rms. This was the country of the
Allobroges, by which name the people were called, who now inhabit the
district of Geneva,(742) Vienne, and Grenoble. His march was not much
interrupted till he arrived at the Durance, and from thence he reached the
foot of the Alps without any opposition.

_The Passage of the Alps._--The sight of these mountains, whose tops seemed
to touch the skies, and were covered with snow, and where nothing appeared
to the eye but a few pitiful cottages, scattered here and there, on the
sharp tops of inaccessible rocks; nothing but meagre flocks, almost
perished with cold, and hairy men of a savage and fierce aspect; this
spectacle, I say, renewed the terror which the distant prospect had
raised, and chilled with fear the hearts of the soldiers.(743) When they
began to climb up, they perceived the mountaineers, who had seized upon
the highest cliffs, and were prepared to oppose their passage. They
therefore were forced to halt. Had the mountaineers, says Polybius, only
lain in ambuscade, and after having suffered Hannibal's troops to entangle
themselves in some difficult passage, had then charged them on a sudden,
the Carthaginian army would have been irrecoverably lost. Hannibal, being
informed that they kept those posts only in the daytime, and quitted them
in the evening, possessed himself of them by night. The Gauls returning
early in the morning, were very much surprised to find their posts in the
enemy's hand: but still they were not disheartened. Being used to climb up
those rocks, they attacked the Carthaginians who were upon their march,
and harassed them on all sides. The latter were obliged, at one and the
same time, to engage with the enemy, and struggle with the ruggedness of
the paths of the mountains, where they could hardly stand. But the
greatest disorder was caused by the horses and beasts of burden laden with
the baggage; who being frighted by the cries and howling of the Gauls,
which echoed dreadfully among the mountains, and being sometimes wounded
by the mountaineers, came tumbling on the soldiers, and dragged them
headlong with them down the precipices which skirted the road. Hannibal,
being sensible that the loss of his baggage alone was enough to destroy
his army, ran to the assistance of his troops, who were thus embarrassed;
and having put the enemy to flight, continued his march without
molestation or danger, and came to a castle, which was the most important
fortress in t