44.5
It is
impossible to describe the toil and difficulty they experienced in descending
the mountain, with the baggage and animals and their packs perpetually
falling. They had hardly gone four miles when the one thing they desired
above all else was to return if possible to their starting point. The elephants
caused almost as much confusion in the line as the enemy might have done;
when they came to places which could not be crossed they flung their drivers
off and created great alarm, especially among the horses, by their appalling
roar, until a plan was devised for getting them across. The steepness of the
slope was measured and two long stout poles were firmly fastened in the
ground at the bottom of it somewhat wider apart than the breadth of the
animal. On the top of the poles a cross-beam was fastened and with their
ends resting on this beam, balks 30 feet long were fastened together so as to
form a bridge, and then covered with earth. A short distance away another
similar bridge was constructed, and then a third, and so on wherever the
descent was precipitous. The elephant went from the solid ground on to the
bridge, and just before he reached the lower end of it the poles were cut
away and the bridge subsided down to the beginning of the next bridge
below it. The elephants were thus compelled to slide quietly down, some on
their feet, some on their haunches. When the level of the next bridge was
reached. the lower end was made to fall in the same way and the elephants
were carried down until they reached more level ground.
The Romans advanced little more than seven miles that day. Very
little of this was done on their feet; their mode of progression was for the
most part to roll down with their arms and the other things they had to carry
in a most uncomfortable and painful manner; so much so indeed that even
their general himself who was responsible for the expedition admitted that
the entire army could have been annihilated by a small body of assailants. At
nightfall they came to a small plain shut in on all sides. They had at last
reached a place which afforded them a sure foothold, but they had not much
time for looking round and seeing how exposed the position was. The next
day they had to wait in this valley for Popilius and the detachment left with
him, and these men, though the enemy nowhere threatened them, found a
most troublesome enemy in the difficulties of the descent. The army, once
more united, marched the next day through the pass called by the natives
Callipeuce. From there the march was as rough and difficult as before, but
they had learnt by experience and were in a more hopeful mood because the
enemy nowhere showed himself, and they were approaching the sea. When
they had descended into the level country between Heracleum and
Libethrum, they formed their camp. The greater part of the infantry were on
rising ground; that part of the plain where the cavalry had their tents was
enclosed with the rest by the rampart.