Carthaginian fleet; and, being drawn into a conference by a
stratagem, is taken. [Y.R. 493. B.C. 259.] C. Duilius, consul, engages
with and vanquishes the Carthaginian fleet; is the first commander to
whom a triumph was decreed for a naval victory; in honour of which, he
is allowed, when returning to his habitation at night, to be attended
with torches and music. L. Cornelius, consul, fights and subdues the
Sardinians and Corsicans, together with Hanno, the Carthaginian
general, in the island of Sardinia. [Y.R. 494. B.C. 258.] Atilius
Calatinus, consul, drawn into an ambuscade by the Carthaginians, is
rescued by the skill and valour of M. Calpurnius, a military tribune,
who making a sudden attack upon the enemy, with a body of only three
hundred men, turns their whole force against himself. [Y.R. 495. B.C.
257.] Hannibal, the commander of the Carthaginian fleet which was
beaten, is put to death by his soldiers.

BOOK XVIII.--[Y.R. 496. B.C. 256.] Attilius Regulus, consul, having
overcome the Carthaginians in a sea-fight, passes over into Africa:
kills a serpent of prodigious magnitude, with great loss of his own
men. [Y.R. 497. B.C. 255.] The senate, on account of his successful
conduct of the war, not appointing him a successor, he writes to them,
complaining; and, among other reasons for desiring to be recalled,
alledges, that his little farm, being all his subsistence, was going
to ruin, owing to the mismanagement of hired stewards. [Y.R. 498. B.C.
254.] A memorable instance of the instability of fortune exhibited in
the person of Regulus, who is overcome in battle, and taken prisoner
by Xanthippus, a Lacedaemonian general. [Y. R. 499. B. C. 253.] The
Roman fleet shipwrecked; which disaster entirely reverses the good
fortune which had hitherto attended their affairs. Titus Corucanius,
the first high priest chosen from among the commons. [Y. R. 500. B. C.
252.] P. Sempronius Sophus and M. Yalerius Maximus, censors, examine
into the state of the senate, and expel thirteen of the members of
that body. [Y. R. 501. B. C. 251.] They hold a lustrum, and find the
number of citizens to be two hundred and ninety-seven thousand seven
hundred and ninety-seven. [Y. R. 502. B. C. 250.] Regulus being sent
by the Carthaginians to Rome to treat for peace, and an exchange of
prisoners, binds himself by oath to return if these objects be not
attained; dissuades the senate from agreeing to the propositions: and
then, in observance