Res Gestae

But in winter the ground, caked with ice, and as it were polished and therefore slippery, drives men headlong in their gait and the spreading valleys in level places, made treacherous by ice, sometimes swallow up the traveller. Therefore those that know the country well drive projecting wooden stakes along the safer spots, in order that their line may guide the traveller in safety. But if these are covered with snow and

But from the peak of this Italian slope a plateau extends for seven miles, as far as the post named from Mars[*](Modern Oulx, in the Ant. Itin. called mansio Martis; in the Itin. Burdigalense, ad Martis. Amm. uses statio both of a military post, and of a station on the cursus publicus, but see Hyde, R. Alp. Routes, p. 59.) ; from there on another loftier height, equally difficult to surmount, reaches to the peak of the Matrona,[*](Mont Genèvre.) so called from an accident to a noble lady. After that a route, steep to be sure, but easier to traverse extends to the fortress of Briançon.