related, that upon arrival at Rome, he counselled war instead of peace, at
the same time revealing to the Senate the enfeebled condition of Carthage.
As to the exchange of prisoners, he said, "Let those who have surrendered
when they ought to have died, die in the land which has witnessed their
disgrace."

The Roman Senate, following his counsel, rejected all the proposals of the
embassy; and Regulus, in spite of the tears and entreaties of his wife and
friends, turned away from Rome, and set out for Carthage to bear such fate
as he well knew the Carthaginians, in their disappointment and anger,
would be sure to visit upon him.

The tradition goes on to tell how, upon his arrival at Carthage, he was
confined in a cask driven full of spikes, and then left to die of
starvation and pain. This part of the tale has been discredited, and the
finest touches of the other portions are supposed to have been added by
the story-tellers.

LOSS OF TWO MORE ROMAN FLEETS.--After the failure of the Carthaginian
embassy, the war went on for several years by land and sea with varying
vicissitudes. At last, on the coast of Sicily, one of the consuls,
Claudius, met with an overwhelming defeat. Almost a hundred vessels of his
fleet were lost. The disaster caused the greatest alarm at Rome.
Superstition increased the fears of the people. It was reported that just
before the battle, when the auspices were being taken, and the sacred
chickens would not eat, Claudius had given orders to have them thrown into
the sea, irreverently remarking, "At any rate, they shall drink."
Imagination was free to depict what further evils the offended gods might
inflict upon the Roman state.