,(727) were sixteen hundred furlongs.(728)
From Emporium to the pass of the Rhone, the like space of sixteen hundred
furlongs.(729) From the pass of the Rhone to the Alps, fourteen hundred
furlongs.(730) From the Alps to the plains of Italy, twelve hundred
furlongs.(731) Thus from New Carthage to the plains of Italy, were eight
thousand furlongs.(732)

Hannibal had long before taken the prudent precaution of acquainting
himself with the nature and situation of the places through which he was
to pass;(733) of sounding how the Gauls stood affected to the Romans; of
winning over their chiefs, whom he knew to be very greedy of gold, by his
bounty to them;(734) and of securing to himself the affection and fidelity
of one part of the nations through whose country his march lay. He was not
ignorant that the passage of the Alps would be attended with great
difficulties; but he knew they were not unsurmountable, and that was
enough for his purpose.

Hannibal began his march early in the spring, from New Carthage, where he
had wintered.(735) His army then consisted of above a hundred thousand
men, of which twelve thousand were cavalry, and he had near forty
elephants. Having crossed the Iberus, he soon subdued the several nations
which opposed him in his march; and lost a considerable part of his army
in this expedition. He left Hanno to command all the country lying between
the Iberus and the Pyrenean hills, with eleven thousand men, who were
appointed to guard the baggage of those that were to follow him. He
dismissed the like number, sending them back to their respective
countries; thus securing to himself their affection when he should want
recruits, and affording to the rest a sure hope that they should be
allowed to return whenever they should desire it. He passed the Pyrenean
hills, and advanced as far as the banks of the Rhone, at the head of fifty
thousand foot, and nine thousand horse; a formidable army, but less so
from the number than from the valour of the troops that composed it;
troops who had served several years in Spain, and learned the art of war,
under the ablest captains that Carthage could ever boast.

_Passage of the Rhone._--Hannibal, being arrived within about four days'
march from the mouth of the Rhone,(736) attempted to cross it, because the
river in this place took up only the breadth of its channel.(737) He
bought up all the ship-boats and little vessels he could meet with, of
which the inhabitants