When the horses which he had ordered were ready, he rode during the night to Byzacium 27-the name of a country district-and the next day reached his castle on the coast between Acylla and Thapsus. There a ship was awaiting him, prepared for immediate departure. It was in this way that Hannibal withdrew from Africa, the country for whose misfortunes he had felt much more pity than for his own. That same day he landed in the island of Cercina. Here he found some Phoenician merchant ships lying in the harbour, and on his leaving his vessel there was a general rush to greet him. In reply to inquiries he gave out that he was on a mission to Tyre. Fearing, however, that one or other of these ships might leave in the night for Thapsus or Hadrumetum and report his appearance in Cercina, he ordered preparations for a sacrifice to be prepared and the ships' captains to. be invited to the solemnity. He also gave directions for the sails and yards to be collected from the ships that they might serve as awnings to shade them at their feast, as it happened to be the middle of the summer. The entertainment was as sumptuous as time and circumstances permitted, and the conviviality was prolonged far into the night, much wine being consumed. As soon as he had an opportunity of escaping the observation of those in the harbour Hannibal set sail. The rest were all asleep and it was not till late the next d aytnattne y that they rose from their torpor, stupid with the effects o f intoxication and then had to;spend several hours in getting the tackle of their vessels back into its place. At Hannibal's house in Carthage the usual crowd had collected in large numbers in the vestibule. When it became generally known that he was not to be found, the crowd surged into the forum demanding the appearance of their foremost citizen. Some, guessing the truth, suggested that he had fled, othersand these were the loudest and most numerous-said that he had been put to death through Roman treachery, and you might note the different expressions in their faces, as would be expected in a city torn by violent political partisanship. Then came the news that he had been seen in Cercina.