Marcus Atilius Regulus ( 227–214 BC) was a Roman politician and statesman. He was

consul Consul (abbrev. ''cos.''; Latin plural ''consules'') was the title of one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently also an important title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other European city-states thro ...

in 227 and 217 BC and later censor in 214 BC. He was the son of his homonymous father who was consul in 267 and 256 BC. He was first elected consul in 227 BC; nothing is known of this first consulship. He was later elected to a suffect consul in 217 BC, in place of Gaius Flaminius, who had been killed at the

Battle of Lake Trasimene The Battle of Lake Trasimene was fought when a Carthaginian force under Hannibal ambushed a Roman army commanded by Gaius Flaminius on 21 June 217 BC, during the Second Punic War. The battle took place on the north shore of Lake Tra ...

. Later in the year, he took command of the army that had been under the dictator that year,

Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus (), surnamed Cunctator ( 280 – 203 BC), was a Roman statesman and general of the third century BC. He was Roman consul, consul five times (233, 228, 215, 214, and 209 BC) and was appointed Roman dictator, dict ...

, and avoided any major engagement with

Hannibal Hannibal (; ; 247 – between 183 and 181 BC) was a Punic people, Carthaginian general and statesman who commanded the forces of Ancient Carthage, Carthage in their battle against the Roman Republic during the Second Punic War. Hannibal's fat ...

. His command was prorogued into 216 BC, when he returned to Rome and was elected ''triumvir mensarius'' (a public banker).

Livy Titus Livius (; 59 BC – AD 17), known in English as Livy ( ), was a Roman historian. He wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people, titled , covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome before the traditional founding i ...

reports that he laid down his command before the new consuls of 216 BC, citing old age. However,

Polybius Polybius (; , ; ) was a Greek historian of the middle Hellenistic period. He is noted for his work , a universal history documenting the rise of Rome in the Mediterranean in the third and second centuries BC. It covered the period of 264–146 ...

reports that Regulus and his consular colleague of 217 BC, Gnaeus Servilius Geminus, were killed as part of the army defeated at

Cannae Cannae (now , ) is an ancient village of the region of south east Italy. It is a (civil parish) of the (municipality) of . Cannae was formerly a bishopric, and is a Latin Catholic titular see (as of 2022). Geography The commune of Cannae i ...

. However, it is clear that Regulus survived the battle, if he even took part, because he was elected censor two years later in 214 BC. During his censorship, he was strict towards those who attempted to evade military service after Cannae and those who had broken oaths to rejoin the Romans after being captured by Hannibal. With the support of donations from businessmen, he was able to find the funds needed to maintain various temples that the state treasury – being empty – could not support. He and his colleague probably appointed

Marcus Fabius Buteo Marcus Fabius Buteo (died around 210-209 BC) was a Roman politician during the 3rd century BC. He served as consul in 245 BC, and as censor, and in 216 BC, being the oldest living ex-censor, he was appointed dictator, ''legendo senatui'', for th ...

princeps senatus The ''princeps senatus'' ( ''principes senatus''), in English the leader of the senate, was the first member by precedence on the membership rolls of the Roman Senate. Although officially out of the ''cursus honorum'' and possessing no ''imperium ...

. However, Regulus was compelled to step down before completing the

lustrum A lūstrum (, plural lūstra) was a term for a five-year period in Ancient Rome. It is distinct from the homograph ''lustrum'' ( ): a haunt of wild beasts (and figuratively, a den of vice), plural ''lustra'' ( ).Oxford Latin Desk Dictionary (2 ...

when his colleague, Publius Furius Philus, died unexpectedly. Klaus Zmeskal, in ''Adfinitas'', notes no familial relation between this Regulus and the Gaius Atilius Regulus who was consul in 225 BC. Another Marcus Atilius Regulus is noted as ''

praetor ''Praetor'' ( , ), also ''pretor'', was the title granted by the government of ancient Rome to a man acting in one of two official capacities: (i) the commander of an army, and (ii) as an elected ''magistratus'' (magistrate), assigned to disch ...

urbanus'' in 213 BC, but T.R.S. Broughton notes this as a separate person. In notes, Broughton further explains that the textual tradition is unclear: this Atilius may in fact be an Aemilius and others have suggested Serranus as cognomen rather than Regulus.

References

; Citations ; Sources * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Atilius Regulus, Marcus 3rd-century BC Roman consuls Ancient Roman censors Regulus, Marcus 3rd-century BC births Year of birth uncertain Year of death unknown