1823.] Hannibal's Passage through the Alps. 195 



able expanse of desolation must have met the eye. Besides, it 

 may be asked, is it at all probable that Hannibal, while travers- 

 ing an unknown and savage region, where every object, clothed 

 with the dread magnificence of heaven, was calculated to 

 excite feelings of astonishment and terror,* would attempt to 

 deviate from the ordinary passes pointed out to him by expe- 

 rienced guides : he must have felt convinced that inevitable 

 destruction would be the consequence of such a rash unjustifiable 

 proceeding. 



The improbability of Hannibal having at hand a sufficiency of 

 vinegar to effect the decomposition of the rock, has also been 

 brought forward as an insurmountable objection toLivy's account 

 of this achievement. Although 1 am fully satisfied that the 

 action of the vinegar had no share whatever in accomplishing 

 the destruction of the cliff, still 1 see no absurdity in supposing 

 that a Carthaginian army should have been supplied with a con- 

 siderable quantity of this liquid. Several historians inform us, 

 that, from a very early period, vinegar and water constituted 

 almost the sole drink of the military during their long and 

 fatiguing marches : thus Csesar, on one occasion, while conduct- 

 ing his troops through the Alps for the purpose of encountering 

 a branch of Pompey's army, then in Spain, under the command 

 of Afranius and Petreius, is described as having supported them 

 for several davs, principally by means of this simple beverage; 

 and Crevier, in bis History of the Roman Emperors, tells us, 

 " that the Emperor Severus had altogether proscribed the use 

 of wiiK>, which had for some time crept in among his soldiers, 

 and reduced them to vinegar and water, which formed the com- 

 mon drink of the military in ancient tirnes." 



Having thus briefly stated such arguments as have occurred 

 to me in support of the credibility of Livy's statement, I proceed 

 to explain in what manner 1 conceive this important undertaking 

 to have been accomplished. 



Water, it is well known, will insinuate itself into the minute 

 pores and crevices of the most solid bodies, and being expanded 

 by variations of temperature, is capable either of rending them 

 asunder, or of detaching portions from their surface. Expansion, 

 as is well known, may take place in this liquid from two opposite 

 causes, an increase or a diminution of temperature ; that very 

 remarkable enlargement of volume which water undergoes during 

 congelation, is capable of producing very powerful effects, and 

 enables us to explain a number of interesting phenomena. The 



* Nullum vcr usquam, nuliique testatis honores ; 

 Sol jugis habitat iliris, redesquc tuetur 

 Perpetuus ileformis hyems ; ilia undique nubes 

 Hue atras agit et mixtos cum grandine nimbos. 

 Jam euneti flatus, ventiquc furentia regna 

 Alpina posuere donio, caligat in altis 

 Obtutus saxis, abeuntquc in nubila montes 



o 2 



(SiL I.al. Kb, .'i.) 



