Quote #63
Taking elephants across the Alps is not as much fun as it sounds. The Alps are difficult enough when alone, and elephants are peculiarly fitted for not crossing them.
More from Will Cuppy
- Then Hamilcar : was drowned in 228 B.C. while crossing a stream with a herd of elephants.
- Whenever a thousand or so of his men would fall off an Alp, he [Hannibal] would tell the rest to cheer up, the elephants were all right. If…
- Hamilcar also told Hannibal about elephants and how you must always have plenty of these animals to scare the enemy. He attributed much of …
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- Most of the original group [of elephants] succumbed to the climate, and he [Hannibal] was always begging Carthage for more, but the people …
- [Footnote] Carthage was governed by its rich men and was therefore a plutocracy. Rome was also governed by its rich men and was therefore a…
- And he [Hannibal] probably believed, up to the very end, that everything might still come out right if he only had a few you-know-whats.