text:  The narrow defile of St Jean de Maurienne which leads from the plain of Montmelian to the foot of Mont Cenis corresponds much more closely with the description given both in Livy[25] and Polybius[26] of that in which the first serious engagement took place between Hannibal and the Mountaineers two days after they had left the plains of Dauphine than the comparatively open valley which leads to the foot of the Little St Bernard