Note 4 — INTRODUCTION.

Fire must have been a very potent instrument in the hands of Hannibal, if we believe what Livy and Pliny assert respecting the means he employed in crossing the Alps, which took him fifteen days, after meeting with almost every obstacle. Livy tells us, that Hannibal softened the rock by pouring vinegar upon it, after it had first been made hot under flaming piles of huge trees! M. Rollin quotes Pliny to prove that vinegar has the force to break stones and rocks! This story is altogether fabulous; for in the first place, had he vinegar sufficient; and, secondly, who ever knew that vinegar had force, or even the power of dissolving primitive rocks, such as granite or gneiss; and, thirdly, if it possessed the power stated by Pliny, and had he a sufficient quantity, where was his wood? For Polybius assures us, that Hannibal had no wood to make a fire with, and that there was not a tree in the place, where he then was, nor near it. That Hannibal passed over the Alps into Italy, and at an inclement season of the year, is certain, and that it was one of the greatest achievements that an enterprising commander ever accomplished, is generally admitted.