X True goal
The first major stop of the fleet was in Crete where Hannibal recruited 300 Cretan archers. While there, the troops heard rumours that Hannibal's true goal was to conquer Carthage and for this, they (mostly the Greek mercenaries) said, they had not been hired. Mutiny was at hand and leaders had arisen among the disaffected men. The thought of facing enormous forces/powerful armies hundreds of miles from their houses homes, across burning desert sands and among strange gods was incomprehensible to a large part of the army.
To settle the issue Hannibal decided to speak to the troops. The next morning with all the army assembled, Hannibal climbed up on a rock and looked out over the men, with his shoulders thrown back and his great bearlike chest thrust out, his armour shining under the Cretan sun. Hannibal cleared his throat as the men began quieting themselves to hear him. He was a man of authority, a famed general after all. When he finished his speech the troops broke out in a lusty cheer. It was an eloquent appeal to their dignity and honour, perfectly ted and paced, the stirring and charismatic oratory of a man truly born to lead men. Nevertheless to sweeten up the situation he also offered every man a half month salary bonus...
By now all the fleet and army knew their true destination: Carthage. The plan was simple. They were going to land at Aspis (clupea) meet with Hannibal’s allies and march to Carthage.
That night, unable to sleep amidst the sounds of singing and celebration surrounding them, Iollas had tried to wake Aetios for company but in vain. Approaching a fire that had been built high and was particularly well attended, Iollas was hailed by the men, who invited him to join them and have a swig or two from their wineskin. They seemed to have already spent the extra silver Hannibal had promised them.
Lysander the Boeotian, one of Hannibal's sergeants, had been laughing so hard at a joke that Iollas thought he would burst his gut be sick. When he saw Iollas approach, he regained control, clapped Iollas on the shoulder and ceremoniously dusted off a space on a log for him to sit down.
"What a pleasure you’re able to join us, Iollas,” he drawled, overcompensating in formality to offset his lack of concentration, and passing him the dripping skin. Iollas looked around the fire and saw twenty faces in various states of inebriation grinning at him, and he wondered if he might have better spent his time that night continuing to try to sleep. They were just singing a few old songs and discussing the glorious future awaiting them in Carthage. Epicrates a young trumpeter, clearly offended by some comments about his profession told a small story of Aesop:
A Trumpeter during a battle ventured too near the enemy and was captured by them. They were about to proceed to put him to death when he begged them to hear his plea for mercy.
"I do not fight," said he, "and indeed carry no weapon; I only blow this trumpet, and surely that cannot harm you; then why should you kill me?"
"You may not fight yourself," said the others, "but you encourage and guide your men to the fight."
So they killed him.
The men laughed. "good point Epicrates" said Lysander.
"Words may be deeds" Iollas replied added smiling.
After some small talk with Lysander about sword fighting technics, their common passion, Iollas went back to his tent. Few hours later the first yellow rays of dawn began arching across the eastern sky. Aetios gazed at the vast extent of the camp. The thousands of tents were laid out in neat rows almost to the horizon, like a city sprung from nowhere. Men were beginning to emerge, scratching and yawning, stirring down their fires from the night before and getting ready for the ships.
Since their hurried departure from Crete to Cyrenaica, the fleet had been buffeted by foul weather, scattering the boats. Hannibal brought up the rear, simultaneously scouring for land and for warships or transports blown astray. A few, perhaps as many as five or six ships, had been lost during the night, an inauspicious beginning to such an ambitious expedition. With most of the fleet regrouped west of the, now deserted, old town of Euesperides, Hannibal continued the trip to Carthage.