Liv. 21.34.1Perventum inde ad frequentem cultōribus alium, ut inter montānōs, populum.From there they came to another people, populous with farmers for a mountain folk. Liv. 21.34.1Ibi nōn bellō apertō sed suīs artibus, fraude et īnsidiīs, est prope circumventus.There he was nearly trapped, not by open warfare but by their own arts, by trickery and ambush. Liv. 21.34.2Magnō nātū prīncipēs castellōrum ōrātōrēs ad Poenum veniunt, aliēnīs malīs, ūtilī exemplō, doctōs memorantēs amīcitiam mālle quam vim experīrī Poenōrum;Elders, the chiefs of the forts, come to the Carthaginian as envoys, saying that, taught by the misfortunes of others, a useful example, they preferred to experience the friendship rather than the force of the Carthaginians; Liv. 21.34.3itaque oboedienter imperāta factūrōs;that they would therefore obediently do whatever they were ordered; Liv. 21.34.3commeātum itinerisque ducēs et ad fidem prōmissōrum obsidēs acciperet.let him accept provisions and guides for the march, and hostages as a pledge of their promises. Liv. 21.34.4Hannibal nec temerē crēdendum nec aspernandōs ratus, nē repudiātī apertē hostēs fierent, benignē cum respondisset, obsidibus, quōs dabant, acceptīs et commeātū, quem in viam ipsī dētulerant, ūsus, nēquāquam ut inter pācātōs compositō agmine ducēs eōrum sequitur.Hannibal, thinking that they should neither be trusted rashly nor spurned, lest if rebuffed they should become open enemies, answered them graciously, accepted the hostages they offered and made use of the provisions which they had themselves brought down to the road, and then follows their guides, with his column by no means arranged as though among peaceful peoples.
Liv. 21.34.5Prīmum agmen elephantī et equitēs erant;The head of the column was made up of the elephants and the cavalry; Liv. 21.34.6ipse post cum rōbore peditum circumspectāns sollicitusque ad omnia incēdēbat.he himself marched behind with the main strength of the infantry, looking all around and alert to everything. Liv. 21.34.6Ubi in angustiōrem viam et parte alterā subiectam iugō īnsuper inminentī ventum est, undique ex īnsidiīs barbarī ā fronte ab tergō coortī comminus ēminus petunt, saxa ingentia in agmen dēvolvunt.When they came into a narrower road, overhung on one side by a ridge above, the barbarians rose up on every side from ambush, in front and behind, attacked them at close quarters and from a distance, and rolled huge rocks down onto the column. Liv. 21.34.7Maxima ab tergō vīs hominum urgēbat.The greatest mass of men pressed on the rear. Liv. 21.34.7In eōs versa peditum aciēs haud dubium fēcit, quīn, nisi firmāta extrēma agminis fuissent, ingēns in eō saltū accipienda clādēs fuerit.The infantry line, turned to face them, made it plain that, had the rear of the column not been strengthened, a huge disaster would have had to be suffered in that pass.
Liv. 21.34.8Tunc quoque ad extrēmum perīculī ac prope perniciem ventum est.Even then they came to the very extremity of danger and almost to destruction. Liv. 21.34.8Nam dum cūnctātur Hannibal dēmittere agmen in angustiās, quia nōn, ut ipse equitibus praesidiō erat, ita peditibus quicquam ab tergō auxiliī reliquī erat, occursantēs per oblīqua montānī interruptō mediō agmine viam īnsēdēre, noxque ūna Hannibalī sine equitibus atque inpedīmentīs ācta est.For while Hannibal hesitates to send the column down into the defile, because, just as he himself was a protection to the cavalry, so the infantry had no support left behind them, the mountaineers, running in from the flanks, cut through the middle of the column and occupied the road, and Hannibal spent one night without his cavalry and baggage.