After losing the Battle of Drepana, his sister Claudia was prosecuted for insulting the Plebs.
Whilst travelling through the streets of Rome, the path that her carriage was taking had been blocked by a crowd.
[2] Curule aedile in 253 BC, as consul in 249 he was given command of the Roman fleet during the First Punic War.
[8] He was recalled to Rome and ordered to appoint a dictator; his nomination of his subordinate Marcus Claudius Glicia was overruled.
He was tried for incompetence and impiety, avoiding capital or corporal punishment due to double jeopardy and was instead fined 120,000 assēs, 1,000 for each ship Rome had lost in the battle against Carthage.