Hannibal strolls quietly through Languedoc.

When I was a very small boy in school it was decided to enter me for verse speaking in the local Feis Maitiu.
I was given two poems to learn, one was about Hannibal.
I can still remember what must have been a sort of chorus in the poem;
“A hundred elephants Hannibal had when Hannibal crossed the alps”

This I was able to rattle off fortissimo ( and totally without comprehension) but with great use of a sort of staccato rhythm that I imagined was what was required for great verse speaking.

“A hundred elephants Hannibal had when Hannibal crossed the alps”

To my surprise I didn’t win, but it did leave me with a fondness for Hannibal and an appreciation of his prowess in getting over the Alps with his herd.

I have just started to read The Middle Sea by John Julius Norwich, a history of the Mediterranean. In it he tells of Hannibal’s great march in 218 BC, through Spain from Carthage and across the Pyrennees before heading for the Alps.

He hadn’t come just with elephants (although he had 37 of those) but also 40 thousand foot soldiers and 12 thousand mounted men.

They must have marched across the plains of the Languedoc en route for the Rhone and the Alps.
In which case they must have been in easy view of my terrace in Thezan as they passed along.

It must have been an amazing sight, particularly to a people who had never before seen an elephant.
I’m sorry I wasn’t there, I’m sure that it would have made me put far more emotion into the poem which I recited all those years ago.
Hannibal could have had a second victory on his hands by helping me win the Feis.