CLAUDIUS PULCHER, PUBLIUS

died before 246, BC son of Appius Claudius Caecus and commander of the fleet that suffered the only serious Roman naval defeat of the First Punic War (264241 BC). The setback occurred in 249, when Claudius was consul. He attacked the Carthaginian fleet in the harbour of Drepanum (modern Trapani, Sicily) and lost 93 of his 123 vessels. It was popularly believed that Claudius failed because he had committed a sacrilegious act before the battle: when the chickens, used in augury, refused to eat, he threw them into the sea with the words Let them drink then. He was, accordingly, accused of treason and heavily fined.