Page:Philological Museum v2.djvu/696

686 HannihaVs Passage over the Alps. camped {yir avTrjv tyjv Trapcopeiav toou 'AXttccdi/). This may be the correct view of the case ; but it seems also possible that the mention of the Insubres was meant in a less exact sense, and is to be qualified by the description of the Taurini, so that in fact the latter intervened for a short distance between the foot of the Alps and the Insubres, though these are named as Hannibars most powerful ally. A table of posts along the road between Montmeillan and Rivoli gives very nearly the distance of 1200 stadia, at which Polybius vaguely estimates the march across the Alps (wepl ')(^llov^ oLaKoaiov^, c. 39). This short sketch will we hope be sufficient to put the reader in possession of the author'^s views, and it will scarcely be denied that they deserve attention, and shew that General Melvilles hypothesis has not yet been placed beyond the reach of controversy. On the other hand it must be admitted that they involve some propositions which are rather startling, and which ought not to be admitted without great circumspection. If Livy'^s Druentia is the Drac, was he acquainted with the Durance, or did he think it unnecessary to notice it ? This however is a slight difficulty, compared with the mistake attri- buted to Polybius about the Isere and the Rhone. Was he led into this error by the information he received, or by the sight of the two rivers ? Must it not have been corrected if he had followed either of them up toward its source ? These are some of the questions which will no doubt suggest them- selves to the reader, and which we must leave to better judges to decide. C. T.