Since four boys were too many for a father to support through the "cursus honorum", Paullus decided to give the oldest two boys up for adoption, probably between 175 and 170. The elder boy was adopted in the Fabia family and became Quintus Fabius Maximus Aemilianus, thus joining his fortunes to the house of Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus, a national hero. The younger boy, possibly named Lucius, was adopted by his own cousin, Publius Cornelius Scipio, elder son and heir of Scipio Africanus, and became Publius Cornelius Scipio Aemilianus, thus becoming heir to the legacy of Rome's most influential political dynasty.