Regulus
- I Of the Atilii, among whom was the celebrated consul M. Atilius Regulus, who was taken prisoner by the Carthaginians in the first Punic war, Cic. Off. 3, 26, 99; id. Fin. 2, 20, 65; Sen. Prov. 4, 5; cf. Gell. 6, 4, 1 sqq.; Sen. Prov. 3, 4 and 9 sqq.—
- II Of the Livineii, Auct. B. Afr. 89, 3; Cic. Fam. 13, 60, 1; id. Att. 3, 17, 1.—
- III Another, called by Modestus omnium bipedum nequissimus, Plin. Ep. 1, 5, 14.—
- IV Aquilius Regulus, Tac. A. 3, 42.
was one of the delatores or informers in the time of Nero, and thus rose from poverty to great wealth. He was accused in the senate at the commencement of the reign of Vespasian, on which occasion he was defended by L. Vipstanus Messalla, who is described as his frater, whether his brother or cousin is uncertain (Tac. Hist. 4.42). Under Domitian he resumed his old trade, and became one of the instruments of that tyrant's cruelty. He survived Domitian, and is frequently spoken of by Pliny with the greatest detestation and contempt (Ep. 1.5, 2.10, 4.2, 6.2). Martial, on the contrary, who flattered all the creatures of Domitian, can scarcely find language strong enough to celebrate the virtues, the wisdom, and the eloquence of Regulus. (Ep. 1.13, 83, 112, 4.16.)
1. M. Atilius Regulus, consul B. C. 335, with M. Valerius Corvus, marched with his colleague against the Sidicini (Liv. 8.16.)
2. M. Atilius Regulus, probably son of No. 1., was consul B. C. 294, with L. Postumius Megellus, and carried on war with his colleague against the Samnites. The events of this year were related very differently by the annalists. According to the account which Livy followed, Regulus was first defeated with great loss near Luceria, but on the following day he gained a brilliant victory over the Samnites, of whom 7200 were sent under the yoke. Livy says that Regulus was refused a triumph, but this is contradicted by the Fasti Capitolini, according to which he triumphed de Volsonibus et Samnitibus. The name of the Volsones does not occur elsewhere. Niebuhr conjectures that they may be the same as the Volcentes, who are mentioned along with the Hirpini and Lucani (Liv. 27.15), or perhaps even the same as the Volsinii or Volsinienses. (Liv. 10.32_37; Zonar. 8.1 ; Niebuhr, Hist. of Rome, vol. iii. pp. 389, 390.)
3. M. Atilius Regulus, M. F. L. N., was consul for the first time in B. C. 267, with L. Julius Libo, conquered the Sallentini, took the town of Brundusium, and obtained in consequence the honour of a triumph. (Eutrop. 2.17; Flor. 1.20 ; Zonar. 8.7; comp. Liv. Epit. 15.) Eleven years afterwards, B. C. 256, he was consul a second time with L. Manlius Vulso Longus, and was elected in the place of Q. Caedicius, who had died soon after he came into office. This was the ninth year of the first Punic war. The Romans had resolved to make a strenuous effort to bring the contest to a conclusion, and had accordingly determined to invade Africa with a great force. The two consuls set sail with 330 ships, took the legions on board in Sicily, and then put out to sea from Ecnomus in order to cross over to Africa. The Carthaginian fleet, however, was waiting for them under the command of Hamilcar and Hanno at Heraclea Minoa, and immediately sailed out to meet them. In the battle which followed, the Romans were victorious ; they lost only twenty-four ships, while they destroyed thirty of the enemy's vessels, and took sixty-four with all their crews. The passage to Africa was now clear; and the Carthaginian fleet hastened home to defend the capital. The Romans, however, did not sail straight to Carthage, but landed their forces near the town of Clypea or Aspis, which they took, and there established their head quarters. From thence they devastated the Carthaginian territory with fire and sword, and collected an immense booty from the defenceless country. On the approach of winter, Manlius, one of the consuls, returned to Rome with half of the army, by order of the senate ; while Regulus remained with the other half to prosecute the war. He carried on operations with the utmost vigour, and was greatly assisted by the incompetency of the Carthaginian generals. The enemy had collected a considerable force, which they intrusted to three commanders, Hasdrubal, Bostar, and Hamilcar; but these generals avoided the plains, where their cavalry and elephants would have given them an advantage over the Roman army, and withdrew into the mountains. There they were attacked by Regulus, and utterly defeated with great loss; 15,000 men are said to have been killed in battle, and 5000 men with eighteen elephants to have been taken. The Carthaginian troops retired within the walls of the city, and Regulus now overran the country without opposition. Numerous towns fell into the power of the Romans, and among others Tunis, at the distance of only 20 miles from the capital. To add to the distress of the Carthaginians, the Numidians took the opportunity of recovering their independence, and their roving bands completed the devastation of the country. The Carthaginians in despair sent a herald to Regulus to solicit peace. But the Roman general, who was intoxicated with success, would only grant it on such intolerable terms that the Carthaginians resolved to continue the war, and hold out to the last. In the midst of their distress and alarm, success came to them from an unexpected quarter. Among the Greek mercenaries who had lately arrived at Carthage, was a Lacedaemonian of the name of Xanthippus, who appears to have already acquired no small military reputation, though his name is not mentioned previously. He pointed out to the Carthaginians that their defeat was owing to the incompetency of their generals, and not to the superiority of the Roman arms; and he inspired such confidence in the people, that he was forthwith placed at the head of their troops. Relying on his 4000 cavalry and 100 elephants, Xanthippus boldly marched into the open country to meet the enemy, though his forces were very inferior in number to the Romans. Regulus was neither able nor willing to refuse the battle thus offered; but it ended in his total overthrow. Thirty thousand of his men were slain; scarcely two thousand escaped to Clypea; and Regulus himself was taken prisoner with five hundred more. This was in the year B. C. 255. (Plb. 1.26-34; Liv. Epit. 17, 18; Eutrop. 2.21, 22 ; Oros. 4.8; Zonar. 8.12, 13; Aurel. Vict. de Vir. Ill. 40.)
Regulus remained in captivity for the next five years, till B. C. 250, when the Carthaginians, after their defeat by the proconsul Metellus, sent an embassy to Rome to solicit peace, or at least an exchange of prisoners. They allowed Regulus to accompany the ambassadors on the promise that he would return to Rome if their proposals were declined, thinking that he would persuade his countrymen to agree to an exchange of prisoners in order to obtain his own liberty. This embassy of Regulus is one of the most celebrated stories in Roman history. The orators and poets related how Regulus at first refused to enter the city as a slave of the Carthaginians; how afterwards he would not give his opinion in the senate, as he had ceased by his captivity to be a member of that illustrious body : how, at length, when he was allowed by his countrymen to speak, he endeavoured to dissuade the senate from assenting to a peace, or even to an exchange of prisoners, and when he saw them wavering, from their desire of redeeming him from captivity, how he told them that the Carthaginians had given him a slow poison, which would soon terminate his life; and how, finally, when the senate through his influence refused the offers of the Carthaginians, he firmly resisted all the persuasions of his friends to remain in Rome, and returned to Carthage, where a martyr's death awaited him. On his arrival at Carthage he is said to have been put to death with the most excruciating tortures. It was related that he was placed in a chest covered over in the inside with iron nails, and thus perished; and other writers stated in addition, that after his eyelids had been cut off, he was first thrown into a dark dungeon, and then suddenly exposed to the full rays of a burning sun. When the news of the barbarous death of Regulus reached Rome, the senate is said to have given Hamilcar and Bostar, two of the noblest Carthaginian prisoners, to the family of Regulus, who revenged themselves by putting them to death with cruel torments. (Liv. Epit. 18 ; Gel. 6.4; Diod. xxiv. p. 566, ed. Wesseling ; Appian, App. Sic. 2, Pun. 4; Dio Cass. Fragm. p. 62, ed. Reimarus, p. 541. ed. Maii; Zonar. 8.15; V. Max. 1.1.14, 9.2. ext. 1; Aurel. Vict. de Vir. Ill. 40; Flor. 2.2; Cic. de Off. 3.26, pro Sext. 59, Cat. 20, in Pison. 19, de Fin. 5.27, 29, et alibi ; Hor. Carm. 3.5; Sil. Ital. 6.299, &c.)
This celebrated tale, however, has not been allowed to pass without question in modern times. Even as early as the sixteenth century Palmerins declared it to be a fable, and supposed that it was invented in order to excuse the cruelties perpetrated by the family of Regulus on the Carthaginian prisoners committed to their custody. (See the remarks of Palmerius, in Schweighäuser's Appian, vol. iii. p. 394.) This opinion has been adopted by many modern writers; but their chief argument is the silence of Polybius respecting it. Niebuhr believes (Hist. of Rome, vol. iii. p. 599) that Regulus died a natural death; but since all the ancient authorities agree in stating that he was put to death by the Carthaginians, we see no reason for disbelieving this fact, though the account of his barbarous treatment is probably only one of those calumnies which the Romans constantly indulged in against their hated rivals. The pride and arrogance with which he treated the Carthaginians in the hour of his success must have deeply exasperated the people against him; and it is therefore not surprising that he fell a victim to their vengeance when nothing was any longer to be gained from his life. The question of the death of Regulus is discussed at length by Halthaus (Geschichte Roms im Zeitalter der Punischen Kriege, Leipzig, 1846, pp. 356-369), who maintains the truth of the common account.
Regulus was one of the favourite characters of early Roman story. Not only was he celebrated on account of his heroism in giving the senate advice which secured him a martyr's death, but also on account of his frugality and simplicity of life. Like Fabricius and Curius he lived on his hereditary farm which he cultivated with his own hands ; and subsequent ages loved to tell how he petitioned the senate for his recall from Africa when he was in the full career of victory, as his farm was going to ruin in his absence, and his family was suffering from want. (Comp. Liv. Epit. 18; V. Max. 4.4.6.)
4. C. Atilius Regulus Serranus, M. F. M. N., was consul for the first time in B. C. 257, with Cn. Cornelius Blasio, and prosecuted the war against the Carthaginians. He defeated the Carthaginian fleet off the Liparaean islands, though not without considerable loss; obtained possession of the islands of Lipara and Melite, which he laid waste with fire and sword, and received the honour of a naval triumph on his return to Rome (Plb. 1.25 ; Zonar. 8.12; Oros. 4.8; Fasti Capitol.). Regulus was consul a second time in B. C. 250, with L. Manlius Vulso. In this year the Romans gained a brilliant victory at Panormus, under the proconsul Metellus, and thinking that the time had now come to bring the war to a conclusion, they sent the consuls to Sicily with an army of four legions and two hundred ships. Regulus and his colleague undertook the siege of Lilybaeum, the most important possession of the Carthaginians in Sicily; but they were foiled in their attempts to carry the place by storm, and after losing a great number of men, were obliged to turn the siege into a blockade. (Plb. 1.39, 41_48; Zonar. 8.15; Oros. 4.10; Diod. Fragm. xxiv.)
This Regulus is the first Atilius who bears the surname Serranus, which afterwards became the name of a distinct family in the gens. The origin of this name is spoken of under Serranus.
5. M. Atilius Regulus, M. F. M. N., son of the Regulus who perished in Africa [No. 3], was consul for the first time in B. C. 227, with P. Valerius Flaccus, in which year no event of importance is recorded (Fasti; Gel. 4.3). He was elected consul a second time in B. C. 217, to supply the place of C. Flaminius, who had fallen in the battle of the Trasimene lake. He carried on the war against Hannibal together with his colleague Servilius Geminus, on the principles of the dictator Fabius. At the end of their year of office their imperium was prolonged, as the new consuls had not yet been elected; but when Aemilius Paulus and Terentius Varro were at length appointed, and took the field, Regulus was allowed to return to Rome on account of his age, and his colleague Servilius remained with the army (Liv. 22.25, 32, 34, 40). Polybius, on the contrary, says (3.114, 116) that Regulus remained with the new consuls, and fell at the battle of Cannae, where he commanded, with Servilius, the centre of the line. This statement, however, is erroneous, and we must for once follow Livy in preference to Polybius, since it is certain that the same Regulus was censor two years after the battle of Cannae. (Comp. Perizonius, Anim>adv. Hist. 100.1, sub fin.; and Schweighäuser, ad Polyb. 3.114.)
After the battle of Cannae, B. C. 216, Regulus was one of the triumviri mensarii, who were appointed on account of the scarcity of money. In B. C. 214 he was censor with P. Furius Philus. These censors punished with severity all persons who had failed in their duty to the state during the great calamities which Rome had lately experienced. All those who had formed the project of leaving Italy after the battle of Cannae, and all those who had been taken prisoners by Hannibal, and when sent as ambassadors to Rome on the promise of returning to the Carthaginian camp, had not redeemed their word, were reduced to the condition of aerarians. The same punishment was inflicted on all the citizens who had neglected to serve in the army for four years without having a valid ground of excuse. Towards the end of the year, when the new tribunes of the people entered upon their duties, one of their number, Metellus, who had been reduced to the condition of an aerarian by the censors, attempted to bring these magistrates to trial before the people, but was prevented by the other tribunes from prosecuting such an unprecedented course [Metellus, No. 2]. As Furius Philus died at the beginning of the following year, before the solemn purification (lustrum) of the people had been performed, Regulus, as was usual in such cases, resigned his office. (Liv. 23.21, 24.11, 18, 43; V. Max. 2.9.8.)
6. C. Atilius Regulus, M. F. M. N., probably a brother of No. 5, consul B. C. 225, with L. Aemilius Papus, was sent against the inhabitants of Sardinia, who had revolted, and whom he quickly brought to subjection again. On his return to Italy he fought against the Gauls who were returning from Etruria, and fell in the battle. (Plb. 2.23, 27, 28; Zonar. 8.20; Oros. 4.13; Eutrop. 3.5; Plin. Nat. 3.20.)
He was one of the senators who did not obtain a place in the senate when that body was reorganised by Augustus. (D. C. 54.14.)
1. 2. M. Livineius Regulus and L. Livineics Regulus, two brothers, who were friends of Cicero, and displayed their zeal in his cause when he was banished, B. C. 58. Cicero does not mention their gentile name; but as he speaks of Livineius as a freedman of M. Regulus, and L. Livineius Trypho as a freedman of L. Regulus, there can be no doubt that their gentile name was Livineius (Cic. Att. 3.17, ad Fam. 13.60). One of these brothers, probably Lucius, fought under Caesar in the African war, B. C. 46 (Hirt. B. Afr. 89), and he is apparently the same as the L. Livineius Regulus, whose name occurs on a great number of coins struck in the time of Julius Caesar and Augustus. Specimens of the most important of these are given below. The head on the obverse of the first four is the same, and is probably intended to represent some ancestor of the Reguli. On the obverse of the first we have the legend L. REGVLVS PR., and on the reverse REGVLVS F. PRAEF. (VR.) The Pr. on the obverse signifies praetor, and REGVLVS F. on the reverse signifies REGULUS FILIUS. It would, therefore, appear that the coins were struck by Regulus, the son of L. Regulus the praetor ; and from the addition of PRAEF. VR., that is, Praefectus Urbi, it would further seem that he was one of the praefecti urbi, who were left by Caesar in charge of the city, when he marched against the sons of Pompey in Spain in B. C. 45. (D. C. 43.28.) These praefects had the right of the fasces and the sella curulis, as appears from the reverse of the first two coins. The combats of wild beasts on the reverse of the third coin probably refer to the splendid games exhibited by Julius Caesar. The fifth coin was struck at a later time by Regulus, when he was triumvir of the mint under Augustus. On the obverse is the head of Augustus with c. CAESAR III. VIR R. P. C. (i. e. triumvir reipublicae constituendae), and on the reverse a figure of Victory. (Eckhel, vol. v. pp. 235, 237.)
3. Livineius Regulus, a senator in the reign of Tiberius, who defended Cn. Piso in A. D. 20, when many of his other friends declined the unpopular office. [Piso, No. 23.] He was afterwards expelled from the senate, though on what occasion is not mentioned; and at a still later time, in the reign of Nero, A. D. 59, he was banished on account of certain disturbances which took place at a show of gladiators which he gave. (Tac. Ann. 3.11, 14.17.)
[Memmius, Nos. 11 and 12.]
consul A. D. 157, with M. Civica Barbarus (Fasti).
was consul suffectus in the place of Caecina, for a single day in A. D. 69. (Tac. Hist. 3.37.)
An informer under Nero and Domitian. He acquired an immense fortune, and was flattered by the poet Martial in his usual fulsome strain (Mart.i. 13, 83, 112).
(1) M., consul B.C. 335, carried on war against the Sidicini.
(2) M., consul 294, carried on war against the Samnites.
(3) M., consul 267, conquered the Sallentini, took the town of Brundusium, and obtained in consequence the honour of a triumph. In 256 he was consul a second time with L. Manlius Vulso Longus. The two consuls defeated the Carthaginian fleet, and afterwards landed in Africa with a large force. They met with great and striking success; and after Manlius returned to Rome with half of the army, Regulus remained in Africa with the other half and prosecuted the war with the utmost vigour. The Carthaginian generals Hasdrubal, Bostar, and Hamilcar avoided the plains, where their cavalry and elephants would have given them an advantage over the Roman army, and withdrew into the mountains. There they were attacked by Regulus, and defeated with great loss; 15,000 men are said to have been killed in battle, and 5000 men with 18 elephants to have been taken. The Carthaginian troops retired within the walls of the city, and Regulus now overran the country without opposition. Numerous towns fell into the power of the Romans, and among others Tunis, at the distance of only twenty miles from the capital. The Carthaginians, in despair, sent a herald to Regulus to solicit peace; but the Roman general would only grant it on such intolerable terms that the Carthaginians resolved to continue the war, and hold out to the last. In the midst of their distress and alarm, success came to them from an unexpected quarter. Among the Greek mercenaries who had lately arrived at Carthage was a Lacedaemonian of the name of Xanthippus. He pointed out to the Carthaginians that their defeat was owing to the incompetency of their generals, and not to the superiority of the Roman arms; and he inspired such confidence in the people that he was forthwith placed at the head of their troops. Relying on his 4000 cavalry and 100 elephants, Xanthippus boldly marched into the open country to meet the enemy. In the battle which ensued Regulus was totally defeated; 30,000 of his men were slain; scarcely 2000 escaped to Clypea; and Regulus himself was taken prisoner with 500 more (B.C. 255). Regulus remained in captivity for the next five years, till 250, when the Carthaginians, after their defeat by the proconsul Metellus, sent an embassy to Rome to solicit peace, or at least an exchange of prisoners. They allowed Regulus to accompany the ambassadors on the promise that he would return to Rome if their proposals were declined, thinking that he would persuade his countrymen to agree to an exchange of prisoners in order to obtain his own liberty. This mission of Regulus is one of the most celebrated stories in Roman history. The orators and poets related how Regulus at first refused to enter the city as a slave of the Carthaginians; how afterwards he would not give his opinion in the Senate, as he had ceased by his captivity to be a member of that illustrious body; how, at length, when he was allowed by the Romans to speak, he endeavoured to dissuade the Senate from assenting to a peace, or even to an exchange of prisoners, and when he saw them wavering, from their desire of redeeming him from captivity, how he told them that the Carthaginians had given him a slow poison, which would soon terminate his life; and how, finally, when the Senate through his influence refused the offers of the Carthaginians, he firmly resisted all the persuasions of his friends to remain in Rome, and returned to Carthage, where a martyr's death awaited him. On his arrival at Carthage he is said to have been put to death with the most excruciating tortures. It was related that he was placed in a chest covered over in the inside with iron nails, and thus perished; and other writers stated in addition that after his eyelids had been cut off he was first thrown into a dark dungeon, and then suddenly exposed to the full rays of a burning sun. When the news of the barbarous death of Regulus reached Rome, the Senate is said to have given Hamilcar and Bostar, two of the noblest Carthaginian prisoners, to the family of Regulus, who revenged themselves by putting them to death with cruel torments.
This celebrated tale, however, has not been allowed to pass without question in modern times. Many writers supposed that it was invented in order to excuse the cruelties perpetrated by the family of Regulus on the Carthaginian prisoners committed to their custody. Regulus was one of the favourite characters of early Roman story. Not only was he celebrated on account of his heroism in giving the Senate advice which secured him a martyr's death, but also on account of his frugality and simplicity of life. Like Fabricius and Curius he lived on his hereditary farm, which he cultivated with his own hands; and subsequent ages loved to tell how he petitioned the Senate for his recall from Africa when he was in the full career of victory, as his farm was going to ruin in his absence and his family was suffering from want. See Wolff, M. Atilii Reguli Vita (1846); and Jäger, M. Atilius Regulus (1878).
(4) Gaius, surnamed Serrānus, consul B.C. 257, when he defeated the Carthaginian fleet off the Liparaean Islands, and obtained possession of the islands of Lipara and Melite. He was consul a second time in 250, with L. Manlius Vulso. The two consuls undertook the siege of Lilybaeum; but they were foiled in their attempts to carry the place by storm, and after losing a great number of men, were obliged to turn the siege into a blockade. This Regulus is the first Atilius who bears the surname Serranus. See Serranus.