voreppe 
 is almost too much within the entrance of the 
 valley to come under the definition of npog 
 Tuig v7rep(3o\aigy ** in front of," or " before the 
 heights." Moirans stands upon a knoll, sur- 
 rounded by a plain of uncommon fertility, 
 with a stream of water flowing by its side, 
 and presents every convenience for the stay 
 of an army. 
 
 Hannibal, therefore, remained himself en- 
 camped at Moirans. 
 
 c. 50. 7r^O£7r£^i//£ ^e rivag twv Ka^rjyov/uievtJV avToig 
 
 raXarwv, X^P^^ ^^^ KaTa(TKe\pa(T^ai ttiv tljv vir^vav 
 tI(i)V kirivoiav, kcli ttjv oXrjv vTro^eaiv, 
 
THE MARCH OF HANNIBAL. " 63 
 
 " But he sent forward some of the Gauls, 
 who acted as their guides, for the purpose of 
 discovering the resolution of the enemy, and 
 the whole design." 
 
 These were the Gauls from the plains of Tit- ^^^' 
 
 ^ XXI. 32. 
 
 the Po, who accompanied the army, and are 
 described by Livy as " baud sane multum 
 lingua moribusque abhorrent es." They must 
 have had some means of ingratiating them- 
 selves with the Allobroges, for it appears their 
 mission succeeded. 
 
 wv TTpa^avTUJV to avvra'^evy kiriyvovq o arpa- Polyb. iii. 
 TTfyogy OTi rag /iikv rj/uLepag fTrt^eXwc irapevraKTOvai 
 Kai Ttipovcn Tovg Toirovg oi TToXejULioiy rag ^e vvKvag 
 Hg Tiva 7rapaKHfxavr}v iroXiv aTraXXarrovrat' npog 
 TavTr}v Trjv VTTo^etnv apfxoCofiivog^ (TvveaTricFaro 
 TToa^iv TOiavTrjv. 
 
 '' These men having executed what was 
 enjoined, the general, informed that the 
 enemy carefully guarded and watched the 
 positions every day, but retired every night to 
 an adjacent town, arranging his plans to meet 
 this design, determined upon the following 
 mode of action." 
 
 Putting his army in motion, 7rpor)yev efKjtavwg^ 
 ** he advanced openly." 
 
 Soon after leaving Moirans, we come in 
 face of the valley, up which we gain an insight 
 to a considerable distance. The detached and 
 
64 
 
 THE MARCH OF HANNIBAL. 
 
 abrupt mountain which overhangs the village 
 of La Buiserade, about a mile from the gates 
 of Grenoble, forms the last and most conspi- 
 cuous object on the left. At Voreppe the 
 valley is entered, lying in all its beauty and 
 richness between arid walls of precipitous 
 mountains. We pass the village of Fontanils, 
 with its enormous masses of limestone, fallen 
 in former ages from the cliffs above. We 
 look up the ravine formed by the torrent of 
 the Tenaison ; in the middle of which rises a 
 mountain peaked with a pinnacle of rock in a 
 most remarkable manner ; through this open- 
 ing ascends the road to the village of Sapey, 
 one of the approaches to the Grande Char- 
 treuse. We now arrive immediately under 
 the towering precipice of the mountain above 
 La Buiserade. Winding round the foot of 
 this stupendous crag, we meet in both the 
 country and the road so remarkable a change 
 as to demand very particular notice. The 
 plain now lies entirely on the opposite, the 
 left bank of the Isere, which, while it turns 
 the angle formed by the southern point of the 
 Grande Chartreuse mountains, flows imme- 
 diately at their base. A steep talus, composed 
 of the wreck and rubbish of the rocks above, 
 extends from La Buiserade on the west, to La 
 Trorche on the east of Grenoble. About the 
 
THE MARCH OF HANNIBAL. 65 
 
 middle of this talus a ridge of the rock itself 
 bearing the name of Mont Rachais descends 
 quite to the Isere, and forms the cliffs over- 
 hanging the river. By the Mont Rachais, 
 which is, as it were, the citadel of the city, 
 Grenoble is concealed from our view ; but 
 two forts, one the old Tower of Rabot, stand- 
 ing near the edge of the cliffs ; the other, far 
 higher, called the Bastille, are very conspi- 
 cuous. The 7nodern road, after rising from 
 La Buiserade to St. Martin-le-Vinoux, sinks 
 again to the bank of the Isere, and enters 
 Grenoble by the Porte de France, imme- 
 diately under the cliffs, where the space be- 
 tween the rock and the river cannot exceed 
 fifty feet. The ancient road, still perfectly 
 distinguishable, turned more to the left, and 
 passing along the talus, now covered with 
 vines and fruit-trees, reached the heights of 
 Mont Rachais near Fort Rabot. Such is the 
 country, and such the objects we come upon 
 at La Buiserade. They will shortly require 
 some further examination ; but the first burst 
 of it all upon the view, is sufficient to show 
 that here, along these declivities and rocky 
 heights, are the ^vayjjj^iaiy through which the 
 Carthaginians had of necessity to pass ; there, 
 at the Bastile, are the cu/catpoi tottoi, ** the ad- 
 vantageous positions," commanding the road 
 
 F 
 
66 THE MARCH OF HANNIBAL. 
 
 across Mont Rachais, daily guarded by the Al- 
 lobroges ; and in Grenoble, the ancient Cularo, 
 we find, beyond all doubt, tlie " adjacent 
 town" to which they retired during the night. 
 But to return to Hannibal, who from 
 Moirans " advanced openly.'* 
 
 c. 50. J^^^ (TVVEyyL<jag raig Sutr^wptatc, ov jxaK^av T(ov 
 
 TToXe/uicov KarecTTpaTOTre^evae, 
 
 " And having drawn near to the difficult 
 places, he encamped at no great distance from 
 the enemy." 
 
 Whatever security we may have expe- 
 rienced in fixing upon Moirans as the place 
 of his last encampment, is nothing compared 
 with the certainty with which we now see 
 him taking up a position at La Buiserade. At 
 La Buiserade "the difficult places" begin, and 
 La Buiserade is " at no great distance" from 
 either ** the advantageous positions," or the 
 town occupied by the enemy. We derive ad- 
 ditional evidence from the succeeding sen- 
 tence : — 
 
 c. 50. Tiic ^£ vvKTog kiriyzvofikvriq, avvTo^ag ra irvpa 
 
 Kaieiv, TO jLiev nXeiov juiapog Trig dvva/metog avTOV 
 KaTeXiTTE* Tovg S* ETTiTrj^uoTciTOvg kv^LJVovg TTOiYiijagy 
 ^iriX^e TO. aT^va tyjv vvktu, Kai KaTE(T")(B TOvg viro tu)V 
 Tro\mi(i)V 7rpoKaTaXri(j)^lvTag Toirovg, aTTO/ce^w^r^/corwv 
 tu)V j3apf3ap(t)v /car a t^v dwri^Eiav ug rrjv ttoXiv, 
 
 " But the following night, having com- 
 
THE MARCH OF HANNIBAL. 67 
 
 manded the fires to be lighted, he left the 
 greater part of his forces there ; and having 
 caused the most proper men to arm themselves 
 lightly, he passed through the narrow places 
 during the night, and seized the positions de- 
 serted by the enemy ; the barbarians having, 
 according to custom, retired to the city." 
 
 From these words it would appear that the 
 Allobroges were not likely to have descended 
 from the heights until after they had observed 
 the fires burning in Hannibal's camp, and 
 were persuaded the Carthaginians were quietly 
 settled for the night. The position of the 
 encampment must therefore have been visible 
 from these heights. Now, La Buiserade is 
 the only situation along the valley, which, 
 without being upon "the difficult places" — 
 that is, upon the slope between the mountains 
 and the Isere above described — is discernible 
 from the heights of Mont Rachais. Every 
 thing, before arriving at La Buiserade, is com- 
 pletely concealed by that lofty mountain, 
 already mentioned as overhanging that vil- 
 lage. No doubt, then, can exist as to the 
 exact spot of this encampment. It was from 
 La Buiserade, therefore, that Hannibal with 
 some choice troops lightly armed, passing 
 along the road, narrow and difficult as it now 
 became, ascended Mont Rachais, and took 
 
 F 2 
 
68 THE MARCH OF HANNIBAL. 
 
 possession of the heights of the Bastille, while 
 the Allobroges were sleeping securely in their 
 town below. 
 
 Where was this town ? The exact position 
 of Grenoble, when in its earliest days it bore 
 the name of Cularo, has never been positively 
 ascertained. It is very certain that it stood 
 on the right bank of the Isere ; and the 
 quarter of the modern town still on that side 
 of the river, although a mere suburb, is always 
 looked upon as the most ancient portion of 
 the city. It is composed of one long street 
 between the river and the rock, bearing at 
 one extremity the name of St. Laurent, at the 
 other that of La Perri^re 5 between the two 
 is the ** Montee de Chalemont," (Scala 
 Montis,) by which a road ascended the heights 
 of Mont Rachais. It is scarcely possible that 
 so confined and inconvenient a situation, 
 pressed on one side by the river, on the other 
 by the rock, and exposed to inundations and 
 *' eboulemens," could ever have been the 
 scite of the ancient Cularo. La Tronche, a 
 little further eastward, presents a much more 
 probable position. At La Tronche there is a 
 rising ground, agreeably placed between the 
 plain and the talus of the mountains, chosen 
 by the citizens of Grenoble for the situation 
 of their villas : here, too, is a stream, and 
 
THE MARCH OF HANNIBAL. 69 
 
 here is the " Peage de la Tronche,"* the 
 ferry across the Isere, which has existed from 
 the earliest times. The modern city, with 
 the exception of St. Laurent and La Perriere, 
 is situated entirely on the left bank of the 
 river. It was first enlarged on that side by 
 the Emperors Diocletian and Maximian. 
 The road from Rome to Vienne passed 
 through the town, and the inscriptions placed 
 hj the Emperors over the gateways are still 
 upon record. That upon the Roman, or 
 Jovian gate, was thus worded — 
 
 DD. NN. IMP. C^S. CAIVS. AVRELIVS. DIO- 
 CLETIANVS. PIVS. FELIX. INVICTVS. AVG. ET. 
 IMP. C^S. MARCVS. AVRELIVS. MAXIMIANVS. 
 PIVS. FELIX. INVICTVS. AVG. MVRIS. CVLARO- 
 NENSIBVS. CVM. INTERIORIBVS. ^DIFICIIS. PRO- 
 VIDENTIA. SVA. INSTITVTIS. ATQVE. PERFECTIS. 
 PORTAM. ROMANAM. lOVIAM. VOCARI. IVSSE- 
 IIVNT. 
 
 * " Ce peage appartenait ancienneinent a lenipire. L'Em- 
 pereur Henri, par un acte date de Genes, du 16 Fevrier 
 1312, le ceda a Hiigues, Baron de Faucigny, qui le trans- 
 mit a Humbert II. Lorsque Humbert dota le convent de 
 Montfleury, il lui fit cession du peage de la Troncbe. Je 
 raconterai a ce sujet qu'en 1351, les dames de Montfleury 
 traiterent avec un marcband de fer de Moirans, nomme 
 Martin Roux. Elles decbarg^rent lui et ses successeurs 
 de tous droits de peage, a condition qu'on leur donnerait 
 cbaque annee un livre de poivre et un livre de gingembre." 
 — Hisioire de Grenoble, par M. Pilot, p. 282. 
 
70 THE MARCH OF HANNIBAL. 
 
 The inscription over tlie Vienne, or Her- 
 culean gate, was the same — substituting* only 
 J^iennensem Herculeam for Homanam loviam. 
 The Porta Romana, which long retained the 
 corrupt appellation of Porte Traine, was 
 pulled down in 1591, when the city was en- 
 larged by the famous Constable Lesdiguieres, 
 the hero of Dauphiny. The Porta Viennensis 
 existed as lately as the year 1804, when that 
 also was sacrificed. The road from Rome by 
 the Mont Genevre entered Grenoble at the 
 Porta Romana ; that from Vienne, the road 
 by which we have travelled since leaving 
 Moirans, descending Mont Rachais in front 
 of the convent of Sainte Marie-d'en-haut, 
 crossed the Isere somewhere near the present 
 Pont de Bois, and entered the town by the 
 Porta Viennensis. At the close of the fourth 
 century the Emperor Gratian altered the 
 name of Cularo into that of Gratianopolis, 
 and made it the seat of a bishoprick. It 
 would almost seem from the circumstance of 
 the bishoprick being established on the right 
 bank of the Isere, as if the city of Diocletian 
 was looked upon as nothing more than a mere 
 suburb.* But the most important benefits 
 
 * " La paroisse de St. Laurent, comme la plus ancienne de 
 la ville, jouissait anciennement du droit de piimaute. Son 
 clerge avant la revolution avait encore le pas sur celui des 
 autres eglises." — Id. p. 13. 
 
THE MARCH OF HANNIBAL. 71 
 
 received by Grenoble were through the hands 
 of the Constable Lesdiguieres. This cele- 
 brated man first provided for the defence of 
 the city by building the fort of the Bastille, 
 which he connected with the town below by 
 two walls ; these, diverging from the fort, 
 descend in a zigzag direction on each side of 
 Mont Rachais to the river — exactly in the 
 style of the walls of a Greek acropolis. An 
 old gateway, now blocked up, admitted the 
 Vienne road ; but this entrance was watched 
 by a strong guard placed in the adjoining fort 
 of Rabot.* Near this fort, at the edge of the 
 cliffs, we may still observe where the rocks 
 have been worn smooth by the traffic that was 
 formerly carried on along this road. It 
 would be tedious and unnecessary to attempt 
 an enumeration of the various works of Les- 
 diguieres at Grenoble, and in its neighbour- 
 hood. Two of them, however, are of im- 
 portance to our present inquiry, and ought 
 not to be omitted. Lesdiguieres protected 
 Grenoble from an enemy more dangerous 
 than even man. The city had been frequently 
 a victim to the most dreadful inundations. 
 The Isere, which traverses the town, and the 
 impetuous Drac, which anciently rolled close 
 
 * Fort Rabot was erected before the time of Lesdiguieres, 
 iu the year 1532. 
 
7^ THE MARCH OF HANNIBAL, 
 
 under the western ramparts, committed, on 
 several occasions recorded by history in both 
 verse and prose, such tremendous havoc as to 
 give rise to the prophecy of 
 
 ** Serpens et Draco devorabunt urbem," 
 
 a translation of which, in the patois of the 
 country, is still current — 
 
 " Lo Serpein et lo Dragon 
 Mettron Grenoblo en savon.'' 
 
 The Isere is now confined by handsome 
 quays, and is not more than ninety or one 
 hundred yards in breadth. Time, labour, 
 and art had in vain, before the days of Les- 
 diguieres, attempted to controul the fury of 
 the Drac. It was he who effectually completed 
 this great undertaking, and by carrying the 
 torrent in a new channel, fortified by power- 
 ful dams, threw it to such a distance from the 
 town, that it now falls harmless into the Isere, 
 opposite La Buiserade. His other work was 
 opening the road under the cliffs of Mont 
 Rachais. '* II y avait," says M. Pilot, p. 218, 
 ** au pied de ce rocher un passage appelle dans 
 les actes Malum passetum, qui appartenait au 
 chapitre de Saint Martin. La grande route 
 traversait encore a cette 6poque la hauteur de 
 Rabot. Du cote de la Tronche, il n'y avait 
 
THE MARCH OF HANNIBAL. 7^ 
 
 qu'un petit cliemin qui suivait le coteau 
 jusqu'au lieu appelM * le p6age.' " It was at 
 this spot, wliere, as I have before stated, there 
 cannot be even now an interval of more than 
 fifty feet, that Lesdiguieres constructed the 
 Porte de France. We now read the words 
 " Porte de France" in large characters over 
 the gateway. The following inscription, in 
 imitation of that of Diocletian, was washed 
 over in the time of the revolution : — 
 
 " Ludovicus XIIL Galliarum et Navarrse 
 rex, pius, felix, invictus, Gratianopoli Monte 
 aucta, ejusque muris, propugnaculis et in- 
 terioribus sedificiis providentia sua, et cura 
 Francisci Bonnse, ducis Digueriarum, paris et 
 Mareschalli Francise, proregis Delphinatus, 
 institutis atque perfectis, portam banc regiam 
 vocari jussit mdcxx." 
 
 In 1824 the French commenced the 
 construction of immense works at the fort 
 of the Bastille, which are now going on 
 with increased activity ; and which, when 
 completed, will render it nearly impreg- 
 nable. 
 
 From this hasty survey of the progressive 
 alterations and improvements of Grenoble, we 
 are enabled to collect that in the time of 
 Hannibal, 
 
74 THE MARCH OF HANNIBAL. 
 
 I. Cularo stood on the riglit bank of the 
 Isere, probably at, or near, La Tronche. 
 
 II. That the main road to it from La Buis- 
 erade led along the declivity above the Isere, 
 passed along* Mont Rachais near Fort Rabot, 
 descended near the convent of Sainte Marie- 
 d'en-haut, and continued along the declivity 
 on the other side as far as the " Peage de la 
 Tronche." 
 
 III. That the united currents of the Isere 
 and the Drac, then unrestrained as they were 
 afterwards by dams and quays, prevented the 
 existence of any safe path, perhaps of even the 
 Malum passetum^ below Mont Rachais. 
 
 IV. That the state of the plain at the con- 
 fluence of these two furious streams would 
 have frustrated any attempt on the part of 
 the Carthaginians to turn the positions of 
 Mont Rachais by crossing the rivers. 
 
 V. Lastly, we find the position of the Bas- 
 tille considered, both by Lesdiguieres and by 
 Marshal Soult, one of the utmost importance, 
 as commanding the passage. 
 
 We left Hannibal in possession of this ad- 
 vantageous position ; his army at La Buise- 
 rade at one end of the " difficult places j" the 
 Allobroges at the other near La Tronche. 
 It is now time to take up the words of Polybius. 
 
THE MARCH OF HANNIBAL. 75 
 
 Ov (TUjUjSavroc, Kai rrjc viuepag kTn-y&vojxivnQy oi c 51. 
 ^apf^apoi (Tw^eaaainevoi to yeyovogy rag julv o-pyag 
 aTrt<Trr\(jav Tr]q kiri^oXriQ. 
 
 *^ This being done, and the day having 
 come on, the barbarians, discovering what had 
 happened, refrained at first from an attack." 
 
 The *' adjacent town" must have been very 
 near the " advantageous positions," for the 
 AUobroges to have gone to it and from it 
 without difficulty, as well as to have allowed 
 of their discerning from below any occur- 
 rences that took place upon the heights. 
 Such is La Tronche in relation to the Bastille. 
 The elevation of this fort above the Isere may 
 be about 1,200 feet ; the ascent to it would 
 be easily accomplished in half an hour. One 
 of the principal objections to the Mont du 
 Chat, or to any other pass in that part of the 
 *' Insula," is the distance of the town, whe- 
 ther Chamb^ry, (Lemincum,) or Bourget, from 
 the summit of the pass. The AUobroges could 
 scarcely have got down from their positions in 
 the evening, before it would have been time 
 for them to re-ascend in the morning. 
 
 Mcra ^i TCLvray ^ewpovvrsgy to twv v7rotvyi(i)V c^ 51. 
 ttXtj^oc Kai Tovg linrEig dva'^epi^g eK/nr^pvofJiivovg Kai 
 juaKpwg Tag ^va'ywpiag, e^eKXri'^rjcrav vwo tov (TVfxpai- 
 vovTog, eQaTTTfcrSfai Tr\g Tropeiag, 
 
 *' After this, perceiving the numerous 
 
76 THE MARCH OF HANNIBAL. 
 
 beasts of burden and tbe cavalry defiling 
 throug-h the difficult places arduously and 
 protractedly, they were encouraged by the 
 opportunity to attack the line of march.'* 
 
 When the Carthaginian army broke up 
 from the encampment at La Buiserade, they 
 would first have to wind ** with toilsome 
 march their long array" along the shaggy 
 steep of the side of St. Martin-le-Vinoux, and 
 then to pass across the heights by Fort Rabot. 
 They would first have appeared to the Allo- 
 broges in a descent towards La Tronche. 
 The sight of a weak extended line of baggage- 
 mules, and horses, struggling along a narrow 
 path, with a precipice of 150 or 200 feet on 
 their right, offered too tempting an opportu- 
 nity to be resisted by the Allobroges. They 
 might have been farther encouraged by per- 
 ceiving that if Hannibal rushed down from 
 the heights to attack them, he could not avoid 
 falling upon his own people, and urging them 
 also towards the precipices ; and we shall 
 soon find that this consideration withheld for 
 awhile the Carthaginian general from hasten- 
 ing to the assistance of his men. 
 
 ^ 5^^ TovTOV ^l jEVOimivov, /cat Kara ttXhcj fisprj wpoa- 
 
 TTiGovruiv rtjv f^apj^apwv , ov^ oi>ra>c vtto twv av^ptov' 
 vjg VTTO ru)V tottwv^ irokvq iyiyvero (ji^opog rwv Kap^t}' 
 ^ovliov, Kai /j^uXiara twv 'tTrTrwv Kai rwv virotvyiwv' 
 
THE MARCH OF HANNIBAL. 77 
 
 ovarjQ yap ov fiovov (TTtvrjQ Kai Tpa-^aag ttjq irpotj- 
 j3oXrjQ, aWa Kai Kpr^imviodovg, airo iravroq Kivyifxaroq 
 KCLi iracrrig rapay^tg e(j)epeTO Kara tljv Kprjfxvwv ofnocre 
 Toig (fiOpTLOig, TToXXa rwv vrroZvyuov. 
 
 " This being done, (the attack upon the 
 march,) and the barbarians having charged in 
 many places, a great destruction of the Car- 
 thaginians, particularly of horses and beasts of 
 burden, took place ; not so much on account 
 of the enemy, as from the nature of the 
 ground, for the road was not only narrow 
 and rough, but also precipitous, so that upon 
 every agitation and each disturbance, many of 
 the beasts of burden, together with their loads, 
 were carried down the precipices.'^ 
 
 If, by the words Kara TrXetw ia,^pv9 we are to 
 understand that the attack was made in many 
 places at the same time, it becomes apparent 
 that the Allobroges must have extended 
 themselves along the left of the Cartha- 
 ginians ; that is, between the Carthaginians 
 and Hannibal ; and by charging them in many 
 places, they would force them all towards the 
 precipice. In the account of this pass we 
 
 find the words ra (rreva — ^vcr^Mpiai — (JTSvrig — 
 
 Tpa-^elag — Kpv/uLvtj^ovgy &c., all perfectly de- 
 scriptive of the country between La Buiserade 
 and La Tronche. Nothing implies the diffi- 
 culties attendant on any arduous ascent and 
 
73 THE MARCH OF HANNIBAL. 
 
 descent. Now in the Mont du Chat they 
 would have had to encounter as severe a 
 mountain for its elevation as anj to be met 
 with in the high Alps. Polybius tells us that 
 the wounded horses upon this occasion added 
 greatly to the confusion. 
 
 c, 51. Etc CL jSXettwv Avvif3ag, kul (rvWoyi^Ofjievog, wr; 
 
 ovce Toig ota^uyoudi rov kivcvvov e(JTi (T(OTr]pia, tov 
 <TKSvo(l>opiK6v ^ia(j)^apivTogy avaXaj3wv rovg irpoKara 
 (F^ovrag Tr]v vvKTa rag v7r£pj3o\ag, lopfxrjcre Trapa- 
 j3or]^r)(T(jtjv Toig rp iropiia TrpoajSaXXovaiv, 
 
 " Hannibal observing this, and reflecting 
 that even for those who escaped the danger 
 there would be no safety should the ' mate- 
 riel' perish, taking the men who during the 
 night had seized upon the heights, rushed to 
 the assistance of those who were prosecuting 
 the march." 
 
 From the heights of the Bastille, Hannibal 
 must have been an eye-witness of every thing 
 that passed ; but although well placed to pre- 
 vent the enemy from gaining a commanding 
 position, he was of no use to his own men at 
 the height of at least a thousand feet above 
 them. It was necessary, therefore, for him 
 to charge down the hill. 
 
 c. 51. Oif yevofiivov, iroXXol /i£V rwv iroK^fxiMv aTTwX- 
 
 \vvTO, ^la TO iroieia^ai rrjv £<j)0^ov f£ vTrep^i^itov tov 
 *Avvij3av, ovK ikaTTOvg 8f Kai twv i^lwv* o yap fcara 
 
THE MARCH OF HANNIBAL. 79 
 
 rriv TTOpeiav ^6pv(5oQ e^ a/i^oiv rjv^fro ^la Tijv twv 
 wpoeipviuivMV Kpavyriv Kai avfXirXoKriV , 
 
 " Which being done, many of the enemy 
 indeed perished, owing to HannibaVs making 
 the onset from the high ground, but not fewer 
 of his own men also — for the tumult along 
 the march was increased on both sides by the 
 shouts and shock of the above-mentioned 
 troops." 
 
 Two parties scuffling on the brink of a 
 precipice are both likely to be equally sufferers 
 from the impulse of a third party, with what- 
 ever friendly intention it might be meant to- 
 wards one only. The whole of this scene is 
 in perfect keeping with the nature of the 
 ground upon Mont Rachais. 
 
 'Ettci ^£ TOVQ iJ,ev irXUffTovg tHjv AWofSplyojv c. 51. 
 cnreKreivs, tovq ^e Xoiirovg TpEipa/uLevog rjvayKacre 
 ij>vy^iv kg ttiv oiKuav' tots, ^rj to julev stl TrepiXei 
 TTOfievov irXri'^og rwv VTro^vyiiov Kcii tCjv nnrwv fxoXig 
 Kai TaXaiTTuypiog ^irivve Tag ^va^^wpiag, AvTog ce 
 (Tvva^poKJag ocrovg r^^vvaTO TrXeiaTovg ek tov kiv^vvov, 
 7rpo<TEJ3aXe TTpog Trjv iroXiv, £$ v^ fTTOirjo-avro ttiv 
 opfxr\v oiiroXEfjiioi, 
 
 " But when he had killed the greater part of 
 the Allobroges, and, routing the rest, com- 
 pelled them to fly into their own country, 
 then, indeed, the remainder of the beasts of 
 burden and horses, painfully and laboriously 
 
80 
 
 THE MARCH OF HANNIBAL. 
 
 got through the difficult places ; but the 
 general himself, getting together as many men 
 as he could after the battle, pushed forward 
 towards the towm from which the enemy had 
 made their sally." 
 
 c. 51. KaraXa|3wv ^£ (Tj^e^ov eprijULOV, ^id to Travrag 
 
 £KK\r]^r)vai npOQ rag w^fXtiac eyKpaTrjg Ejevero rf;c 
 TroXeivg. ek ^e tovtov iroWd (tweJ^t} twv ^pr/al^wv 
 avT(v, Trpog te to napov Kai wpog to jlieXXov. 
 TrapavTiKa jjlIv yap EKOfxioaTO 7r\r]^og 'iTnrwv Kai 
 virotvyiiov f Kai twv afxa TovTOig EaXioKOTiiiv av^ptjv' 
 
 Eig §£ TO JHeWoV Ca-^E p.EV Kai (TITOV Kai ^pEjUfHaTlOV 
 ETTl ^VoIlV Kcil TpKTLV 7]fXEpaiC EVTTOpiav' TO ^E (TVVE^OV, 
 
 <j>6f3ov EipyaaaTO TOig Eirjg, irpog to prj ToXfxav clvtm 
 pa^iiog EyyEip^iv jurjcEva rwv wapaKEipEViov Tcng 
 avaj3oXaig. 
 
 " Having found it nearly empty, owing to 
 every man having been ordered forth for suc- 
 cour, he made himself master of the town ; 
 and from this circumstance many useful things 
 fell into his hands, both for the present and 
 the future, for he immediately recovered a 
 number of horses and beasts of burden, and 
 of men who had been captured together with 
 them ; and, for future use, he obtained an 
 abundance of corn and cattle for two or three 
 days' consumption ; above all, he struck such 
 terror into the natives thenceforward, that 
 none of those who dwelt about the ascent 
 
THE MARCH OF HANNIBAL. 81 
 
 of the mountains were bold enough to meddle 
 with him." 
 
 Such is the description of the capture of the 
 AUobrogian town by Hannibal ; and from such 
 a description, comparing it with the localities 
 of Grenoble, we at once recognize the fea- 
 tures of the scene of action. It is from descrip- 
 tion alone that we must draw our conclusions j 
 for it was not the practice of Poljbius to be- 
 wilder his readers with barbarous names, since 
 grown familiar to us, but then as unmeaning 
 to the ears of his Greek contemporaries as the 
 native appellations from the interior of Africa 
 or Australia now sound to ours. It is strange 
 that the memory of the transaction should 
 have faded away from Cularo so early as the 
 time of Livy — still stranger is it, that subse- 
 quent writers should in their investigations have 
 overlooked the extraordinary manner in which 
 Polybius's account coincides with the topo- 
 graphy of Grenoble ; which town must have 
 been known to lie directly in the road from 
 the " Insula" to Italy, whether Hannibal 
 passed by the Graian or the Cottian Alp. 
 
 The art of war in some respects remains 
 immutably the same in all ages : whatever 
 may be the improvements invented by man 
 for the destruction of his species ; and it is 
 curious to find Lesdiguieres, eighteen cen- 
 
 G 
 
204. 
 
 82: THE MARCH OF HANNIBAL. 
 
 turies after Hannibal, setting about the cap- 
 ture of Grenoble in a manner so similar to 
 the plan adopted by the Carthaginian general, 
 that it would be unpardonable to pass it by 
 unnoticed. Grenoble, at the time when this 
 occurred, 1589, was occupied by the partisans 
 of the League. Lesdiguieres, who was then 
 opposed to that faction, availing himself of 
 some meeting of Royalists at Voiron, near 
 Pilot, p. Moirans, ** S'y rendit avec douze cents 
 hommes, sous pretexte d'y maintenir le bon 
 ordre — son dessein etait de tenter ensuite un 
 entreprise sur Grenoble. La nuit du 24 au f25 
 Novembre s'etant avanc6 jusqu' a la Buiserade, 
 il envoy a le capitaine Bar du Cote de St. 
 Martin, et lui-meme le suivit de pr^s. Les 
 troupes ne rencontrerent point d'obstacles, 
 seulement en approchant de la tour de 
 Rabot, elles furent saisies d'une terreur pa- 
 nique, cependant elles reprirent courage, et 
 arriverent sans etre aper9ues au pied de la 
 maison ou les attendait I'ami du geolier," (the 
 Concierge des prisons, who had been bribed,) 
 *' elles descendirent dans la rue St. Laurent par 
 le moyen d'echelles," &c. 
 
 We here find Lesdiguieres advancing from 
 the vicinity of Moirans to La Buiserade ; then 
 halting, and during the night, unknown to the 
 enemy, passing along the Cote de St. Martin, 
 and ascending Mont Rachais, near Fort Rabot. 
 
THE MARCH OF HANNIBAL. B$ 
 
 All this is perfectly similar to the proceedings of 
 Hannibal ; but when upon Mont Racliais, the 
 Carthaginians had to turn up the heights on 
 the left, while the French general descended 
 the cliffs on the right by the help of ladders, 
 and was admitted into the town by a traitor. 
 The details of this enterprise of Lesdiguieres 
 might possibly add something to the resem- 
 blance : they might be found, perhaps, in the 
 history of his life by his secretary Videl ; but in 
 default of any extract from that book, which is 
 not easily attainable, the account of the old 
 author, Mezerai, may not be uninteresting. 
 
 " Le dessein reconnu, a fin de le mieux 
 couvrir, et de pouvoir s'approcher de Gre- 
 noble sans donner de la deffiance, il convoque 
 les Estats de la province a Voyron, et au 
 mesme temps fait venir douze cens hommes a 
 Moyranc. Comme toutes choses sont prestes 
 pour I'execution, il s'avance le soir avi fort de 
 Cornillon, saisit tous les passages pour em- 
 pescher Grenoble d'en avoir le veut, ordonne 
 a sa cavalerie de mettre pied a terre, et a ses 
 troupes de filer doucement par dessus le costau. 
 Enfin, il conduit si bien Tentreprises que ces 
 gens ayant passe sans etre apperceus par le 
 corps-de-guarde de la tour de Rabot, qui est 
 sur le costau, plantent six echelles par la maison 
 designee, descendent dans la rue," &c. 
 
 G 2 
 
34 THE MARCH OF HANNIBAL. 
 
 Polybius gives us no regular account of tlie 
 days between the departure of tlie Cartha- 
 ginian army from the position of its six days' 
 halt among the friendly tribe of Gauls, irpog 
 Trjv Nr)(rov, " in front of the island," and the 
 capture of the town of the Allobroges ; but it 
 may be fairly presumed that this interval oc- 
 cupied about eight days ; and an arrangement 
 in the following manner appears perfectly 
 consistent with the distance between Valence 
 and Grenoble : — 
 
 Time. 
 Days. M. p. 
 
 1 . The army moves from Valence to the Peage de ^ 
 
 Pizan(^on . . . . . > 1 1 
 
 2. Passage of the Isere. — The " Insula '^ is entered • ) 
 
 3. Advance to St. Marcellin . . .15 
 
 4. Advance to Morginnmn (Moirans.) Here the Sega- 
 
 launi take leave of the Carthaginians, and return 
 to Valence* . . . . . 15 
 
 5 and 6. Hannibal halts at Moirans, while his Gaul- 
 ish guides are sent forward to reconnoitre the 
 position and designs of the Allobroges 
 
 7. Advance to La Buiserade — during the night Han- ^ 14 
 
 nibal seizes the heights of the Bastille 
 
 8. Fight with the Allobroges and capture of their 
 
 town — Cularo — La Tronche, near Grenoble 
 
 56 
 
 * It is possible that the Scgalauni, to avoid any hostile 
 rencontre with the Allobroges during their march home- 
 
THE MARCH OF HANNIBAL. 85 
 
 We are now to enter upon a portion of tlie 
 march in which the days, with their events, 
 are very distinctly enumerated. They will 
 be found to amount to eighteen, from the cap- 
 ture of the town of the Allobroges to the 
 arrival of the Carthaginians on the plains of 
 the Po. Out of the eighteen, fifteen are 
 especially assigned by Polybius to the passage 
 of the Alps themselves. We are still, there- 
 fore, three days distant from the ava(5o\ri rwv 
 'AXTTfwv, " the first ascent of the Alps ;" and 
 out of these three days, the first was allotted 
 to a halt and repose in the captured town. 
 
 Tote aev ovv avTov Troirjaauevog rriv TrapeupoXriv, f.^^J^' 
 
 111. c. 52. 
 
 KCLi jLiiav eTTijiXHvag rjjLiEpaVy av^ig wpjua, 
 
 *' Then, indeed, having there made his 
 camp, and remained one day, he again set 
 forth.'' 
 
 While the Carthaginians halt at Cularo, it 
 may be worth while to take into considera- 
 tion the situation of Grenoble.* The view 
 
 wards, might have got across the Isere near Moirans ; and 
 being unencumbered with baggage, elephants, and horses, they 
 might have made their way to Valence along the left bank 
 of the Isere, under the Sassenage mountains. 
 
 * Grenoble and its environs present many interesting and 
 delightful objects to the traveller. The town contains a fine 
 library of 55,000 volumes, and a good museum of natural 
 history. The neighbourhood abounds in picturesque and 
 
S6 THE MARCH OF HANNIBAL, 
 
 from the heights of the Bastille is singularly 
 magnificent. My companion, Mr. Maude, 
 v^ho had visited every part of Switzerland, 
 declared it unrivalled by any thing he had 
 seen in that country. Three valleys con- 
 verge at this point; for the Isere, by chang- 
 ing its course from a south-easterly to a north- 
 westerly direction, may be said to form two, 
 while the Drac, coming from the south, opens 
 a third in front of us, remarkable for the 
 curious appearance of the insulated eminences, 
 the relics of mountains washed away, that rise 
 from its plain. The Sassenage heights on 
 the west, in undiminished grandeur, occupy 
 every thing between the Isere and the left 
 bank of the Drac ; while on the south-east a 
 long snowy sierra of ^Ips, forming the south- 
 ern side of the valley above Grenoble, extends 
 from the right bank of the Drac until it 
 
 luxuriant landscapes, and in various objects of curiosity, 
 such as plants, minerals, birds, and animals of all sorts, 
 found in the Alps. The monastery of the Grande Char- 
 treuse and the Caves, or " Cuves," of Sassenage, are ex- 
 tremely well worth visiting. The latter, which are reckoned 
 as one of the " seven sights of Dauphiny," are really curious. 
 The other six deser\'e the reproach of the epigram — 
 •' Merveilles du pays, dont on dlt taut de bien 
 Soit dans les vers, soit dans la prose ; 
 Vous etes un peu plus que rien, 
 Mais, a dire vrai, vous n'etes pas grande chose I" 
 
THE MARCH OF HANNIBAL. 87 
 
 seems to unite with the glaciers of the Mont 
 Blanc, which, at the distance of thirty leagues, 
 fills up the head of the valley with its solitary 
 form. 
 
 The view of the Alpine range on the south 
 side of the vale of Gresivaudan is particularly 
 interesting, because it completely explains what 
 at first is not very apparent ; namely, why 
 Polybius does not place the ava(3oXr} rwv ''AXttsmv, 
 *' the entrance," or " first ascent of the Alps," 
 at Voreppe. At Voreppe, we plunge among 
 the mountains, and enter the narrow valley 
 of the Isere, which will conduct us to almost 
 the very summit of the Alps. We may seek 
 in vain for a guide to the avaf3o\rj, " first as- 
 cent," among the various authors who have 
 written on the march of Hannibal, for no two 
 works are agreed upon the subject. The diffi- 
 culty in determining this place appears to arise 
 from there being no precise spot on this side 
 the Alps, which, from the self-evidence of its 
 position, can be immediately recognized as 
 the commencement, " the first ascent," of those 
 mountains. The whole country, from almost 
 the very banks of the RhSie, is mountainous, 
 and seems far and wide little else than the 
 roots of the Alps. Even the Jura itself, con- 
 nected as it is with the mountains of the 
 
88 THE MARCH OF HANNIBAL. 
 
 Grande Chartreuse, can without impropriety 
 be designated as a portion of 
 
 " The tract 
 Of homd mountains, which the shining Alps 
 Branch out stupendous into distant lands :" 
 
 and amid this chaos of hills, the precise mo- 
 ment at which we may be said to commence 
 the ascent of the Alps is not immediately 
 distinguishable. 
 
 The Alps — which are supposed to derive 
 their name from the Celtic " Alp," or Rhetic 
 ** Alv," signifying *' Albus," " white,''' — are, 
 properly speaking, the snowy range itself, in- 
 dependent of its various ramifications. This 
 range we clearly discern from the Bastille, 
 stretching along on the right of us, as we 
 ascend the valley of the Isere from Grenoble. 
 The mass of the Grande Chartreuse, on the 
 left, is totally detached and distinct from the 
 real Alps. We travel up the vale of Gresi- 
 vaudan along the base of the snowy moun- 
 tains ; but as yet have not turned in among 
 them, and commenced their ascent. We 
 know also from Polybius, that at Grenoble 
 (if Grenoble was the town captured by Hanni- 
 bal) we are still two days' march from the 
 ava(5o\ri ; and, when we have advanced that dis- 
 
THE MARCH OF HANNIBAL. 89 
 
 tance, we are to expect to meet the "first 
 ascent" of the Alps. 
 
 After one day's halt at the conquered town, 
 av^ig wp/na, says the historian, he again set 
 forth— 
 
 raig ^^f^rJc, f^^Xpi P-^v rivoq, a<T(paXiog ^irjye Trjv c. 52. 
 (TTpariav. 
 
 **And for some days successively, up to a 
 certain point, he led the army in safety." 
 
 Two roads, one on each side of the Isere, 
 lead from Grenoble up the vale of Gresivau- 
 dan. We may reasonably conclude that Han- 
 nibal continued along the right bank, for on 
 that side stood the ancient Cularo ; no mention 
 is made of his having crossed the river. The 
 road on that side is now, and probably always 
 was, the one most usually travelled ; the posts 
 are mounted along it ; and this side of the 
 valley, enjoying a southern exposure under the 
 vertical abutments of the Grande Chartreuse 
 mountains, is richer and drier than the oppo- 
 site, where there are more trees, streams, and 
 meadows — now, indeed, under the manage- 
 ment and control of art and labour, but in 
 earlier ages not unlikely to have been forests, 
 torrents, and marshes. We roll along the 
 post-road through this glorious vale, and meet 
 no obstacle in the shape of hills until we 
 arrive at the village of La Buissiere, lying at 
 
90 THE MARCH OF HANNIBAL. 
 
 the foot of the heights of Fort Barraux — a 
 very remarkahle geographical position, accom- 
 panied by such changes in the state and as- 
 pect of the country, as to require particular 
 attention. We are now almost at the end of 
 the vale of Gresivaudan. Here we encoun- 
 ter " the first ascent f and a little farther, at 
 Mont Meillan is a valley leading through the 
 snowy range, the real Alps themselves. The 
 Isere hereabouts ceases to be navigable. Even 
 man seems to have acknowledged a line of 
 demarcation drawn by nature, for here are 
 the marches of France and Savoy. The nu- 
 merous old fortresses assembled here, once 
 frowning defiance at each other from all quar- 
 ters, are not unworthy of remark. Saint 
 Joire and Mont Meillan are now a heap of 
 ruins. Les Marches, rising finely in a bold 
 position, is become a private residence. Belle- 
 combe, once the "clavis et custodia regni 
 Delphini," is dismantled. Fort Barraux alone, 
 won by Lesdiguieres for Henri IV., is still 
 kept up and garrisoned. On the other side 
 of the Isere, at Pontcharra, we see the re- 
 mains of Avalon, a hunting seat of the old 
 Dauphins, the birthplace of Hugh de Wells, 
 Bishop of Lincoln, the chancellor of King 
 John of England. Above all, Grignan, the 
 patrimonial residence of the " Chevalier sans 
 
THE MARCH OF HANNIBAL. 91 
 
 peur et sans reproche," deserves a visit for the 
 sake of the fine prospect it commands, if not 
 for the sake of its hero. Fortune, by casting 
 the nativity of Bayard here, upon the very 
 frontiers of France, seemed to have destined 
 him from his cradle for the post of honour. 
 His memory is worshipped throughout Dau- 
 phiny ; but the respect it commands has not 
 been sufficient to preserve his castle from the 
 universal destruction of the Revolution. The 
 room, however, in which he is said to have 
 been born still exists, and the pencilling on 
 the walls shows it to be a place of pilgrimage. 
 Among the memoranda there, a few lines 
 traced by the hand of the unfortunate Ame- 
 dee de Bourmont, who soon after fell at 
 Algiers, are not without interest. From the 
 terrace of the old courtyard of Grignan, we 
 have a splendid prospect, beginning at the 
 lower extremity of the vale of Gresivaudan 
 near Grenoble, sweeping across the cliffs of 
 the Isere to Fort Barraux, and thence along 
 the valley towards Chambery. 
 
 It is singular, that in some of the best maps 
 there is laid down a road, apparently of some 
 magnitude, from La Buissiere to Mont Meil- 
 lan, passing, it would seem, under Fort Bar- 
 raux close along the bank of the Isere. No 
 such road, or at least nothing more than the 
 
92 THE MARCH OF HANNIBAL. 
 
 merest lane, exists in that direction j still less 
 likely is it that one was there in former ages, 
 before the low country was cleared and 
 drained as much as it now is. The Isere runs 
 immediately under the heights of Fort Bar- 
 raux, which it forms into cliffs, compelling the 
 road to ascend at once the hills near the Fort, 
 and to approach Mont Meillan by way of 
 Chapereillan. This is the '* first ascent" we 
 have encountered ; and associated with the 
 changes in the country above mentioned, and 
 its distance, which begins to be about two 
 days' march from Grenoble, it is sufficient to 
 induce us to conjecture that we must be at or 
 near the ava(3oXr}. To ascertain this, it is ne- 
 cessary to have recourse to the distances given 
 by Polybius. If La Buissiere is the avajSoX^, 
 it ought to be 
 
 I. First, 1400 stadia, 175 m. p. from Taras- 
 con. 
 
 II. Secondly, nearly 1200 stadia, 150 m. p. 
 from the plains of the Po. 
 
 Tried by these tests, and not found want- 
 ing. La Buissiere may be reasonably set down 
 as the spot sought for. 
 
 I. 1400 stadia, or 1^5 Roman miles, from 
 Tarascon. Out of this distance, one hundred 
 miles have been already exhausted between 
 Tarascon and Valence : the distance therefore 
 
THE MARCH OF HANNIBAL. 93 
 
 between Valence and La Biiissiere ought to 
 be 75 miles. Two modes of computing dis- 
 tances prevail in this country : one by the 
 posts, as established by government ; the 
 other, more common, by " lieues du pays." — 
 We will try them both. 
 
 First, there are between Valence and Cha- 
 pereillan 161 postes, which at the common 
 rate of 5 m. p. to the poste, will give 82| m. p. 
 But Chapereillan is 4 J miles beyond La Buis- 
 siere ; deducting that distance, we have 7^ 
 M. p. left, and may safely refer the super- 
 abundant three miles to the practice of over- 
 rating the post distances. 
 
 Secondly, there are between Valence and 
 Fort Barraux SI *' lieues du pays." These 
 " lieues" are rather vague ; sometimes they 
 are *' fortes," sometimes " petites." I made 
 constant inquiries as to what a "lieue du 
 pays" was, and received three explanations — 
 that it was " plus forte qu'une lieue de poste ;" 
 that it was " a peu pr6s trois milles d' Italic ;" 
 and that it was as much as a man could walk 
 in an hour. A messenger on foot, despatched 
 by some gentlemen at Crest (Drome) with a 
 commission to Grenoble, told me he had per- 
 formed the distance between Romans and St. 
 Marcellin, four lieues du pays, easily in four 
 hours. Having walked by the side of this 
 
94 THE MARCH OF HANNIBAL. 
 
 man for some time, I am certain his ordinary- 
 pace did not exceed 3| English miles per hour. 
 From this, and other observations in accomplish- 
 ing the distances, 3h English miles may be taken 
 as a fair average for a lieue du pays. At this 
 rate, the 21 lieues du pays between Valence 
 and Fort Barraux, would give 7^1 English 
 miles ; deducting the mile between La Buis- 
 siere and Fort Barraux, and adding 5 miles, 
 the necessary augmentation to convert them 
 into Roman miles, we have 77J m. p., which 
 differs, but not very materially, from the Poly- 
 bian distance. 
 
 II. Whatever uncertainty we may expe- 
 rience as to the ava(5oXrj Th)v ''AXttcwv ou the 
 Gallic side of the Graian Alp, we labour 
 under none as to the commencement of the 
 plains on the Italian side of the mountains. 
 The rock of Donas, very near the village of 
 St. Martin, at which the ingenious authors of 
 the Dissertation fix the commencement of the 
 plains, is one of the most remarkable places 
 in the whole march. At Donas, the valley 
 of the Doria Baltea contracts so much, that 
 the river originally must have had to force a 
 passage for itself. Ancient and modern po- 
 tentates have contributed their efforts to form 
 and enlarge a road for man. We have an 
 opportunity of comparing the works of Au- 
 
THE MARCH OF HANNIBAL. 
 
 95 
 
 gustus with those of the Duke of Savoy. 
 The rock has been cut away by the Romans, 
 who have shaped a portion of it into a millia- 
 rium in the form of a pilaster, and into an 
 arch extending across the road. The Roman 
 work is finished off with the chisel, and left 
 upright and smooth as a wall ; but the mo- 
 dern system of blasting with gunpowder gives 
 a shaggy and unfinished aspect to the more 
 recent improvements. Emerging from this 
 remarkable pass, we seem at once extricated 
 from the Alps, and enter upon the plains of 
 Italy. The town of Ivrea, anciently Epore- 
 dia, stands in the plains ; but being at no great 
 distance from Donas, and a place noticed as 
 a station in the Itineraries, it may suit our 
 purpose to commence from it a calculation of 
 the distance towards the ascent of the heights 
 of Fort Barraux at La Buissiere. 
 
 From Eporedia (Ivrea) to Vitriciura (Veires) 
 
 Augusta prsetoria ( Aosta) 
 
 Arebrigium (Pre St. Didier) 
 
 Artolica (La Tuille) 
 
 Alpis Graia (Little St. Bernard) 
 
 Bergintrum (St. Maurice) . 
 Axima (Ayme) . 
 Darantasia (Salins) 
 Ad Publicanos (L'Hopital) 
 Mantala( ?) 
 
 M. P. 
 
 21 
 
 25 
 
 25 
 
 6 
 
 6 
 
 11 
 9 
 10 
 16 
 16 
 
 83 
 
 62 
 
 145 
 
96 THE MARCH OF HANNIBAL. 
 
 We have here a distance of 145 m. p. be- 
 tween Ivrea and Mantala, which is supposed 
 to have been at or near St. Pierre d'Albigny : 
 from these 145 m. p. we mnst deduct the dis- 
 tance between Ivrea and Donas, and add that 
 between Mantala and La Buissiere, which is 
 somewhat greater, thus making 146 or 147 
 M. p. from La Buissiere to the plains of Italy. 
 
 The difference between these measurements 
 and the Poly hi an distances is, an excess be- 
 tween Tarascon and La Buissiere, and a de- 
 falcation between La Buissiere and Donas. 
 Such a result we may be justified in expect- 
 ing, from the expressions of Polybius. Of 
 the first distance he speaks positively — yikioi 
 T£rpaK6(noi — 1,400 stadia, or 175 miles, mean- 
 ing the J'ull distance ; but of the next he says, 
 IIEFI y^iXiovg ^laKOGiovQ — nearly 1,200 stadia, 
 150 M. p. ; and in this we need not expect 
 the whole distance. Thus, then, the measure- 
 ments are completed sufficiently within the 
 letter of the law of Polybius. 
 
 M. p. 
 
 From Tarascon to La Buissiere, under Fort 
 
 Barraux 175 full. 
 
 From La Buissiere to Donas . . .150 nearly. 
 
 With these distances thus determined, and 
 with the undeviating concurrence we have 
 
THE MARCH OF HANNIBAL. 97 
 
 hitherto found between the description of the 
 country in Polybius and its actual state at pre- 
 sent, we gain confidence as we advance, and 
 feel a conviction that we are clearly following 
 the traces of the Carthaginian army. But at 
 Fort Barraux I take leave of Hannibal, satis- 
 fied if, by accompanying him so far, the least 
 assistance towards an explanation of his won- 
 derful expedition has been in any way afforded. 
 His road now enters the Alps themselves : 
 the fine valley of the Tarentaise, opening at 
 Mont Meillan, lies close before him, directly 
 leading to the foot of the Graian Alp. The 
 remainder of the march has been so amply 
 illustrated by the Oxford authors, that no one 
 can read their work and wish for any thing 
 more, than to visit in person the curious 
 scenes it describes. 
 
 It may be worth while, however, to subjoin 
 a scheme of the journal of Polybius, dating 
 from the capture of Cularo, arranged accord- 
 ing to days and distances, in the best shape it 
 appears to me capable of assuming. The time 
 and distances are absolute, and sufficiently 
 satisfactory ; the places assigned as the proba- 
 ble termination of each day's march are of 
 course often conjectural. 
 
 H 
 
m 
 
 THE MARCH OF HANNIBAL. 
 
 March of Hannibal from Grenoble to the plains of the 
 Po at Donas, arranged in days according to the text of 
 Polybius. 
 
 Distance. 
 
 Cularo 
 (Grenoble) 
 to La Buis- 
 'siere, 
 
 M. P. 
 
 22 
 
 Time. 
 Day. 
 L paV einiieivuQ TJfie'pav, "halting for one 
 day" at Grenoble. 
 
 2. avdiQ ojpjLia, "he set forth again." Ad- 
 
 vances to Lumbin, where the post, divid- 
 ing the distance, is now established. 
 
 3. Advance to Chapereillan. 
 
 (The ascent of the Alps is begun.) 
 
 4. For some time he led his army in safety ,*n 
 
 but 
 
 ^Sr} he Teraprdioq lau, dvdig etc KivhvyovQ 
 
 TrapeyeVero fxeydXavQ. 
 
 " But now on the fourth day, he again 
 
 approached great dangers. '* 6i yap irepl 
 
 TTjv hiodoy oiKovvreq. " For the people 
 
 who dwelt round about the pass" — the 
 
 Centrones — plotting treachery, came out 
 
 to meet him under the semblance of/J°j^'^°P^ 
 
 friendship. 
 
 Halt at Freterive. 
 
 5. Advance ad Publicanos — to L'Hopital — a 
 
 short day's march. Halt and parley with 
 the Centrones. The territories of the Al- 
 lobroges and Centrones were divided at 
 Conflans, or L'Hopital, by the river Arly. 
 TToXvV fxev -xpovov rjvXaPeLTO. "He 
 hesitated a long while." 
 
 La Buis- 
 siere ad 
 Publicanos 
 
 32 
 
THE MARCH OF HANNIBAL, 
 
 99 
 
 Day 
 
 Brought forward 
 
 6. After reflecting that he could gain nothing 
 
 by delay, he accepted hostages, and con- 
 tinued the march in company with some 
 of the Centrones as guides. ■/. y ~ 
 Advance to B orgintrum, ul.Maui ' i«i€ 
 
 7. TTpoTTopevofjievMv ^'dvru)v eirl dvo r\p,epai<;. 
 
 " Having nrpceeded for two days," on^^lns, 
 the secotiaaay, they reach Aiiimtt; Ay m c . 
 
 8. ffvyaOpOLfrdeyrec 6i Tzpocipi^^evoi, kcll av- 
 
 paKoXovdi'jtTayreQf eiriTidevTat, ^dpayya 
 Tira hvajf^aToy kcll Kprj^voihr} nepatovfxevwv 
 dvTwv. 
 
 " The above-mentioned people, collect- 
 ing together, and pursuing, (the Cartha- 
 ginians,) set upon them, as they were 
 going through a certain difficult and pre- 
 cipitous ravine/' ^'^ * 
 
 Here they narrowly escaped total de- 
 struction. A battle ensued : Hannibal, 
 with half his forces, was obliged to scale 
 the rocks, and keep guard, while the rest 
 of the troops and the baggage, marching 
 all night, passed the defile. 
 hiiiQ iv oXi] Ty vvKTt rdvTa jioXiq e^ejjirj- 
 pij<xa TO T^Q ^(apadpaQ. 
 " While that part of the army, during 
 the whole night, with difficulty got 
 through the ravine." 
 
 9. T^ B i'7ravptov....7rporj'Ye Tzpoqrdc VTvepfioXdg 
 
 rdiQ dviordTU) T(jiv" A\'ir€ii)v ^l^vvaTaioq 
 
 Ze ^lavvaaq eic tuq vTrepjooXdc. 
 " The next day he reached the very 
 highest part of the passage of the Alps 
 — having gained the summit (of the Lit- 
 tle St. Bernard) on the ninth day. 
 * See Note, p. 109. 
 
 Distance. 
 M. P. 
 
 32 
 
 1^ 
 
 .w /t 
 
 ^ 
 
 c, 52. 
 
 
 c. 53. 
 
 c. 53. 
 
 H 
 
 78 
 2 
 
100 THE MARCH OF HANNIBAL. 
 
 Day. Distance. 
 
 M. P. 
 Brought forward .... 78 
 
 c. 53. 10 & 11. dvTov KaT€(rrpaT07reBeva€f kul Bvo 
 
 yfiepuQ Trpoaefietve. 
 
 " He there encamped, and remained for 
 two days."^^^* There was already a good 
 deal of snow upon the higher parts, ^id 
 
 c. 54. rd avvdiTTeiv ti]v ttjq HXeid^og Bvaip — " as 
 
 it was ahout the time of the setting of the 
 Pleiades." ^'^^ 
 
 c. 54. 12. ry ^'eiravpiov avai^ev^aq, ev^p\eTO rrjq 
 
 Kara^dtreioQ. 
 
 " The next day, breaking up the en- 
 campment, he commenced the descent." 
 Proceed to ArtoUca, (la Tuille,) where 
 an impediment in the road prevented any 
 further advance ^^^ . . . 6 
 
 g^ 55^ iffTparoTrehevffe izepl rtjv pd')(Lv. 
 
 *' He encamped near the precipice." 
 
 13. Repairs of the road carried on actively — 
 
 enough was effected in one day to admit 
 of a part of the army descending to Are- 
 brigium (Pre St. Didier.) 
 ^ gg^ rote ftev Zvv viro'CvyioiQ Kat toiq ''nnrotq 
 
 iKavrjv €7roiri<T€. 
 
 *' In one day he made a passage suffi- 
 cient for the beasts of burden and the 
 horses." 
 
 14. Repairs of the road continue. 
 
 15. Repairs of the road completed — the ele- 
 
 phants descend to Arebrigium (Pre St. % 
 Didier) . . . • • 6 
 
 90 
 
 * See Notes, page 110, &c. 
 
THE MARCH OF HANNIBAL. 
 
 101 
 
 Day. 
 
 Brought forward .... 
 
 yaye rd drjpla. 
 
 " With difficuUy in three days, having 
 suffered a good deal, he got the elephants 
 through. ^^^* 
 
 16. 'Aw//3ac ^e, (Twadpoiaan ofxov irdaav rrjv 
 
 hvvafXLV, Kare/Satve. 
 
 " But Hannibal, having got all his 
 forces together, continued the descent" — 
 from Arebrigium, (Pre St. Didier.) 
 
 17. March continued. 
 
 18. TpiTOLiOQ ctTTO T(t)V TrpoetprjjJieviov Kprjfxvujy 
 
 Biavvffag, ijxparo riav cTriTre^wy. 
 " On the third day after the above- 
 mentioned precipices, (at La Tuille,) 
 having completed the passage, he touched 
 the plains." 
 
 Having accomplished r?)v tIov" AXirewv 
 v7r€p(3oXrjy i^fxepaig irevre kcli ^efca, 
 main pass of the Alps mffteen days. 
 
 Distance. 
 
 M. P. 
 
 90 
 
 C.55. 
 
 C.56. 
 
 c. 56. 
 
 57 
 
 c.56. 
 
 147 
 
 And now Kari^^i^ roX^i^pwc ac ra Trspi tov ^* ^^* 
 ITaoov irecia, Kai to tCjv 'laofi^pwv i^^voq, 
 
 *' He descended fearlessly into the plains 
 about the Po, and the nation of the Insu- 
 brians." 
 
 With these words Polybius closes the ac- 
 count of the march : and the mention of the 
 
 * See Note, page 112. 
 
102 THE MARCIf OF HANNIBAL. 
 
 Insubrian Gauls is justly advanced as one of 
 the strongest proofs that Hannibal crossed the 
 Graian Alp, and descended the valley of the 
 Salassi, for that valley debouches into the 
 plains of the Po in the identical country occu- 
 pied formerly by that people ; whereas, the 
 valleys of the Cottian Alp — those of Perosa 
 and Susa — descend upon the country of the 
 Taurini. Some fresh evidence may be gleaned 
 from the other words, rd Trspl t6v Ua^ov wed la, 
 so frequently mentioned as the part of Italy 
 in which the Carthaginians were first to 
 arrive. 
 
 Polybius, in describing the course of the 
 
 Po, says it turns towards the east, when it 
 
 ii. c. 16. reaches the plains — a<piK6fxevoQ d'eig rovg cttitteSouc 
 
 roTTOuc, EKKXlvag rw pLvfxari npog eu), (piperai di avrtLv 
 — " reaching the plains, it flows through 
 them, inclining with its stream towards the 
 east." If by these words we are to under- 
 stand that the river has not arrived at the 
 plains, until it takes an easterly direction, it 
 is clear that the plains, in Polybius's estima- 
 tion, are not anywhere at the foot of the Cot- 
 tian Alp, but that they are near the foot of 
 the Graian Alp, because a little before re- 
 ceiving the Dora Baltea, which flows from 
 that Alp, the Po begins to turn to the east- 
 ward. The Po, according to Polybius, rises at 
 
THE MARCH OF HANNIBAL. 103 
 
 the apex of the triangle,* to which he likens the 
 shape of Northern Italy — that is, it rises at 
 the junction of the Alps and the Apennines. 
 " Thence," he says, " it flows down towards 
 the plains, taking its course as if towards the 
 south.'' These words are astounding — be- 
 cause most certainly the Po " rolls its infant 
 stream" towards the north. Surely, instead 
 
 of Ljg £17 1 fxzar]fx^Qiav , we OUght to read, wc CLTTO 
 
 lj,E(Trjlj,(5piag ; although even this alteration 
 would not convey a perfectly satisfactory 
 meaning. 
 
 The complete development of the route of 
 Hannibal, a geographical problem of 2,000 
 years standing, was for ages considered hope- 
 less. The component parts of the puzzle, 
 time, space, roads, rivers, and mountains, 
 seemed jumbled together in inexplicable con- 
 fusion. In our Latin guide, the narrative was 
 at variance with its authorities and with 
 itself. In our Greek guide, 
 
 " Pure description held the place of names." 
 
 But within these few years a line of march 
 
 * The apex of this figure is in the neighbourhood of the 
 Col d'Argentiere. Pliny, and all subsequent geographers, 
 have assigned the birth of the Po to Monte Viso, selecting 
 the highest mountain for that pui-pose. Polybius, by follow- 
 ing the stream which has the longest course, the Maira, is 
 perhaps the most correct. 
 
104 THE MARCH OF HANNIBAL. 
 
 has been pointed out, supported by sound 
 reasoning, and in perfect accordance with the 
 tale as told by its faithful and almost contem- 
 porary historian. If, in adding any new matter, 
 such as the place of the passage of the Rhone 
 at Tarascon* — the propriety of measuring "the 
 800 stadia along the river," previous to the 
 passage of the Isere — the march of the army 
 by way of Cularo, and the capture of that 
 town — and, lastly, if by thus obtaining a 
 closer approximation to the Polybian dis- 
 tances, and a complete correspondence with 
 time throughout the march, this treatise may 
 be considered as having at all assisted in un- 
 ravelling the mystery, the object of its author 
 is accomplished. 
 
 * The author has evidently not seen the little work 
 alluded to in the note page 21. — Ed. 
 
105 
 
 BATTLE OF THE TICINUS. 
 
 I SHALL avail myself of the precedent af- 
 forded by M. Deluc's example, in appending 
 to the March of Hannibal a few observations 
 upon the site of the Battle of the Ticinus. 
 
 The descent of the Carthaginians into Italy, 
 and the capture of Turin, ttjv j^apyrarrtv noXiv, c. eo. 
 " an exceedingly strong town," after three 
 days' siege, were followed by the rencontre 
 with Scipio in the engagement which bears 
 the name of the Battle of the Ticinus ; and 
 which, no doubt, was fought at no great dis- 
 tance from that river. With regard to the 
 precise scene of action, almost as much con- 
 tention exists respecting it, as about the pas- 
 sage of the Alps themselves ; and yet the ac- 
 count we have in Polybius scarcely justifies 
 such perplexity. 
 
 The hostile forces are represented as ad- 
 vancing both along the Po ; Hannibal from 
 the neighbourhood of Turin, and Scipio from 
 
106 THE MARCH OF HANNIBAL. 
 
 that of Cremona,* both eager for the fight. 
 The Roman, upon reaching the Ticinus, con- 
 structed a bridge and carried his army across. 
 The battle took place after both parties had 
 advanced a little farther, 
 c. 65. Trporlyov a/mcporepoi wapa tov TTOTafxoVy eK tov irpoq 
 
 raq' AXttuq fxkpovq, '^yovr^q ev^jw/ixov fxkv oi Pwjuatot, 
 ^e^iov ^£ TOV povv 01 Kap^r/Soviot. 
 
 * We have no information as to where Scipio crossed the 
 Po. Livy makes him land at Genoa, when he hastened 
 back from the mouth of the Rhone upon discovering that 
 Hannibal was in full march towards the Graian Alp. In 
 this case, he would have crossed the Po at Placentia. But 
 Polybius, our best authority, expressly informs us more than 
 once that he landed at Pisa, and passed from thence 
 "through Tyrrhenia," or "through Italy." In this case, 
 which was for the purpose of taking up the troops stationed 
 at Ariminum (Rimini) or Modena, engaged in watching 
 the Boii, he would have gone from Pisa to Arezzo, and 
 thence across the Apennines to Rimini, through the Sal- 
 Tit. Liv. pinian tribe, by a road near the sources of the Tyber and 
 2i^&c^* ^^® Arno, not unfrequently used by the Romans. He 
 would then have to cross the Po between Modena and Cre- 
 mona; for the country between Modena and Placentia was 
 at that time considered impracticable on account of its 
 marshes — the marshes through which Hannibal carried his 
 army the ensuing spring, according to Dr. Cramer, who has 
 most satisfactorily elucidated this point in his work upon the 
 geogTaphy of ancient Italy — an invaluable book to the 1 ta- 
 lian traveller. But whether Scipio crossed the Po at Cre- 
 mona or Placentia is of little moment ; in either case, he 
 would have been advancing straight upon the Ticinus, in 
 the neighbourhood of Pavia. 
 
THE MARCH OF HANNIBAL. 107 
 
 " They both advanced along the river, upon 
 the parts towards the Alps, the Romans hav- 
 ing the stream on their left, the Carthaginians 
 with it on their right." 
 
 The difficulty arises from these words being 
 usually applied to the Ticinus ; which cer- 
 tainly, although at a considerable interval, had 
 been the last river mentioned. We are con- 
 fused with the side of a river described as 
 ** towards the Alps," while the river itself, in 
 a course at a right angle from the Alps, pre- 
 sents neither side towards those mountains ; 
 and we are surprised at discovering Scipio 
 and Hannibal, who had been approaching one 
 from the east and the other from the west, 
 along the Po, now suddenly in situations north 
 and south of each other upon the Ticinus, 
 But if we might understand irapa t6v HoTa^ov, 
 as applied to the nobler river, — to the Po* — 
 of which frequent mention had been made 
 already, whereas the Ticinus is only alluded 
 to in connexion with its bridge, which by being 
 broken down, afterwards stopped Hannibal 
 in his pursuit of Scipio, then the mists disap- 
 pear, the prospect brightens. 
 
 * Just as the Rhone is called Trorafxoy (ill. c. 50.) al- 
 though the Isere had been the river last named. 
 
108 THE MARCH OF HANNIBAL. 
 
 Adspice ! namqiie omnem, quae nunc obducta tuenti 
 Mortales hebetat visus tibi, et humida circum 
 Caligat, nubem ereptam. 
 
 We now clearly discover the armies along the 
 Po "on the side towards the Alps." The 
 Romans, of course, with the stream on their 
 left — the Carthaginians with it to their right 
 — along the most direct road by which, in 
 their mutual eagerness to engage, they would 
 naturally have sought a meeting. 
 
 The above explanation seems satisfactory ; 
 but in addition it may be observed, that Poly- 
 bius, on the only occasion where he refers to 
 this action, does not call it the " Battle of the 
 Ticinus," but the " Battle near the Po." 
 
 Polyb. rriV TTEpl TOV IIAAON KoXoVfXEVOV TTOTa/ULOV ITTTTO- 
 
 Keliq. X. , 
 
 Such at least were the conclusions which 
 followed a hasty examination of this country 
 in 1820. Should the political state of Italy 
 (which seems at present almost disposed to 
 threaten the traveller with an opportunity of 
 witnessing some modern warfare, rather than 
 allowing him peaceably to investigate the topo- 
 graphy of ancient battles,) admit of any future 
 examination of the country, it is possible that 
 a more attentive inspection may lead to some 
 better remarks. 
 
NOTE S. 
 
 yj^ Note 1, page 99. 
 
 The valley between Ay me and the foot of the Little 
 St. Bernard becomes confined and rugged ; and con-esponds 
 completely with the pass described by Polybius, where 
 Hannibal was set upon by the mountaineers, and so nar- 
 rowly escaped total destruction. Here, too, is the famous 
 XevKoTrerpov, upon which so much has been built. The 
 genius of the Greek language does not require that irept ri 
 XevKOTTCTpov should be translated absolutely " upon a white 
 rock." It might equally signify " silice in nuda,'' — " upon 
 a bare rock," — without the necessity of its being " white." 
 But to find a white gypsum rock, really called the " roche 
 blanche," at or near the very spot where Polybius speaks of 
 a XevKOTrerpov, is too tempting a coincidence to be resigned 
 without a struggle; and even to throw a doubt upon it 
 might appear inhuman. It must be acknowledged also, 
 that TTcpl TL XevKOTrerpoy oxvpov does seem really to allude 
 to some 07ie particular " commanding bare rock." In order 
 to protect effectually the passage of the army, Hannibal 
 must have either occupied the rocks on both sides of the 
 defile, or taken possession of some one rock which alone 
 commanded the pass, and from which the enemy might 
 have particularly harassed him. Now, to have occupied 
 the " roche blanche" by itself, would seem to have been 
 scarcely sufiicient, because each side of the valley there 
 
 ^ ^^^^ y^^-^ ^-^^ ^ -^ '^I^ - ^^ 
 
110 NOTES. 
 
 presents an equal facility of attack. But there is a rock 
 about half-way between Aynie and St. Maurice, a very re- 
 markable one, descending perjjendicularly into the road 
 from the north side of the valley, from which a very small 
 body of men might interrupt the march of a whole army. 
 
 Note 2, fage 100. 
 
 * The picturesque circumstance of Hannibal standing 
 upon the summit of the Alps, and animating the drooping 
 spirits of the Carthaginians by showing them the plains of 
 Italy, has long been dwelt upon as the most remarkable 
 feature in the whole story, and a triumphant argument 
 against the Little St. Bernard, from which the plains of 
 Italy are not discernible. We have been repeatedly as- 
 sured that they are not visible from any alpine pass, not 
 even from the Grand St. Bernard, at a much greater ele- 
 vation than its minor namesake. To every traveller (ex- 
 cepting one, who blessed with poetic vision. 
 
 And placed on high, above the storm's career. 
 Looks downward, where an hundred realms appear,) 
 
 this is perfectly intelligible, because he well knows the 
 sinuosities of the Alpine valleys, and how uniformly the 
 highest part of any mountain pass, is only a gorge sur- 
 rounded by higher summits. But the words of Polybius do 
 not convey any positive assertion that Hannibal either saw or 
 showed the plains of the Po. We are told, that finding his 
 troops discouraged, he endeavoured to cheer them by means 
 C.54. of one thing, Ti\v rrjq 'IraXiaq ivdpyeLav, the '^evidence," or 
 
 " positive certainty of Italy." For, adds Polybius, it so lies 
 under the mountains, that crvvdewpovjuevujv diicpoiv, "looking 
 upon them both together," the mountains appear to be a 
 sort of acropolis to the whole of Italy. Whereupon, 
 ev^eiKvvfievoQ avroLq rd Trepi rov Wdcov ireZia, " indicating 
 
NOTES. Ill 
 
 to them the plains of the Po," reminding them of the per- 
 fectly fiiendly disposition of the Gauls who dwelt there ; and 
 at the same time, rdy rrJQ 'Pw'p/c dvrfJQ tottov vTrodeiKvvojy, "i* ^- ^^' 
 " describing to them the situation of Rome itself," he suc- 
 ceeded in reviving their courage. There is nothing more in 
 this, then, than Hannibal made a speech to his troops, ex- 
 plaining to them in a general way the nature of Italy; upon 
 the acropolis of which, as it were, they were then placed. 
 He described first the plains of the Po, just below them, in- 
 habited by their allies ; and then the position of Rome 
 itself. In the previous speeches at New Cai-thage, and on 
 the Rhone, he had used the same ai'guments, which Poly- 
 bius records much in the same manner. It is worthy of 
 remark, perhaps, that if a sight of Italy had been necessary 
 to revive the spirits of the army, and the plains of the Po 
 had really been visible, there would have been no occasion 
 for Hannibal to call an assembly, and point out what must 
 have been apparent to the eyes of every man in the army. 
 
 Note 3, page 100. 
 
 Absconduntur autem (Vergilise) altero et trigessimo die 
 post autumnale equinoctium, quod fere conficitur nono Cal. 
 Octobris." — Columel, ii. 8. 
 
 The difference in the time of the achronical setting of 
 the Pleiades between the period of Hannibal or Polybius, 
 and that of Columella, would not be considerable. 
 
 Note 4, page 100. 
 
 The situation and nature of this impediment in the 
 road form one of the most curious and convincing circum- 
 stances in the whole march. In the extract from De 
 Saussure, so opportunely brought forward by M. Deluc, the 
 historian of the Alps uses almost the very words of the 
 historian of Hannibal ; and yet it is probable that nothing 
 
1 IS NOTES. 
 
 was farther from the mind of the philosopher than the work 
 of Polybius. 
 
 Note 5, page 101. 
 
 Some importance has been attached to the circumstance 
 of elephants' bones and teeth having been found in some of 
 the alpine streams; but the discovery of these remains 
 seems very unauthenticated. The geological nature of the 
 SQiTounding mountains renders the discovery of any fossils 
 of this sort among the higher Alps very unlikely. It does 
 not, however, appear from Polybius that any of Hannibal's 
 elephants perished in crossing the Alps, although they 
 suffered much from want of browse. The death of the 
 elephants, all except one, is recorded to have occurred in 
 consequence of the severe snow-storm and frost at the time 
 iii. c. 74. of the battle of the Trebia. The elephants employed by the 
 iii^'c 46. Carthaginians came from India — so, at least, we may infer 
 Reliq. xi. from the circumstance of their cornacks, or attendants, 
 having been Indians. The Indian elephant was the best 
 fighter. In a battle between Antiochus and Ptolemy Philo- 
 pater, a party of Indian elephants overthrew a body of 
 African elephants, which could not endure the smell, the 
 sound, the size, and the strength of their Asiatic adversaries 
 These two distinct species of elephants seem to have escaped 
 the discrimination of Linnaeus, but they have been recog- 
 nized by Cuvier under the names of the Elephas Indicus, 
 and Elephas Capensis. Had Hannibal's elephants been 
 natives of Africa, and any of their grinders been discovered, 
 they might have been identified with some degree of cer- 
 tainty; but as being of the Indian breed, their grinders 
 would stand a chance of being confounded with those of the 
 fossil elephant. For in the fossil elephant the lineaments of 
 the crown of the grinders are distinguished by wavy lines, 
 formed by parallel perpendicular laminse, which is also the 
 
 C. 1. 
 
 V, c 
 
NOTES. 113 
 
 case with the Asiatic elephant now existing ; whereas, in the 
 existing African elephant, the lineaments are rhomboidal, or 
 lozenge shaped. The only good authority for HannibaPs 
 losing any of these animals during his march is that of Mr* 
 Rogers, who kills an elephant among the Alps in a manner 
 so animated and vividly descriptive, as almost to make us 
 eye-witnesses, and able of ourselves to vouch for the fact. 
 
 . . . . " Great was the tumult there. 
 Deafening the din, when in barbaric pomp 
 The Carthaginian, on his march to Rome, 
 Entered their fastnesses — trampling the snows. 
 The war-horse reared — and the towered elephant 
 Upturned his trunk into the murky sky. 
 Then tumbled headlong, swallowed up and lost 
 He and his rider. — Now the scene is changed. 
 And o'er the Simplon, o'er the Splugen winds 
 A path of pleasure." 
 
 Italy, p. 30. 
 
 THE END. 
 
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