[137] We hear nothing of a secretary under the new league after the abolition of the dual presidency. But he probably still existed (2, [43]).
[139] See ch. 46.
[140] This is certainly the meaning of the words of Polybius. But he has confused matters. The two new Consuls designated at the comitia of 249 were C. Aurelius Cotta II and P. Servilius Geminus II, whereas Lucius Junius Pullus was the existing Consul with the disgraced P. Claudius Pulcher. What really happened is made clear by Livy, Ep. 19. The Senate sent Junius with these supplies, recalled Claudius, and forced him to name a Dictator. Claudius retaliated by naming an obscure person, who was compelled to abdicate, and then Atilius Calatinus was nominated.
[141] The dangerous nature of the S. Coast of Sicily was well known to the pilots. See above, ch. 37.
[142] About £500,000. For the value of the talent, taking the Euboic and Attic talent as the same, see note on Book 34, [8].
[143] ἱστορήσαντας. There seems no need to give this word the unusual sense of narratum legere here, as some do.
[144] Sicca Venerea, so called from a temple of Venus, was notorious for its licentiousness. Valer. Max. 2, 6, 15.
[145] A line of the text appears to have been lost, probably containing an allusion to Hiero.
[146] The southernmost point of Italy is Leucopetra (Capo dell’ Armi). Cocinthus (Punta di Stilo) is much too far to the north; yet it may have been regarded as the conventional point of separation between the two seas, Sicilian and Ionian, which have no natural line of demarcation.