§21.32.1P. Cornelius consul triduo fere post, quam Hannibal a ripa Rhodani movit, quadrato agmine ad castra hostium venerat, nullam dimicandi moram facturus; §21.32.2ceterum ubi deserta munimenta nec facile se tantum praegressos adsecuturum videt, ad mare ac naves rediit, tutius faciliusque ita descendenti ab Alpibus Hannibali occursurus. §21.32.3ne tamen nuda auxiliis Romanis Hispania esset, quam provinciam sortitus erat, Cn. Scipionem fratrem cum maxima parte copiarum adversus Hasdrubalem misit, §21.32.4non ad tuendos tantummodo veteres socios conciliandosque novos sed etiam ad pellendum Hispania Hasdrubalem. §21.32.5ipse cum admodum exiguis copiis Genuam repetit, eo, qui circa Padum erat exercitus, Italiam defensurus. §21.32.6Hannibal ab Druentia campestri maxime itinere ad Alpis cum bona pace incolentium ea loca Gallorum pervenit. §21.32.7tum, quamquam fama prius, qua incerta in maius vero ferri solent, praecepta res erat, tamen ex propinquo visa montium altitudo nivesque caelo prope inmixtae, tecta informia inposita rupibus, pecora iumentaque torrida frigore, homines intonsi et inculti, animalia inanimaque omnia rigentia gelu, cetera visu quam dictu foediora, terrorem renovarunt. §21.32.8erigentibus in primos agmen clivos apparuerunt inminentes tumulos insidentes montani, qui, si valles occultiores insedissent, coorti ad pugnam repente ingentem fugam stragemque dedissent. §21.32.9Hannibal consistere signa iussit; Gallisque ad visenda loca praemissis postquam conperit transitum ea non esse, castra inter confragosa omnia praeruptaque quam extentissima potest valle locat. §21.32.10tum per eosdem Gallos, haud sane multum lingua moribusque abhorrentes, cum se inmiscuissent conloquiis montanorum, edoctus interdiu tantum obsideri saltum, nocte in sua quemque dilabi tecta, luce prima subiit tumulos, ut ex aperto atque interdiu vim per angustias facturus. §21.32.11die deinde simulando aliud, quam quod parabatur, consumpto cum eodem, quo constiterant, §21.32.12loco castra communissent, ubi primum degressos tumulis montanos laxatasque sensit custodias, pluribus ignibus quam pro numero manentium in speciem factis impedimentisque cum equite relictis et maxima parte peditum, §21.32.13ipse cum expeditis, acerrimo quoque viro, raptim angustias evadit iisque ipsis tumulis, quos hostes tenuerant, consedit.
The consul Publius Cornelius, about three days after Hannibal had moved from the bank of the Rhone, had come in square formation to the camp of the enemy, intending to make no delay in fighting; but when he saw the fortifications abandoned and realized that he would not easily overtake those who had gained so great a start, he returned to the sea and his ships, intending in this way to encounter Hannibal more safely and easily as he descended from the Alps. Lest, however, Spain—the province which had fallen to his lot—should be left bare of Roman protection, he sent his brother Gnaeus Scipio with the greater part of his forces against Hasdrubal, not only to defend the old allies and conciliate new ones, but also to drive Hasdrubal out of Spain. He himself, with a very small force, returned to Genua, intending to defend Italy with that army which was around the Po. Hannibal, after leaving the Druentia, marched to the Alps, mostly through a flat country, with the peaceful consent of the Gauls who inhabited those regions. At that time, although the reality had been anticipated by report, which is usually accustomed to carry uncertain things beyond the truth, yet the height of the mountains seen from nearby and the snows almost mingled with the sky, the shapeless dwellings placed upon the cliffs, the cattle and beasts of burden shriveled with cold, the men unshorn and wild, all things living and lifeless stiff with frost, and other sights more loathsome to see than to describe, renewed their terror. As they were directing their line of march up the first slopes, the mountaineers appeared occupying the heights that hung over them; who, if they had occupied more hidden valleys, would have caused a great flight and slaughter by suddenly rising up for battle. Hannibal ordered the standards to halt; and having sent some Gauls ahead to reconnoiter the ground, when he found that there was no passage that way, he pitched his camp in a valley as wide as possible amidst completely rugged and precipitous cliffs. Then, having been informed through those same Gauls—who did not differ much in language and manners, when they had mingled in the conversations of the mountaineers—that the pass was beset only by day, and that at night everyone slipped away to his own home, he approached the hills at dawn, as if intending to force his way through the defile openly and by day. Then, having spent the day in pretending something other than what was being prepared, and having fortified their camp in the same place where they had halted, as soon as he perceived that the mountaineers had come down from the hills and that the guards were relaxed, he caused more fires to be lit than would correspond to the number of those remaining, for the sake of appearance; and leaving the baggage with the cavalry and the greater part of the infantry, he himself with light-armed troops, consisting of the most active men, rapidly passed through the defile and took his position on those very hills which the enemy had occupied.