Page:Philological Museum v2.djvu/689

679 HannibaV^ Passage over the Alps. 679 his account of the distance^ as he does in two instances, with the particle Trepi. But moreover, the length assigned in this remark to the Roman mile is not the same at which, as Strabo informs us, Polybius estimated it. (vii. p. 322. YIoXvjSlos Trpoo'TLOeh tw OKTaaradiw onrXeOpov^ o ecrri TpiTov aTaoiov.) Hence there is no reason to suppose that in the time of Polybius the distances he mentions had been precisely ascer- tained, nor can we safely draw any inference from them as to the point at which Hannibal reached the river. But on the other hand it is highly probable that the track which Hannibal pursued was the same along which the Roman road was afterwards carried. If so, he had no motive for deviating from it. As the arrival of the Roman army was unexpected, he could not alter his course for the purpose of avoiding the enemy. Nor is it likely that he should have been influenced by the passage of the Durance, which in the dry season presents no difiiculties. The Roman road to Lyons always crossed this river, because the inconvenience it might some- times occasion was compensated by the advantage of passing the Rhone lower down where its stream was less rapid. That the distance of the place, where Hannibal crossed, from the sea was not so great as has been supposed by De Luc, seems to follow from Scipio's march to the Carthaginian camp from the mouth of the river. He reached it in three days, if indeed this is not the time spent both in going and returning to his ships, as the language both of Polybius and Livy might be construed. (Pol. iii. 49; Liv. xxi. 32.) We are not told that he crossed the Durance, which proves either that it did not lie in his way, or that it was not dangerous. Uckert also raises a question whether the vessels (XeV/3oi) in which Hannibal transported his troops, and which were such as the natives used for sea voyages, could have ascended the river as high as Roquemaure. Polybius indeed remarks that Hannibal selected a part of the river, which was not broken by islands, for his passage. (iii. 42. eve^eipei iToieLaOaL Trju ^idfiaaLU Kara Trjv (XTrXrjv pvaiv.) But it is not necessary on this account to seek for a place distant from every island, nor to reject Beaucaire because it lies opposite one. All that is implied by the description is that Hannibal crossed either above or below the island, most probably the former. The