of resistance
to attempt to stop him; and, as the next best thing that they could
do, resolved to render him every possible aid to hasten him on. This
continued to be the policy of the various tribes until he reached the
river. The people on the _further_ side of the river, however, thought
it was best for them to resist. They were nearer to the Roman
territories, and, consequently, somewhat more under Roman influence.
They feared the resentment of the Romans if they should, even
passively, render any co-operation to Hannibal in his designs; and, as
they had the broad and rapid river between them and their enemy, they
thought there was a reasonable prospect that, with its aid, they could
exclude him from their territories altogether.

Thus it happened that, when Hannibal came to the stream, the people on
one side were all eager to promote, while those on the other were
determined to prevent his passage, both parties being animated by the
same desire to free their country from such a pest as the presence of
an army of ninety thousand men; so that Hannibal stood at last upon
the banks of the river, with the people on _his_ side of the stream
waiting and ready to furnish all the boats and vessels that they could
command, and to render every aid in their power in the embarkation,
while those on the other were drawn up in battle array, rank behind
rank, glittering with weapons, marshaled so as to guard every place of
landing, and lining with pikes the whole extent of the shore, while
the peaks of their tents, in vast numbers, with banners among them
floating in the air, were to be seen in the distance behind them. All
this time, the three hundred horsemen which Cornelius had dispatched
were slowly and cautiously making their way up the river from the
Roman encampment below.

After contemplating the scene presented to his view at the river for
some time in silence, Hannibal commenced his preparations for crossing
the stream. He collected first all the boats of every kind which
could be obtained among the Gauls who lived along the bank of the
river. These, however, only served for a beginning, and so he next got
together all the workmen and all the tools which the country could
furnish, for several miles around, and went to work constructing more.
The Gauls of that region had a custom of making boats of the trunks of
large trees. The tree, being felled and cut to the proper length, was
hollowed out with hatchets and adzes, a