thousand Gauls, the fury of the river itself having been overcome, when they had the Alps in sight, the other side of which was Italy, should they halt through weariness at the very gates of the enemy, imagining the Alps to be—­what else than lofty mountains?  That supposing them to be higher than the summits of the Pyrenees, assuredly no part of the earth reached the sky, nor was insurmountable by mankind.  The Alps in fact were inhabited and cultivated;—­produced and supported living beings.  Were they passable by a few men and impassable to armies?  That those very ambassadors whom they saw before them had not crossed the Alps borne aloft through the air on wings; neither were their ancestors indeed natives of the soil, but settling in Italy from foreign countries, had often as emigrants safely crossed these very Alps in immense bodies, with their wives and children.  To the armed soldier, carrying nothing with him but the instruments of war, what in reality was impervious or insurmountable?  That Saguntum might be taken, what dangers, what toils were for eight months undergone!  Now, when their aim was Rome, the capital of the world, could any thing appear so dangerous or difficult as to delay their undertaking?  That the Gauls had formerly gained possession of that very country which the Carthaginian despairs of being able to approach.  That they must, therefore, either yield in spirit and valour to that nation which they had so often during those times overcome; or look forward, as the end of their journey, to the plain which spreads between the Tiber and the walls of Rome.”

31.  He orders them, roused by these exhortations, to refresh themselves and prepare for the journey.  Next day, proceeding upward along the bank of the Rhone, he makes for the inland part of Gaul:  not because it was the more direct route to the Alps, but believing that the farther he retired from the sea, the Romans would be less in his way; with whom, before he arrived in Italy, he had no intention of engaging.  After four days’ march he came to the Island:  there the streams of the Arar and the Rhone, flowing down from different branches of the Alps, after embracing a pretty large tract of country, flow into one.  The name of the Island is given to the plains that lie between them.  The Allobroges dwell near, a nation even in those days inferior to none in Gaul in power and fame.  They were at that time at variance.  Two brothers were contending for the sovereignty.  The elder, named Brancus, who had before been king, was driven out by his younger brother and a party of the younger men, who, inferior in right, had more of power.  When the decision of this quarrel was most opportunely referred to Hannibal, being appointed arbitrator of the kingdom, he restored the sovereignty to the elder, because such had been the opinion of the senate and the chief men.  In return for this service, he was assisted with a supply of provisions, and plenty of all necessaries,