ies retreated
from the field and went back to their respective camps, it is safe to
infer that neither could boast of a very decisive victory.

CHAPTER V.

HANNIBAL CROSSES THE ALPS.

B.C. 217

The Alps.--Their sublimity and grandeur.--Perpetual cold in the
upper regions of the atmosphere.--Avalanches.--Their terrible
force.--The glaciers.--Motion of the ice.--Crevices and
chasms.--Situation of the Alps.--Roads over the Alps.--Sublime
scenery.--Beauty of the Alpine scenery.--Picturesque
scenery.--Hannibal determines to cross the Alps.--Hannibal's
speech to his army.--Its effects.--His army follows.--Scipio moves
after Hannibal.--Sad vestiges.--Perplexity of Scipio.--He sails back
to Italy.--Hannibal approaches the Alps.--A dangerous defile.--The
army encamps.--The mountaineers.--Hannibal's stratagem.--Its
success.--Astonishment of the mountaineers.--Terrible conflict in
the defile.--Attack of Hannibal.--The mountaineers defeated.--The
army pauses to refresh.--Scarcity of food.--Herds and flocks upon
the mountains.--Foraging parties.--Collecting cattle.--Progress of
the army.--Cantons.--An embassage.--Hostages.--Hannibal's
suspicions.--Treachery of the mountaineers.--They attack
Hannibal.--The elephants.--Hannibal's army divided.--Hannibal's
attack on the mountaineers.--They embarrass his march.--Hannibal's
indomitable perseverance.--He encamps.--Return of straggling
parties.--Dreary scenery of the summit.--Storms in the mountains.--A
dreary encampment.--Landmarks.--A snow storm.--The army resumes its
march.--Hannibal among the pioneers.--First sight of Italy.--Joy of
the army.--Hannibal's speech.--Fatigues of the march.--New
difficulties.--March over the glacier.--A formidable barrier.--Hannibal
cuts his way through the rocks.--The army in safety on the plains of
Italy.

It is difficult for any one who has not actually seen such mountain
scenery as is presented by the Alps, to form any clear conception of
its magnificence and grandeur. Hannibal had never seen the Alps, but
the world was filled then, as now, with their fame.

Some of the leading features of sublimity and grandeur which these
mountains exhibit, result mainly from the perpetual cold which reigns
upon their summits. This is owing simply to their elevation. In every
part of the earth, as we ascend from the surface of the ground into
the atmosphere, it becomes, for some mysterious reason or other, more
and more cold as we rise, so that over