According to Polybius and Rutilius this was the year in which Scipio died. I do not agree with either of these writers, nor with Valerius; I find that during the censorship of M. Porcius and L. Valerius, Valerius was himself chosen as leader of the senate, though Africanus had held that position through the two previous censorships, and unless we are to assume that he was removed from the senatorial roll - and there is no record of any such stigma being affixed to his name - no other leader of the senate would have been chosen. Valerius Antias is proved to be wrong by the following considerations. There was a tribune of the plebs, M. Naevius, against whom Scipio delivered a speech which is still extant. From the lists of the magistrates it appears that this Naevius was tribune of the plebs during the consulship of P. Claudius and L. Porcius, but actually entered upon office on December 10, when Appius Claudius and M. Sempronius were the consuls. Three months elapsed from that date to March I5, when P. Claudius and L. Porcius assumed office. Thus it appears that Scipio was alive when Naevius was tribune and might have been impeached by him, but dead before L. Valerius and M. Porcius were censors. We may trace a correspondence in the death of these three men, who were each the most illustrious of his nation, for not only did they die about the same time, but not one of the three ended his life in a way worthy of his splendid career. None of them died on his native soil or was buried there. Hannibal and Philopoemen were carried off by poison; Hannibal was an exile, and betrayed by his host, Philopoemen was a captive and died in prison and in chains. Though Scipio had not been banished or condemned to death, still, as he did not appear on the day fixed for his trial, though duly cited, he passed upon himself a sentence of banishment, not only for life but even after he was dead.