“Gracious Good Faith, on wings upborne;Whoever, therefore, violates his oath violates Good Faith; and, as we find it stated in Cato's speech, our forefathers chose that she should dwell upon the Capitol “neighbour to Jupiter Supreme and Best.”
thou oath in Jupiter's great name!
”
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[104]
29. “He need not have been afraid that1
Jupiter in anger would inflict injury upon him; he
is not wont to be angry or hurtful.”
[p. 383]
This argument, at all events, has no more weight2
against Regulus's conduct than it has against the
keeping of any other oath. But in taking an oath
it is our duty to consider not what one may have to
fear in case of violation but wherein its obligation
lies: an oath is an assurance backed by religious
sanctity; and a solemn promise given, as before God
as one's witness, is to be sacredly kept. For the
question no longer concerns the wrath of the gods
(for there is no such thing) but the obligations of
justice and good faith. For, as Ennius says so
admirably:
M. Tullius Cicero. De Officiis. With An English Translation. Walter Miller. Cambridge. Harvard University Press; Cambridge, Mass., London, England. 1913.
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