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Polybius, Histories, book 3, Previous Histories of this March either False or Inconsistent (search)
eption of distance; as his idea, of
the Rhone flowing always west, does of the general lie of the country. and flowing westward,
eventually discharges itself into the Sardinian Sea. It flows for the
most part through a deep valley, to the north of which lives the
Celtic tribe of the Ardyes; while its southern side is entirely
walled in by the northern slopes of the Alps, the ridges of
which, beginning at Marseilles and extending to the head of
the Adriatic, separate it from the valley of the Padus, of which
I have already had occasion to speak at length. It was these
mountains that Hannibal now crossed from the Rhone valley
into Italy.
Some historians of this passage of the Alps, in their desire
to produce a striking effect by their descriptions of the wonders
of this country, have fallen into two errors which are more
alien than anything else to the spirit of history,—perversion of
fact and inconsistency. Introducing Hannibal as a prodigy of
strategic skill and boldness, they yet re
Polybius, Histories, book 3, Absurd Premises of Other Historians (search)
themselves and their forces to an unknown country. And so,
too, what they say about the desolation of the district, and its
precipitous and inaccessible character, only serves to bring their
untrustworthiness into clearer light. For first, they pass over
the fact that the Celts of the Rhone valley had on several
occasions before Hannibal came, and that in very recent times,
crossed the Alps with large forces, and fought battles with the
Romans in alliance with the Celts of the valley of the Padus, as
I have already stated. And secondly, they are unaware of the
fact that a very numerous tribe of people inhabit the Alps.
Accordingly in their ignorance of these facts they take refuge
in the assertion that a hero showed Hannibal the way. They
are, in fact, in the same case as tragedians, who, beginning
with an improbable and impossible plot, are obliged to bring
in a deus ex machina to solve the difficulty and end the play.
The absurd premises of these historians naturally require some
Polybius, Histories, book 3, Hannibal Reaches the Plains (search)
e third day after passing
the precipitous path just described he reached
the plains. From the beginning of his march
he had lost many men by the hands of the enemy, and
in crossing rivers, and many more on the precipices and
dangerous passes of the Alps; and not only men in this
last way, but horses and beasts of burden in still greater
numbers. The whole march from New Carthage had occupied
five months, the actual passage of the Alps fifteen days; and he
now boldly entered the valley of the Padus, and the territory of
the Insubres, with such of his army as survived, consisting of
twelve thousand Libyans and eight thousand Iberians, and
not more than six thousand cavalry in all, as he himself
distinctly states on the column erected on the promontory of
Lacinium to record the numbers.
At the same time, as I have before stated, Publius having left
his legions under the command of his brother Gnaeus, with
orders to prosecute the Iberian campaign and offer an energetic
resistance to Hasdr
Polybius, Histories, book 3, A Skirmish Near the Trebia (search)
ng them any harm, being desirous of showing by an example
the policy he meant to pursue; that those whose present
position towards Rome was merely the result of circumstances
should not be terrified, and give up hope of being spared by
him. The man who betrayed Clastidium to him he treated
with extraordinary honour, by way of tempting all men in
similar situations of authority to share the prospects of the
Carthaginians. But afterwards, finding that certain Celts who
lived in the fork of the Padus and the Trebia, while pretending
to have made terms with him, were sending messages to the
Romans at the same time, believing that they would thus
secure themselves from being harmed by either side, he sent
two thousand infantry with some Celtic and Numidian cavalry
with orders to devastate their territory. This order being
executed, and a great booty obtained, the Celts appeared at the
Roman camp beseeching their aid. A skirmish favourable to the Romans. Tiberius had been all
along looking
Polybius, Histories, book 3, Better Success in Spain (search)
announce that a battle had
taken place, but that the storm had deprived them of the
victory. For the moment this news was believed at Rome;
but when soon afterwards it became known that the Carthaginians were in possession of the Roman camp, and that all the
Celts had joined them: while their own troops had abandoned
their camp, and, after retiring from the field of battle, were all
collected in the neighbouring cities; and were besides being
supplied with necessary provisions by sea up the Padus, the
Roman people became only too certain of what had really
happened in the battle. Winter of B.C. 218-217. Great exertions at Rome to meet the danger. It was
a most unexpected reverse, and it forced them at once
to urge on with energy the remaining preparations for the war. They reinforced those
positions which lay in the way of the enemy's
advance; sent legions to Sardinia and Sicily, as well as
garrisons to Tarentum, and other places of strategical importance; and, moreover, fitted out
a