20 genti . . . victae, e.g. at the Passage of the Rhone.
21 campum, i.e. the Campus Martius, N.W. of Rome, where the Tiber makes a wide curve. For the thought cf. [p. 116], ll. 7, 8.
The Speeches of Livy. ‘He does not intend in them to reproduce the substance of words actually spoken, or even to imitate the tone of the time in which the speech is laid. He uses them as a vivid and dramatic method of portraying character and motive.’—Mackail.
SECOND PUNIC WAR, 218-202 B.C.
From the Rhone to Italy.
The Descent of the Alps.
Natura locus iam ante praeceps recenti lapsu terrae in pedum mille admodum altitudinem abruptus erat. . . . Tandem nequiquam iumentis atque hominibus fatigatis castra in iugo posita, aegerrime ad id ipsum loco purgato: tantum nivis fodiendum atque 5 egerendum fuit. Inde ad rupem muniendam, per quam unam via esse poterat, milites ducti, cum caedendum esset saxum, arboribus circa immanibus deiectis detruncatisque struem ingentem lignorum faciunt, eamque, cum et vis venti apta faciendo igni 10 coorta esset, succendunt ardentiaque saxa infuso aceto putrefaciunt. Ita torridam incendio rupem ferro pandunt, molliuntque anfractibus modicis clivos, ut non iumenta solum sed elephanti etiam deduci possent. Quadriduum circa rupem consumptum 15 iumentis prope fame absumptis; nuda enim fere cacumina sunt, et, si quid est pabuli, obruunt nives. Inferiora valles apricosque quosdam colles habent rivosque prope silvas et iam humano cultu digniora loca. Ibi iumenta in pabulum missa, et quies 20 muniendo fessis hominibus data. Triduo inde ad planum descensum iam et locis mollioribus et accolarum ingeniis.
Livy, xxi. 36, 37.
Context. At a short distance from the summit of the Pass (prob. the Little St. Bernard) Hannibal finds his passage barred by a break in the road, caused by a landslip or avalanche.
2-3 in pedum . . . abruptus erat. Polybius says that the precipice at the side of the road (leaving only a narrow ledge) extended for about 1000 ft. in length. Livy in mistake converts this into 1000 ft. in depth.