§21.38.1hoc maxime modo in Italiam perventum est, quinto mense a Carthagine Nova, ut quidam auctores sunt, quinto decimo die Alpibus superatis.
It was chiefly in this manner that they arrived in Italy, in the fifth month after leaving New Carthage, according to some authors, and on the fifteenth day after crossing the Alps.
quantae copiae transgresso in Italiam Hannibali fuerint, §21.38.2nequaquam inter auctores constat.
As to how large the forces of Hannibal were when he crossed into Italy, it is by no means agreed among the authors.
qui plurimum, centum milia peditum, viginti equitum fuisse scribunt, qui minimum, viginti milia peditum, sex equitum.
Those who write the highest numbers say there were a hundred thousand infantry and twenty thousand cavalry; those who write the lowest, twenty thousand infantry and six thousand cavalry.
§21.38.3L. Cincius Alimentus qui captum se ab Hannibale scribit, maxime auctor moveret, nisi confunderet numerum Gallis Liguribusque additis:
L. Cincius Alimentus, who writes that he was captured by Hannibal, would move us as the greatest authority, had he not confused the number by adding the Gauls and Ligurians.
§21.38.4cum his octoginta milia peditum, decem equitum adducta — in Italia magis adfluxisse veri simile est, et ita quidam auctores sunt —; §21.38.5ex ipso autem audisse Hannibale, postquam Rhodanum transierit, triginta sex milia hominum ingentemque numerum equorum et aliorum iumentorum amisisse.
With these included, eighty thousand infantry and ten thousand cavalry were led — although it is more likely, and some authors indeed state, that they flocked to him rather in Italy —; however, he writes that he heard from Hannibal himself that, after he crossed the Rhone, he lost thirty-six thousand men and a huge number of horses and other beasts of burden.
Taurini Semigalli proxuma gens erat in Italiam degresso.
The Taurini, a semi-Gallic people, were the nearest tribe to him as he descended into Italy.
§21.38.6id cum inter omnes constet, eo magis miror ambigi, quanam Alpis transierit, et vulgo credere Poenino — atque inde nomen ei iugo Alpium inditum — transgressum, Coelium per Cremonis iugum dicere transisse; §21.38.7qui ambo saltus eum non in Taurinos sed per Salassos Montanos ad Libuos Gallos deduxissent.
Since this fact is agreed among all, I wonder all the more that it is disputed by which route he crossed the Alps, and that the common belief is that he crossed by the Poenine pass — and that the name was therefore given to that ridge of the Alps — and that Coelius says he crossed by the ridge of Cremonis; both of which passes would have led him down not into the territory of the Taurini, but through the mountain Salassi to the Libui Gauls.
§21.38.8nec veri simile est ea tum ad Galliam patuisse itinera; utique, quae ad Poeninum ferunt, obsaepta gentibus Semigermanis fuissent.
Nor is it likely that those routes were then open toward Gaul; at all events, those which lead to the Poenine pass would have been blocked by semi-Germanic tribes.
§21.38.9neque hercule montibus his, si quem forte id movet, ab transitu Poenorum ullo Seduni Veragri, incolae iugi eius, nomen norint inditum, sed ab eo, quem in summo sacratum vertice Poeninum montani appellant.
Indeed, by Hercules, if anyone is perchance moved by this, the Seduni and Veragri, the inhabitants of that ridge, do not know of any name given to these mountains from any passage of the Carthaginians, but rather from the god whom the mountaineers call Poeninus, consecrated on the highest peak.