§21.26.1qui tumultus repens postquam est Romam perlatus, et Punicum insuper Gallico bellum auctum patres acceperunt, §21.26.2C. Atilium praetorem cum una legione Romana et quinque milibus sociorum dilectu novo a consule conscriptis auxilium ferre Manlio iubent; qui sine ullo certamine — abscesserant enim metu hostes — Tannetum pervenit.
After this sudden tumult was reported to Rome, and the senators learned that a Punic war was added moreover to the Gallic one, they ordered Gaius Atilius the praetor to bring aid to Manlius with one Roman legion and five thousand allies, who had been enlisted in a new levy by the consul; he reached Tannetum without any conflict, for the enemy had departed out of fear.
§21.26.3et P. Cornelius in locum eius quae missa cum praetore erat, scripta legione nova profectus ab urbe sexaginta longis navibus praeter oram Etruriae Ligurumque et inde Salluvium montis pervenit Massiliam et ad proxumum ostium Rhodani — §21.26.4pluribus enim divisus amnis in mare decurrit — castra locat, vixdum satis credens Hannibalem superasse Pyrenaeos montis.
And Publius Cornelius, having enlisted a new legion in place of that which had been sent with the praetor, set out from the city with sixty warships, and sailing along the coast of Etruria and the Ligurians, and then the mountains of the Salluvii, arrived at Massilia and at the nearest mouth of the Rhone— for the river flows down into the sea divided into several channels—and there he pitched his camp, scarcely yet believing that Hannibal had crossed the Pyrenees.
§21.26.5quem ut de Rhodani quoque transitu agitare animadvertit, incertus, quonam ei loco occurreret, necdum satis refectis ab iactatione marituma militibus, trecentos interim delectos equites ducibus Massiliensibus et auxiliaribus Gallis ad exploranda omnia visendosque ex tuto hostes praemittit.
When he noticed that Hannibal was also planning the crossing of the Rhone, being uncertain as to what place he should meet him, and since his soldiers were not yet sufficiently recovered from sea-sickness, he sent ahead in the meantime three hundred chosen cavalry, with Massiliot guides and auxiliary Gauls, to reconnoiter everything and to view the enemy from a safe distance.
§21.26.6Hannibal ceteris metu aut pretio pacatis iam in Volcarum pervenerat agrum, gentis validae.
Hannibal, having pacified the rest either by fear or by money, had now arrived in the territory of the Volcae, a powerful tribe.
colunt autem circa utramque ripam Rhodani; sed diffisi citeriore agro arceri Poenum posse, ut flumen pro munimento haberent, omnibus ferme suis trans Rhodanum traiectis ulteriorem ripam amnis armis obtinebant.
They dwell around both banks of the Rhone; but distrusting their ability to keep the Carthaginian from the near bank, so that they might have the river as a defense, they transported nearly all their people and belongings across the Rhone and held the opposite bank of the river with arms.
§21.26.7ceteros accolas fluminis Hannibal et eorum ipsorum, quos sedes suae tenuerant, simul perlicit donis ad naves undique contrahendas fabricandasque, simul et ipsi traici exercitum levarique quam primum regionem suam tanta hominum urgente turba cupiebant.
Hannibal, by means of gifts, enticed the other inhabitants of the river-bank, and even those of the Volcae whom their own homes had held back, to collect from all sides and to build boats; at the same time, they themselves also desired that the army should be transported across and that their own territory should be relieved as soon as possible from the pressure of so vast a multitude of men.
§21.26.8itaque ingens coacta vis navium est lintriumque temere ad vicinalem usum paratarum; novasque alias primum Galli inchoantes cavabant ex singulis arboribus, §21.26.9deinde et ipsi milites simul copia materiae simul facilitate operis inducti alveos informes, nihil, dummodo innare aquae et capere onera possent, curantes, raptim, quibus se suaque transveherent, faciebant.
Therefore, a huge number of boats and canoes hastily prepared for local use was collected; and first the Gauls, beginning the work, hollowed out new ones from single trees, and then the soldiers themselves, induced both by the abundance of timber and by the ease of the work, hastily made shapeless troughs, caring nothing for their appearance so long as they could float on the water and carry loads, in which they might transport themselves and their possessions.