In the spring of 196 BC, six of our contemporaries, together with their Spanish colleagues, were transferred for further service from Spain to Carthage. This city is large and, by ancient standards, comfortable, if your wallet is not empty. But even in it, our victims only dream of peace. Without wanting it themselves, the friends almost immediately find themselves in the thick of local intrigue. Carthaginian Phoenicians, Rhodian Greeks, Egyptians - a snake ball could hardly be more dangerous. But our newcomers are no longer newbies in the ancient world. Their knowledge and experience acquired in Spain help them not only to survive, but also to honorably fulfill the difficult task of their employer. But “living well and making good” is not something anyone can do quietly and calmly. Carthage is also seething. The interests of opposing oligarchic groups collide in it, and friends cannot sit aside from them, since their employer is also a simple Carthaginian oligarch.