on the same level and of the same appearance as the path on shore leading to the crossing.’ One senses again in Polybius’ account the long-lost manuscript of that Greek eye-witness.
The animals were always accustomed to obey their mahouts up to the water, but would never enter it on any account, and they now drove them along over the earth with two females in front, whom they obediently followed. As soon as they set foot on the last rafts the ropes which held these fast to the others were cut, and the boats pulling taut, the towing lines rapidly tugged away from the pile of earth the elephants and the rafts on which they stood. Hereupon the animals becoming very alarmed at first turned round and ran about in all directions, but as they were shut in on all sides by the stream they finally grew afraid and were compelled to keep quiet. In this manner, by continuing to attach two rafts to the end of the structure, they managed to get most of them over on these, but some were so frightened that they threw themselves into the river when halfway across. The mahouts of these were all drowned, but the elephants were saved, for owing to the power and length of their trunks they kept them above the water and breathed through them, at the same time spouting out any water that got into their mouths and so held out, most of them passing through the water on their feet.
While the last of the arrangements were being made and the crossing of the elephants engineered, Hannibal had been joined by a number of chieftains from the plains of Po, men who had fought against the Romans and who now urged him not to delay his passage into Italy. Hannibal was aware that many of his troops were concerned about the journey that lay ahead. They had had to fight hard after leaving the Ebro: they had tasted the Pyrenees—but under good conditions—and they had crossed this formidable river after several days in delta land that was strange and alarming to them. Now they were confronted by these mysterious and frightening Alps. It was hardly surprising that an army of so many races—let alone tribes—should feel divided and uncertain. Hannibal used the presence of these Boii and in particular one chieftain, Magol, who was perhaps their senior, to point out that the Alps were far from insurmountable: these men had just come from Italy through the passes. They need not fear the Romans either, for men like these had often defeated them. (He must have hoped that the point was taken: ‘You have just defeated a large number of Gauls so, if Gauls can defeat Romans, who should you fear?’)
Both Polybius and Livy (and, of course, all subsequent historians) have pictured Hannibal, on this and other occasions, addressing the assembled army in the rhetoric so dear to the classical heart. But, one must ask, in what language or dialect was he speaking? Hannibal was from childhood acquainted with the Semitic Punic (some words of which may still be found in the Lebanon and the Maltese islands), his second language was Greek, his third almost certainly the tongue spoken by the Spanish tribes south of the Ebro, and the fourth was Latin. He had a quick and agile mind and undoubtedly mastered some basic Gallic (different dialects again). One must imagine that on this and other similar occasions he used a number of interpreters in order to get his message over to the assembled troops. At the same time he, the general, speaking in person to them all, was a very necessary element in his maintaining a grasp upon his multi-racial force—Hannibal, the brother in-law of Hasdrubal, the son of the great Hamilcar, the victor of Saguntum, their leader…. Since his senior officers were Carthaginians, and since the heart of the army itself was composed of Carthaginians and Libyans (the latter of necessity had to learn their rulers’ language) it is most probable that he spoke in Punic. It may have sounded a little like the Arabic still to be heard in Libya and
The animals were always accustomed to obey their mahouts up to the water, but would never enter it on any account, and they now drove them along over the earth with two females in front, whom they obediently followed. As soon as they set foot on the last rafts the ropes which held these fast to the others were cut, and the boats pulling taut, the towing lines rapidly tugged away from the pile of earth the elephants and the rafts on which they stood. Hereupon the animals becoming very alarmed at first turned round and ran about in all directions, but as they were shut in on all sides by the stream they finally grew afraid and were compelled to keep quiet. In this manner, by continuing to attach two rafts to the end of the structure, they managed to get most of them over on these, but some were so frightened that they threw themselves into the river when halfway across. The mahouts of these were all drowned, but the elephants were saved, for owing to the power and length of their trunks they kept them above the water and breathed through them, at the same time spouting out any water that got into their mouths and so held out, most of them passing through the water on their feet.
While the last of the arrangements were being made and the crossing of the elephants engineered, Hannibal had been joined by a number of chieftains from the plains of Po, men who had fought against the Romans and who now urged him not to delay his passage into Italy. Hannibal was aware that many of his troops were concerned about the journey that lay ahead. They had had to fight hard after leaving the Ebro: they had tasted the Pyrenees—but under good conditions—and they had crossed this formidable river after several days in delta land that was strange and alarming to them. Now they were confronted by these mysterious and frightening Alps. It was hardly surprising that an army of so many races—let alone tribes—should feel divided and uncertain. Hannibal used the presence of these Boii and in particular one chieftain, Magol, who was perhaps their senior, to point out that the Alps were far from insurmountable: these men had just come from Italy through the passes. They need not fear the Romans either, for men like these had often defeated them. (He must have hoped that the point was taken: ‘You have just defeated a large number of Gauls so, if Gauls can defeat Romans, who should you fear?’)
Both Polybius and Livy (and, of course, all subsequent historians) have pictured Hannibal, on this and other occasions, addressing the assembled army in the rhetoric so dear to the classical heart. But, one must ask, in what language or dialect was he speaking? Hannibal was from childhood acquainted with the Semitic Punic (some words of which may still be found in the Lebanon and the Maltese islands), his second language was Greek, his third almost certainly the tongue spoken by the Spanish tribes south of the Ebro, and the fourth was Latin. He had a quick and agile mind and undoubtedly mastered some basic Gallic (different dialects again). One must imagine that on this and other similar occasions he used a number of interpreters in order to get his message over to the assembled troops. At the same time he, the general, speaking in person to them all, was a very necessary element in his maintaining a grasp upon his multi-racial force—Hannibal, the brother in-law of Hasdrubal, the son of the great Hamilcar, the victor of Saguntum, their leader…. Since his senior officers were Carthaginians, and since the heart of the army itself was composed of Carthaginians and Libyans (the latter of necessity had to learn their rulers’ language) it is most probable that he spoke in Punic. It may have sounded a little like the Arabic still to be heard in Libya and
Similar Books
