1Having roused them with these exhortations, he orders them to refresh their bodies and prepare themselves for the march. 2Setting out the next day, he makes for the interior of Gaul along the bank of the Rhône upstream, not because it was the more direct road to the Alps, but believing that the farther he withdrew from the sea, the less likely the Roman would be to meet him, since he had no intention of joining battle with him before they had come into Italy. 4At the fourth camp he reached the Island. 4There the rivers Isère and Rhône, running down from different parts of the Alps and enclosing a considerable stretch of land, flow together into one; 5the plains between them have been given the name of the Island.
5Near by live the Allobroges, a nation even then inferior to no Gallic nation in wealth or reputation. 5At that time it was divided: two brothers were contending in a struggle for the throne; 6the elder, who had ruled earlier, Braneus by name, was being driven out by his younger brother and a band of younger men, who had less right but more might. 7When the settlement of this dispute was very conveniently referred to Hannibal, he was made arbiter of the kingdom and restored power to the elder, because that had been the opinion of the senate and the chief men. 8For this service he was assisted with supplies and abundance of everything, especially clothing, which the Alps, notorious for their cold, made it necessary to provide in advance.
9When, having settled the quarrels of the Allobroges, Hannibal was now making for the Alps, he did not take a direct route, but turned left into the territory of the Tricastini; 9from there he goes along the edge of the land of the Vocontii into that of the Tricorii, the road nowhere obstructed until he reached the river Durance. 10This too is an Alpine river, and by far the most difficult of all the rivers of Gaul to cross. 11For though it carries an immense volume of water, it still does not admit ships, because, confined by no banks, flowing in several channels at once and not always the same ones, it is forever creating new shallows and new pools, and for the same reasons the way is uncertain for a man on foot as well; 11besides, rolling down gravelly stones, it offers nothing firm or safe to one who steps into it.
12And at that time, as it happened, swollen by rains, it caused great confusion to those crossing, since on top of everything else they were thrown into disorder by their own alarm and confused shouting.