ordered the
soldiers to halt on a certain eminence, whence there was a prospect
far and wide, pointed out to them Italy and the plains of the Po,
extending themselves beneath the Alpine mountains; and said "that they
were now surmounting not only the ramparts of Italy, but also of the
city of Rome; that the rest of the journey would be smooth and
down-hill; that after one, or, at most, a second battle, they would
have the citadel and capital of Italy in their power and possession."
The army then began to advance, the enemy now making no attempts
beyond petty thefts, as opportunity offered. But the journey proved
much more difficult than it had been in the ascent, as the declivity
of the Alps, being generally shorter on the side of Italy, is
consequently steeper; for nearly all the road was precipitous, narrow,
and slippery, so that neither those who made the least stumble could
prevent themselves from falling, nor, when fallen, remain in the same
place, but rolled, both men and beasts of burden, one upon another.

They then came to a rock much more narrow, and formed of such
perpendicular ledges that a light-armed soldier, carefully making the
attempt, and clinging with his hands to the bushes and roots around,
could with difficulty lower himself down. The ground, even before very
steep by nature, had been broken by a recent falling away of the earth
into a precipice of nearly a thousand feet in depth. Here when the
cavalry halted, as if at the end of their journey, it was announced to
Hannibal, wondering what obstructed the march, that the rock was
impassable. Having then gone himself to view the place, it seemed
clear to him that he must lead his army, by however great a circuit,
through the pathless and untrodden regions around it. But this route
also proved impracticable; for while the new snow of a moderate depth
remained on the old, which had not been removed, their footsteps were
planted with ease as they walked upon the new snow, which was soft and
not too deep; but when it was dissolved by the trampling of so many
men and beasts of burden, they then walked on the bare ice below, and
through the dirty fluid formed by the melting snow. Here there was a
wretched struggle, both on account of the slippery ice not affording
any hold to the step, and giving way beneath the foot more readily by
reason of the slope; and whether they assisted themselves in rising by
their hands or their knees, their supports themselves g