1At last, after men and beasts had been exhausted to no purpose, camp was pitched on the ridge, the ground having been cleared even for that with the greatest difficulty: so much snow had to be dug out and carried away. 2Then the soldiers were led off to make a way through the cliff, by which alone a road was possible, and since the rock had to be cut, they fell and lop huge trees round about and make an enormous pile of timber, and when a strong wind suitable for kindling a fire had also sprung up, they set it alight, and by pouring vinegar on the burning rocks they make them crumble.
3Then they open up the rock, scorched by the fire, with iron tools, and ease the slopes with moderate zigzags, so that not only the pack animals but even the elephants could be led down. 4Four days were spent around the cliff, and the pack animals almost perished from hunger; 4for the peaks are almost bare, and if there is any fodder, the snows bury it. 5The lower parts have valleys and some sunny hills, and streams beside woods, and places now more fit for human cultivation. 6There the pack animals were sent out to pasture, and rest was given to the men, worn out with road-making. 6From there in three days they came down to the plain, where now both the country and the character of the inhabitants were gentler.