match for the veteran soldiers of Rome.
The victory of Duilius was complete. Thirty-one of the enemy's ships
were taken, and fourteen destroyed; the rest only saved themselves by an
ignominious flight. On his return to Rome, Duilius celebrated a
magnificent triumph. Public honors were conferred upon him; he was to be
escorted home in the evening from banquets by the light of torches and
the sound of the flute, and a column adorned with the beaks of the
conquered ships, and thence called the Columna Rostrata, was set up in
the forum.[28]

[Illustration: Columna Rostrata.]

For the next few years the war languished, and nothing of importance was
effected on either side; but in the ninth year of the struggle (B.C.
256) the Romans resolved by strenuous exertions to bring it to a
conclusion. They therefore made preparations for invading Africa with a
great force. The two Consuls, M. Atilius Regulus and L. Manlius, set
sail with 330 ships, took the legions on board in Sicily, and then put
out to sea in order to cross over to Africa. The Carthaginian fleet,
consisting of 350 ships, met them near Ecnomus, on the southern coast of
Sicily. The battle which ensued was the greatest sea-fight that the
ancient world had yet seen. The boarding-bridges of the Romans again
annihilated all the advantages of maritime skill. Their victory was
decisive. They lost only 24 ships, while they destroyed 30 of the
enemy's vessels, and took 64 with all their crews. The passage to Africa
was now clear, and the remainder of the Carthaginian fleet hastened home
to defend the capital. The Romans landed near the town of Clupea, or
Aspis, which they took, and there established their head-quarters. From
thence they laid waste the Carthaginian territory with fire and sword,
and collected an immense booty from the defenseless country. On the
approach of winter, Manlius, one of the Consuls, by order of the Senate,
returned to Rome with half of the army, while Regulus remained with the
other half to prosecute the war. He carried on his operations with the
utmost vigor, and was greatly assisted by the incompetency of the
Carthaginian generals. The enemy had collected a considerable force,
which they intrusted to three commanders, Hasdrubal, Bostar, and
Hamilcar; but these generals avoided the plains, where their cavalry and
elephants would have given them an advantage over the Roman army, and
withdrew into the mountains. There they were attacked by Regulus,