34.61
When
he had brought the king over to his view, he thought he ought to prepare his
countrymen, but he would not run the risk of sending a written
communication lest it should be intercepted and his plans discovered. During
his visit to Ephesus he had picked up a Tyrian servant named Aristo and, as
he had experience of the intelligent way in which he executed less important
commissions, Hannibal decided to make use of him. By means of bribes and
lavish promises, which the king himself endorsed, he was induced to go to
Carthage with instructions. Hannibal supplied him with a list of those whom
it was necessary to interview, and he also provided him with secret signs by
which they might know that he had really been commissioned by Hannibal.
As the man was constantly going about Carthage, Hannibal's enemies found
out the reason for his visit quite as soon as his friends, and the matter
became the subject of conversation at social gatherings and in the clubs. At
last it gave rise to discussion in the senate, where various speakers asserted
that nothing was gained by Hannibal's banishment if he was able to form
treasonable designs, and by carrying on an agitation amongst the citizens
threaten the peace and security of the State. They declared that one Aristo, a
Tyrian stranger, had come furnished with instructions from Hannibal and
Antiochus, that men who were well known were holding furtive colloquies
with him every day, and that a mischief was being secretly hatched which
would soon break out and bring about universal ruin. There was a general
outcry and all present demanded that Aristo should be summoned and
questioned as to the object of his visit, and unless he explained it, sent with a
deputation to Rome. "We have suffered enough," they said, "for one man's
recklessness; if private citizens offend it will be at their own risk, the State
must be preserved from the taint and even from the suspicion of guilt."
When Aristo appeared he endeavoured to clear himself by relying
mainly on the fact that he had brought nothing in the shape of a letter to
anyone. Still he did not give a satisfactory explanation of the object of his
visit, and what caused him most embarrassment was the allegation that his
interviews were confined to the members of the Barcine party. On this a
heated discussion arose, one side demanding his arrest and detention as a
spy, the other asserting that there was no ground for such irregular action,
and it would form a bad precedent if visitors from abroad were to be
apprehended for no reason whatever. The same thing would happen to the
Carthaginians at Tyre and the other commercial cities which they so largely
frequented. The debate was adjourned. Aristo, having to do with
Carthaginians, adopted a Carthaginian stratagem. Early in the evening he
hung up a placard in the busiest part of the city over the tribunal where the
magistrates sat day by day. In the third watch of the night he boarded a
vessel and fled away. When the suffetes took their seats the next morning to
administer justice they saw the placard, took it down and read it. It stated
that Aristo's instructions were not intended for private citizens; they were
public and addressed to the "elders" -for so they designated their senate. As
this involved the whole government there was less eagerness to investigate
the few cases where suspicion fell. It was, however, decided that a
deputation should be sent to Rome to report the affair to the consuls and the
senate and at the same time lay a complaint against Masinissa.
