41. The Crossing of the Alps (primer)
postquam Ligures hoc modo superati sunt,
After the Ligurians in this way were overcome,
Hercules progressus est quam celerrime
Hercules went forward as quickly as possible
et post paucos dies pervenit ad Alpes .
and after a few days he arrived to the Alps .
erat necesse transire has,
It was necessary to go across these,
ut ageret boves in Italiam ;
in order that he might drive the oxen into Italy;
tamen res erat summae difficultatis .
however the thing was of highest difficulty .
enim hi montes,
For these mountains,
qui dividunt Ulteriorem a Citeriore Gallia,
which divide Further from Nearer Gaul,
sunt tecti perenni nive ;
are covered with year-long snow ;
ob quam causam
On account of which reason
neque frumentum neque pabulum potest inveniri in his regionibus.
neither corn nor fodder is able to be found in these regions.
Hercules igitur antequam coepit ascendere,
Hercules therefore before he began to ascend ,
paravit magnam copiam frumenti et pabuli
prepared a great supply of corn and fodder
et oneravit boves hoc commeatu .
and loaded the oxen with this food supply .
postquam consumpserat tres dies in his rebus,
After he had spent three days in these things,
quarto die profectus est,
on the fourth day he set out,
et contra opinionem omnium
and against the expectation of all
traduxit boves incolumes in Italiam .
he brought across the cattle safe into Italy.