17.  The Carthagin’ians had made peace solely because they were no longer able to continue the war.  They, therefore, took the earliest opportunity of breaking the treaty, and besieged Sagun’tum, a city of Spain, which had been in alliance with Rome; and, though desired to desist, prosecuted their operations with vigour. 18.  Ambassadors were sent, in consequence, from Rome to Carthage, complaining of the infraction of their articles, and required that Han’nibal, the Carthagin’ian general, who had advised this measure, should be delivered up:  which being refused, both sides prepared for a second Punic war.

19.  The Carthaginians trusted the management of it to Han’nibal. 20.  This extraordinary man had been made the sworn foe of Rome, almost from his infancy; for, while yet very young, his father brought him before the altar, and obliged him to take an oath, that he would never be in friendship with the Romans, nor desist from opposing their power, until he or they should be no more. 21.  On his first appearance in the field, he united in his own person the most masterly method of commanding, with the most perfect obedience to his superiors.  Thus he was equally beloved by his generals, and the troops he was appointed to lead. 22.  He was possessed of the greatest courage in opposing danger, and the greatest presence of mind in retiring from it.  No fatigue was able to subdue his body, nor any misfortune to break his spirit; he was equally patient of heat and cold, and he took sustenance merely to content nature, not to delight his appetite.  He was the best horseman and the swiftest runner, of the time. 23.  This great general, who is considered as the most skilful commander of antiquity, having overrun all Spain, and levied a large army composed of various nations, resolved to carry the war into Italy itself, as the Romans had before carried it into the dominions of Carthage. 24.  For this purpose, leaving Hanno with a sufficient force to guard his conquests in Spain, he crossed the Pyrene’an mountains into Gaul, with an army of fifty thousand foot, and nine thousand horse.  He quickly traversed that country, which was then wild and extensive, and filled with nations that were his declared enemies.

25.  In vain its forests and rivers appeared to intimidate; in vain the Rhone, with its rapid current, and its banks covered with enemies, or the Dura branched out into numberless channels, opposed his way; he passed them all with undaunted spirit, and in ten days arrived at the foot of the Alps, over which he was to explore a new passage into Italy. 26.  It was in the midst of winter when this astonishing project was undertaken.  The season added new horrors to the scene.  The prodigious height and tremendous steepness of these mountains, capped with snow; the people barbarous and fierce, dressed in skins, and with long shaggy hair, presented a picture that impressed the beholders with astonishment and terror. 27.  But nothing was capable of subduing the courage of the Carthaginian general.  At the end of fifteen days, spent in crossing the Alps, he found himself in the plains of Italy, with about half his army; the other half having died of cold, or been cut off by the natives.