Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita, Benjamin Oliver Foster, Ph.D. (Editor), Frank Gardener Moore (Editor), Evan T. Sage, Ph.D. (Editor), Alfred C. Schlesinger, Ph.D. (Editor), 21.37

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[1]

At last, when men and beasts had been worn out to no avail, they encamped upon the ridge, after having, with the utmost difficulty, cleared ¹ enough ground even for this purpose, so much snow were they obliged to dig out and remove.

[2] The soldiers were then set to work to construct a road across the cliff-their only possible way. Since they had to cut through the rock, they felled some huge trees that grew near at hand, and lopping off their branches, made an enormous pile of logs. This they set on fire, as soon as the wind blew fresh enough to make it burn, and pouring vinegar over the glowing rocks, caused them to crumble.

[3] After thus heating the crag with fire, they opened a way in it with iron tools, and relieved the steepness of the slope with zigzags of an easy gradient, so that not only the baggage animals but even the elephants could be led down. ²

[4] Four days were consumed at the cliff, and the animals nearly perished of starvation; for the mountain tops are all practically bare, and such grass as does grow is buried under snow. ³

[5] Lower down one comes to valleys and sunny slopes and rivulets, and near them woods, and places that begin to be fitter for man's habitation.

[6] There the beasts were turned out to graze, and the men, exhausted with toiling at the road, were allowed to rest. Thence they descended in three days' time into the plain, through a region now that was less ⁴ forbidding, as was the character of its inhabitants.

Ab urbe condita. Titus Livius (Livy). Benjamin Oliver Foster, Ph.D. (Editor), Frank Gardener Moore (Editor), Evan T. Sage, Ph.D. (Editor), Alfred C. Schlesinger, Ph.D. (Editor). Medford, MA. .

Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.

Funding provided by The National Endowment for the Humanities.

Current edition Perseus

History of Rome (English) (Foster, Benjamin Oliver; Moore, Frank Gardener; Sage, Evan T.; Schlesinger, Alfred C., translators. Cambridge, Mass.; London: Harvard University Press; William Heinemann, Ltd., 1919-1959. (Loeb Classical Library))

Editions (3)

Ab urbe condita Perseus (Pars I-IV, Libri I-XL. Editio Stereotypica. Weissenborn, Wilhelm; Mueller, Moritz, editors. Leipzig: Teubner, 1884-1911.) — 21.37 focus

[1] tandem nequiquam iumentis atque hominibus fatigatis castra in iugo posita, aegerrime ad id ipsum loco purgato: tantum nivis fodiendum atque egerendum fuit.

[2] inde ad rupem muniendam, per quam unam via esse poterat, milites ducti, cum caedendum esset saxum, arboribus circa inmanibus deiectis detruncatisque struem ingentem lignorum faciunt eamque, cum et vis venti apta faciendo igni coorta esset, succendunt ardentiaque saxa infuso aceto putrefaciunt.

[3] ita torridam incendio rupem ferro pandunt molliuntque anfractibus modicis clivos, ut non iumenta solum sed elephanti etiam deduci possent.

[4] quadriduum circa rupem consumptum iumentis prope fame absumptis; nuda enim fere cacumina sunt et, si quid est pabuli, obruunt nives.

[5] inferiora valles apricosque quosdam colles habent rivosque prope silvas et iam humano cult cultu digniora loca.

[6] ibi iumenta in pabulum missa, et quies muniendo fessis hominibus data. triduo inde ad planum descensum iam et locis mollioribus et accolarum ingeniis.

Ab urbe condita Perseus (Conway, Robert Seymour; Walters, Charles Flamstead; Johnson, Stephen Keymer, editors. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1914-1935. (Oxford Classical Texts)) — 21.37 focus

[1]

tandem nequiquam iumentis atque hominibus fatigatis castra in iugo posita, aegerrime ad id ipsum loco purgato; tantum niuis fodiendum atque egerendum fuit.

[2] inde ad rupem muniendam per quam unam uia esse poterat milites ducti, cum caedendum esset saxum, arboribus circa immanibus deiectis detruncatisque struem ingentem lignorum faciunt eamque, cum et uis uenti apta faciendo igni coorta esset, succendunt ardentiaque saxa infuso aceto putrefaciunt.

[3] ita torridam incendio rupem ferro pandunt molliuntque anfractibus modicis cliuos ut non iumenta solum sed elephanti etiam deduci possent.

[4] quadriduum circa rupem consumptum, iumentis prope fame absumptis; nuda enim fere cacumina sunt et, si quid est pabuli, obruunt niues.

[5] inferiora uallis apricos quosdam colles habent riuosque prope siluas et iam humano cultu digniora loca.

[6] ibi iumenta in pabulum missa et quies muniendo fessis hominibus data. triduo inde ad planum descensum et iam locis mollioribus et accolarum ingeniis.

Ab urbe condita Perseus (Livy in Fourteen Volumes. Foster, Benjamin Oliver; Moore, Frank Gardener; Schlesinger, Alfred C., editors. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd., 1919-1959 (printing).) — 21.37 focus

[1]

tandem nequiquam iumentis atque hominibus fatigatis castra in iugo posita, aegerrime ad id ipsum loco purgato—tantum nivis fodiendum atque egerendum fuit.

[2] inde ad rupem muniendam, per quam unam via esse poterat, milites ducti, cum caedendum esset saxum, arboribus circa immanibus deiectis detruncatisque struem ingentem lignorum faciunt eamque, cum et vis venti apta ¹ faciendo igni coorta esset, succendunt ardentiaque saxa infuso aceto putrefaciunt.

[3] ita torridam incendio rupem ferro pandunt molliuntque anfractibus modicis clivos ut non iumenta solum, sed elephanti etiam deduci possent.

[4] quadriduum circa rupem consumptum iumentis prope fame absumptis; nuda enim fere cacumina sunt, et si quid est pabuli obruunt nives.

[5] inferiora valles et apricos quosdam ² colles habent rivosque et ³ prope silvas et iam humano cultu digniora loca.

[6] ibi iumenta in pabulum missa, et quies muniendo fessis hominibus data. triduo inde ad planum descensum iam et ⁴ locis mollioribus et ⁵ accolarum ingeniis.

Translations (2)

History of Rome Perseus (Spillan, D.; Edmonds, Cyrus; McDevitte, William A., translators. London: Henry G. Bohn, 1849-1868. (Bohn's Classical Library)) — 21.37 focus

[1]

At length, after the men and beasts of burden had been fatigued to no purpose, the camp was pitched on the summit, the ground being cleared for that purpose with great difficulty, so much snow was there to be dug out and carried away.

[2] The soldiers being then set to make a way down the cliff, by which alone a passage could be effected, and it being necessary that they should cut through the rocks, having felled and lopped a number of large trees which grew around, they make a huge pile of timber; and as soon as a strong wind fit for exciting the flames arose, they set fire to it, and, pouring vinegar on the heated stones, they render them soft and crumbling.

[3] They then open a way with iron instruments through the rock thus heated by the fire, and soften its de- clivities by gentle windings, so that not only the beasts of burden, but also the elephants could be led down it.

[4] Four days were spent about this rock, the beasts nearly perishing through hunger: for the summits of the mountains are for the most part bare, and if there is any pasture the snows bury it.

[5] The lower parts contain valleys, and some sunny hills, and rivulets flowing beside woods, and scenes more worthy of the abode of man.

[6] There the beasts of burden were sent out to pasture, and rest given for three days to the men, fatigued with forming the passage: they then descended into the plains, the country and the dispositions of the inhabitants being now less rugged.

History of Rome Perseus (Volumes 1-2. Roberts, Canon, Rev, translator. London, New York: J. M. Dent and Sons; E. P. Dutton and Co., 1912.) — 21.37 focus

[1]

At last, when men and beasts alike were worn out by their fruitless exertions, a camp was formed on the summit, after the place had been cleared with immense difficulty owing to the quantity of snow that had to be removed.

[2] The next thing was to level the rock through which alone a road was practicable. The soldiers were told off to cut through it. They built up against it an enormous pile of tall trees which they had felled and lopped, and when the wind was strong enough to blow up the fire they set light to the pile. When the rock was red hot they poured vinegar upon it to disintegrate it.

[3] After thus treating it by fire they opened a way through it with their tools, and eased the steep slope by winding tracks of moderate gradient, so that not only the baggage animals but even the elephants could be led down.

[4] Four days were spent over the rock, and the animals were almost starved to death, for the heights are mostly bare of vegetation and what herbage there is is buried beneath the snow.

[5] In the lower levels there were sunny valleys and streams flowing through woods, and spots more deserving of human inhabitants.

[6] Here the beasts were turned loose to graze, and the troops, worn out with their engineering, were allowed to rest. In three days more they reached the open plains and found a pleasanter country and pleasanter people living in it

Notes on the current edition

Ab Urbe Condita With An English Translation, books 1-10, 21-45, with periochae 11-20

1. B.C. 218

2. This famous story has provoked much ridicule, but in Livy's defence may be noted, (1) the well-known disintegrating effect on certain kinds of stone of heat followed by a douche of cold water; (2) the belief entertained in ancient times, and as late as the sixteenth century, that vinegar helped to make stones friable; (3) the likelihood that Hannibal had at least a few skins of sour wine in his baggage-train (some have held that a vast quantity would have been required, but it must be remembered that Livy may have conceived of the width of the landslip as only a few rods; see last note). In any case those who regard the vinegar story as fiction must not fasten the fiction on Livy, if, as I think, we may discern an allusion to it in Varro's Menippean Satires ( Sesculixes, frag. 25, p. 237, of the Buecheler-Heraeus edition: alteram viam deformasse Carneaden virtutis e cupis acris aceti), and it was probably an old and popular tradition long before the time of Varro, who died in 27 B.C. For recent discussion of the story see the article by Evan T. Sage in C. W. 16 (1922-1923) 73-76, and notes of modern instances by other contributors to the same volume.

3. Polybius (III. Iv. 7) says that the pack-animals and horses were sent over the road after one day's work had been done, and turned out to pasture, but that three days were employed in making it sufficiently wide for the elephants.

4. B.C. 218

Titus Livius (Livy) Ab urbe condita 21.37

Benjamin Oliver Foster, Ph.D. (Editor), Frank Gardener Moore (Editor), Evan T. Sage, Ph.D. (Editor), Alfred C. Schlesinger, Ph.D. (Editor)

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