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Apparently Hannibal was the only person who did not believe the story (Livy, 33.47.2;
also Justinus 31.1; 31.2).
Cornelius Nepos, who relates a similar story, offers no reason for the Roman envoys‟
visit to Carthage. Thus in his version, there is no suggestion that the envoys had a secret
agenda; it is simply an assumption on the part of Hannibal that they would demand his
surrender:
Deinde M. Claudio L. Furio consulibus, Roma legati Karthaginem
venerunt. Hos Hannibal ratus sui exposcendi gratia missos, priusquam
iis senatus daretur, navem ascendit clam atque in Syriam ad
Antiochum perfugit.
Cornelius Nepos, Hann. 7.6
Then in the following year, 418 when Marcus Claudius and Lucius
Furius were consuls, envoys came to Carthage from Rome. Hannibal
thought that they had been sent to demand his surrender; therefore,
before they were given audience by the senate, he secretly embarked
on a ship and took refuge with King Antiochus on Syria.
Rolfe, 1984, 271
Hannibal‟s legendary ability to take care of himself and the necessary secrecy around
an escape leads to another exciting episode in his life-story. Livy and Justinus describe
how Hannibal managed to slip out of Carthage in disguise and, under cover of darkness,
rode out to a coastal property he owned where a ship was waiting for him (Livy,
33.48.1; Justinus 31.2).
Hannibal receives celebrity treatment at Cercina and Tyre which show that his
achievements had earned him great fame across the Mediterranean. The welcomes also
imply that he did not travel incognito and that he was widely known. Furthermore, they
may have been official welcomes as it was said that he was on a mission to Tyre (Livy,
33.48.2-49; Diodorus, 17.40; Diodorus Siculus, 28.10). Such a mission is plausible as
traditionally Carthage was once a colony of Tyre and there are records elsewhere of
Carthage sending embassies to Tyre. 419
At Cercina, Hannibal cleverly prevented any vessels (Carthaginian or otherwise)
departing before himself by organising a sacrifice and feast that required the loan of the
sails and ropes from all the other ships in the harbour, except his own, to create a
418 196.
419 Carthaginian missions to Tyre: Quintus Curtius, 4.2.10; Diodorus 17.40, and Strabo 17.3.15 all refer to
annual sacrifices made by Carthage at Tyre to Melqart (Hercules). Carthage was originally a colony of
Tyre: Diodorus 17.40, Strabo 17.3.15, and Livy 33.49. Dido took sacred utensils of Hercules from Tyre
197