§33.48.1cum equi, quo in loco iusserat, praesto fuissent, nocte Byzacium — ita regionem quandam agri vocant — transgressus, postero die ad mare inter Acyllam et Thapsum ad suam turrem pervenit.
When the horses were ready in the place where he had ordered, having crossed Byzacium—as they call a certain region of the territory—by night, on the following day he reached his tower on the sea between Acylla and Thapsus.
§33.48.2ibi eum parata instructaque remigio excepit navis.
There a ship, prepared and equipped with rowers, received him.
ita Africa Hannibal excessit, saepius patriae quam suum eventum miseratus.
Thus Hannibal left Africa, more often pitying the fate of his country than his own.
§33.48.3eodem die in Cercinam insulam traiecit.
On the same day he crossed over to the island of Cercina.
ubi cum in portu naves aliquot Phoenicum onerarias cum mercibus invenisset et ad egressum eum e nave concursus salutantium esset factus, percunctantibus legatum se Tyrum missum dici iussit.
When he had found there in the harbor several merchant ships of the Phoenicians with their cargoes, and a crowd of people greeting him had gathered at his disembarkation from the ship, he ordered it to be said to those who inquired that he was sent as an ambassador to Tyre.
§33.48.4veritus tamen, ne qua earum navis nocte profecta Thapsum aut Hadrumetum nuntiaret se Cercinae visum, sacrificio apparari iusso magistros navium mercatoresque invitari iussit et vela cum antemnis ex navibus conrogari, ut umbraclum — §33.48.5media aestas forte erat — cenantibus in litore fieret.
Fearing, however, lest any of those ships, departing by night, should report at Thapsus or Hadrumetum that he had been seen at Cercina, having ordered a sacrifice to be prepared, he ordered the masters of the ships and the merchants to be invited, and the sails with the yards to be collected from the ships, so that a shade— for it happened to be midsummer—might be made for those dining on the shore.
§33.48.6quanto res et tempus patiebatur apparatu celebratae eius diei epulae sunt; multoque vino in serum noctis convivium productum.
The banquet of that day was celebrated with as much preparation as the circumstances and time permitted; and with much wine the feast was prolonged late into the night.
§33.48.7Hannibal, cum primum fallendi eos, qui in portu erant, tempus habuit, navem solvit.
Hannibal, as soon as he had an opportunity to deceive those who were in the harbor, set sail.
§33.48.8ceteri sopiti cum postero die tandem ex somno pleni crapulae surrexissent, ad id quod serum erat, aliquot horas referendis in naves collocandisque et aptandis armamentis absumpserunt.
When the others, heavy with sleep, finally arose the next day full of hangovers, in addition to it being already late, they spent several hours in returning, placing, and fitting the tackle on the ships.
§33.48.9Carthagine multitudinis adsuetae domum Hannibalis frequentare concursus ad vestibulum aedium est factus.
At Carthage, a crowd of those accustomed to frequent Hannibal's house gathered at the vestibule of the building.
§33.48.10ut non comparere eum vulgatum est, in forum turba convenit principem civitatis quaerentium; §33.48.11et alii fugam conscisse, id quod erat, alii fraude Romanorum interfectum, idque magis vulgo fremebant, variosque vultus cerneres ut in civitate aliorum alias partes foventium et factionibus discordi; visum deinde Cercinae eum tandem allatum est.
When it was spread abroad that he did not appear, a crowd gathered in the forum seeking the leader of the state; and some muttered that he had fled, which was the case, others that he had been killed by the treachery of the Romans, and this latter they grumbled more commonly, and one might have seen various countenances, as is natural in a state where different people support different sides and which is discordant with factions; then at last the news was brought that he had been seen at Cercina.