66. On the other hand, there is Livy’s statement that the tributary river was the Saône, contradicting his own statement about Hannibal’s turning to the left, and also contradicting the statements of Polybios about the length of Hannibal’s march. But why should Livy contradict himself and also contradict Polybios, whom he usually follows word for word? My suggestion is that he took “Scôras” in Polybios for Saucona or a variant of that name, and called the tributary the Saône without considering what that implied. The error would not be striking, if Hasdrubal went that way, as people would confuse his route with Hannibal’s.
67. There is really nothing in the argument that Hannibal would not venture to march along the Durance as the Romans might attack him on the flank. In the first place, there were no Romans there. As soon as Scipio found he was too late to defend the crossing of the Rhone, he went straight back to the coast, re-embarked his army, and sailed off: he was not ashore for more than about a week—see paragraph 41. In the second place, Hannibal had no reason to fear the Romans. He was in superior force, and could have crushed Scipio then as easily as he crushed him at the Trebia two months later on, but he did not want to fight just then, as he saw that victories in Provence would not produce the same effect at Rome as victories in Italy itself: see paragraph 13.
68. Supposing that Hannibal followed the Durance to some point near Embrun, one wonders why he did not follow it to its source at Mont Genèvre and cross that easy pass. But the summit of the pass is less than ten miles from the river, and Polybios says that Hannibal took nine days in going from the river to the summit—Livy says nine days from the Durance. Nine days, I think, are not inconsistent with the distance from the Durance at Mont Dauphin to the Col de la Traversette, or from the Durance at La Bréole to the Col d’Argentière; see paragraphs 46, 47. I think Mont Dauphin the more likely point, partly because Hannibal would have to go through the territory of the Tricorii (as Livy says he did) in order to reach it, but not to reach La Bréole; and partly because there is only a mountain torrent (the Guil) coming down the valley there, but a river (the Ubaye) coming down the valley at La Bréole, and Polybios might regard a march along the Ubaye as a march along “the river.”
69. Whatever pass it was that Hannibal crossed, the summit must have commanded a wide view of the plain of the Po, else he would not have made his speech there. There is such a view from the Col de la Traversette, but not from the summit of the Mont Genèvre pass or from the Col d’Argentière; or in fact from any other pass southward of the Little Mont Cenis and the adjacent Col du Clapier. And those two passes are unlikely, as Hannibal had no motive for going so far north.
70. The points that I have mentioned hitherto are only details of the route, and are subordinate to one main point affecting the entire route. The autumn was advancing; and it was a matter of life or death for Hannibal to complete his march before the snows had made the Alps impassable. He would therefore take the very shortest route with no more digression than was really needed for getting supplies or avoiding Scipio’s army during the week it was ashore. And the shortest routes are by the Col de la Traversette and the Col d’Argentière.
* * * * *
71. On questions of this sort no certainty can be attained, but I think the balance of probability inclines to some such route as I suggest for Hannibal. The earliest Roman road from Spain to Italy crossed the Rhone at Tarascon and crossed the Durance at (or near) Cavaillon, and then followed the Durance to its source on the pass of Mont Genèvre. I think that Hannibal took this route from Spain as far as Tarascon, but instead of going straight across country (as the road did) from Tarascon to Cavaillon, he followed the Rhone to its confluence with the Durance and then followed the Durance to Cavaillon or somewhere near there. Then he went out of his way, going a little to the north, either to avoid Scipio or obtain supplies; but he returned to the Durance somewhere near Mirabeau and followed it as far as Mont Dauphin—but not as far as Mont Genèvre, for that was Pompey’s pass, and Pompey’s was a different pass from Hannibal’s. Leaving the Durance at Mont Dauphin, he went up the valley of the Guil, seized the gorge below the Château de Queyras on the second night and camped near Ville Vieille on the third and fourth nights; camped near Aiguilles on the fifth night, near La Monta on the sixth and somewhere above Les Chalps on the seventh; went astray into a gorge next day, but reached the summit the day after, and camped there on the ninth, tenth and eleventh nights. On beginning the descent he was stopped by a landslip, and camped there on the twelfth night; camped near Crissolo on the thirteenth night, near Paesana on the fourteenth and near Saluzzo on the fifteenth, but without his elephants, as the landslip stopped them for three days.
72. In speaking of the battle of Raphia, the year after Hannibal’s passage of the Alps, Polybios says (v. 84. 5, 6) that Antiochos had Indian elephants and Ptolemy had African elephants, and that the African gave way before the Indian, being no match for it in size or strength. African elephants might be expected in an army coming from Africa, yet Polybios speaks of the mahouts as Indians (i. 40. 15, iii. 46. 7, xi. 1. 12) not only in Hannibal’s army but in other armies coming from there. The elephants, however, are clearly African (as shown by their large ears) on the coins the Carthaginians struck at Cartagena while they were in possession of Spain. The elephant here, and the other at the beginning, are taken from two of these coins which are nearly contemporary with Hannibal.
CAMBRIDGE: PRINTED BY W. LEWIS AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS