1Then at first light the camp was struck, and the rest of the column began to move forward. 2The mountaineers, at a given signal, were already gathering from their forts at their usual post, when suddenly they see some of the enemy above their heads, in possession of their own stronghold, and others passing along the road. 3Both sights, presented at once to their eyes and minds, held them rooted and motionless for a short while; 3then, when they saw the confusion in the pass and the column thrown into disorder by its own turmoil, with the horses especially panic-stricken, thinking that whatever terror they themselves added would be enough to destroy it, they run down from different crags, being equally used to roads and to trackless ground.
5Then indeed the Carthaginians were assailed at once by the enemy and by the difficulty of the ground, and there was more of a struggle among themselves than with the enemy, as each strove to be the first to escape the danger. 6The horses most of all endangered the column; terrified by the discordant shouts, which the woods and the echoing valleys magnified still further, they kept plunging about, and when struck or wounded by chance they became so panic-stricken that they caused huge havoc among men and baggage of every kind alike; 7and the crush, since the pass was sheer and precipitous on both sides, hurled many down to an immense depth, some of them armed men too; 7but it was above all the pack animals with their loads that went rolling down like a falling building.
8Although these things were hideous to see, Hannibal nevertheless stood still for a short while and held his men back, so as not to increase the turmoil and confusion; 9then, when he saw that the column was being cut in two and that there was a danger that he would have brought his army across safe but to no purpose, stripped of its baggage, he ran down from the higher ground, and though he routed the enemy by the very force of his charge, he increased the confusion among his own men as well. 10But this turmoil is calmed in a moment, once the roads had been cleared by the flight of the mountaineers, and soon all were brought across not only undisturbed but almost in silence.
11Next he takes the fort, which was the chief place of that district, and the hamlets around it, and fed his army for three days on the captured grain and cattle; 11and because they were hindered to no great extent either by the mountaineers, who had been cowed at the outset, or by the terrain, he covered a good deal of road in those three days.