was outgeneralled in the very beginning.

His course now should have been to return to Northern Italy with all
his forces, and take every means to check Hannibal there. Instead, he
sent most of his troops to Spain under his brother Gnaeus Scipio, and
himself, with but a few men, set sail for Pisae.

Meanwhile Hannibal hurried up the valley of the Rhone, across the
Isara, through the fertile country of the Allobroges, arriving, in
sixteen days from Avenio, at the pass of the first Alpine range (Mont
du Chat). Crossing this with some difficulty, owing to the nature of
the country and the resistance of the Celts, he hastened on through
the country of the Centrónes, along the north bank of the Isara. As he
was leaving this river and approaching the pass of the Little St.
Bernard, he was again attacked by the Celts, and obliged to make the
ascent amidst continual and bloody encounters. After toiling a day and
a night, however, the army reached the summit of the pass. Here, on a
table-land, his troops were allowed a brief rest.

The hardships of the descent were fully as great, and the fertile
valley of the Po was a welcome sight to the half-famished and
exhausted soldiers. Here they encamped, in September, and recruited
their wearied energies.

This famous march of Hannibal from the Rhone lasted thirty-three days,
and cost him 20,000 infantry and 3,000 cavalry.

The Romans were still unprepared to meet Hannibal. One army was in
Spain under Gnaeus Scipio; the other in Sicily, on its way to Africa,
under the Consul Sempronius. The only troops immediately available