rs were obliged _calumniam jurare_, to
swear that they did not carry on the prosecution through malice, or
a vexatious design. Scipio, therefore, means to reprobate the
interference of the Roman state, which could bring it into the
situation of a common prosecutor in a court of justice.]

48. Finding horses in readiness at a spot where he had ordered, he
traversed by night a district which the Africans denominated Byzacium,
and arrived, in the morning of the following day, at a castle of his
own between Acholla and Thapsus. There a ship, ready fitted out and
furnished with rowers, took him on board. In this manner did Hannibal
leave Africa, lamenting the misfortunes of his country oftener than
his own. He sailed over, the same day, to the island of Cercina, where
he found in the port a number of merchant ships, belonging to the
Phoenicians, with their cargoes; and on landing was surrounded by a
concourse of people, who came to pay their respects to him; on which
he gave orders that, in answer to any inquiries, it should be said
that he had been sent as ambassador to Tyre. Fearing, however, lest
some of these ships might sail in the night to Thapsus or Adrumetum,
and carry information of his having been seen at Cercina, he ordered
a sacrifice to be prepared, and the masters of the ships, with the
merchants, to be invited to the entertainment, and that the sails and
yards should be collected out of the ships to form a shade on shore
for the company at supper, as it happened to be the middle of summer.
The feast of the day was as sumptuous, and well attended, as the time
and circumstances allowed; and the entertainment was prolonged, with
plenty of wine, until late in the night. As soon as Hannibal saw an
opportunity of escaping the notice of those who were in the harbour,
he set sail. The rest were fast asleep, nor was it early, next day,
when they arose from their sleep, full of the illness of intoxication;
and then, when it was too late, they set about replacing the sails in
the ships, and fitting up the rigging, which employed several hours.
At Carthage, those who were accustomed to visit Hannibal met in a
crowd, at the porch of his house; and when it was publicly known that
he was not to be found, the whole multitude assembled in the forum,
eager to gain intelligence of the man who was considered as the first
in the state. Some surmised that he had fled, as the case was; others,
that he had been put to death through t