HONOR
When Regulus was sent by the Carthaginians, whose prisoner he was, to Rome, with a convoy of ambassadors to sue for peace, it was on condition that he should return to his prison if peace was not effected. He took an oath to do so. When he appeared at Rome he urged the senators to persevere in the war and not to agree to the exchange of prisoners. That advice involved his return to captivity. The senators, and even the chief priest, held that as his oath was wrested from him by force, he was not bound to go. “Have you resolved to dishonor me?” asked Regulus. “I am not ignorant that tortures and death are preparing for me; but what are these to the shame of an infamous action, or the wounds of a guilty mind? Slave as I am to Carthage, I have still the spirit of a Roman. I have sworn to return. It is my duty to go. Let the gods take care of the rest.” Regulus accordingly returned to Carthage and was tortured to death.
(1433)
If one is possest of a delicate sense of honor it is not necessary to bind him with promises to keep personal matters confidential:
A New England school-teacher maintained an intimate friendship and spent much time with the poet Tennyson during his later years. One evening, when the two were thus together, Tennyson said that he would depart from his custom and narrate a personal experience; but he had suffered a good deal from repetitions of his tales by those to whom he had told them, and he would be obliged to ask his friend never to repeat what he was about to hear.
The American smoked on for a few seconds while Tennyson waited for the promise, and then he said, “My lord, in my country a gentleman would never make that request of another gentleman.” “H-h-m!” said the poet, and looked out of eyes that wondered if the quiet smoker opposite knew how much he’d said. Then he told the story.—Harper’s Weekly.
(1434)
HONOR AMONG BOYS