he rocks, reached the camp by
following the tracks of the army. Tired as the men were, and
wearied by so many hardships, a further dismay was caused by a
fall of snow, which the setting of the Pleiades brought with it.
They started again at dawn, and the army was slowly advancing
through ways blocked with snow, listlessness and despair visible
on the faces of all, when Hannibal hurried in front of his men and
ordered them to stop on a ridge commanding a wide and distant
view, from which he pointed out Italy and the plains of the Po
lying at the foot of the Alps. 'Here', he exclaimed, 'you are
scaling the walls, not merely of Italy, but of Rome; the rest of
the way will be smooth and sloping; one or at most two battles
will make you masters of the fortress and capital of Italy.'

Livy, xxi. 35. 4-9.

Just across the river Ticinus a Roman army came to meet him under
Cornelius Scipio (218). It was defeated; a month later the other consul,
Sempronius, was out-generalled and defeated on the river Trebia. These
two victories meant that Italy north of the Po was in Hannibal's hands.
Moreover the Gauls had risen and joined him. Hannibal at once set to
work training them, and filling the thinned ranks of his own army with
fresh men. His hope was that not only the Gauls--poor allies, for they
could never be trusted--but the Italians generally would rise and join
him. He counted on their being eager to shake off the yoke of Rome.

[Illustration: GREAT ST. BERNARD PASS]

In Rome men were anxious and excited, but not dismayed. There were two
main parties among the people and among the soldiers, led by men of very
differing type. On one side stood those who believed that the way to
treat Hannibal was by a waiting game. If Rome stood fast they could wear
him out as they had worn Pyrrhus out. He was far away from his base of
supplies. His new troops could not be so good as his old. The Italians
would not rise to help him in any great numbers. The centre of Italy was
safe, anyhow. So long as he stayed in the north the south would not
rise; if he moved south the Gauls would soon tire of fighting. The
leader of this party was Quintus Fabius, a member of one of the proudest
Roman families, and a man of what was already beginning to be called the
old school. That the common people might suffer if the war dragged out
for years did not disturb him much.

On the other side stood men like Caius Flaminius and T