He stands for domestic purity, and for patriotic devotion. _Dulce et
decorum est pro patria mori_,--to die for country is a privilege and a
glory. His hero is Regulus, returning steadfastly through the ranks of
protesting friends to keep faith with the pitiless executioners of
Carthage. Regulus, and the Scauri, and Paulus, who poured out his great
spirit on the disastrous field of Cannae, and Fabricius, of simple heart
and absolute integrity, he holds up as examples to his generation. In
praise of the sturdy Roman qualities of courage and steadfastness he
writes his most inspired lines:
The righteous man of unswerving purpose is shaken in his solid will
neither by the unworthy demands of inflamed citizens, nor by the
frowning face of the threatening tyrant, nor by the East-wind, turbid
ruler of the restless Adriatic, nor by the great hand of fulminating
Jove himself. If the heavens should fall asunder, the crashing fragments
would descend upon him unterrified.
He preaches the gospel of faithfulness not only to family, country, and
purpose, but to religion. He will shun the man who violates the secrets
of the mysteries.
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