Then the Fathers tried to persuade him to stay.
"Let us send another man in your place," they said.
"Shall a Roman not keep his word?" answered Regulus. "I am ill, and at the best have not long to live. I will go back, as I promised."
His wife and little children wept, and his sons begged him not to leave them again.
"I have given my word," said Regulus. "The rest will be taken care of."
Then he bade them good-by, and went bravely back to the prison and the cruel death which he ex-pect-ed.
This was the kind of courage that made Rome the greatest city in the world.