In 249, the Romans sent a fleet to recapture Drepana on Sicily during the First Punic War. It was being used as a base for raids on the Italian coast. Consul Publius Claudius Pulcher tried to arrive at dawn to catch the Carthaginian fleet sleeping. Unfortunately, the enemy admiral was alerted and had his fleet waiting. Pulcher tried to form a line abreast, but his ships were poorly led and the morale of his seamen was low. Possibly because they did not have the corvi to make their lives easier. To make matters worse, the Roman fleet had its back to some shoals and had little room to maneuver. Withdrawing to fight another day would have been a good idea, but an unRoman idea. Rome did not get where it was by withdrawing without fighting. In this case, however, even Mars seemed to sanction it. Before naval battles, the Romans had the odd ritual of using sacred chickens determine if the day was propitious for a battle. The sacred chickens would be brought out with appropriate pomp by the priests on the flagship. Grain would be spread on the deck and if they ate, it was good day to fight. Naturally, the priests could read their commander’s vibe and starve the chickens so they would eat and thus confirm his wishes. For perhaps the only time in Roman history, the birds turned their beaks up at the feed. That should have been a very powerful message not to fight that day, but Pulcher, who we can assume was not very devout, was incensed by this red light. He proceeded to grab the pacifistic poultry and hurled them overboard saying: “If they won’t eat, let’s see if they will drink”. That was an admittedly great line, but it was not just the priests that were horrified by the sacrilege. Word quickly spread through the fleet. “Hey, did you hear what our jackass of a general did to the sacred chickens?! We are doomed!” Now, we’ll never know what might have happened if Pulcher had simply condemned the chickens as chickens, but his action definitely destroyed Roman morale that day. That plus the shoals, the lack of corvi, and the inability to maneuver. In the battle, Pulcher lost 24 ships sunk and 93 captured. But at least he was not crucified. He escaped capital punishment due to a technicality, but did have to pay a large amount for each ship that he had lost. He dies soon after, possibly from suicide. His sister joined him in infamy. According to a popular story, when her carriage got caught in traffic on a crowded Roman street, she remarked that she wished her brother would lose another battle to drown some more plebeians. Classy gal.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Drepana
“The Punic Wars” by Brian Craven pp. 48-50
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