95. ferro: i.e., with iron tools.
pandunt: pandere,to extend, spread, lay open.
molliunt:make gentler.
96. anfractibus: anfractus, turn, bend; here, zigzag paths.
modicis:moderate, easy, gentle.
clivos: clivus,slope, hill.
Hannibal breaks up a gigantic boulder which blocks his way, and completes the descent into Italy.
Barbarian fighting a Roman legionary Roman stone relief, 2nd century A.D. Louvre, Paris, France
Erich Lessing/Art Resource, NY.
Ventum deinde ad multo angustiorem rupem atque ita rectis saxis ut aegre expeditus miles, temptabundus manibusque retinens virgulta ac stirpes circa eminentes, demittere sese posset. 85 Ibi cum velut ad finem viae equites constitissent, miranti Hannibali quae res moraretur agmen nuntiatur rupem inviam esse. Digressus deinde ipse ad locum visendum. Tandem nequiquam iumentis atque hominibus fatigatis, castra in iugo posita, aegerrime ad id ipsum loco purgato—tantum nivis fodiendum atque 90 egerendum fuit. Inde ad rupem muniendam, per quam unam via esse poterat, milites ducti, cum caedendum esset saxum, arboribus circa immanibus deiectis detruncatisque struem ingentem lignorum faciunt eamque, cum et vis venti apta faciendo igni coorta esset, succendunt ardentiaque saxa infuso aceto putrefaciunt. 95 Ita torridam incendio rupem ferro pandunt molliuntque anfractibus modicis clivos ut non iumenta solum sed elephanti etiam deduci possent. Quadriduum circa rupem consumptum, iumentis prope fame absumptis; nuda enim fere cacumina sunt, et si quid est pabuli, obruunt nives. Inferiora valles 100 apricosque colles habent rivosque prope silvas et iam humano cultu digniora loca. Ibi iumenta in pabulum missa, et quies muniendo fessis hominibus data.
97. elephanti: war-elephants were first employed against the Romans (and with great success) by the Greek general Pyrrhus in 280–279 B.C. Although the Carthaginians’ elephants helped to terrify the natives in Hannibal’s march through the Alps, they were apparently otherwise little used during the Second Punic War.
98. fame: fames, hunger, starvation.
cacumina: cacumen,top, peak (of a mountain).
99. pabuli: pabulum, fodder, grass, pasture; here, PARTITIVE GEN. with si quid, whatever grass (there was).
inferiora: sc. loca.
100. apricos: sunny, warm.
colles: collis,hill.
rivos: rivus,stream.
101. cultu: cultus, culture, life, occupation; abl. with dignus.
muniendo: ABL. OF CAUSE with fessis; refers to ad rupem muniendam (90).
103. hoc maxime modo: in this way for the most part; since Livy’s dramatic narrative of Hannibal’s crossing of the Alps is more rhetorical than geographically literal, much uncertainty exists about the exact route taken.
quinto mense: the march is usually dated May-September, 218 B.C.
104. Carthagine Nova: New Carthage in southeastern Spain, the point of departure for Hannibal’s march to Italy.
quidam auctores: the Greek historian Polybius is one important source.
106. nobilis: well-known.
Trasumennum:Lake Trasimene, in central Italy, west of Perugia; several months after crossing the Alps into Italy, on the 21st of July 217 B.C., Hannibal’s army of some 60,000 men dealt the Romans a devastating blow at this site, slaughtering 15,000 of their 25,000 troops along with their commander, the consul Gaius Flaminius.
inter paucas memorata (107): i.e., memorable as only a few are; three other losses at Hannibal’s hands were at Ticinus, Trebia, and Cannae.
107. clades: calamity, disaster, slaughter.
109. urbem: Rome.
petiere: = petierunt; -ere is a common alternate ending for the 3rd pers. perf. tense.
112. frequentis contionis modo: in the manner of a crowded assembly.
113. versa: middle or reflexive use of the pass., having turned itself to or turning to.
comitium et curiam: the meeting places for the assemblies and the senate.
114. pugna…victi sumus (115): laconic enough to suit even the Spartans, and undoubtedly intended to emphasize that gravitas (seriousness, dignity, morale) which was for so long one of the most noble and valuable characteristics of the Romans.
115. quamquam: conj., although.
116. alius ab alio impleti rumoribus: an example of the distributive sense of alius, meaning lit., one person having been filled with rumors by one person and another by another, or more smoothly, filling one another with rumors.
Hoc maxime modo in Italiam perventum est, quinto mense a Carthagine Nova, ut quidam auctores sunt, quinto decimo die 105 Alpibus superatis. (XXI.36.1–38.1, excerpts)
Aftermath of the Romans’ defeat at Lake Trasimene.
