Aulus Atilius Calatinus Aulus Atilius Calatinus ( d . by 216 BC ) was a politician and general in Ancient Rome . He was the first Roman dictator to lead an army outside Italy ( then understood as the Italian mainland ) , when he led his army into Sicily . He was consul in 258 BC and again in 254 BC , a praetor and " triumphator " in 257 BC , and finally a censor in 247 BC . Calatinus must have died by 216 BC , because Marcus Fabius Buteo ( censor in 241 BC ) was named the oldest living ex - censor ; Calatinus would have been senior to him in terms of the date of censorship and their respective ages . Career . Elected consul in 258 BC with Gaius Sulpicius Paterculus , he was given Sicily as his province . During his first consulship , he had several successes , taking many Sicilian towns , but fell into an ambush from which he and his army were saved by a tribune , Marcus Calpurnius Flamma . He conquered more towns after his narrow escape from the Carthaginians , and was granted a triumph on his return . He was elected or appointed praetor in 257 BC in the year of his triumph . He was reelected consul in 254 BC with Gnaeus Cornelius Scipio Asina , and the two co - consuls rebuilt the Roman fleet with 220 ships , after the earlier fleet had been lost in a storm off cape Pachynum . Both consuls sailed to Sicily , where they captured Panormus the same year . However , only Asina was granted the triumph ( possibly because Calatinus had already triumphed three years before ) . In 249 BC , following the disastrous naval losses of Publius Claudius Pulcher and Iunius Pullus , Pulcher was fined 120 , 000 asses and his colleague committed suicide . Both consuls were now unfit for command or deceased ; the dictator Claudius Glycia , appointed by Pulcher , was removed on the grounds that he was Pulcher ' s freedman , and thus not even a Senator , let alone a senator of some status . Calatinus was therefore elected dictator and led an army into Sicily , becoming the first dictator to lead a Roman army outside Italy . He had no great military successes , or at least none noted by Roman historians or in Smith . He was elected censor in 247 BC . Several years later , in 241 BC , he was chosen as mediator between the proconsul C . Lutatius Catulus and the praetor Q . Valerius , to decide which of the two had the right to claim a triumph , and he decided in favour of the proconsul . According to Smith , Calatinus dedicated temples to Spes ( the personification of hope and safety of the young ) in the Forum Holitorium and Fides ( the personification of good faith whose symbol is a pair of covered hands symbolizing an agreement ) on the Capitol . Background . Calatinus was the son of Aulus Atilius Calatinus , who had been accused of betraying the city of Sora in the Samnite Wars . Standing in disgrace of his imminent condemnation , the elder Calatinus was saved by a few timely words from the great Fabius Maximus Rullianus ( the first Maximus and at that time ( 306 BC ) the thrice consul and acting praetor ) , his father - in - law . Fabius asserted that he would have never continued his relationship ( as Patron ) had he believed Atilius was guilty of such a crime . The Plebeian Atilii were therefore clients of the aristocratic Fabii , and also related to them by marriage . Thus , our present Atilius was the grandson , on his mother ' s side , of Fabius Rullianus . The Atilius Catatinii were cousins of the other famous Atilii , the Atilii Regulii . Calatinus is clearly a congomen referring to Calatia , six miles southwest of Capua . This region had been conquered during the consulship of the first named Atilius , Marcus Atilius Regulus Calenus , in 335 BC . Since his colleague , the Patrician Valerius , actually conquered Cales , it is likely that Atilius actually came from there . Pottery from the region indicates the name K . and N . Atilius are from the region near Capua . Interestingly , the forenames Kaeso and Numercius , Atilii names , are unique of all Patrician clans to the Fabii . The Atilii were the leading family of Campania at the time of their gaining citizenship and the surname Regulus might refer to their regal position in that society . Fabii ownership of large land holding in Falernia probably resulted from the treaty of 340 in which Capuan lands north of the Volturnus were ceded to Rome . ( Munzer )