Regulus

Regulus, MARCUS ATILIUS, a favourite hero with the Roman writers, was consul for the first time in 267 B.C., and for his military successes obtained the honour of a triumph. Chosen consul a second time (256), he was sent along with his colleague Manlius at the head of a navy of 330 ships against the Carthaginians, and encountering the enemy's fleet off Heraclea Minor he totally defeated it. The Romans then landed near Clypea, where for some time Regulus was victorious in every encounter, but at last (255) suffered a total defeat and was taken prisoner. He remained in captivity for five years, but when fresh reverses induced the Carthaginians to solicit peace Regulus was released on parole and sent to Rome in company with the Punic envoys. It is related by the Roman poets and historians, as an instance and a model of the most supreme heroism, how Regulus at first refused to enter Rome since he was no longer a citizen; how, after this conscientious scruple was overcome, he declined to give his opinion in the Senate till that illustrious body laid upon him its commands to do so; how he then earnestly dissuaded them from agreeing to any of the Carthaginian proposals, even to an exchange of prisoners; and how, after he had succeeded by his earnest appeals in obtaining the rejection of the Carthaginian offers, he resisted all persuasions to break his parole, though conscious of the fate that awaited him, and, refusing even to see his family, returned with the ambassadors to Carthage, where the rulers, maddened by the failure of their schemes through his instrumentality, put him to death by the most horrible tortures. The common story is that he was placed in a cask or chest stuck full of nails, also that, with his eyelids cut off, he was exposed to the glare of the African sun. Unfortunately this noble tale of heroic patriotism and unflinching fortitude is unhistorical, or at least unsupported by any good authority.