De Officiis by Cicero V


That merit, therefore, belongs to the age, not to the man.


III, 111.

A very significant thing to say. Cicero is here saying that the most praiseworthy feature in the conduct of Regulus is not actually the fact that he returned to the Carthaginians, despite the fact that he knew that he would be tortured to death if he did. Cicero claims that in those days he could not have done otherwise, because oaths were not only very strictly enforced by the censors, but also binding by the "Sacred" Laws. In other words, it was not due to Regulus's virtue that he returned to Carthage, but to his self-interest, as determined by the circumstances of his times. The most praiseworthy feature of Regulus's conduct is actually that "it was he who offered the motion that the prisoners of war be retained". (Ibid.) This was for the benefit of the state even though it meant certain death by torture to Regulus when he returned to the Carthaginians.

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