49. He must at any rate have had a good view of the plain from the summit of the pass he crossed--else his speech would be absurd--and there are (I believe) only two passes with summits commanding such a view. In the old ALPINE GUIDE, pt. 1, p. 25, ed. 1863, Ball describes the Col de la Traversette. “To those who approach from the side of France, the view suddenly unfolded at the summit, extending (in clear weather) across the entire plain of Piedmont as far as Milan, is extremely striking.” On p. 55 he endorses Bonney’s description of the Cenis passes. “Between the plateau of the Little Mont Cenis and La Grande Croix [on the Great Mont Cenis] a ridge can be gained by a few minutes’ walk, whence is seen the country to the east of the Po, and the south of the Tanaro, as far as the Apennines.” He says nothing (p. 57) of any view from the Col du Clapier, just south of the Cenis passes though north of the Cenis tunnel; but a similar view can be obtained in a few minutes’ walk from there.--Polybios (iii. 54. 3, 4) says that Hannibal made his speech about the view while the army was encamped upon the summit of the pass, but Livy (xxi. 35) puts the speech the following day, immediately on starting on the downward march; and he says that Hannibal halted the men at an eminence (_in promontorio quodam_) commanding that great view, and made his speech there. The word _promontorium_ suggests a point of view a little way off the road. 50. Several of the passes have a plateau at the top; and Hannibal may have gone over one of these, as Polybios (iii. 53. 9) and Livy (xxi. 35) say that he encamped at the top, and the plateau would be a suitable place for camping. But they say nothing about a plateau, only saying that he encamped to rest the men who had arrived, and wait for the arrival of the others. And as that is all they say, a plateau is not really so essential as a view for determining which pass he crossed. In fact, if a plateau was essential for his camping, he must have found a plateau every night all through his march. 51. On the first day of his march down from the summit, he came to a bad place where a landslip had destroyed the track for a distance of about 300 yards, and he had to encamp there, as the baggage-animals and elephants could not get past. One day’s repairs made the track passable for the baggage-animals, and these and the cavalry-horses were sent on ahead and turned out to graze on the pastures down below. But three days’ repairs were needed to make the track passable for the elephants, who meanwhile nearly died for want of food.--That is the substance of what Polybios says, iii. 54. 4–7, 55. 6–8, and Livy follows him.