ws. In modern times roads
have been made, with galleries cut through the rock, and with the
exposed places protected by sloping roofs projecting from above, over
which storms sweep and avalanches slide without injury; so that now
the intercourse of ordinary travel between France and Italy, across
the Alps, is kept up, in some measure, all the year. In Hannibal's
time, however, the mountains could not be traversed except in the
summer months, and if it had not been that the result justified the
undertaking, it would have been considered an act of inexcusable
rashness and folly to attempt to cross with an army at all.

Hannibal had therefore no time to lose, and that circumstance made
this case one of those in which forbearance and a show of generosity
were called for, instead of defiance and force. He accordingly sent
messengers to the council at Ruscino to say, in a very complaisant and
affable manner, that he wished to see and confer with their princes in
person, and that, if they pleased, he would advance for this purpose
toward Ruscino; or they might, if they preferred, come on toward him
at Illiberis, where he would await their arrival. He invited them to
come freely into his camp, and said that he was ready, if they were
willing to receive him, to go into theirs, for he had come to Gaul as
a friend and an ally, and wanted nothing but a free passage through
their territory. He had made a resolution, he said, if the Gauls would
but allow him to keep it, that there should not be a single sword
drawn in his army till he got into Italy.

The alarm and the feelings of hostility which prevailed among the
Gauls were greatly allayed by this message. They put their camp in
motion, and went on to Illiberis. The princes and high officers of
their armies went to Hannibal's camp, and were received with the
highest marks of distinction and honor. They were loaded with
presents, and went away charmed with the affability, the wealth, and
the generosity of their visitor. Instead of opposing his progress,
they became the conductors and guides of his army. They took them
first to Ruscino, which was, as it were, their capital, and thence,
after a short delay, the army moved on without any further molestation
toward the Rhone.

In the mean time, the Roman consul Scipio, having embarked the troops
destined to meet Hannibal in sixty ships at the mouth of the Tiber,
set sail for the mouth of the Rhone. The men were crowded together in