History of Rome

​When he had brought the king to this opinion, thinking that the minds of his fellow-countrymen should be prepared by him for that purpose, he did not dare to write a letter, lest by any chance it might be intercepted and lay open his designs;

​having met at Ephesus a certain Tyrian, Aristo, and having tested his cleverness in lighter services, he loaded him partly with gifts, partly with the hope of rewards, to which even the king himself had agreed, and sent him to Carthage with instructions.

​He gave him the names of those whom it was necessary to meet; he also furnished him with secret tokens, by which they would without doubt recognize that the instructions were his.

​When this Aristo was seen about Carthage, the enemies of Hannibal no less quickly than his friends discovered for what reason he had come.

​And at first the matter was talked of in social gatherings and banquets;

​then in the senate some said that nothing had been accomplished by the exile of Hannibal, if even in his absence he could plot new schemes and disturb the state of the commonwealth by exciting the minds of men;

​that a certain Aristo, a Tyrian stranger, had come furnished with instructions from Hannibal and King Antiochus; that certain men were daily holding secret conferences with him; and that in secret was being brewed what would soon break out to the ruin of all.

​All cried out that Aristo ought to be summoned, and questioned as to why he had come, and, unless he explained, sent to Rome with envoys; that a sufficient penalty of punishments had been paid for the rashness of one man;

​that private citizens might sin at their own risk, but the commonwealth must be kept not only free from guilt, but even free from the suspicion of guilt.

​Summoned, Aristo cleared himself and made use of the strongest defense, that he had brought no letters to anyone;

​but he did not sufficiently explain the reason for his coming, and hesitated most of all on the point that they accused him of having spoken only with men of the Barcine faction.

​An altercation arose therefrom, some ordering that he should be immediately arrested and kept in custody as a spy, others denying that there was any reason for creating a disturbance;

​they argued that it was a bad precedent for guests to be seized on no grounds; and that the same thing would happen to Carthaginians both at Tyre and in other trading-posts which they frequently visited.

​The matter was postponed for that day. Aristo, employing Punic guile among the Carthaginians, in the early evening suspended written tablets in a most frequented place over the daily seat of the magistrates, and he himself boarded a ship during the third watch and fled.

​On the following day, when the suffetes had taken their seats to administer justice, the tablets were seen, taken down, and read. It was written that Aristo had instructions for no one privately, but publicly for the elders—so they called the senate.

​Since the accusation had been made public, the inquiry concerning a few individuals became less intensive; nevertheless, it was decided that envoys should be sent to Rome to report the matter to the consuls and the senate, and at the same time to complain of the injuries done by Masinissa.