From Book 18

[18.1] [255] In Africa, [Marcus] Atilius Regulus killed a serpent of portentous dimensions, and suffered great losses among his soldiers. But although he had fought successfully against the Carthaginians in several battles, the Senate did not send him a successor. He complained in a letter to the Senate, in which he compared his request to a piece of land that had been left by its workers.

[18.2] In the person of Regulus, Fortuna wanted to to give an example of both sides of fate: he was defeated and captured by Xanthippus, a Spartan leader that had been invited by the Carthaginians to support them.

[18.3] After this, the Roman commanders pursued the war successfully on land and sea, although the effects were spoiled by shipwreck of the fleet.

[18.4] Tiberius Coruncanius was the first plebeian to be made pontifex maximus.

[18.5] The censors Manius Valerius Maximus and Publius Sempronius Sophus edited the list of senators, and removed sixteen members from the Senate.

[18.6] The lustrum ceremony was performed and 297,797 citizens were registered.

[18.7] The Carthaginians sent Regulus to the Senate to conduct peace negotiations or (if he could not obtain peace) the exchange of prisoners. Although he was bound by an oath to return to Carthage if he did not obtain the exchange, he advised the Senate against both proposals. When he returned to imprisonment, he was executed by the Carthaginians.