Marsyas was sometimes considered a king and contemporary of Faunus, portrayed by Vergil as a native Italian ruler at the time of Aeneas. Servius, in his commentary on the "Aeneid", says that Marsyas sent Faunus envoys who showed techniques of augury to the Italians. The plebeian "gens" of the Marcii claimed that they were descended from Marsyas. Gaius Marcius Rutilus, who rose to power from the "plebs", is credited with having dedicated the statue that stood in the Roman forum, most likely in 294 BC, when he became the first plebeian censor and added the "cognomen" Censorinus to the family name. Marcius Rutilus was also among the first plebeian augurs, co-opted into their college in 300, and so the mythical teacher of augury was an apt figure to represent him.