The March of Hannibal From the Rhone to the Alps 1000258329

THE

MARCH OF HANNIBAL

FROM THE

RHONE TO THE ALPS.

BY

HENRY LAWES LONG, ESQ.

LONDON:

J. RODWELL, 46, NEW BOND STREET.

1831.

DGA47

LONDON :

IBOrSON AND PALMliR, PKINTERS, SAVOY STREET, STRAND,

TO

HENRY L. WICKHAM, ESQ.

ONE OF THE AUTHORS OF THE

DISSERTATION UPON THE MARCH OF HANNIBAL

ACROSS THE ALPS."

My DEAR WiCKHAM,

I send you the result of a tour recently

made in Dauphiny, not without the hope that,

as I began with believing in you, you may

end in agreeing with me.

Most truly yours,

HENRY LA WES LONG.

Lausanne, June 1st, 1831.

E"m^

INTRODUCTION.

Among themany sources

of interest which

engage ourattention in passing through a

foreign country, neither its economy, political

and domestic, its natural curiosities, itsscenery,

norits field sports, more powerfully attract

the traveller, than the sight of places renowned

in history as the scenes where great events

have been transacted. The plains where

battles have been fought"

the fortresses where

sieges have been undertaken"

the mountain

passes which armies have traversed, most for-cibly

arrest the attention, for such events form

the materials of which the annals of the human

race are principally composed. To have, in-stead

ofa map, the identical district laid out

beforeus

"

to tread upon the very ground de-scribed

"

to lookup to

thesame

mountains

that hung over the heads of the warriors of

B

2 INTRODUCTION.

whom we read j" all this adds immeasurablyto the interest of the story, and tries by a

severe test the accuracy of the author who

records it. Herodotus at Marathon, Thucy-dides at Syracuse, and PolybiusthroughoutItaly,from the Alps to the Aufidus, are read

with increased pleasure when we find the

face of nature, itselfincapableof any material

alteration,givingtestimonyin favour of their

correctness. The taunts of " Grsecorum nu-

gamenta" and "Graecia mendax" have been

thrown upon the historians of that country ;

but satire is not always truth ; and, with the

exception of Julius Caesar, whose rapid but

masterly sketches of a country enable us at

once to recognizeit,the Roman authors them-selves

are more deserving of the reproach.Livy, to say nothing of his portents and pro-digies,

is notoriouslydefective and unintel-ligiblein his geography ; and even Tacitus,

a writer of acknowledged accuracy, aifords usinsufficient lightto follow Agricola throughhis conquest of Britain with any degree of

certainty.The madness of mankind still indulges in

warfare ; but it is humiliatingto be forced toconfess, that the triumphs which are supposedto adorn the page of history,have seldom

produced any visiblybeneficial consequences ;

INTRODUCTION.

while the horrors that accompanied them must

always,for a time at least,have occasionedincalculable mischief and misery. Modern na-tions,

at the conclusion of hostilities,are usuallyleft much in the same state (except as to theirfinances)as theywere at the beginningof a war.In ancient times, however, this was not so fre-quently

the case. When we stand upon the

barrow of the Greeks at Marathon, where the

occasional looseningof the soil still exposes toour view the fragmentsof the flint arrow-headsof the Persian archers,we are conscious that

those arrows were aimed not only againstthe

rightsand liberties of a free and independentpeople,but againstthe cradle of all the artsand sciences we now enjoy; and the gallantband that drove back the tide of barbarism

from their shores,preservedat the same timeto themselves and to us the rudiments of all

that is useful and honourable to mankind.

Thus, too, the conquest of the world by theRoman was the march of civilization ; a check

in its progress would have influenced the con-dition

ofages yet unborn. The desperate

attack of Hannibal *' ad delendum nomen

Romanum, liberandumque orbem terrarum,"was unsuccessful 5 and as such,its consequencesaffect us even to the present hour. It left

Rome the sovereignmistress of an undisputedB 2

INTRODUCTION.

world, which she was allowed to fashion after

her own taste ; and, as we are not disposedto objectto our language, our literature, orour laws, the greater portion of which wehave derived from her, we may be presumedto be satisfied with the course she adopted.What effect might have been produced uponour domestic habits and politicalinstitutions,had the Carthaginian triumphed, cannot be

conjectured; but it is very certain, if the des-tiniesof the world had been so reversed, we

should not, in every sentence we utter, find

words of Roman origin. Under these cir-cumstancesthe Carthaginian expedition into

Italyacquires an importance independent ofthe interest excited by the novelty,hardihoodand conduct of the enterprise. Their march

upon Rome is not only the most remarkablefeature in one of the most remarkable

wars ever waged, " helium maxime omnium

memorabile quse unquam gesta sint," but, in

tracingtheir steps, we feel as if we were ap-proachingthe crisis of our own destinies ; and

while we acknowledge the courage and geniusof the African general,it is on the side of

Rome, the common parent of all Europe, that

we lean with a feelingof filialanxiety.To those, therefore, who delightin picturing

to themselves the transactions of distant ages

INTRODUCTION.

on the very spot where they occurred, the

march of Hannibal across the Alps cannotfail in producing the most livelyinterest. In

visiting"the scenes of this march, the travelleris unusually fortunate in two particulars: "he is led through the rich scenery of Dauphinyand Savoy, some of the most picturesquein

Europe, and he has for his guide an historian

of unrivalled merit. In Polybius we meetwith a distinctness of detail which at once

discovers the soldier, who had thoroughly

investigatedand understood every manoeuvreof the hostile forces " the traveller, perfectly

acquainted with the country in which the

event he describes took place" and the faith-ful

and accomplished writer, who condensedthe materials without affectingthe accuracyof his narrative. Indeed, had the originaldespatches sent by Hannibal to Carthagecome down to us, we could hardlyhave foundin them an account of the leading events ofthe campaign arranged in a more intelligibleand interestingmanner. Gibbon tells us, that

in Polybiusthere is a sterilityof fancy. Thisin an historian cannot surely be deemed afault ; but however true it may be, and

however little his stylemay bend from its

grave and dignifiedflow, his narrative is byno means deficient in the art of addressing

INTRODUCTION,

itself to our imagination. The events he de-scribes

are so clearlyand vividlydepicted,that in reading him we seem almost to livein the days of the Punic war, in defiance ofthe fine lines of Lucretius, where the poetexclaims

"

iii. 844. Wi^m^ anteacto nil tempore sensimus segri.Ad confligendumvenientibus imdique Paenis ;Omnia cum, belli trepidoconcussa tumultu,Horrida, contremuere sub altis setheris auris;111 dubioque fuere,utrorum ad regna cadundumOmnibus humanis asset, terraque marique.

The nearer an author lives to the times of

which he writes the history,the more likelyhe is to enter with spiritinto the narrative,and to communicate his enthusiasm to his

readers. Polybius lived but one generationonly after Hannibal ; his authorities weremen who had been actors in the very scenes

he describes, while his intimacy with the" Virtus Scipiadseet mitis sapientiaLseli,"must have opened to him the purest sourcesof information. It is possible,perhaps,to de-tect

in the historian an excusable partialityto-wardsthe illustrious race of the Scipios; but,

even if this is the case, no writer during the

lapse of nearlytwenty centuries has yet ven-turedto impugn his veracity; while, of all the

losses that literature has to lament, none are

INTRODUCTION. 7

more regrettedthan the defective portions of

Polybius.It is well-known to all those whom the

march of Hannibal has at all interested,that

a great controversy exists as to the preciseroad through the Alps traversed by the Car-thaginian

army ; and this has arisen from the

impossibilityof producing any accordance be-tweenthe accounts furnished us by Polybius

and Livy. In the time of Livy himself it wasalreadya subjectof debate, and the additionalconfusion into which it was plunged by thathistorian has continued the dispute down to

our own times. In the account Polybius has

given us of the progress of the Carthaginian

army from Spain to Italy,he glancesrapidlyover that portion of it preceding the passageof the Rhone, as presentingno events worthyof particularnotice ; but the mode of effectingthe passage of that river, as well as the subse-quent

dangers and difficulties experienced bythe Carthaginiansuntil they reached the plainsof the Po, are described with a precisionalmost amounting to the minuteness of a daily

journal. The historian,who dwells with un-usualinterest upon this part of his narrative,

had journeyed through the Alps upon thetrack of the Carthaginian army, to satisfyhim-

8 INTRODUCTION.

self by a personal investigation of the locali-ties,

previous to recounting- what was then

considered, and is still looked back upon, as

one of the most extraordinary performancesever accomplished. As a proof of the estima-tion

in which Polybius was held even by his

rival Livy, and how much he was preferredasan authority to all other writers, of whom

there must have been several whose very

names are now lost to us, we need only remark

the servile manner in which he is copied bythe Latin author

"

in some placesso closelyasto be little else than merely translated. Itwould have been fortunate, perhaps,had this

been uniformly the case ; but Polybius wroteat least a century before Livy, and the courtof Augustus, for whom Livy undertook hiswork, required a more refined stylethan thatof the Greek author

; accordingly,in Livywe certainlydiscover Polybius,but it is Poly-bius

dressedup, ornamented, and amplified;

very well suited, no doubt, to the taste of the

day, but utterlydestructive of the simplicityand fidelityof the original. In many placesinextricable confusion has been thus produced ;and in no part so much as in the celebrated

descriptionof the passage of the Alps by Han-nibal

; for no more favourable opportunity

INTRODUCTION.

presenteditself of indulginga fertile imagina-tionin its dispositionto exaggerate.^ We,

however, derive one advantage from Livy'snarrative ; it shows that Polybius alone washis authorityfor the account, as he ought tobe ours. It is from Polybius that all theevents of the march are extracted ; they suc-ceed

each other preciselyin the same order ;but they are immensely dilated, and loadedwith

many unnecessary remarks and extra-neous

matter ; above all,by Livy'sgiving the

names of certain Gallic tribes,through which

he affirms the Carthaginiansto have passed,as well as by positivelydeclaring them tohave crossed the highestridge of the Alps bythe Saltus Taurinus, (the Mont Genevre,)the narrative of Polybius is attempted to befastened

upon a line of country to which nei-

" To show how easilya hvely fancymay unconsciouslyfall into exaggerationupon a subjectof this sort, I needonly quote a sentence from a justlyadmired author, anardent lover of truth :" " It was in this campaign that he

(Bonaparte)proved himself a worthy rival of Hannibal.The energy which conducted an army, with its cavalry,artillery,and supplies,across the Alps, by untried paths,which only the chamois hunter, born and bred amidst gla-ciers

and everlastingsnows, had trodden, gave an impres-sion,which of all others he most desired to spread,of his

superiorityto nature, as well as to human opposition."-

Channing's Character of Bonaparte.

10 INTRODUCTION.

ther time, nor space, nor geographicalcharac-ter,nor common sense, can possiblyunite it.

No doubt Livy imagined himself conductingHannibal by the road indicated by Polybius,and that by supplying the names, he wasmaking amends for the deficiencies of thatauthor ; but he had not, like Polybius,visitedthe mountains and ascertained the distances ;

and those who take him as a guide upon the

assurance of the names he furnishes,will soonfind themselves entangled in an inextricable

labyrinth.The first steps towards attainingany thing

like a rational explanationof this march weretaken by M. Deluc, of Geneva,* who, in amost able illustration of a theory made known

to him by the late General Melville, founded

wholly and solelyupon the authorityof Poly-bius,by a diligentcomparison of ancient with

modern topography,and by carefullyattend-ingto the time and distances which are re-corded

with sufficient precision,has at last

pointedout the only true mode of clearingupthe question. M. Deluc's publicationwasalmost immediately followed by that of twomembers of the Universityof Oxford,! who

* Histoire du Passage des Alpes j^ar Annibal. Par J.

A. Delue, filsde feu G. A. Deluc, "c. "c. Geneve, 1818.

t Dissertation on the Passage of the Alps by Hannibal.

INTRODUCTION. 1 1

had themselves minutely investigatedthewhole country between the Rhone and the

Po. In this excellent performance,after some

very valuable remarks upon the earlyhistoryof the Alps, the claims of the Little St. Ber-nard

to the distinction of being the road ofHannibal are set forth in a manner so clear,

and so convincing,that we feel as sure of thefact as we do of the existence of Hannibal

himself. It is not the intention of the author

of the followingpages to touch, except in a veryslightdegree,upon that part of the topographyof the march which belongs to the Alps them-selves

" consideringthe above-mentioned pub-licationsto have effected nearly as much as

the nature of the subject,or the purposes ofhistory,required. It appears to him, however,that neither General Melville, nor M. Deluc,

nor even the Oxford authors themselves, have

satisfactorilyestablished the line of march be-tween

the Rhone and the foot of the Alps ;on the contrary, that they have not been suc-cessful

in assimilatingthe narrative of Poly-bius with the route they have adopted throughDauphiny, and that these errors materiallyaffect their subsequent calculations during the

By Henry L. Wickham, Esq., and the Rev. J. Cramer,

late Students of Ch. Ch. Oxford. Second Edition. Lon-don,

1828.

12 INTRODUCTION.

passageof the Alps. Under these impressions,

aftera

close attention toevery

word in the

text of the Greek historian, and aided by an

additional recent examination of the country,

henow

offers the result of his observations,

fully convinced that the road by which he

shows the Carthaginian general to have con-ducted

hisarmy

to the entrance of the valley

of the Little St. Bernard will be admitted to

correspond with that described by Polybius, as

to time, distance, and geographical character,

ina manner so

close and incontrovertibleas

to set this long pending discussion at rest for

ever.

PuhHrhed/ hy ^

"TA- C.WaHiPr, snap.

THE MARCH OF HANNIBAL,

When Hannibal had reached the foot of the ^o\yh. iii.39, 40.

Pyrenees on the Spanish side, half the distance

between New Carthage and the plains of the

Powas accomplished ; but the remaining- por-tion,

in point of difficulty, was by much the

most considerable. He had before him the

formidable obstacles of the Pyrenees, the

Rhone, and the Alps ; and the worst parts of

the country were occupied by the fierce and

fickle tribes of the Transalpine Celts.

This latter half of the march is divided by

Polybius into three portions"

I. From Emporium (Ampurias, on the Bayof Rosas, in Catalonia) to the Rhone.

II. From the Rhone to the commencement

of the ascent of the Alps.

14 ':*../,

%THfi''yArRCH OF HANNIBAL.

""""

.

" " ""

'"iHl''-Across''the' Alps to the Plains ofthe Po.

Of these divisions it is the second princi-pallywhich forms the subjectof the present

investigation.The route from Spain to theRhone is sufficientlyevident ; and the passageof the Alps has been alreadyproved satisfac-torily

to be that of the Little St. Bernard. It

will,however, be necessary to examine, to acertain extent, these portionsof the march, inorder to connect them with the extremities of

the intermediate section ; and in so doing, afew remarks upon the passage of the Alps willbe brought forward, tending to complete,if

any thing is needed to complete,the proofthat the Little St. Bernard was the road of

Hannibal.

First, then, with a view to determine the

exact point upon the Rhone where the Car-thaginians

passed that river, we have to takeinto consideration the road across the Pyrenees,and through Languedoc, by which they ad-vanced

to its banks. The notices of this

march, although quite sufficient for our pur-pose,are very scanty. Hannibal is repre-sentedat first as under some apprehensionof

the Celts, on account of the difficult nature of

c. 41. their country ; while Scipio calculated uponthe delayhis enemies would experiencefrom

THE MARCH OF HANNIBAL. 15

the same circumstance, and from the multi-tude

of those barbarous tribes. These were

the Celts, elsewhere described by Polybius as

occupying all the country between the Py- c. sr

renees and the river Narbo, (Aude,) a tractexactlycoincidingwith the limits of the terri-tory

of Roussillon, the modern department of

the Pyrenees Orientales.* The remainingsentences descriptiveof the march, separatedfrom tli" interruptionof other details,stand asfollows

"

'AvvijâgÊ irapaô^coQ,rovg /j-lv'y^py]fxaaiTrkiaaqc. 41.rwv KfXrwv, rovq ^" ^laaafjuvoq,riKe /Liera rwv^vvajmecjv,îîove^wv to âpôviovireXayogyeiri TtjvTov 'Poâvou îa(5a"Jiv.

*AvVt/3aC^ ", WpOCT/JLLâQTOIQ TTSplTOV TTOTafLOV g. 43.TOTTOiq, evîiogkv^ykipuiroiuaâi tyiv îaj3a(nvKaTaTTiv aTrXrivpvaiv ayjôvi^^spwv TeTTapwv oôv airkyjav(TTpaTOTreîf)ttiq ôXaTTYiQ.

" But Hannibal having,beyond all expecta-

* There is another passage of Polybiusexistingin the Poiyb.shape of a fragment,presented in Athenseus, which con- ^^^\^-^ i^tains some curious particularsrelating to the Roussillon Gallia,

country ; he speaksof certain fossilfish found in the neigh-bourhoodof the modern towns of Elne and Perpignan.

Organic remains of divers sorts are found in an osseousbreccia,common in several placesalong this coast of the

Mediterranean. Polybiusimaginesthese fish to have madetheir

way from the rivers (theTetand the Tech) in search oftheir favourite food,the roots of the Agrostis.

16 THE MARCH OF HANNIBAL.

tion,persuaded some of the Celts by presents,and compelled others by force, advanced withhis forces towards the passage of the Rhone,

having the Sardinian sea to the right." And

upon reaching the country in the

neighbourhood of the river, he immediatelyprepared to make the passage, at the singlestream, having his army at the distance of

four days'journey from the sea."To these materials must be added a pre-vious,

and more important extract :"Kai /LirjvsvTEvêv eiri tt^v tov 'Poâvov diaj3a(nvy

c. 38. nepi viXiovg eâ/cocriovc.ravra yap vvv p^pr]fxaTi(JTaiy

Kcii (JiiGrifxkiwTaiKara (jraciovQ oktio cia PiofxaidjveTTijuieXCjg,

** And from thence (Emporium) to the pas-sageof the Rhone, nearly1,600 stadia,(200

M.p.,)for this distance has now been carefullymeasured by the Romans, and marked everyeightstadia."

From these materials we have to trace the

march to the banks of the Rhone ; and as far

as Nismes, we meet with no obstacle to our

progress, for the great Roman way is per-fectly

well known from the Itineraries.

Nismes itself stands at a distance of 177 m.p.

from Emporium, according to the authors of

p. 230. the *' Dissertation."

The remainder of the distance to the Rhone


and is noticed by Strabo. The geographeris

speaking of the way from Nismes to AquaeSextise (Aix.)

iv. c. 3. E/c Nfâvcrov^" ^la Ouyt^vou kul Tapa(jK(i)vogeig TO. Seoâvcara ra ^"C,TiaKa\ov/j,Eva,

** From Nismes, through Ugernum and

Tarasco, to the warm waters of Sextius."

And again,speakingof another road "iv. c. 3. TtJv Sia OvoKOVTLijJV Kai tyiq Kottlov. fi^XP* 1^^^

Ovy^pvov, Kai TapaoKtovog Koivrj oôg rj airo

êjLLav(Tov"** That throughthe Vocontii and the terri-tory

of Cottius,"

the road as far as Ugernumand Tarasco, is the same as that from

Nismes/'

No other Roman way leadingfrom Nismes

to the Rhone, exists even in tradition ; it

follows,therefore,that either at Beaucaire or

Aries, Hannibal must have effected his pas-sage

; and we are at once relieved from all

doubt as to which of the two placeswe are to

choose, by the words of Polybiushimself. He

c. 42. says it was Kara TTiv airXriv pvaiv " at the placewhere the river flowed *' m a singlestream."These words have been thought to mean a

part of the stream iminterruptedby any ofthose islands with which the Rhone abounds,

an explanationin which I cannot at all

concur, for the words are most certainlyap-

THE MARCH OF HANNIBAL. l9

pliedby Polybiusto the passage at Beaiicaire,in contradistinction to the other passage at

Aries ; for at Aries the bifurcation of the

Rhone begins," at Aries there are two streams,and the passage there would have been Kara

rriv îirXnvpvaiv, Poljbius,Speakingof the Po,employsthe same expression, "" c. le.

Triv /JLEV yap irpujTrjve/c twv TTJ^ywv e'êi PY2IN

AFIAHN^ cîêrat^'eigBvo fxkpy]Kara tovq 7rpo(T-ayopevofxhovgT piya(56\ovg,

*' The river flows from its sources in a singlestream at first,but it is divided into twobranches in the country of the Trigaboli."

It remains to be shown, that in the distance

of Beaucaire from Emporium there is nothinginconsistent with the " nearly1,600 stadia

(200 M.p.)"of Polybius. From Emporium toNismes there are, as has been alreadystated,about 177 Roman miles ; if to these we add

15, the number, according to the Theodo-sian Table, between Nismes and Beaucaire,

we get a total of 192 miles, which falls short

of the Polybiandistance by eightmiles : thisis too considerable a defalcation to pass with-out

comment"

and on this I have two remarks

to offer.

First"

The Greek historian here makes use

of the word Trept," nearly;" we are not,

therefore,to expect to find an e3:aGt 200 m.p.,c 2


particularlyas when he employs this word he

commonly exceeds the real distance in the

number he gives; for instance,he gives thedistance from New Carthage to the plainsofthe Po in this manner "

From New Carthageto the Iberus.

2,600

From the Iberus to Emporium. .

1,600-4,200

From Emporium to the Rhone. .

1,600

From the Rhone to the Alps. . .

1,400

Across the Alps to the Plains of the Po 1,200-4,200

8,400

Making altogethera length of 8,400 stadia ;yet in summing it up he speaksin round num-

numbers, callingit " nearly 9jOOO stadia :"

iii.c. 39. WOT civai Tovg Travraq "K Kaivrjg TToAewc (TTaoiovg

TTEpi evvaKKT'^iXiovQ,Secondly" If it should still be required to

p. 45. approach more closelyto the 200 m.p., we

may remark that M. Deluc, in calculatingthedistance between Emporium and Juncaria, (laJunquera,)does not follow the main roadthrough Figueras,but thinks it probabletheancients had some shorter and more direct line

through Peralada ; upon which suppositionheforms his computation.

Thus, therefore, in point of distance from

Emporium, there is nothingin the situation of


Beaucaire that militates againstthe accountgivenby Polybius.The three data " the dis-tance,

the Roman road,and the singlestream,by which we thus determine the placeof the

passage, are of themselves,perhaps,sufficient;but there is yet a fourth " the distance from

the foot of the Alps,which is stated by Poly-biusto be 1,400 stadia,or 17*5Roman miles.

Out of these 175 m.p., one hundred have

been hitherto alwaysassignedto that part ofthe march above the Isere,between that river

and the first ascent of the Alps. Accordingto this division of the distance,the remaining7*5 M.p. must of course be allotted to the

march between the passage of the Rhone and

the Isere. In this manner the placeat whichthe Rhone was crossed becomes easilydis-coverable,

since to find it we have onlytomeasure 75 m.p. down the stream from its

confluence with the Isere. Accordingly,M.Deluc fixes the spotat Roquemaure ; and in

so doing he is aided by the support of allother writers upon the subject.*It is not,however, surprisingthat all authorities should

"

agree so cordiallyupon this point,because theabsolute distance of 75 m.p., measured from

* Theanonymous author of

" Hannibal's Passageof the

Alps. By a Member of the Universityof Cambridge,London, 1830," fixes upon Tarascon as the point of

passage." Ed.^

^.^^-^ c-^^.^^^, /^^" '-^-^ -"---/^ ;


the Isere southwards, must always terminateat Roquemaure ; and nothing is left to pro-duce

any disunion of opinion. Whether thismode of computingthe distance is the correctone or not, will be considered hereafter ; and

it will be shown, that in the number of miles

between Tarascon, oppositeBeaucaire, andthe foot of the Alps,there is nothingwhichdoes violence to the 175 of Polybius.

There is still another circumstance which

has been called in to assist in determiningthe

placeat which the Rhone was passed,of whichsome notice ought to be taken 5 it is derivedfrom the words of Polybiusalreadyquoted.He is speakingof Hannibal "

TTjg OaXarrrig," Being distant with his army (or camp)

from the sea, a distance of nearlyfour days."This distance has been usuallymeasured

from the wstern mouth of the Rhone, be-cause

Scipiohad arrived there with his army,on his voyage towards Spain; and a'^edovTJiuiptDvTETTaptov o^ov IS supposedto mean four

daysmarch. But as Polybiusdoes not tell usthat the distance is to be reckoned from that

part of the sea-coast, and has not anywhere,that I know of,assigneda definite lengthfor

a day'smarch, any calculations founded uponsuch constructions are very likelyto prove


erroneous. In another part of his work the

historian uses the same expression: he is

speaking of Clusium, the modern town of

Chiusi, in Tuscany. This town, he says,

three days'journey from Rome." Now thedistance of Clusium from Rome is nearly100Roman miles,which would give upwards of30 M. p. for a day'sjourney" a common dis-tance

for a traveller riding the same horse,but which cannot be understood as the dailymarch of a regulararmy. What Polybiusreallydoes mean by these words is not quite

apparent. It would rather seem (butI speakwith great diffidence)that some placeon thecoast of the Mediterranean is intended, which

Hannibal had alreadyleft behind him in hismarch from Spain" perhaps the Emporium of

Narbonne, which is distant about 110 m. P.,

nearlyfour days'journeyof thirtymiles a-day,strabo.and which, from the importance of its re-sources

in earlyages, is not unlikelyto havedetained Hannibal for a short time after he

had emerged from the difficult country occu-pied

by the Celts ; that is the pointalso atwhich mention had been made of the Sardinian

sea " that it layto his rightas he proceededonhis march.

Be that as it may, the lightafforded us by


Polybiusis quite enough to conduct us withsufficient certaintyto Beaucaire, a placewellsuited to the encampment of a largeforce.

itineraire " Sur uuc eminence qui commande la ville,ii. p.

414.'s'elevait le chateau de Beaucaire, ou St. Louis

fit batir, avant son depart pour la TerreSainte, une chapellequ'on y voit encore. Lechateau qui n'existe deja plus, a remplacecelui de I'antiqueUgernum, construit par lesRomains ; de cette hauteur on jouit d'unemagnifiqueperspective.Sur le bord du Rhone

regne une vaste prairie,bord^e de longuesallees d'ormes et de platanes,qui servent de

promenade."Here Hannibal lost no time in preparingto

carry over his army, and Polybiushere beginsa sort of diaryof the operations,which is kept,with but few interruptions,until the passageof the Alps is completed. The days and

nights are not always specified; but when

they are, the Greek text will be found inserted

in the followingarrangement : "

Poiyb.iii. The FIRST night is to be reckoned as suc-ceedingthe day of the arrival of the army

upon the Rhone.

1st day." Preparations for crossing arecommenced ; boats of all sorts are collected,

and rafts constructed.

2. Night.

C.42.

26 XHE MARCH OF HANNIBAL.

4. Day." 'E/cavryvfilvTTJv Yijuipav^dfiHvav,Hanno and his men, after taking*up a strongposition,*' remained quietfor the day,"restingthemselves after the hardshipstheyhad under-

gone.

c. 43.5. Night." FATnyevojulvrjgTrig Tr^mTriq vvktoq,

** The followingnightbeingthe fifth,"Hannoset out alongthe river towards the barbarians,

VTTO TTjv "(i)9ivriv(^(pvXaKrjv^" about the morningwatch," ^= that is,about 3 A. m.

5th day." As soon as Hanno, by a pre-concertedsignalof smoke, had made known

his approach to Hannibal, the Carthaginians,who were all prepared, dashed across theriver in the face of the barbarians, while

Hanno fellupon them in the rear. They soontook flight,and the passage of the Rhone wasaccomplished.

C.44,6. Night.'" eKavrjv i^ev tyiv vvKTa, ** That

night" Hannibal encamped by the side of theriver. Tarascon, surrounded with fertile mea-dows,

is as favourable a situation for an army

as Beaucaire.

6. Day." Tri ^'eiravpiov," The next morn-

Veget. Re* The ancients divided the night(from surinaeto sunsi^;

Mil. iii.8. jjj^q fQ^j.equalportionsor watches. Hannibal crossed the

B-hone about the time of the autumnal equinox" when, as

the days and nights were of equal length,the morningwatch would commence at 3 a. M.


ing" Hannibal, having intelligenceof theRomans being at the mouth of the Rhone,despatched500 of his Numidian cavalrytomake a reconnaissance. Preparationsweremade for gettingover the elephants.An as*semby of the troops was also held, at whichthe chieftains from the plainsof the Po wereintroduced ; who, by means of interpreters,boasted of their readiness to make common

cause againstthe Romans " and extolled thegrandeur and fertilityof Italy,to which theyheld out promisesof a safe and speedymarch.The generalhimself next addressed the troops,who manifested the utmost ardour, and he

dismissed the assembly,after givingorders tohold themselves in readiness to march the

followingmorning : wc "C rriv avpiov avaZvyrjg((To/mivrjg,After this,the 500 Numidians weredriven back into the camp by a detachment ofc 47.Roman and Gaulish horse,* who had been

sent out to reconnoitre by Scipio.

* The Gaulish horse were some troops Scipiofound at Polyb. lib,Marseilles. Some allusion to them appears to he made in ^^î^-a fragmentof Polybius,not uninterestingto the EnglishGeogr.reader. It seems that when Scipioquestionedthem andsome other Gauls from Narbonne and other towns, virep ttjqBperraviKtjq," concerningBritain," ovdetq etjê Xeyeivo'vêV fxvriiiYiQaîov,"not one had any thingto say worth

remembering!" Polybiusmay perhapsbe speakingof ScipioAfricanus, as he calls him "Scipio;" he usuallycalls thefather " Publius."


7. Night.7* ^^J' " ^V /âTtt TToâg Vf^'^ârfJc kKK\r]aiaq,

*' The next day after the assembly,"as soonas it was light,Hannibal postedall his cavalryon guard on the side towards the sea, whilethe infantrycommenced their march. The

elephants,thirty-sevenin number, were then

brought over, and the curious manner inc. 46. which this was contrived is very circumstan-tially

detailed by Polybius.With these animals

c. 47. and his cavalry,Hannibal proceeded alongthe

river, forming the rear guard of his army.It has been supposed that he was occupied awhole day,or even two days,in transportingthe

elephantsacross the Rhone. There is nothingin Polybiusto justifythis conjecture,nor is itlikelythe generalwould have permitted soprolonged a separationof his forces. The

cavalry,so remarkable for their celerity,andthen fresh after several days'repose ; and the

elephants,whose shuffleperformseightmiles

an hour, would soon have overtaken the rest

of the army.

Thus we have Hannibal, with all his army,

fairlyacross the Rhone, and set forth on his

march towards the Alps. It now becomes ne-cessaryto examine the road he took to reach

those mountains.

Three roads leadingacross the Alps into


Italy,divergefrom Tarascon " all of them fre-quented

by the Romans, and known as earlyasthe time of Polybius,for he speaksof them all.

1. One of them takes a south-easterlydi-rection,

through the territoryof the Ligures,by the maritime Alp " the modern Cornicheroad by Monaco to Genoa. Tliis is cele-brated

in the verses of Virgilas one of theroads by which the legionsof Julius Csesar

poured down upon Italy"

Aggeribus socer Alpinisatque arce Monoeci ^neid. vi,Descendens ; gener adversis instructus Eols.

2. The second bears due east upon leavingTarascon, and then, in a north easterlydirec-tion

by the valleyof the Durance, ascends theCottian Alp, the modern Mont Genevre.

This, of all the passes of the Alps, was themost frequentedby the Romans, as leadingtoa great part of Gaul, to the Province, and to

Spain. The new and magnificentroad acrossthis mountain was the last undertaken byBonaparte.

3. The third road keptalong the left bankof the Rhone, due north from Tarascon, asfar as the territoryof the Allobroges; afterpassingthroughthem, it traversed the GraianAlp, and descended into Italyby the valleyinhabited by the Salassi " that is,in modern

geography,up the Rhone as far as the depart-

so THE MARCH OF HANNIBaL,

ment of the Isere,then to the Little St. Ber-nard,

and thence into Italyby the valleyofAosta.*

By one of these routes Hannibal had tomake his way from Tarascon to Italy; andthe words irapa Tov TToraôi;,

" alongthe river,'*which frequentlyoccur in Polybius,imme-diately

discover that it was by the road upthe Rhone, towards the Graian Alp.

Along this road, then, by the side of the

river,we find Hannibal pressingforward with

Straho, * It is Strabo who informs us that these three passes,

togetherwith one other by the Rhoetian Alps, are men-tioned

by Polybius" his words are important.IloXv[3tOQ Terrapaq ^' virep^daeiqdvofid'Ceijuovoy Btd

Aiyvcjp êV, ti]v eyyiffra rw TvppijiîKaTreXqyei'lira rr)vSid Tavpiv(t)Vfr]v *Avvi(3aqc)irj\dev'iira ti]v Sid ^dkaaaruiy'T"rdprr]ySe, rû hd ^Fairwy. If these words are reallythe words of Polybius,and are to be preferredto the wholeof the existinghistory,we may spare ourselves any farther

trouble in seekingfor a road for Hannibal across the Alps ;because he is here decidedlystated to have gone by the

country of the Taurini, which means by the Cottian Alp ;and we must be content to remain for ever dissatisfiedwith

the whole narrative of the march of Hannibal, which is

completelyat variance with this road. But it is evident

that Strabo is not quotingany particularpassage of Poly-bius,but merely enumeratingthe only four roads through

the Alps mentioned by that author in dififerent parts of his

history.The interpolation,therefore,of ^v ÂvvifiaqdirjXdey,h onlya parentheticalcomment, a glossof Strabo's own,

and not to be considered as quotedfrom Polybius.

THE MARCH OF HANNIBAL. SI

all possibleexpedition;*"and after havingmarched," says Polybius,"for four days in

succession, subsequent to the passage of the

river, he came to a placecalled the Island."

*Avvi(5agê irofnaafxtvoQ 1^t)Qeiri T^TTapagr]/uLepagc. 49.rrjvTTopkavairo rfjcdiajâaecog,r}Ke irpog rrfV koXov-fiivrjvNritTOV.

The Island,! or " Insula AUobrogum," iswell known, and Polybius'sdescriptionof it

* Ilpo^ye TTopct Toy TrorafidvaVo QaXdrrriq' tjg cVt rrjyeoj c. 47.

iroiovfievoQ Ti)yiropeiavwc etc ttjpfxeaoyaiov Ttjq EvjOwttj/c." He proceededalongthe river away from the sea, " thus

marching first towards the east, then into the midland of

Europe." I have never seen any satisfactoryexplanationof this sentence. Hannibal unquestionablymarched up the

Rhone, that is,northwards, towards the heart of Europe ;but eVi T7}veo), " towards the east,"seems utterlyunintel-ligible.

I have placed the stop which usuallyfollows the

word TToraôi/, after 6a\c/rrnQ;and if we can understandthe rest of the sentence^tothe march in generalquitefrom

Spain, Hannibal might safelybe said to advance first" towards the east," then, crossingthe Rhone and turning

along the river away from the sea, " towards the centre of

Europe." Some objectionhas been made to any passage ofthe Rhone below its confluence with the Durance, therebyincurringthe necessityof crossingthat river also ; but theDurance in the autumn, at which time of the year Hannibal

reached it,presents no sort of difficulty.f The " Insula" is composed of the first,second, and

almost the whole of the third arrondissement of the depart-mentof the Isere, togetherwith five cantons of the first

aiTondissement of the departmentof the Drome j and the


which follows, is perfectlyapplicableto its

present condition. It lies almost entirelywithin the department of the Isere, and wascalled an Island because the Rhone to the

north and west, the Isere to the south, and

the mountains of the Grande Chartreuse to

the east,completelyinsulate it; and those whohave visited this beautiful country can vouch

for the justnessof the appellation.The distance of this island is about one

hundred Roman miles from Tarascon,* which

may appear an enormous space to be traversed

by the Carthaginianarmy in so short a timeas four days. Twenty-fivemiles per day is

unquestionablya severe march ; but it is in

perfectaccordance with the usual pace ofHannibal, who fell like a thunderbolt uponItaly,with a rapiditythat not only amazedthe conscriptfathers at Rome, who found him

upon the Po almost before they fancied him

upon the Ebro ; but excited the astonish-ment

even of Scipio,who was himself dis.

population,accordingto a recent census, amounts to about

366,000 souls. Some of the richest land in France is to be

met with in this district.

* The distance between the Isere and Roquemaure is

stated by the Oxford authors to be precisely75 miles ; that

between Roquemaure and Tarascon, measured on their map,is about 25

" making altogether100 M. p.

"i THE MARCH OF HANNIBAL.

The arrival of Hannibal at the island was

followed by some remarkable occurrences.He here found two brothers in arms againsteach other, contending for the sovereigntyofsome Celtic tribe, the name of which is not

givenby Polybius.The Carthaginiangeneralturned this quarrel to his own advantage;for, by lending his assistance to the elderbrother, and dispossessingthe younger, he sofar gained the good-will of the successfulchieftain, as to receive from him in return

some very important favours. The Cartha^

giniansobtained from the gratefulbarbarian afresh supplyof provisionsand arms " of clothingand of shoes ; which latter equipment theyfound of infinite use when theyreached the

higherpartsof the mountains ; but the greatestservice of all that he rendered them, was, that

while they were lookingwith anxietytowardsthe march through the country of the Gauls,

c 49. called AllobrogeS" evXa^tJg^ laKei/ULhoigTTpog Trjv^la rvjv 'AXXoj3piy(i)VKaXov/nevcovFaXarajv Tropnav,he protectedthe rear of the army with his

own forces,coveringtheir march, and render-ingtheir passage secure, while they neared

the main ascent of the Alps.But,

''As one who on his journeybates at noon,Though bent on speed/'


SO must we pause awhile, and take into consi-deration

whereabouts Hannibal had halted,and who these barbarians were, from whom

he received so much assistance.

In the slender materials as yet extracted

from Polybius,we have not sufficient lighttoelucidate these two pointsfully; but we mayfind something"to assist us in the research.

Out of the three expressions,VICE Trpog TT]v k aXov/JiivrivNriaov,

irpoQ r)V a^iKOfXEvoq,

and KaToXafiCjvkv avT^ythe last alone seems to indicate the arrival of

Hannibal in the island. Even that might havethe word x^P^ understood meaning the placewhich Hannibal had reached ; but if it must

be considered as applied to the Nri(Toc,stillitdoes not bear out the conjecturethat he hadmade any progress in that country. On the

contrary,that he had not advanced into it,we

may collect both from the transaction with

the barbarians being described as occurringimmediatelyafter the four days'march, with-out

notice of any subsequentmovement, andfrom the sentence quoted above " " That the

army was under great apprehensionsat the

prospect of the march through the country of

the Gauls, called Allobroges."Now, the

Allobrogesoccupiedthe whole Insula, whichD 2


bore the name of the Insula Allobrogum ; andif the army was looking forward with dismaytowards the march through the country of the

Allobroges,it does not appear probablethat

they were further advanced than the mereconfines of that people. The army had justgrounds for its apprehensions.We shall find^as we proceed,that they were on the eve of

entering a very difficult country, and the

Allobrogesare invariablyrepresentedas ene-miesusingevery effort to obstruct the march,

until Hannibal completelyrouted them andsacked their city. Some writers have sup-posed

that these friendlybarbarians were aconciliated portionof the Allobrogiantribe :nothingin Polybiuswarrants this conjecture;he never says so, nor can it even be inferred

from any of his expressions: if they were not

Allobroges,they must have been the distinct

people who occupiedthe adjoiningcountryon the south bank of the Isere,and these were

the Segalauni.** The Segalamiimight,perhaps,have had some lands on

the north hank of the Isere,althoughthat river would seemto form their natural boundary: outlyingpossessionsof asimilar descriptionare recorded as belongingto other Gallictribes. Three instances mentioned by Csesar present them-selves

at this moment : "

I. The Allobrogesoccupiedcertain lands on the rightbank of the Rhone, (b. g. i. 11.)

THE MARCH OF HANNIBAL.

If we cast our eyes on any map of that partof France which once bore the name of Dau-

phiny, we perceive that the three towns ofValence, (Valentia,)Romans, and Tain,(Tegna,) form a nearlyequilateraltriangle;the Rhone flows on its western side,while the

Isere,running from the eastern angle at Ro-mans,divides the figureinto nearlyequalpor-tions.Somewhere within the limits of this

triangle,at one or other, perhaps, of theabove-mentioned towns, the Carthaginiansmusthave fallen in with their anonymous friends ;

and there, during a few days'halt,preparedthemselves for ulterior and more hazardous

operations.These extended limits are allowedfor the purpose of allayingthe alarms of thosewho, arguingfrom the words ev avry, requireHannibal to be positivelywithin the Insula.In

my own mind, I have not the slightestdoubt but that Valence was the scene of these

operations. Its distance from the placewherethe Rhone was passed is exactly,or almost

exactly,800 stadia, 100 m. p., and it will be

shown that its positionequallywell agreeswith the distance assignedto the first ascent

II. The Rhemi had some establishment north of tlie

Axona (Aisne.) (b. g. ii.6.)III. The Menapii are representedas having possessions

beyond the Rhine, (b. g. iv. 4.)

38 THE MARCH OF HANNIBAL,

of the Alps. Hannibal is dealing*with apeoplewho are evidentlynot the Allobroges,and can therefore be no other than the Se"

g-alauni,of whom Valence was the capital; atValence, too, the high-road turns away fromthe river,and leads directlytowards the Alps.How far this positionagrees with Hannibal's

subsequentproceedingswe shall discover aswe follow him on his march.

Hannibal has now to proceed on his march,and at this point,all the doubts, difficulties,and disputes of all writers who undertaketo trace his progress, have their origin. TheRoman historian,who leads the literaryhost,makes the Carthaginians,after marching con-tinually

to the northward, now turn sharplyround towards the south-east, and pursuetheir way to the Cottian Alp. In this heis followed by several authors, who, in fruit-less

attempts to produce harmony betweenhim and Polybius,conduct Hannibal alongthe south side of the Isere to the Mont

Genevre, or to the Mont Cenis. Others,

again,abandoning Livy,have almost proved,from Polybiusalone, that Hannibal marcheda considerable way alongthe Rhone above itsconfluence with the Isere ; and then, crossingthe " Insula," and the mountains, which form

its eastern side,in the neighbourhoodof Les


Echelles, found his way to the valleyof theLittle St. Bernard by the town of Chambery,the ancient Lemincum. Above all,the eru-dite

historian of Manchester, who has written

copiouslyon the question, has astonished allthose who have considered the subject,byboldlycarrying Hannibal by an inexplicableroute, to the foot of the Alps at Martigny,and thence across the Great St. Bernard.

The only roads by which Hannibal could

possiblyhave gained the Cottian Alp fromhis positionnear the confluence of the Isereand the Rhone, are the following: "

I. The road by which Livy conducts the

Carthaginians,was one which any Roman

traveller in the days of Livy would probablyhave chosen. It led from Valence up the

valleyof the Druna, (Drome,) the country ofthe Vocontii, and thence by Vapincum, (Gap,)into the valleyof the Durance, occupied bythe Caturiges. The Saltus Taurinus, or AlpisCottia, now the Mont Genevre, is at the

sources of the Durance. By this road we CaesarB.o.i.Tacit.

find Csesar at the head of five legionshurrying Hist. *i.46.from Italyto oppose the Helvetii,* and Fa- xiv.bins Valens from the Rhine leadinga division

* Caesar was opposedby the Centrones, the Garoceli,and

the Caturiges" the inhabitants of the high valleysof the

Isere, the Arc, and the Durance. These mountaineers


of Vitellius's army againstOtho. Constan-

tine,too, on his way to seize the empire,and

change the condition of the world. It seemsto have become the most frequentedpassageof the mountains, after the Emilian Way and

other roads on the Italian side had opened amore direct communication with the Cottian

Alp.There is no road of any magnitude from

Valence along the south bank of the Isere,

owing to the impracticablenature of the

country. But,

II. Upon reaching the Drac, which fallsinto the Isere justbelow Grenoble, a roadleads up the valleyof that river,formerlythe

country of the Tricorii,to Gap, and so to theCottian Alp.

III. From this road, another diverges,from the banks of the Drac

up the valleyof atributaryriver,called the Romanche, ancientlyinhabited by the Uceni ; and this road, whichis given in the Theodosian Table, reaches the

would easilyhave communicated by the Col de la Vanoisebetween the Isere and the Arc ; and by the Col de Galibier

between the Arc and the Durance. Both these Cols were

frequentedduringthe wars in the Alps,in the time of LouisXIV. (See the Memoires of Marshall Berwick, vol. ii.)Caesar treats the attacks of these people with great indif-ference,

" Compluribushis pulsispraeliis,''etc.

4}i THE MARCH OF HANNIBAL.

writers who have adopted his opinion,con-ductthe Carthaginians; and so ablyhas this

theory been supported,that to disputeit mayappear almost like presumption. Neverthe-less,

after having*been a completeconvert toit myself for a length of time, some recentreflection upon the subjecthas allowed me toperceiveit was not without difficulties,which,added to some further examination of the

country, has led me to its abandonment, and,

finally,to the adoptionof a new line of march,which I now bring forward with a thoroughconviction of its accuracy. The road which

appears to me to be the rightone is,II. A road from Valence, short, obvious,

and direct,up the valleyof the Isere,crossingthat river at Romans into the country of the

Allobroges; and thence, by Grenoble, theancient Gratianopolis,and still more ancientCularo, to the entrance of the valleyof the

Little St. Bernard at Mont Meillan. It may,

perhaps,in limine be objectedto this road,that it was not open in the time of the

Romans, for it is not mentioned in their

Itineraries ; but are we to imagine that soostensible a line of communication, along so

magnificenta valley,containing so antiqueand celebrated a city,and in which we nowfind a great road of unknown origin,could


ever have been destitute of a way up and

down it, even in the earliest ages ? It cer-tainly

seems strange that no Roman road

through it is upon record 5 but Valence com-municatedwith Italyby the Cottian Alps,

while Vienna and Lyons, on the north,

reached the Graian Alp by the Mont du

Chat. No post road, therefore,would have

been wanted between Valence and Mont

Meillan ; but I shall adduce one proof that

some sort of road existed there as earlyasabout B. c. 40 " ** Consule Planco,''the ma-terials

of which are collected from the 10th

and 11th books of Cicero's Letters.

Lucius Munatius Plancus, at the head of an

army in Gaul, dates a letter to Cicero from

Cularo.* He was there evidentlycommuni-catingboth up and down the valley,because

on the west he had thrown a bridge across the

Isere, near its union with the Rhone ; and on

the east he was expectingto be joinedby theforces of Decimus Brutus, who, at that time,

was at Eporedia,Ivrea in Piedmont, and

consequently intending to pass the Graian

Alp.Up the valleyof the Isere,by way of Gre-

* It is true that this date is commonly written," Civa.-

rone, ex finibus Allobrogum,"which is clearlya mistake for" Culaxone"


noble, (thestraightestroad towards the Alps,)I conceive Hannibal to have marched from

the cityof Valence ; whether along a Roman

highway or not is of little consequence, forwe are not now, as we were, between the

Pyreneesand the Rhone, restricted to " a road

measured and marked by the Romans."

Polybiusthus resumes the narrative "c. 50. *Avvif3ag^'ev 7]fJiiâiq^lica" 7ro^^v%uqirapa rov

TTOTa/uLOv elg OKTaKoaiovq araîovQ,r]^âroti]q ttôqrag' AXtthq avapoXrjg,

" Hannibal, after ten days,having marched

along the Rhone to the distance of 800 stadia,

began the ascent towards the Alps."The historian here sums up the time and

distance passedby Hannibal on the banks ofthe Rhone previousto his strikingaway fromthat river towards the Alps. The 800 stadia,

or 100 M. p., is exactlythe distance between

Tarascon and Valence ; and the ten daysseem to be composed of the four days'marchfrom Tarascon, added to six which we may

safelyassignas the period of his stay amongthe friendlybarbarians.

In common with the other readers of Poly-bius,I had always,until lately,believed that

this distance of 800 stadia along the Rhone,

ought to be measured north of its confluence

with the Isere,apparentlyfor no better reason


than because it happens to be mentioned afterthe notice of Hannibal's arrival at the Insula.

But there is nothing in Polybiusthat supportssuch a notion ; and two reasons out of many-will be sufficient to allegeagainstit ; perhapsafter the first is stated, the second may be

deemed superfluous.I. In the first place,the thing cannot he

done. There is no possibility,with anyrational result, to produce a march of 100

M. p. along the river,afterHannibal's arrival

upon the Isere. Those who carry the Car-thaginians

to the Cottian Alp, and explain

Trapa tov TrorajuLov as meaning the Isere, the

Drac, the Romanche, or the Arc, are evi-dently

forcinga meaning from the words, ofwhich they will not admit ; while those who

point towards the Graian Alp, allow them-selves

great latitude,in measuring the distance

along the river,for they make Hannibal turn

away from it at Vienne, about fortymiles

only above the Isere, and are satisfied withhis approaching it again at Aouste, near thefoot of the Mont du Chat.

II. If the 100 M. p. " along the river" aremeasured after Hannibal's arrival at the In-sula,

wherever they terminate, the Alps oughtto begin; because 75 m. p. having already


been calculated between Roquemaure and the

Isere, the whole Polybiandistance (175 m. p.)between the passage of the Rhone and the

Alps would be completed. But instead of

meeting with the Alps,we meet with a battle,and the capture of a town, which is com-pletely

at variance with Polybius,who placesthese events at the interval of two days'marchfrom the foot of the Alps. For we shall findthat a halt of one day at the capturedtown,and a subsequent march of two days, arereckoned

among the eighteendays counted be-tweenthe said town and the plainsof the Po ;

out of which eighteendays,fifteen* only areallotted to the passage of the Alps. It follows,therefore,that the fightwith the Allobroges,and the capture of their town, was at the dis-tance

of two days' march before the com-mencementof the Alps.

I might add, that 100 m. p. in ten days" tenmiles a day only" would have been extraordi-narily

slow marching, and so utterlyunlike

p. 115. * The Oxford authors are of opinion that we ought to

read eighteeninstead of fifteen days,in Polyhius; because

Tit Liv. ^^^^them the fightwith the Allobroges,and the first ascent

^^^- of the Alps, are contemporaneous events. But Livy, who

here translates Polybius, supports the reading,"Quinto

decimo die alpibussuperatis.''

THE MARCH OF HANNIBAL. #7

the rest of Hannibal's proceedings,that ofitself it is sufficient to create some suspicionof an erroneous interpretation.

It is,then, from the banks of the Rhone, in

the vicinityof its confluence with the Isere,that Hannibal, " after ten days,having march-ed

along the river to the distance of 800

stadia,"began the ascent irpog Tag'^AXireig'' to-wardsthe Alps"" not rwv 'AXttewv *' of the

Alps"" the first day'smarch would have car-riedhim to the banks of the Isere, and the

hostile territoryof the Allobroges,separatedby the stream of that river only,laybefore him.It will now become necessary to watch his

progress with increased vigilance,and to ob-servein what degreethe nature of the country

correspondswith the events recorded by Poly-bius. If this part of the march should be

found treated too much in detail,it must be

remembered that the topography is new asconnected with Hannibal's operations,havingnever yet been compared with the descriptiongiven in history; while the author, convincedof the truth of his theory,pleadsguiltyto the

justnessof the remark,

" To observations we ourselves do make.

We grow more partialfor the observer's sake."

The town of Valence, situated close upon


the left bank of the Rhone, laysclahn to an

antiquityas remote as almost any town in

France, but it has preserved scarce a singlerelic of its originalinhabitants ; all that I metwith were two insignificantbas-reliefs insertedin the walls of the convent of the Soeurs

Grises : one of these marbles, probably asepulchralmemorial, represents a male andfemale figure,together with two children.In the other fragment an arch is discoverable,under which stand two men " one clad appa-rently

in the '' weeds of peace^" the other in

the " paludamentum" of war: under an ad-joiningarch is seen the figureof a soldier

seated, and leaning forward on his shield.No inscriptionwhich might have recorded thename of the Segalauniwas to be heard of; but

Notice de as D'Auvillc obscrvcs, " Ptolemee indiquant590^^^'^'T^alentia chez les Segalauni, entre Vienne

des Allohroges et les Tricastin% ne laisse

aucun doute sur I'emplacement de ce

peuple."The distance of Valence from Tarascon

agrees so closelywith the 100 m. p. " alongthe river,"of Polybins,that no objectionto iton that ground can possiblybe raised ; whileits positionin front of the " Insula,"beingthe last town before arrivingin that country,and distant not five miles from the Port de


traverses a continued plain,interruptedonlyby two curious winding hollows in its surface,resemblingthe deserted beds of rivers. The

upper soil of this plainis a gravellyclay,con-taininglargeboulders, of which the old bat-

tlemented walls and turrets of Valence are

constructed. The country is far from beauti-ful,

but well cultivated,and produces greatquantitiesof silk. At the Peage de Pizan9on,oppositethe town of Romans, the road comes

upon the Isere, rollinga very considerable

body of water between deep and steep banksof sand and alluvium.

Between these two roads, both conductingus to the " Insula," we have no difficultyin

deciding. The distance of 800 stadia, 100

M. p., Tra^a tov -irorafxov" along the river,"

having expiredat Valence, we must at thattown turn away from the Rhone, and, conse-quently,

take the road leadingtowards Ro-mans,which not onlyquitsthe banks of the

river,but encourages us as presentinga mostobvious and direct approachtowards the Alps.The distance between Valence and Romans is

about ten miles. Hannibal would, therefore,

easilyreach the Peage de Pizan9on from Va-lencein a short day'smarch ; and it probably

cost him but littletime to carry his army over

the Isere. The river is here about 140 yards


across. Plancus, in his letters to Cicero,

more than once boasts of his expeditionin

throwing a bridgeacross the Isere in a singleday. " Itaque in Isara, flumine maximo, cic. Ep. adquod in finibus est Allobrogum,ponte uno die l-'^i*.facto, exercitum a. d. quartum Idus Maii

traduxi." This was in the month of May, atwhich season the waters of this river are ^"^

at their greatest height. Polybiusdoes notinform us by what means the Carthaginianscontrived to effect their passage : but we may

argue from his silence that they encountered

no obstacle,and reached the oppositeshore ofthe " Insula" in safety.

It was at Romans, therefore,that Hannibal

entered upon the dreaded territoryof the Al-

lobroges"gens,'*as Livy calls them, '* jam Tit. Li v.xxi, 31.

inde nulla gallicagente opibus aut fama in-ferior

;" from whom, when they at last sub-mitted

to the Roman arms, one hundred

years after the time of Hannibal, a Fabius

Maximus did not disdain to receive the

honourable appellationof Allobrogicus.Theymust either have been remarkable for their

ferocity,or have from the beginningdeclaredtheir determination to oppose Hannibal, for

his army began to entertain apprehensionsofthem even before it entered their territories.

Hannibal had now fairlyinvaded the " Insula.^E 2


Polyb.in. j^^^(Tvv"J3rjfuLeyiaroig avrov rrepiireaeiv kiv^vvoiq." And it happened that very great dangers

befell him."

But not immediately,for Polybiusgoes onto inform us that,

ecog fiev yap Iv roig ETrtTrcooic vcjav, airUyovroTTavreQ avrCjv ot Kara jjLQpog -nyejULOveg tCjv AXXo-

f^jiyijjv,TO. /idv Tovg linreigêîoreg,ra ê rovgTrapaTTc/HTrovTag (5apf3apovg.

*' As long as they (theCarthaginians)werein the plains,all the chieftains of the Allo-

broges,in succession, kept aloof from them,some fearingthe cavalry,others the barbarianswho accompanied the army."

For some time, therefore, we are not to

expect to meet any mountains 5 and we shall

observe in the sequelhow far an open countryanswering that descriptionwill be found toextend.

Leaving the old walls and battlements ofRomans behind us, we ascend to a wide ele-vated

plain,across which the road, broad,direct,and lined on each side with mulberryand walnut trees, stretches for about seven

miles as straightas an arrow towards the Posteof Les Fauris. On lookingback, the view tothe westward is bounded by the distant hazyhills of the Viverais beyond the Rhone ; onour right,on the oppositeside of the Isere,a


fine range of limestone mountains takes a

course from south-west to north-east. We

see their sides,which form the boundary ofthe low country in that direction,riven and

splitinto the most fantastic and picturesque

gorges, cliffs,and chasms, one of which, at Pont

en Royans, is a favourite resort of the Parisian

artists. A low range of undulatingsand-hills,

forming a semicircular sweep from Romans toLes Fauris, bounds the plain towards thenorth. These hills,compared with the plain,have a sterile aspect ; they are, nevertheless,

extensivelycultivated,and the vine thrives in

many places along their sides. They are, in

fact,a part of the same range, which, at its

western extremity,near Tain, upon the Rhone,after undergoing a change of soil,producesthe famous Vin de I'Ermitage; and there anacre of its slopesells for a thousand guineas.These hills confine the view on the north, and

by approaching the Isere at Les Fauris, theyobligethe road to descend close to the river,and to continue under their sandstone cliffs

and slopesuntil it emerges again,after passingthe stream of the Furand. We pass this tor-rent,

which, althoughgenerallya mere rivulet,is sometimes a considerable river, by a ford.Its waters, some years ago, carried away a

stone bridge,which has not yet been replaced.


The ruins of an ancient chateau, which once

defended the passage, are seen upon the

heightsto the left. Many such old dilapidatedforts are scattered over this country once

tenanted by the powerful and turbulent Seig-neursof Dauphiny, the successors, and pro-bably

no bad representatives,of the Allobro-

gian chieftains of the days of Hannibal.

Risingfrom the bed of the Furand, we findourselves again upon a plainsimilar to thelast ; the sand-hills once more retire to the

left ; they are now more wooded, and manyhouses are visible on their sides. On the

right,the plainthrough which the Isere flows,in a bed too deep to admit of its being visible,reaches to the foot of the lofty limestone

mountains of Sassenage,which we begin to

perceivewe are approaching in an obliquedirection. The road again continues in a

perfectlystraightline for some males, until it

reaches the little town of St. Marcellin, where

the sand-hills,having formed another semi-circular

sweep, again come in contact with it.

From the terrace above St. Marcellin, on the

north, near the chateau of Bellevue, we com-mand

a magnificentprospect" a plainon eachside of the town, traversed by our road, lies

to the west and east. In front is expandedall the rich valley intermediate between us


and the Sassenagemountains ; these are nowso near that all their romantic crevices are

perfectlydistinguishable,and are lighted upto great advantage by an evening sun. The

most remarkable are, one towards Pont en

Royans before mentioned, and another at

Iseron, further to the east. Between the two,

overhanging a ravine, we see the ruins of theancient Castle of Beauvoir, once the residence

of the old Dauphins ; where, in 1385, Andre,the infant heir of Humbert II., the last of

the Dauphins, came to some doubtful and un-timelyend. The little inn of St. Marcellin,

Le petitParis,enjoysthe distinction of beingnoticed by the ** Hermite en Provence :"

the talkative old landlord, Vhistorien des

vignes de Vlsere^ appears to have been

gatheredunto his fathers,but his cellar and

good cheer survive in great perfection; andmine hostess makes amends for the unpro-mising

exterior of her mansion by supplyingher guests with excellent beds. After tra-versing

another plainupon quittingSt. Mar-cellin,

we again meet the sand-hills,and are

near enough to the Isere to see it flowingin

a deep channel at their base : their slopesare

a mixture of cultivation and coppicesof

Spanish chesnut. We descend again at the

mill of Tesche \ the plainnow assumes a very


luxuriant aspect,and is well protectedon thenorth by the sand-hills,which are here com-pletely

covered with a rich clothingof vines.In the middle of the plain stands Vinay,atthe extremityLalbenc. We now commencean ascent winding between the hills,whichundulate agreeably, and are covered withbrushwood. Among them, in a littleelevated

plain, the village of Chantese is prettilysituated. Ascending again,we find ourselves

considerablyabove the Isere and its plain.Connected with the sand-hills on which we

are, and at no great distance on the right of

our road, we may observe low blocks of lime-stone

appearing in several places,remarkableas beino' detached from the massive ranere of

'to range

that rock on the other side of the Isere. Just

before we commence the descent of these hills,and about a quarter of an hour before reach-ing

Tullins, at the inn of Morette, we come

upon a fine bold "boutdu monde," presentinga magnificentprospect. A plain of extraor-dinary

fertilitylies below us ; the hills onwhich we stand forming a semicircular bendto the north, are connected at their eastern

extremitywith the fine craggy mountains ofthe Grande Chartreuse, which rise imme-diately

in front of us to the eastward. Those

of Sassenageon our rightare nearer and more


d'usage d'ecrire Moirenc." This is the first

town since leaving*Valence that is noticed by

any Roman writer, or in any of the Itinera-

ries. No doubt, however, can be entertained

of a road having-existed from the earliest

periods,and kept the very line we now travel.

Along this line are seated the towns of Ro-mans,St. Marcellin, Vinay, Lalbenc, and

Tullins, and have so existed immemorially ;while the wrecks of numerous old castles,

destined for the defence or plunder of the

country, point out this as the principalline ofcommunication.

At Moirans we are almost at the extremityof the plains. In less than an hour from it wefind ourselves immediately under an abruptescarpment of limestone rocks, which extend-ing

from Voreppe upon the Isere to St. Genix

upon the Rhone, completelyshut up the " In-sula"

on the east with a natural wall of pre-cipices,

well described by Polybiusas

iii.49. ^9V ^vcnrpoaocaKai cvat/j,poXayKai c^eoov, togkireiVfaTTpoGira,

** Mountains hard of approach and ascent,and almost, one might say, inaccessible."

These are the mountains, in the heart of

which, at a great elevation, encircled by

rocks, forests^ and waterfalls of the most


terrific grandeur,stands the famous monasteryof the Grande Chartreuse.

" Del rigidoBrunon segretastanza."

Those awful mountain solitudes where the

imaginationof Gray discovered the haunt ofthe *' Spiritof the Fell."

" Non leve

Nativa nam certe fluenta

Numen habet, veteresque sylvas,Prsesentiorem et conspicimusDeumPer invias rupes, fera per juga,

Clivosquepreeruptos,sonantesInter aquas, nemorumque noctem."

At the foot of these mountains, the plains,such as I have described them, come to anend. These were the plains traversed bythe Carthaginiansunder the escort of the

friendlybarbarians. It must have been atMoirans that this people took leave of Han-nibal

; by venturingto accompany him fartherinto the narrow valley of the Isere, theymight have compromised the securityof theirmarch homewards. Moirans

may be about

thirty-twomiles from Romans " two easydays'march. St. Marcellin,which is exactlyhalf-way,was perhaps the spot, then someAllobrogianvillage,at which the army haltedduring the night.


The chieftains* of the Allobroges Kara

^"ôc,** in detail,"had hitherto offered no in-terruption

to the march of the Carthaginians;but we now find them collectingtogether asufficient force, and projectinga combinedattack

upon Hannibal, to be made at a certain

part of the road farther on, where the nature

of the ground afforded them peculiaradvan-tages.

50. kurelSri^'^Keivoi/ulIvH" ttjv oiKciav aTnyXXayijcavôi^" irepi Tov AvvijSav ripâvTOTrpoayeiv Eig ragSvcT'^wpiag,Tore (Tvva^poiG^hrcgol rCjv AWofSpiyMvrjyeij.ovegyIkuvov ro TrXiiSfoc,7rpoKarcXa(5ovrorovg kv

Kaipovg roTTOvg, oi wv "0"i rovg Tr^pi rov Avvipav

Kar avayKtjv Troieicrâiri}vavaj3o\riv." But when they (the friendlybarbarians)

turned back to their own country, and Han-nibal's

peoplebegan to approach the difficult

places,then the chieftains of the Allobroges,collectingtogethera sufficient number, pre-

Polyb. ii.* These Allobrogianchieftains were probablythe heads

^' . of separate clans. We find the CisalpineGauls prided15. themselves on the number of followers they could retain,

ch!xi'ii.* CJsesar tells the same of the Gauls in general; and Tacitus

in like manner describes the sort of clanshipthat existed in

Germany. This state of societyis,in fact,common to all

barbarous nations. It is justlyremarked by Gibbon, that*'

many of those institutions,refeiTed by an easy solution

to the feudal system, are derived from the Celtic bar-barians.''

THE MARCH OF HANNIBAL. 6l

occupiedthe advantageous positions,throughwhich it was absolutelynecessary for Han-nibal's

men to make a passage."We shall discover, as we proceed, where

these ^ucr^wjotatand ^vKaipoi TOTToi are to befound ; in the mean time, it is only necessaryto remark, that the words kut dvajKr^vimplybut one singlepass, through which alone themarch could possiblybe effected. This would

clearlybe the case if an army had got into the

valleyof the Isere, on the southern side ofthe ** Insula," by Voreppe ; whereas, fromSt. Genix, at the northern extremityof themountainous range, the Mont du Chat, the

Montague de I'Epine,and the Aiguebellette,each offer roads much alike in point of

practicability,and consequently the words

Kar dvayKTivare inapplicableto any one ofthem.

To proceed" Polybius informs us, that hadthe enemy but kept their intentions secret,they must infalliblyhave destroyed the Car-thaginian

army ; but, as their design became

apparent, although they did great injury toHannibal, they suffered no less severelythem-selves

in return.

TvovQ yap o dTpaTi^yog rtjv Kap-^rjdoviwv,onirpOKare^ovaiv ot (5ap(5apoirovg tvKaipovg roTrovg,


avTog /LLev fcaracTTparoTreêutracirpog tcllq vireppoXaig,

"7r"/X"V"." But the general of the Carthaginians,

knowing that the barbarians were pre-occu-pying the advantageous positions,remainedhimself encamped in front of the heights."

It is quite impossibleto hesitate for a mo-mentin perceivingthat this place of Hanni-bal's

encampment, wpog raig vTrepfôXaig,was at

Moirans, or in its immediate vicinity. It is so

clearly''justin front of the heights" of theGrande Chartreuse, and so ostensible a situa-tion

for a halt,while the plans of the enemyin advance were investigated,that no doubt

can be entertained upon the subject.Voreppeis almost too much within the entrance of the

valleyto come under the definition of npogTuig v7rep(3o\aigy** in front of," or " before the

heights." Moirans stands upon a knoll, sur-rounded

by a plain of uncommon fertility,with a stream of water flowing by its side,and presents every convenience for the stay

of an army.

Hannibal, therefore, remained himself en-camped

at Moirans.

c. 50. 7rÔ"7r"î//"ê rivag twv Ka^rjyov/uievtJVavToigraXarwv, X^P^^^^^ KaTa(TKe\pa(Tâittiv tljv vir^vavtI(i)Vkirivoiav,kcli ttjv oXrjv vTroêaiv,

THE MARCH OF HANNIBAL." 63

" But he sent forward some of the Gauls,

who acted as their guides,for the purpose of

discoveringthe resolution of the enemy, andthe whole design."

These were the Gauls from the plains of Tit- ^^^'^

XXI. 32.

the Po, who accompanied the army, and aredescribed by Livy as " baud sane multum

lingua moribusque abhorrent es." They musthave had some means of ingratiatingthem-selves

with the Allobroges,for it appears theirmission succeeded.

wv TTpaâvTUJVto avvra'êvykiriyvovqo arpa- Polyb. iii.

TTfyogy OTi rag /iikvrj/uLepag fTrtêXwcirapevraKTOvaiKai Ttipovcn Tovg Toirovg oi TToXejULioiyrag ê vvKvagHg Tiva 7rapaKHfxavr}v iroXiv aTraXXarrovrat' npog

TavTr}v Trjv VTToêtnv apfxoCofiivog^(TvveaTricFaroTToaîvTOiavTrjv.

'' These men having executed what was

enjoined,the general, informed that theenemy carefullyguarded and watched the

positionsevery day, but retired every night to

an adjacenttown, arranging his plans to meetthis design,determined upon the followingmode of action."

Puttinghis army in motion, 7rpor)yev efKjtavwg^** he advanced openly."

Soon after leaving Moirans, we come in

face of the valley,up which we gain an insightto a considerable distance. The detached and


abruptmountain which overhangs the villageof La Buiserade, about a mile from the gatesof Grenoble, forms the last and most conspi-cuous

object on the left. At Voreppe thevalleyis entered, lyingin all its beautyandrichness between arid walls of precipitousmountains. We pass the villageof Fontanils,with its enormous masses of limestone, fallen

in former ages from the cliffs above. We

look up the ravine formed by the torrent ofthe Tenaison ; in the middle of which rises a

mountain peaked with a pinnacleof rock in amost remarkable manner ; through this open-ing

ascends the road to the villageof Sapey,one of the approaches to the Grande Char-treuse.

We now arrive immediately underthe towering precipiceof the mountain aboveLa Buiserade. Winding round the foot ofthis stupendous crag, we meet in both the

country and the road so remarkable a change

as to demand very particularnotice. The

plain now lies entirelyon the opposite,the

leftbank of the Isere,which, while it turns

the angleformed by the southern point of theGrande Chartreuse mountains, flows imme-diately

at their base. A steep talus,composedof the wreck and rubbish of the rocks above,

extends from La Buiserade on the west, to La

Trorche on the east of Grenoble. About the


across Mont Rachais, dailyguarded by the Al-

lobroges; and in Grenoble, the ancient Cularo,we find, beyond all doubt, tlie " adjacenttown" to which theyretired duringthe night.

But to return to Hannibal, who from

Moirans " advanced openly.'*c. 50. J^^^ (TVVEyyL"jag raig Sutr^wptatc,ov jxaKâv T(ov

TToXe/uicovKarecTTpaTOTreêvae," And having drawn near to the difficult

places,he encamped at no great distance fromthe enemy."

Whatever security we may have expe-riencedin fixingupon Moirans as the place

of his last encampment, is nothing comparedwith the certaintywith which we now seehim takingup a positionat La Buiserade. At

La Buiserade "the difficultplaces"begin,andLa Buiserade is " at no great distance" from

either ** the advantageouspositions,"or thetown occupiedby the enemy. We derive ad-ditional

evidence from the succeedingsen-tence:"

c. 50. Tiic ^" vvKTog kiriyzvofikvriq,avvToâg ra irvpaKaieiv, TO jLiev nXeiov juiapog Trig dvva/metogavTOVKaTeXiTTE* Tovg S* ETTiTrjûoTciTOvgkv^LJVovgTTOiYiijagyîriXêTO. aT^va tyjv vvktu, Kai KaTE(T")(BTOvg viro tu)V

Tro\mi(i)V7rpoKaTaXri(j)^lvTagToirovg, aTTO/ce^w^r^/corwvtu)V j3apf3ap(t)v/car a t^v dwriÊiavug rrjvttoXiv,

" But the followingnight,having com-


manded the fires to be lighted,he left thegreater part of his forces there ; and havingcaused the most proper men to arm themselves

lightly,he passed through the narrow placesduringthe night,and seized the positionsde-serted

by the enemy ; the barbarians having,accordingto custom, retired to the city."

From these words it would appear that the

Allobrogeswere not likelyto have descendedfrom the heightsuntil after theyhad observedthe fires burning in Hannibal's camp, andwere persuadedthe Carthaginianswere quietlysettled for the night. The positionof the

encampment must therefore have been visible

from these heights. Now, La Buiserade isthe only situation along the valley,which,without being upon "the difficultplaces""that is,upon the slopebetween the mountainsand the Isere above described " is discernible

from the heights of Mont Rachais. Everything,before arrivingat La Buiserade, is com-pletely

concealed by that loftymountain,already mentioned as overhanging that vil-lage.

No doubt, then, can exist as to the

exact spot of this encampment. It was from

La Buiserade, therefore,that Hannibal with

some choice troops lightlyarmed, passingalong the road, narrow and difficult as it nowbecame, ascended Mont Rachais, and took

F 2


possessionof the heightsof the Bastille,whilethe Allobrogeswere sleepingsecurelyin theirtown below.

Where was this town ? The exact positionof Grenoble, when in its earliest days it borethe name of Cularo, has never been positivelyascertained. It is very certain that it stood

on the right bank of the Isere ; and the

quarter of the modern town still on that side

of the river,althougha mere suburb, is alwayslooked upon as the most ancient portion of

the city. It is composed of one long streetbetween the river and the rock, bearingatone extremitythe name of St. Laurent, at theother that of La Perri^re 5 between the two

is the ** Montee de Chalemont," (ScalaMontis,) by which a road ascended the heightsof Mont Rachais. It is scarcelypossiblethat

so confined and inconvenient a situation,

pressedon one side by the river,on the other

by the rock, and exposed to inundations and*' eboulemens," could ever have been the

scite of the ancient Cularo. La Tronche, alittlefurther eastward, presents a much more

probableposition.At La Tronche there is arisingground,agreeablyplaced between the

plainand the talus of the mountains, chosen

by the citizens of Grenoble for the situationof their villas : here, too, is a stream, and


here is the " Peage de la Tronche,"* the

ferryacross the Isere,which has existed from

the earliest times. The modern city,with

the exceptionof St. Laurent and La Perriere,is situated entirelyon the left bank of theriver. It was first enlarged on that side bythe Emperors Diocletian and Maximian.

The road from Rome to Vienne passedthroughthe town, and the inscriptionsplacedhj the Emperors over the gateways are stillupon record. That upon the Roman, or

Jovian gate, was thus worded "

DD. NN. IMP. C^S. CAIVS. AVRELIVS. DIO-

CLETIANVS. PIVS. FELIX. INVICTVS. AVG. ET.

IMP. C^S. MARCVS. AVRELIVS. MAXIMIANVS.

PIVS. FELIX. INVICTVS. AVG. MVRIS. CVLARO-

NENSIBVS. CVM. INTERIORIBVS. ^DIFICIIS. PRO-

VIDENTIA. SVA. INSTITVTIS. ATQVE. PERFECTIS.

PORTAM. ROMANAM. lOVIAM. VOCARI. IVSSE-

IIVNT.

* " Ce peage appartenaitancienneinent a lenipire.L'Em-

pereur Henri, par un acte date de Genes, du 16 Fevrier

1312, le ceda a Hiigues,Baron de Faucigny,qui le trans-mit

a Humbert II. Lorsque Humbert dota le convent de

Montfleury,il lui fitcession du peage de la Troncbe. Je

raconterai a ce sujetqu'en 1351, les dames de Montfleurytraiterent avec un marcband de fer de Moirans, nomme

Martin Roux. Elles decbarg^rentlui et ses successeursde tous droits de peage, a condition qu'on leur donnerait

cbaque annee un livre de poivreet un livre de gingembre.""

Hisioire de Grenoble, par M. Pilot, p. 282.


The inscriptionover tlie Vienne, or Her-culean

gate, was the same " substituting*onlyJ^iennensem Herculeam for Homanam loviam.

The Porta Romana, which long retained the

corrupt appellationof Porte Traine, waspulleddown in 1591, when the citywas en-larged

by the famous Constable Lesdiguieres,the hero of Dauphiny. The Porta Viennensisexisted as latelyas the year 1804, when thatalso was sacrificed. The road from Rome bythe Mont Genevre entered Grenoble at the

Porta Romana ; that from Vienne, the road

by which we have travelled since leavingMoirans, descendingMont Rachais in frontof the convent of Sainte Marie-d'en-haut,crossed the Isere somewhere near the presentPont de Bois, and entered the town by thePorta Viennensis. At the close of the fourth

century the Emperor Gratian altered the

name of Cularo into that of Gratianopolis,and made it the seat of a bishoprick.Itwould almost seem from the circumstance of

the bishoprickbeing established on the rightbank of the Isere,as if the cityof Diocletian

was looked upon as nothingmore than a meresuburb.* But the most important benefits

* " La paroissede St. Laurent, comme la plusancienne de

la ville,jouissaitanciennement du droit de piimaute. Sonclergeavant la revolution avait encore le pas sur celui des

autres eglises."" Id. p. 13.


received by Grenoble were through the handsof the Constable Lesdiguieres.This cele-brated

man first provided for the defence ofthe cityby building the fort of the Bastille,which he connected with the town below bytwo walls ; these, divergingfrom the fort,descend in a zigzagdirection on each side of

Mont Rachais to the river " exactlyin the

styleof the walls of a Greek acropolis.Anold gateway, now blocked up, admitted the

Vienne road ; but this entrance was watched

by a strong guard placedin the adjoiningfortof Rabot.* Near this fort,at the edge of the

cliffs,we may still observe where the rocks

have been worn smooth by the traffic that was

formerly carried on along this road. Itwould be tedious and unnecessary to attempt

an enumeration of the various works of Les-diguieres

at Grenoble, and in its neighbour-hood.Two of them, however, are of im-portance

to our present inquiry,and oughtnot to be omitted. LesdiguieresprotectedGrenoble from an enemy more dangerousthan even man. The cityhad been frequentlya victim to the most dreadful inundations.

The Isere,which traverses the town, and the

impetuous Drac, which ancientlyrolled close

* Fort Rabot was erected before the time of Lesdiguieres,iu the year 1532.

7^ THE MARCH OF HANNIBAL,

under the western ramparts, committed, onseveral occasions recorded by historyin bothverse and prose, such tremendous havoc as to

give rise to the prophecy of

** Serpenset Draco devorabunt urbem,"

a translation of which, in the patoisof the

country, is stillcurrent "

" Lo Serpeinet lo DragonMettron Grenoblo en savon.''

The Isere is now confined by handsome

quays, and is not more than ninety or onehundred yards in breadth. Time, labour,and art had in vain, before the days of Les-

diguieres,attemptedto controul the fury ofthe Drac. It was he who effectuallycompletedthis great undertaking,and by carryingthetorrent in a new channel, fortified by power-ful

dams, threw it to such a distance from the

town, that it now falls harmless into the Isere,

oppositeLa Buiserade. His other work was

opening the road under the cliffs of MontRachais. '* II y avait,"says M. Pilot,p. 218,**

au pied de ce rocher un passage appelledans

les actes Malum passetum, qui appartenaitau

chapitrede Saint Martin. La grande routetraversait encore a cette 6poque la hauteur de

Rabot. Du cote de la Tronche, il n'y avait


I. Cularo stood on the riglitbank of the

Isere, probablyat, or near, La Tronche.II. That the main road to it from La Buis-

erade led along the declivityabove the Isere,

passedalong*Mont Rachais near Fort Rabot,descended near the convent of Sainte Marie-

d'en-haut, and continued along the declivityon the other side as far as the " Peage de la

Tronche."

III. That the united currents of the Isere

and the Drac, then unrestrained as they wereafterwards by dams and quays, prevented theexistence of

any safe path,perhaps of even the

Malum passetum^ below Mont Rachais.

IV. That the state of the plainat the con-fluenceof these two furious streams would

have frustrated any attempt on the part of

the Carthaginiansto turn the positionsofMont Rachais by crossingthe rivers.

The March of Hannibal From the Rhone to the Alps 1000258329

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