down to treat with the Roman tribune
Claudius, haughtily bidding the Romans no more to try to meddle with the
sea, for they should not be allowed so much as to wash their hands in
it. Claudius, angered at this, treacherously laid hands on Xanno, and he
agreed to give up the castle on being set free; but he had better have
remained a prisoner, for the Carthaginians punished him with
crucifixion, and besieged Messina, but in vain.

The Romans felt that a fleet was necessary, and set to work to build war
galleys on the pattern of a Carthaginian one which had been wrecked upon
their coast. While a hundred ships were building, oarsmen were trained
to row on dry land, and in two months the fleet put to sea. Knowing that
there was no chance of being able to fight according to the regular
rules of running the beaks of their galleys into the sides of those of
their enemies, they devised new plans of letting heavy weights descend
on the ships of the opposite fleet, and then of letting drawbridges down
by which to board them. The Carthaginians, surprised and dismayed, when
thus attacked off Mylae by the consul Duilius, were beaten and chased to
Sardinia, where their unhappy commander was nailed to a cross by his own
soldiers; while Duilius not only received in Rome a grand triumph for
his first naval victory, but it was decreed that he should never go out
into the city at night without a procession of torch-bearers.

The Romans now made up their minds to send an expedition to attack the
Carthaginian power not only in Sicily but in Africa, and this was placed
under the command of a sturdy plebeian consul, Marcus Attilius Regulus.
He fought a great battle with the Carthaginian fleet on his way, and he
had even more difficulty with his troops, who greatly dreaded the
landing in Africa as a place of unknown terror. He landed, however, at
some distance from the city, and did not at once advance on it. When he
did, according to the story current at Rome, he encountered on the banks
of the River Bagrada an enormous serpent, whose poisonous breath killed
all who approached it, and on whose scales darts had no effect. At last
the machines for throwing huge stones against city walls were used
against it; its backbone was broken, and it was at last killed, and its
skin sent to Rome.

The Romans met other enemies, whom they defeated, and gained much
plunder. The Senate, understanding that the Carthaginians were cooped up
within their walls