§21.36.1Ventum deinde ad multo angustiorem rupem atque ita rectis saxis, ut aegre expeditus miles temptabundus manibusque retinens virgulta ac stirpes circa eminentes demittere sese posset.
Then they came to a much narrower cliff, and with rocks so sheer that even a light-armed soldier, feeling his way and holding onto the shrubs and roots protruding around, could only with difficulty lower himself.
§21.36.2natura locus iam ante praeceps recenti lapsu terrae in pedum mille admodum altitudinem abruptus erat.
The place, by nature already steep before, had been broken off by a recent landslide to a depth of fully a thousand feet.
§21.36.3ibi cum velut ad finem viae equites constitissent, miranti Hannibali, quae res moraretur agmen, nuntiatur rupem inviam esse.
There, when the cavalry had halted as if at the end of the road, it was reported to Hannibal, who was wondering what was delaying the column, that the cliff was impassable.
§21.36.4digressus deinde ipse ad locum visendum.
He then went ahead himself to view the place.
haud dubia res visa, quin per invia circa nec trita antea quamvis longo ambitu circumduceret agmen.
It seemed beyond doubt that he must lead the column around through the trackless and previously untrodden places nearby, however long the detour might be.
§21.36.5ea vero via inexsuperabilis fuit.
But that path indeed proved insurmountable.
nam cum super veterem nivem intactam nova modicae altitudinis esset, molli nec praealtae facile pedes ingredientium insistebant; §21.36.6ut vero tot hominum iumentorumque incessu dilapsa est, per nudam infra glaciem fluentemque tabem liquescentis nivis ingrediebantur.
For while there was new snow of moderate depth over the old, untouched snow, the feet of those stepping on it easily found a foothold on the soft and not very deep snow; but when it was melted away by the treading of so many men and beasts, they had to walk over the bare ice beneath and the flowing slush of the melting snow.
§21.36.7taetra ibi luctatio erat via lubrica non recipiente vestigium et in prono citius pedes fallente, ut, seu manibus in adsurgendo seu genu se adiuvissent, ipsis adminiculis prolapsis iterum corruerent; nec stirpes circa radicesve, ad quas pede aut manu quisquam eniti posset, erant; ita in levi tantum glacie tabidaque nive volutabantur.
The struggle there was wretched, as the slippery path offered no foothold and on the slope caused their feet to slip all the more quickly, so that whether they helped themselves with their hands or knees in trying to rise, those very supports slipped from under them and they fell down again; nor were there any shrubs or roots around, by which anyone could scramble up with hand or foot; thus they only rolled about on the smooth ice and the melting snow.
§21.36.8iumenta secabant interdum etiam infimam ingredientia nivem et prolapsa iactandis gravius in conitendo ungulis penitus perfringebant, ut pleraque velut pedica capta haererent in dura et alte concreta glacie.
The beasts of burden, stepping occasionally even through the lowest layer of snow, and having slipped, broke completely through the ice by kicking their hoofs too violently in their efforts to rise, so that most of them remained stuck, as if caught in a trap, in the hard and deeply frozen ice.