Res Gestae

But from the peak of this Italian slope a plateau extends for seven miles, as far as the post named from Mars[*](Modern Oulx, in the Ant. Itin. called mansio Martis; in the Itin. Burdigalense, ad Martis. Amm. uses statio both of a military post, and of a station on the cursus publicus, but see Hyde, R. Alp. Routes, p. 59.) ; from there on another loftier height, equally difficult to surmount, reaches to the peak of the Matrona,[*](Mont Genèvre.) so called from an accident to a noble lady. After that a route, steep to be sure, but easier to traverse extends to the fortress of Briançon.

The tomb of the prince, who, as we said, built these roads, is at Susa next to the walls, and his shades are devoutly venerated for a double reason: because he had ruled his subjects with a just government, and when admitted to alliance with the Roman state, procured eternal peace for his nation.

And although this road which I have described is the middle one, the short cut, and the more frequented, yet there are also others, constructed long before at various times.

Now the first of these the Theban Hercules,[*](See note, p. 176.) when travelling leisurely to destroy Geryon and Tauriscus, constructed near the Maritime Alps and gave them the name of the Graian[*](Grecian, but see Hyde, R. Alpine Routes, p. 59.) Alps. And in like manner he consecrated the castle and harbour of Monaco to his lasting memory. Then, later, after the passage of many centuries, the name Pennine was devised for these Alps for the following reason.

Publius Cornelius Scipio,

At the same time, having an eye to the common welfare, he advised his brother, Gnaeus Scipio, to proceed to Spain and hold off Hasdrubal, who was planning to burst forth in like manner from that quarter. But Hannibal learned of this from deserters, and being of a nimble and crafty wit, came, under the guidance of natives from among the Taurini, through the Tricasini and the extreme edge of the Vocontii to the passes of the Tricorii. Starting out from there, he made another road, where it hitherto had been impassable; he hewed out a cliff which rose to a vast height by burning it with flames of immense power and crumbling it by pouring on vinegar;[*](Cf. Livy, xxi. 37, 1–3; Juvenal, x. 153; etc. Pliny, N.H. xxiii. 57, attributes this power to vinegar, but Polybius does not mention the story, which is doubted for various reasons.) then he marched along the river Druentia, dangerous with its shifting eddies, and seized upon the district of Etruria. So much about the Alps; let us now turn to the rest of the country.

In early times, when these regions lay in darkness as savage, they are thought to have been threefold,[*](With this part of the account, cf. Caesar, B.G., i. 1.) divided into Celts (the same as the Gauls), the Aquitanians, and the Belgians, differing in language, habits and laws.

Now the Gauls (who are the Celts) are separated from the Aquitanians by the Garonne river, which rises in the hills of the Pyrenees, and after running past many towns disappears in the Ocean.

But from the Belgians this same nation is separated by the Marne and the Seine, rivers of identical size; they flow through the district of Lyons, and after encircling in the manner of an island a stronghold of the Parisii called Lutetia,[*](Paris.) they unite in one channel, and flowing on together pour into the sea not far from Castra Constantia.[*](The site of Harfleur.)

Of all these nations the Belgae had the reputation in the ancient writers of being the most valiant, for the reason that being far removed from civilised life and not made effeminate by imported luxuries, they warred for a long time with the Germans across the Rhine.