plana, proclivia:level, downhill; the ASYNDETON emphasizes the eagerness of Hannibal’s assurances.
fore: a common alternative form for futurum esse, fut. inf. of sum.
summum: adv., at most.
76. in manu ac potestate: a quasi-legal expression indicating total control.
Having passed the summit of the Alps, Hannibal shows his men the Po Valley spreading southward.
Sarcophagus with battle between Romans and Germans Museo Nazionale Romano, Rome, Italy.
Scala/Art Resource, NY.
Nono die in iugum Alpium perventum est per invia pleraque et errores. Biduum in iugo stativa habita, fessisque labore 65 ac pugnando quies data militibus; iumentaque aliquot, quae prolapsa in rupibus erant, sequendo vestigia agminis in castra pervenere. Fessis taedio tot malorum nivis etiam casus, occidente iam sidere Vergiliarum, ingentem terrorem adiecit. Per omnia nive oppleta cum, signis prima luce motis, segniter agmen 70 incederet, pigritiaque et desperatio in omnium vultu emineret, praegressus signa, Hannibal in promuntorio quodam, unde longe ac late prospectus erat, consistere iussis militibus Italiam ostentat subiectosque Alpinis montibus circumpadanos campos, moeniaque eos tum transcendere non Italiae modo sed etiam 75 urbis Romanae: cetera plana, proclivia fore; uno aut summum altero proelio arcem et caput Italiae in manu ac potestate habituros. Procedere inde agmen coepit, iam nihil ne hostibus quidem praeter parva furta per occasionem temptantibus. Ceterum iter multo, quam in ascensu fuerat, difficilius fuit. Omnis 80 enim ferme via praeceps, angusta, lubrica erat ut non sustinere se a lapsu possent. (XXI.35.4–12, excerpts)
77. nihil ne hostibus…temptantibus (78): the double negative simply emphasizes the negative force, with the enemy (the mountaineers) not even trying anything at all (against them).
78. furta: furtum, theft; pl. here, raids.
per occasionem: i.e., as the opportunity arose.
ceterum: adv., but; if the mountaineers were now no trouble, the steep southern slopes of the Alps proved more difficult than the western and northern ones had been.
80. ferme: = fere.
praeceps:steep.
82. ventum: sc. est; cf. perventum est (63).
rectis: here, perpendicular, sheer; ABL. OF DESCRIPTION with rupem.
83. expeditus: unimpeded, unencumbered, light-armed.
temptabundus:feeling his way.
84. virgulta: virgultum, shrub, bush.
stirpes: stirps,trunk, root.
85. velut: conj., as, just as, as if.
87. nequiquam: adv., in vain, to no avail.
89. id ipsum: this very purpose.
fodiendum: fodere,to dig up.
90. ad rupem muniendam: on the model of viam munire, to build (lit., fortify) a road = to build a road along the cliff.
unam: = solam.
91. ducti: actually a partic. agreeing with milites, subj. of faciunt, but translate as if the reading were milites ducti sunt et…struem faciunt.
caedendum esset: caedere,to cut, beat, slay.
92. circa: in the vicinity.
immanibus:huge, immense.
detruncatis: here, stripped of their branches.
struem: strues,heap, pile.
93. lignorum: lignum, wood, log.
et: = etiam.
94. succendunt: succendere, to set on fire.
ardentia:hot, glowing.
infuso aceto:with vinegar (wine) poured onto them; there is some additional ancient evidence for this process of softening or breaking up rocks by heating them and then pouring vinegar over them, but Livy’s account here is generally seen as exaggerated.
putrefaciunt: putrefacere,to soften, make brittle.
