Accustomed as he was to hard exercise, temperate living, and
frequent campaigns, his body was always both healthy and strong;
while he also practised the power of speech, thinking it a
necessary instrument for a man who does not intend to live an
obscure and inactive life. He consequently improved his talents
in this respect by pleading causes in the neighbouring villages
and towns, [Pg 99]so that he was soon admitted to be a capable
speaker, and afterwards to be a good orator. From this time all
who conversed with him perceived a gravity and wisdom in his mind
which qualified him to undertake the most important duties of a
statesman. Not only was he so disinterested as to plead without
receiving money from his clients, but he also did not think the
glory which he gained in these contests to be that after which a
man ought to strive, in comparison with that which is gained in
battle and campaigns, in which he was so eager to distinguish
himself that when quite a lad his body was covered with wounds,
all in front. He himself tells us that he made his first campaign
at the age of seventeen, when Hannibal was ranging through Italy
uncontrolled. In battle he was prompt, stedfast, and undismayed,
and was wont to address the enemy with threats and rough
language, and to encourage the others to do so, as he rightly
pointed out that this often cows the enemy's spirit as
effectually as blows. When on the march he used to carry his own
arms, and be followed by one servant who carried his provisions.
It is said that he never spoke harshly to this man, no matter
what food he placed before him, but that he would often help him
to do his work when he was at leisure from military duty. He
drank only water when campaigning, except that when suffering
from parching thirst he would ask for some vinegar, and sometimes
when his strength fairly failed he would drink a little wine.
II. Near his estate was a cottage which had once
belonged to Manius Curius, who three times received the honour of
a triumph. Cato used frequently to walk over and look at this
cottage, and, as he observed the smallness of the plot of ground
attached to it, and the simplicity of the dwelling itself, he
would reflect upon how Curius, after having made himself the
first man in Rome, after conquering the most warlike nations, and
driving King Pyrrhus out of Italy, used to dig this little plot
of ground with his own hands, and dwelt in this little cottage,
after having thrice triumphed. It was there that the ambassadors
of the Samnites found him sitting by the hearth, cooking turnips,
and offered him much gold; but he sent them away, saying, "that a
man who was contented with [Pg
100]such a supper,
had no need of gold, and that it was more honourable for him to
conquer those who possessed gold, than to possess it himself."
Cato, after leaving the cottage, full of these memories, returned
to his own house and farm, and after viewing its extent and the
number of slaves upon it, he increased the amount of his own
daily labour, and retrenched his superfluous expenses.
When Fabius Maximus took the city of Tarentum, Cato, who was a
very young lad at the time, was serving in his army. He became
intimate there with one Nearchus, a philosopher of the
Pythagorean school, and listened with much interest to his
discourses. Hearing this man, like Plato, describe pleasure as
the greatest temptation to evil, and the body as the chief
hindrance to the soul, which can only free and purify itself by
such a course of reasoning as removes it from and sets it above
all bodily passions and feelings, he was yet more encouraged in
his love of simplicity and frugality. In other respects he is
said to have studied Hellenic literature late in life, and not to
have read Greek books till extreme old age, when he greatly
improved his style of oratory, partly by the study of Thucydides,
but chiefly by that of Demosthenes. Be this as it may, his
writings are full of Greek ideas and Greek anecdotes: and many of
his apophthegms and maxims are literally translated from the
Greek.
III. The estate adjoining that of Cato belonged to one
of the most powerful and highly born patricians of Rome, Valerius
Flaccus, a man who had a keen eye for rising merit, and
generously fostered it until it received public recognition. This
man heard accounts of Cato's life from his servants, how he would
proceed to the court early in the morning, and plead the causes
of all who required his services, and then on returning to his
farm would work with his servants, in winter wearing a coarse
coat without sleeves, in summer nothing but his tunic, and how he
used to sit at meals with his servants, eating the same loaf and
drinking the same wine. Many other stories of his goodness and
simplicity and sententious remarks were related to Valerius, who
became interested in his neighbour, and invited him to dinner.
They became intimate, and Valerius, observing his quiet and
ingenuous disposition, [Pg
101]like a plant that
requires careful treatment and an extensive space in which to
develop itself, encouraged and urged him to take part in the
political life of Rome. On going to Rome he at once gained
admirers and friends by his able pleadings in the law courts,
while he obtained considerable preferment by the interest of
Valerius, being appointed first military tribune, and then
quæstor. After this he became so distinguished a man as to
be able to compete with Valerius himself for the highest offices
in the state, and they were elected together, first as consuls,
and afterwards as censors. Of the older Romans, Cato attached
himself particularly to Fabius Maximus, a man of the greatest
renown and power, although it was his disposition and mode of
life which Cato especially desired to imitate. Wherefore he did
not hesitate to oppose Scipio the Great, who was then a young
man, but a rival and opponent of Fabius. Cato was appointed to
act as his quæstor in the war in Africa, and on perceiving
that Scipio was living with his usual lavish expenditure, and
supplying his soldiery with extravagant pay, he sharply rebuked
him, saying, "that it was not the waste of the public money that
vexed him so much as the ruin of the old frugal habits of the
soldiers, who were led to indulge in pleasure and luxury by
receiving more pay than was necessary to supply their daily
wants." When Scipio answered that he did not require an economist
for his quæstor, at a time when he was preparing to wage
war on a grand scale, and reminded him that he would have to give
an account to the Roman people of battles won, not of money
expended, Cato left the army of Scipio, which was then being
assembled in Sicily. He proceeded at once to Rome, and by adding
his voice to that of Fabius in the Senate, in blame of Scipio's
unspeakable waste of money, and his childish and unsoldierly love
of the public games[26] and the theatre, conduct more worthy of the
president of a public festival than of the commander-in-chief of
an army, prevailed upon the people to send tribunes to enquire
into the charges against him, and if they proved true, to bring
him back to Rome. When they arrived in Sicily, however, Scipio
pointed out to them that the pre[Pg
102]parations which
he had made would ensure him the victory, and that although he
loved pleasant society in his hours of leisure, yet that he had
never allowed his pleasures to interfere with his serious duties.
The tribunes were perfectly satisfied with this explanation, and
Scipio sailed for Africa.
IV. Cato, however, gained considerable credit by his
speeches on this occasion, and the Romans generally called him
the new Demosthenes; yet his manner of life was more admired than
his eloquence. Cleverness of speech was a quality which nearly
all the young men of the time sought to attain, but Cato was
singular in his keeping up the severe traditions of his ancestors
in labouring with his own hands, eating a simple dinner, lighting
no fire to cook his breakfast, wearing a plain dress, living in a
mean house, and neither coveting superfluities nor courting their
possessors. The Romans were at this period extending their empire
so much as to lose much of their own original simplicity of
living, as each new conquest brought them into contact with
foreign customs and new modes of life. They therefore naturally
looked with admiration upon Cato, observing that while they
became enervated by pleasures and broke down under labours, he on
the other hand seemed unaffected by either, and that too, not
only while he was young and eager for fame: but even when he was
an old grey-headed man, after he had been consul and had
triumphed, he yet, like a victorious athlete, still kept himself
in training, and never relaxed his severe discipline. He himself
tells us that he never wore a garment worth more than a hundred
drachmas, that when he was general and consul he still drank the
same wine as his servants, that his dinner never cost him more
than thirty ases in the market, and that he only indulged himself
to this extent for the good of the state, that he might be strong
and able to serve his country in the field. When he was left a
piece of Babylonian tapestry he at once disposed of it; none of
his rooms were whitewashed, and he never bought a slave for more
than fifteen hundred drachmas, seeing that he required, not
effeminate and handsome servants, but hardworking and strong men,
to tend his horses and [Pg
103]herd his cattle:
and these, too, when they grew old and past work he thought it
best to sell, and not feed them at his expense when they were
useless. His rule was that nothing is cheap which one does not
want, but that superfluities are dearly purchased even if they
cost but one penny: and that it is better to buy land which can
be ploughed, or where cattle can graze, than beds of flowers
which require watering, and paths which have to be swept and kept
in order.
V. These habits some ascribed to narrowness of mind,
while others thought that he carried parsimony and avarice to
excess in himself in order by his example to reform and restrain
others. Be this as it may, I for my own part consider that his
conduct in treating his slaves like beasts of burden, and selling
them when old and worn out, is the mark of an excessively harsh
disposition, which disregards the claims of our common human
nature, and merely considers the question of profit and loss.
Kindness, indeed, is of wider application than mere justice; for
we naturally treat men alone according to justice and the laws,
while kindness and gratitude, as though from a plenteous spring,
often extend even to irrational animals. It is right for a good
man to feed horses which have been worn out in his service, and
not merely to train dogs when they are young, but to take care of
them when they are old. When the Athenian people built the
Parthenon, they set free the mules which had done the hardest
work in drawing the stones up to the acropolis, and let them
graze where they pleased unmolested. It is said that one of them
came of its own accord to where the works were going on, and used
to walk up to the acropolis with the beasts who were drawing up
their loads, as if to encourage them and show them the way. This
mule was, by a decree of the people of Athens, maintained at the
public expense for the rest of its life. The racehorses of Kimon
also, who won an Olympic victory, are buried close to the
monument of their master. Many persons, too, have made friends
and companions of dogs, as did Xanthippus in old times, whose dog
swam all the way to Salamis beside his master's ship when the
Athenians left their city, and which he [Pg
104]buried on the
promontory which to this day is called the Dog's Tomb.[27] We ought not to treat
living things as we do our clothes and our shoes, and throw them
away after we have worn them out; but we ought to accustom
ourselves to show kindness in these cases, if only in order to
teach ourselves our duty towards one another. For my own part I
would not even sell an ox that had laboured for me because he was
old, much less would I turn an old man out of his accustomed
haunts and mode of life, which is as great an affliction to him
as sending him into a foreign land, merely that I might gain a
few miserable coins by selling one who must be as useless to his
buyer as he was to his seller.
Cato, however, as if taking a perverse pleasure in flaunting
his meannesses, relates that he left behind him in Spain the
horse which he rode when consul there, in order to save the state
the cost of carrying him over to Italy. Whether those acts of his
are to be ascribed to magnanimity or narrow-mindedness the reader
must decide for himself.
VI. He was a man of wonderful temperance, in all other
respects also. For example, when he was general, he only drew
from the public stock three Attic bushels of wheat a month for
himself and his servants, and less than three half-bushels of
barley a day for his horses. When he was Governor of Sardinia,
where former governors had been in the habit of charging their
tents, bedding, and wearing-apparel to the province, and likewise
making it pay large sums for their entertainment and that of
their friends, he introduced an unheard-of system of economy. He
charged nothing to the province, and visited the various cities
without a carriage, walking on foot alone, attended by one single
public servant carrying his robe of state and the vessel to make
libations at a sacrifice. With all this he showed himself so
affable and simple to those under his rule, so severe and
inexorable in the administration of justice, and so vigilant and
careful in seeing that his orders were duly executed, that the
government of Rome never was more feared or more loved in
Sardinia than when he governed that island.
[Pg 105]VII. His conversation seems also to have
had this character, for he was cheerful and harsh all at once,
pleasant and yet severe as a companion, fond of jokes, but morose
at the same time, just as Plato tells us that Sokrates, if judged
merely from his outside, appeared to be only a silly man with a
face like a satyr, who was rude to all he met, though his inner
nature was earnest and full of thoughts that moved his hearers to
tears and touched their hearts. For this reason I cannot
understand how any persons can see a likeness between the
orations of Lysias and those of Cato; however, this point must be
decided by those who are more skilled than myself in the
comparison of oratorical styles. I shall now relate a few of his
more remarkable sayings, believing that a man's real character
can be better judged of by his words than by his looks, although
some people hold the contrary opinion.
VIII. Once when he wished to restrain the Romans from
distributing a large quantity of corn as a largesse to the
people, he began his speech: "It is difficult, my
fellow-citizens, to make the stomach hear reason, because it has
no ears." When desiring to blame the extravagance of the Romans,
he said that a city could not be safe in which a fish sold dearer
than an ox. He said, too, that the Romans were like sheep, who
never form opinions of their own, but follow where the others
lead them. "Just so," said he, "when you are assembled together
you are led by men whose advice you would scorn to take about
your own private affairs." With regard to female influence he
once said, "All mankind rule their wives, we rule all mankind,
and we are ruled by our wives." This remark, however, is borrowed
from Themistokles. He one day, when his child was instigating its
mother to lay many commands upon him, said, "Wife, remember that
the Athenians rule the Greeks, I rule the Athenians, you rule me,
and your child rules you; wherefore let him not abuse his power,
which, though he knows it not, is greater than that of anyone
else in Greece." Cato also said that the Romans fixed the price,
not only of different dyes, but of different professions. "Just
as the dyers," said he, "dye stuff of whatever colour they see
people pleased with, so [Pg
106]do our young men
only study and apply themselves to those subjects which are
praised and commended by you." He used also to beg of them, if
they had become great by virtue and self-restraint, not to
degenerate; and if, on the other hand, their empire had been won
by licentiousness and vice, to reform themselves, since by the
latter means they had become so great as not to need any further
assistance from them. Those who were always seeking office, he
said, were like men who could not find their way, who always
wished to walk with lictors[28] before them to show them the road. He blamed
his countrymen for often electing the same men to public offices.
"You will appear," said he, "either to think that the office is
not worth much, or else that there are not many worthy to fill
it." Alluding to one of his enemies who led a dissolute and
discreditable life, he said: "That man's mother takes it as a
curse rather than a blessing if any one hopes that her son will
survive her." When a certain man sold his ancestral estate, which
was situated by the seashore, Cato pretended to admire him, as
being more powerful than the sea itself, "for this man," said he,
has "drunk up the fields which the sea itself could not swallow."
When King Eumenes came to Rome the Senate received him with
special honours, and he was much courted and run after. Cato,
however, held himself aloof and would not go near him, and when
some one said "Yet he is an excellent man, and a good friend to
Rome," he answered, "It may be so, but a king is by nature an
animal that lives on human flesh." None of those who had borne
the title of king, according to Cato, were to be compared with
Epameinondas, or Perikles, or Themistokles, or with Manius Curius
or Hamilcar Barcas. He used to say that his enemies hated him
because he began his day's work while it was still dark, and
because he neglected his own affairs to attend to those of the
public. He also was wont to say that he had rather his good
actions should go unrewarded than that his bad ones should be
unpunished; and that he pardoned all who did wrong except
himself.
IX. When the Romans sent three ambassadors to
[Pg 107]Bithynia, one of whom was crippled by the gout,
another had been trepanned and had a piece taken out of his head,
and the third was thought to be a simpleton, Cato remarked that
the Romans had sent an embassy which had neither feet, head, nor
heart. When, for the sake of Polybius the historian, Scipio
entreated Cato to exert his influence on behalf of the
Achæan exiles, after a long debate in the Senate, where
some advised that they should be sent back to their own country,
and some that they should still be detained at Rome, he got up
and said, "Have we nothing better to do than to sit all day
discussing whether a parcel of old Greeks shall be buried here or
in Achaia?" A few days after the Senate had decreed the
restoration of the exiles, Polybius proposed to make another
application, that they should be restored to all the offices
which they formerly held in Achaia. He asked Cato whether he
thought that he should succeed in this second appeal to the
Senate; to which Cato answered with a smile, that he was
imitating Ulysses, when he returned again into the cave of the
Cyclops to fetch the hat and girdle which he had left behind and
forgotten. He said that wise men gained more advantage from
fools, than fools from wise men; for the wise men avoid the
errors of fools, but fools cannot imitate the example of wise
men. He said that he loved young men to have red cheeks rather
than pale ones, and that he did not care for a soldier who used
his hands while he marched and his feet while he fought, or one
who snored louder in bed than he shouted in battle. When
reproaching a very fat man he said, "How can this man's body be
useful to his country, when all parts between the neck and the
groin are possessed by the belly?" Once when an epicure wished to
become his friend, he said that he could not live with a man
whose palate was more sensitive than his heart. He said also that
the soul of a lover inhabits the body of his beloved. He himself
tells us, that in his whole life he repented of three things
only:—First, that he had trusted a woman with a secret.
Secondly, that he had gone by water when he might have gone by
land. Thirdly, that he had passed one day without having made his
will. To an old man who was acting wrongly he said, "[Pg 108]My
good sir, old age is ugly enough without your adding the
deformity of wickedness to it." When a certain tribune, who was
suspected of being a poisoner, was endeavouring to carry a bad
law, Cato remarked, "Young man, I do not know which is the worst
for us, to drink what you mix, or to enact what you propose."
Once when he was abused by a man of vicious life, he answered,
"We are not contending upon equal terms; you are accustomed to
hearing and using bad language, while I am both unused to hearing
it and unwilling to use it."
X. When he was elected consul, together with his friend
and neighbour Valerius Flaccus, the province which fell to his
lot was that which the Romans call Hither Spain.[29] While he was there
engaged in establishing order, partly by persuasion, and partly
by force, he was attacked by a large army of the natives, and was
in danger of being disgracefully defeated by their overwhelming
numbers. Consequently he applied for aid to the neighbouring
tribe of the Celtiberians, who demanded as the price of their
assistance the sum of two hundred talents. At this every one
protested that it was unworthy of Romans to pay barbarians for
their alliance, but Cato said that he saw no evil in the
practice, since, if the Romans were victorious, they would pay
them from the spoils of the enemy, while if they were defeated
there would be no one to demand the money and no one to pay it.
He won a pitched battle on this occasion, and was very successful
in his whole campaign. Polybius indeed tells us that in one day
at his command all the cities on this side of the river
Guadalquiver pulled down their walls; and yet they were very
numerous, and filled with a warlike population. Cato himself
tells us that he took more cities than he spent days in Spain;
nor is this a vain boast, if the number captured really, as is
stated, amounted to four hundred. His soldiers enriched
themselves considerably during the campaign; and at the
termination of it he distributed a pound of silver to each man,
saying that it was better that many Romans should return to Rome
with silver in their pockets than that a few should return with
gold. [Pg 109]He himself states that he received no part of the
plunder except what he ate or drank. "I do not," said he, "blame
those who endeavour to enrich themselves by such means, but I had
rather vie with the noblest in virtue than with the richest in
wealth, or with the most covetous in covetousness." He not only
kept his own hands clean, but those of his followers also. He
took five servants to the war with him. One of these, Paccius by
name, bought three boys at a sale of captives; but when Cato
heard of it, Paccius, rather than come into his presence, hanged
himself. Cato sold the boys, and paid the price into the public
treasury.
XI. While he was still in Spain, Scipio the Great, who
was his personal enemy, desiring to check his career of success,
and to obtain the management of Spanish affairs for himself,
contrived to get himself appointed to succeed Cato in his
government. He at once hurried to Spain and brought Cato's rule
to an end. Cato, however, at once marched to meet Scipio with an
escort of five companies of infantry and five hundred horsemen.
On his way he conquered the tribe of the Lacetani; and finding
among them six hundred deserters from the Roman army, he put them
to death. When Scipio expressed his dissatisfaction with this,
Cato sarcastically answered, that Rome would be greatest if those
of high birth and station, and those of plebeian origin like
himself, would only contend with one another in virtue. However,
as the Senate decreed that nothing that Cato had settled in the
province should be altered or rearranged, Scipio found that it
was he rather than Cato that was disgraced, as he had to pass his
time in inglorious idleness, while Cato, after enjoying a
triumph, did not retire into a life of luxury and leisure, as is
done by so many men whose object is display rather than true
virtue, after they have risen to the highest honours in the state
by being elected consuls and enjoying the honour of a triumph. He
did not impair the glorious example which he had given, by
withdrawing his attention from the affairs of his country, but
offered his services to his friends and fellow-countrymen, both
in the courts of law and in the field, as willingly as those who
have just begun their public career, and are keenly eager to be
[Pg 110]elected to some new office in which they may win
fresh distinction.
XII. He went with the consul Tiberius Sempronius as
legate, and assisted him in regulating the country about the
Danube and Thrace; and he also served as military tribune under
Manius Acilius during his campaign in Greece against Antiochus
the Great, who caused more terror to the Romans than any one man
since the time of Hannibal. Antiochus had originally inherited
nearly the whole of Asia, that is, as much as Seleukus Nikator
had possessed, and having added many warlike tribes to his
empire, was so elated by his conquests as to attack the Romans,
whom he regarded as the only nation remaining in the whole world
which was worthy to be his antagonist. He put forward as a
plausible reason for beginning the war that he intended to
liberate the Greeks, who did not require his interference, as
they had just been made free and independent by the Romans, who
had delivered them from the tyranny of Philip and the
Macedonians. Antiochus crossed over into Greece, which at once
became unsettled, and a prey to hopes and fears suggested by her
political leaders. Manius at once sent ambassadors to the various
cities. Titus Flamininus, as has been related in his Life,
restrained the greater part of them from revolutionary
proceedings, and kept them to their allegiance, but Cato won over
Corinth, Patræ, and Ægium. Most of his time was spent
in Athens; and there is said to be still extant a speech which he
made to the people there in Greek, in which he speaks with
admiration of the virtue of the Athenians of old, and dwells upon
his own pleasure in viewing so great and beautiful a city. This,
however, is a fabrication, for we know that he conversed with the
Athenians through an interpreter, though he was able to speak
their language, because he wished to keep to the ways of his
fathers, and administer a rebuke to those who extravagantly
admired the Greeks. Thus he laughed at Postumius Albinus, who
wrote a history in Greek and begged that his mistakes might be
pardoned, saying that it would be right to pardon them if he
wrote his history by a decree of the council of Amphiktyons. He
himself says that the Athenians were surprised it the shortness
[Pg 111]and pregnant nature of his talk; for what he said
in a few words, his interpreter translated by a great many: and
in general he concludes that the Greeks talk from the lips, and
the Romans from the heart.
XIII. When Antiochus occupied the pass of
Thermopylæ with his army, and, after adding to the natural
strength of the place by artificial defences, established himself
there as if in an impregnable position, the Romans decided that
to attack him in front was altogether impossible, but Cato,
remembering how the Persians under Xerxes had turned the Greek
forces by a circuitous march over the mountains, took a part of
the force and set off by night. When they had gone for some
distance over the mountains, the prisoner who served as their
guide lost his way, and wandered about in that precipitous and
pathless wilderness so as to cause great discouragement to the
soldiers. Seeing this, Cato ordered every one to halt and await
his orders, and himself, with one companion, one Lucius Manlius,
an experienced mountaineer, laboriously and daringly plunged
along through intense darkness, for there was no moon, while the
trees and rocks added to their difficulties by preventing their
seeing distinctly whither they were going, until they came to a
path, which, as they thought, led directly down upon the camp of
the enemy. Hereupon they set up marks to guide them upon some
conspicuous crags of Mount Kallidromus, and returning to the
army, led it to these marks, and started along the paths which
they had descried. But before they had proceeded far the path
ended in a precipice, at which they were both surprised and
disheartened; for they could not tell, either by sight or
hearing, that they were close to the enemy. It was now about
daybreak, and they thought that they heard voices near at hand,
and soon were able to see a Greek camp and an outpost at the foot
of the precipice. Cato hereupon halted his army, and ordered the
Firmiani,[30] in whom he reposed especial confidence, to
come forward alone. When they had assembled round him, he said,
"I wish to take one of the enemy prisoner, and learn from him of
what troops this outpost is formed, what their numbers are, how
the [Pg 112]rest of the army are placed, and what preparations
they have made to resist us. You must dash upon them as quickly
and boldly as lions do upon their defenceless prey." At these
words of Cato's the Firmiani at once rushed down and attacked the
outpost. The suddenness of their onset threw the enemy into
complete confusion, and they soon caught one of them and brought
him before Cato. Learning from this man that all the rest of the
army was with King Antiochus himself, guarding the pass of
Thermopylæ, and that only a body of six hundred picked
Ætolians were watching the path over the mountains, Cato
despising so small and contemptible a force, at once drew his
sword, and led on his troops with shouts and trumpets sounding
the charge. The Ætolians, as soon as they saw the Romans
descending from the hills, fled to the main body, and filled it
with confusion and terror.
XIV. Meanwhile Manius on the lower ground had attacked
the fortifications in the pass with his entire force. Antiochus
was struck on the mouth with a stone which knocked out several of
his teeth, and the pain of his wound compelled him to wheel round
his horse and retreat. His troops nowhere withstood the Romans,
but, although they had endless means of escape by roads where
they could scarcely be followed, yet they crowded through the
narrow pass with deep marshy ground on the one hand and
inaccessible rocks upon the other, and there trampled each other
to death for fear of the swords of the Romans.
Cato never seems to have been sparing of his own praise, and
thought that great deeds required to be told in boastful
language. He gives a very pompous account of this battle, and
says that all those who saw him pursuing and cutting down the
enemy felt that Cato did not owe so much to the Romans, as the
Romans owed to Cato. He also says that the consul Manius
immediately after the victory was won, enfolded him for a long
time in a close embrace, and loudly declared that neither he nor
all the Roman people could ever do as much for Cato as he had
that day done for them. He was sent immediately after the battle
to bear the news of the victory to Rome, and reached Brundusium
after a prosperous voyage.
[Pg 113]From that place he drove in one day to Tarentum,
and in four more days reached Rome with the news, on the fifth
day after his landing. His arrival filled the whole city with
feasting and rejoicing, and made the Roman people believe that
there was no nation in the world which could resist their
arms.
XV. Of Cato's warlike exploits these which we have
related are the most remarkable. In his political life he seems
to have thought one of his most important duties to be the
impeachment and prosecution of those whom he thought to be bad
citizens. He himself attacked many persons, and aided and
encouraged others in doing so, a notable example being his
conduct towards Scipio in the affair of Petillius. However, as
Scipio was a man of noble birth and great spirit, he treated the
attack made upon him with contempt, and Cato, perceiving that he
could not succeed in getting him condemned to death, desisted
from annoying him. But he was active in obtaining the
condemnation of Scipio's brother Lucius, who was adjudged to pay
a heavy fine, which was beyond his means to provide, so that he
had nearly been cast into prison, but was set free by the
intervention of the tribunes of the people.
It is related of him that he once met in the forum a young man
who had just succeeded in obtaining the disfranchisement, by an
action at law, of an enemy of his father, who was dead. Cato took
him by the hand and said, "Thus ought men to honour their parents
when they die, not with the blood of lambs and kids, but with the
tears and condemnation of their enemies." He himself is said to
have been the defendant in nearly fifty actions, the last of
which was tried when he was eighty-six years of age: on which
occasion he uttered that well-known saying, that it was hard for
a man who had lived in one generation to be obliged to defend
himself before another. And this was not the end of his
litigations, for four years later, when at the age of ninety, he
impeached Servius Galba. Indeed his life, like that of Nestor,
seems to havo reached over three generations. He, as had been
related, was a bitter political opponent of Scipio Africanus the
Great, and he continued his enmity to Scipio's adopted son,
called Scipio the Younger, who was really the son of [Pg 114]Æmilius Paulus, the conqueror of Perseus and
the Macedonians.
XVI. Ten years after his consulship, Cato became a
candidate for the office of censor. This is the highest dignity
to which a Roman can aspire, and may be regarded as the goal of
political life. Its powers are very extensive, and it is
especially concerned with the regulation of public morals, and
the mode of life of the citizens of Rome. The Romans thought that
none of a man's actions, his marriage, his family, his mode of
life, his very entertainments, ought to be uncontrolled, and
managed according to his own will and pleasure. They considered
that a man's true character was much more clearly shown by his
private life than by his public behaviour, and were wont to
choose two citizens, one a patrician, and the other a plebeian,
whose duty it was to watch over the morals of the people, and
check any tendency to licentiousness or extravagance. These
officers they called censors, and they had power to deprive a
Roman knight of his horse, and to expel men of loose and
disorderly life from the Senate. They also took a census of
property, and kept a register of the various tribes and classes
of the citizens; and they likewise exercised various other
important powers. Cato's candidature was opposed by nearly all
the most distinguished members of the Senate, for the patricians
viewed him with especial dislike, regarding it as an insult to
the nobility that men of obscure birth should attain to the
highest honours in the state, while all those who were conscious
of any private vices or departures from the ways of their
fathers, feared the severities of one who, they knew, would be
harsh and inexorable when in power.
These classes consequently combined together against Cato, and
put up no less than seven candidates to contest the censorship
with him, and endeavoured to soothe the people by holding out to
them hopes of a lenient censor, as though that were what they
required. Cato on the other hand would not relax his severity in
the least, but threatened evil doers in his speeches from the
rostra, and insisted that the city required a most searching
reformation. He told the people that if they were wise, they
would choose not the most agreeable, but the most [Pg 115]thorough physicians to perform this operation for
them, and that these would be himself and Valerius Flaccus; for
with him as a colleague he imagined that he might make some
progress in the work of destroying, by knife and cautery, the
hydra of luxury and effeminacy. Of the other candidates he said
that he saw that each one was eager to get the office and fill it
badly, because he was afraid of those who could fill it well. The
Roman people on this occasion showed itself so truly great and
worthy to be courted by great men, as not to be alarmed at the
earnest severity of Cato; but, setting aside all those plausible
candidates who promised merely to consult their pleasure, elected
Cato and Valerius censors. It seemed, indeed, as if Cato, inatead
of being a candidate for election, was already in office and
issuing his commands to the people, which were at once
obeyed.
XVII. As soon as he was elected, Cato appointed his
friend and colleague, Lucius Valerius Flaccus, chief of the
Senate. He expelled several senators, amongst whom was Lucius
Quintius, who had been consul seven years before, and, which was
even a greater distinction than the consulship, was the brother
of Titus Quintius Flamininus, the conqueror of Philip. He was
expelled from the Senate for the following reason. Lucius had a
favourite boy who never left his person, and followed him even on
his campaigns. This boy had more power and received greater
attention than the most trusty of his friends and relatives. Now,
when Lucius was governor of a province as proconsul, this boy
once, at a drinking party, was flattering him over his wine,
saying that "Although there was going to be a show of gladiators
at Rome, yet I did not stay to see it, but came out here to you,
although I longed to see a man killed." Lucius, to please him,
answered in the same tone, "If that be all, do not lie there and
fret, for I will soon gratify your wish." He at once ordered a
condemned criminal to be brought into the banqueting hall, and
one of his servants to stand by him with an axe, and then again
asked his favourite whether he wished to see a man struck dead.
When the boy said that he did, he bade the servant cut off the
man's head. This is the account which most writers give of the
transaction, and [Pg 116]it is that which Cicero introduces
Cato as relating in his dialogue "On Old Age;" but Livy says that
the man who was put to death was a Gaulish deserter, and that
Lucius did not employ a servant, but slew him with his own hand,
and this is the version which Cato has followed in his written
account of the matter. When Cato discussed what took place at
this wine party, Lucius endeavoured to deny it, but on being
challenged to state exactly what happened he refused to answer.
He was most justly condemned to lose his right as a senator; but
afterwards, when some spectacle was being witnessed in the
theatre, he walked past the place reserved for men of consular
rank, and sat down in the humblest seat of all, which so moved
the people to compassion, that they forced him by their clamour
to resume his former seat, thus as far as they were able
reversing the sentence upon him and condoning his offence.
Cato expelled another senator, who was thought likely to be
soon elected consul, named Manilius, because he had kissed his
wife in the daytime in the presence of his daughter. He himself
said that his own wife never embraced him except when it
thundered loudly, and added by way of joke, that he was happy
when Jupiter was pleased to thunder.
XVIII. His conduct in depriving of his horse Lucius
Scipio, the brother of Scipio Africanus, a man who had been
decreed a triumph, was censured, as being merely prompted by
private spite; as he seemed merely to do it in order to insult
Scipio Africanus after his death. But what caused the greatest
dissatisfaction were his restrictions on luxury. This he could
not attack openly, because it had taken such deep root among the
people, but he caused all clothes, carriages, women's ornaments,
and furniture, which exceeded fifteen hundred drachmas in value
to be rated at ten times their value and taxed accordingly, as he
thought that those who possessed the most valuable property ought
to contribute most largely to the revenues of the state. In
addition to this he imposed a tax on all citizens of three copper
ases for every thousand, in order that those who were burdened
with an excessive taxation on objects of luxury, when they saw
[Pg 117]persons of frugal and simple habits paying so
small a tax on the same income, might cease from their
extravagance. This measure gained him the hatred of those who
were taxed so heavily for their luxuries, and of those who, to
avoid excessive taxation, were obliged to give up their luxuries.
Most persons are as much irritated at losing the means of
displaying their wealth as at losing their wealth itself, and it
is in superfluities, not in necessaries, that wealth can be
displayed. This is what is said to have so much surprised Ariston
the Philosopher, that men should consider those persons fortunate
who possess what is superfluous, rather than those who possess
what is necessary and useful. Skopas the Thessalian also, when
one of his friends asked him for something which was not
particularly useful to him, and added, that he did not ask for
anything necessary or useful, answered, "Indeed, it is in these
useless and superfluous things that my wealth chiefly consists."
For the desire of wealth is not connected with any of our
physical necessities, and is an artificial want arising from too
much regard for the opinion of the vulgar.
XIX. Cato paid no attention to those who blamed his
conduct, and proceeded to measures of still greater severity. He
cut off the water-pipes, by which water was conveyed from the
public fountains into private houses and gardens, destroyed all
houses that encroached upon the public streets, lowered the price
of contracts for public works, and farmed out the public revenues
for the highest possible rents. All this made him still more
unpopular. Titus Flamininus and his friends attacked him, and
prevailed upon the Senate to annul the contracts which he had
made for the building of temples and the construction of public
works, on the ground that they were disadvantageous to the state.
They also encouraged the boldest of the tribunes to prosecute him
before the people, and to fine him two talents. He likewise
received violent opposition in the matter of the basilica, or
public hall, which he built at the public expense in the forum
below the senate house, and which was called the Basilica
Porcia.
In spite of all this, his censorship seems to have been
[Pg 118]wonderfully popular with the Roman people. When
they placed his statue in the Temple of Hygieia, they did not
enumerate his campaigns or triumphs in the inscription on the
base, but wrote what we may translate as follows: "This statue
was erected to Cato because, when Censor, finding the state of
Rome corrupt and degenerate, he, by introducing wise regulations
and virtuous discipline, restored it."
At one time Cato affected to despise those who took pleasure
in receiving honours of this kind, and used to say that while
they plumed themselves on being represented in brass or marble,
they forgot that the fairest image was that of himself which
every citizen bore in his heart. When any one expressed surprise
at his not having a statue, when so many obscure men had obtained
that honour, he answered, "I had rather that men should ask why I
have no statue, than that they should ask why I have one." A good
citizen, he said, ought not even to allow himself to be praised,
unless the state were benefited thereby. He has glorified himself
by recording that when men were detected in any fault, they would
excuse themselves by saying that they must be pardoned if they
did anything amiss, for they were not Catos: and that those who
endeavoured clumsily to imitate his proceedings were called
left-handed Catos. Also he states that the Senate looked to him
in great emergencies as men in a storm look to the pilot, and
that when he was not present, they frequently postponed their
more important business. This indeed is confirmed by other
writers: for he had great influence in Rome on account of his
virtuous life, his eloquence, and his great age.
XX. He was a good father and a good husband, and was in
his private life an economist of no ordinary kind, as he did not
despise money-making or regard it as unworthy of his abilities.
For this reason I think I ought to relate how well he managed his
private affairs. He married a wife who was well born, though not
rich; for he thought that though all classes might possess
equally good sense, yet that a woman of noble birth would be more
ashamed of doing wrong, and therefore more likely to encourage
her husband to do right. He used to say [Pg
119]that a man who
beat his wife or his children laid sacrilegious hands on the
holiest of things. He also said that he had rather be a good
husband than a great statesman, and that what he especially
admired in Sokrates the Philosopher was his patience and kindness
in bearing with his ill-tempered wife and his stupid children.
When his son was born, he thought that nothing except the most
important business of state ought to prevent his being present
while his wife washed the child and wrapped it in swaddling
clothes. His wife suckled the child herself; nay, she often gave
her breast to the children of her slaves, and so taught them to
have a brotherly regard for her own son.
As soon as he was able to learn, Cato himself taught him his
letters, although he had a clever slave named Chilon, who taught
many children to read. He himself declares that he did not wish a
slave to reprove his son or pull his ears because he was slow at
learning. He taught the boy to read, and instructed him also in
the Roman law and in bodily exercises; not confining himself to
teaching him to hurl the javelin, to fight in complete armour,
and to ride, but also to use his fists in boxing, to endure the
extremes of heat and cold, and to swim through swiftly-flowing
and eddying rivers. He tells us that he himself wrote books on
history with his own hands in large letters, that the boy might
start in life with a useful knowledge of what his forefathers had
done, and he was as careful not to use an indecenr expression
before his son as he would have been before the vestal virgins.
He never bathed with him; which indeed seems to have been
customary at Rome, as even fathers-in-law scrupled to bathe naked
before their sons-in-law. In later times, however, the Romans
learned from the Greeks the habit of bathing naked, and have
taught the Greeks to do so even in the presence of women.
While Cato was engaged in this great work of forming his son's
character and completing his education he found him eager to
learn, and able to make great progress from his natural ability:
but he appeared so weak and delicate that his father was obliged
to relax the stern simplicity of his own life in his favour, and
allow him some indul[Pg 120]gences in diet. The young man,
although so weakly, yet proved himself a good soldier in the
wars, and distinfuished himself greatly in the battle in which
Æmilius Paulus defeated King Perseus. Afterwards, upon the
same day, he either had his sword struck from his hand or let it
fall from weakness, and in his grief at the loss got together
some of his friends and prevailed upon them again to charge the
enemy. With great exertions they succeeded in clearing a space,
and at length discovered his sword under a great heap of arms and
corpses of friends and foes alike which were piled upon it.
Paulus, the commander-in-chief, was much pleased with the youth's
eagerness to regain his sword, and sent a letter to Cato in which
he spoke in the highest terms of the courage and honourable
feeling which he had shown. He afterwards married Tertia, the
sister of Scipio, and had the gratification of pleasing his
father as much as himself by thus allying himself with one of the
noblest families in Rome. Thus was Cato rewarded for the care
which he had bestowed upon his son's education.
XXI. He possessed a large number of slaves, and when
captives were for sale he always purchased those who were young,
and who, like colts or puppies, could be taught and trained to
their duties. None of them ever entered any house but his own,
unless sent thither by Cato or by his wife: and if they were
asked what Cato was doing, they always answered that they did not
know. His rule was, that a slave ought either to be doing his
business or to be asleep; and he greatly preferred good sleepers,
as he thought that they were more easy tempered than wakeful
persons, and also that men who had slept well were better able to
work than those who had lain awake. Knowing that love affairs
lead slaves into mischief more than anything else, he permitted
them to consort with his own female slaves at a fixed price, but
forbade them to have anything to do with other women.
Cato in his earlier days, being a poor man, and always
employed in service in the field, never complained of any thing
that he ate, and thought it most disgraceful to quarrel with his
servant for not having pleased his palate. Subsequently, however,
as he became richer, he used to [Pg
121]invite his
friends and colleagues to dinner, and after the repast was wont
to punish with the scourge those servants who had made mistakes
or cooked the food badly. He always endeavoured to establish some
quarrel amongst his slaves, so that they might plot against one
another, instead of combining against himself; and when any of
them appeared to have committed any crime deserving to be
punished by death, the offender was formally tried, and if found
guilty, was put to death in the presence of all his
fellow-servants.
As Cato grew more eager to make money, he declared that
farming was more an amusement than a source of income, and
preferred investing his money in remunerative undertakings, such
as marshes that required draining, hot springs, establishments
for washing and cleaning clothes, land which would produce an
income by pasturage or by the sale of wood, and the like, which
afforded him a considerable revenue, and one which, as he said,
not Jupiter himself could injure, meaning that he was not
dependent upon the weather for his income, as farmers are. He
also used to deal in marine assurance, which is thought to be a
most dangerous form of investment, which he managed in the
following manner. For the sake of security he made those who
wished to borrow money form themselves into an association of
fifty persons, representing as many ships, and held one share in
the undertaking himself, which was managed by his freedman
Quintio, who himself used to sail in the ships of the association
and transact their mercantile business.
He used to lend money to his slaves, if they desired it. They
used with the money to buy young slaves, teach them a trade at
Cato's expense for a year, and then dispose of them. Many of
these Cato retained in his own service, paying the price offered
by the highest bidder, and deducting from it the original cost of
the slave. When endeavouring to encourage his son to act in a
similar manner, he used to say that it was not the part of a man,
but of a lone woman, to diminish one's capital; and once, with an
excessive exaggeration, he said that the most glorious and
godlike man was he who on his death was found to have earned more
than he inherited.
[Pg 122]XXII. When he was an old man, Karneades the
academic, and Diogenes the stoic philosopher, came as ambassadors
to Rome on the part of the Athenians, to beg that they might not
be forced to pay a fine of five hundred talents which had been
imposed upon them in consequence of an action at law, brought
against the Athenians by the people of Oropus, before the people
of Sikyon as judges, having been allowed to go against them by
default. Such of the Roman youths as had any taste for literature
frequented the society of these men, and took great interest in
hearing their discussions. They were especially delighted with
Karneades, a man of great and recognised ability, who obtained
large and enthusiastic audiences at his lectures, and filled the
whole city with his fame. Nothing was talked of except how a
single Greek with wonderful powers of eloquence and persuasion
had so bewitched the youth of Rome that they forsook all other
pleasures, and plunged wildly into philosophic speculations. The
greater part of the citizens were well pleased with this, and
looked on with great satisfaction at their sons' study of Greek
literature, and their intimacy with such celebrated men; but
Cato, when the taste for philosophy first sprang up in Rome, was
vexed at it, and feared that the young men might become more
eager to gain distinction by fluent speaking than by warlike
exploits. However, when the fame of the philosophers increased,
and a distinguished man, Caius Acilius, at the general request,
translated their first lectures to the Senate, Cato decided that
the philosophers must at once be conducted with all due honours
out of the city. He came to the Senate and made a speech, in
which he blamed them for having allowed an embassy to remain so
long at Rome without accomplishing its purpose, although nothing
was easier than for it to gain its point. He called upon them
therefore, to decide as soon as possible and come to a vote upon
the matter about which this embassy was come, in order that these
philosophers might return to their schools and instruct the young
men of Greece, while those of Rome might, as before, give their
attention to the laws and the magistrates.
XXIII. Cato acted thus, not as some writers imagine,
[Pg 123]from any private quarrel with Karneades, but
because he disliked the philosophy altogether, and from a feeling
of patriotism, regarded all Greek literature and methods of
education with hatred and contempt. He used to say that Sokrates
was a wordy and dangerous man, who endeavoured in his own way to
make himself supreme in Athens, by destroying the best of the
national customs and teaching the citizens to hold opinions at
variance with the laws. He ridiculed Isokrates as a teacher of
rhetoric, saying that his disciples stayed with him so long
learning their profession, that they were only able to practice
what they had learned in the court where Minos sat as judge in
the next world. In his endeavours to dissuade his son from the
study of Greek literature, he abused the privileges of old age so
far as to utter a prophecy that the Romans would ruin their
empire by too intimate an acquaintance with the arts of Greece.
Time, however, has proved this to be a mere empty slander, seeing
that since then Rome has risen to a wonderful height of power and
glory, and yet is thoroughly familiar with Greek writings and
studies. Cato not only disliked the Greek philosophers, but also
looked with suspicion on the Greek physicians who then practised
at Rome. He had heard some story about Hippokrates, who, when the
king of Persia offered him a large sum of money if he would come
to Persia, answered that he never would give his services to
barbarians who were the enemies of Greece. Cato used to say that
all Greek physicians had sworn an oath to act like Hippokrates,
and warned his son never to have any dealings with any of them.
He himself had a book full of recipes, according to which he used
to physick and regulate the diet of any who fell sick in his
house, being careful never to allow the patient to fast, but
making him eat salad, with ducks, pigeons, and hares, which he
said were light food, and suitable for sick persons, except that
it often happened that those who ate of them suffered from
nightmares. He used to declare that by following this regimen, he
kept both himself and all his household in perfect health.
XXIV. He seems to have been justly rewarded for his
quackery, for he lost both his wife and his son by sickness.
[Pg 124]He himself, however, being of an iron
constitution, made a second marriage, in spite of his advanced
age, being led into it by the following circumstances. After the
death of his wife he arranged a marriage between his son and the
daughter of Æmilius Paulus, who was the sister of Scipio.
He himself meanwhile solaced himself by an intrigue with a
maid-servant who visited him by stealth. However, in a small
house with a daughter-in-law in it this could not be kept secret;
and one day when this woman was insolently swaggering into his
father's bedchamber, young Cato was observed by the old man to
glance at her with bitter hatred and then turn away in disgust.
As soon as Cato perceived that his conduct vexed his children, he
said not a word, but went into the forum with his friends, as was
his wont. Here one Salonius, who was one of his
under-secretaries, met him and began to pay his respects to him,
when Cato asked him in a loud voice whether he had provided a
husband for his daughter. On the man's replying that he had not,
and would not presume to do so without consulting him, Cato
replied, "Well, I, by Jupiter, have found a very suitable person
to marry her, unless his age be any objection: for he is very
passable in all respects except that he is very old." As Salonius
upon this bade him carry out his intention and marry the girl to
whomsoever he pleased, seeing that she was his client[31] and he was her
patron, Cato without a moment's delay told him that he wished to
marry the girl himself. This proposal at first, as might be
expected, astonished the secretary, who had thought that a man at
Cato's time of life was very unlikely to marry, and had never
dreamed that his humble family would be allied with a house which
could boast of consulates and triumphs; but as he saw that Cato
was in earnest he gladly accepted his offer. While the
preparations for the marriage were in progress, young Cato,
taking his relatives with him, went and inquired of his father
whether he had reproached or annoyed him in any way, that he was
putting a mother-in-law over him. Cato at this question cried out
aloud, "Hush, my son; I approve of all that you have done, and
find no fault with you: I only desire to leave behind me more
sons of my race, and more citizens [Pg
125]to serve the
state." It is said that this remark was first made by
Peisistratus, the despot of Athens, when, although he had sons
grown up, he married Timonassa of Argos, by whom we are told that
he had two sons, Iophon and Thessalus. Cato also had a son by his
second marriage, whom he named Salonius after his mother. His
eldest son died during his prætorship. Cato often mentions
him in his writings as having been a brave and good man, but is
said to have borne his loss with philosophic resignation, and to
have taken as keen an interest in politics as before. He did not,
as was afterwards done by Lucius Lucullus or Metellus Pius,
abandon public life when he grew old, and think that it was a
burden to take part in politics; still less did he imitate Scipio
Africanus, who some years before had proudly turned his back on
the people who grudged him the glory he had won, and spent the
rest of his life in ease and retirement. Some one is said to have
told Dionysius of Syracuse that an absolute monarchy is the best
thing for a man to die in, and so Cato seemed to think that
political life was the best for him to grow old in, while he
amused himself in his leisure moments by writing and farming.
XXV. He compiled works on various subjects, especially
on history. Farming he applied himself to when very young, on
account of his poverty, for he himself tells us that he had only
two sources of income, farming and frugality. In later life he
derived both amusement and instruction from watching the
operations of agriculture, and he has written a farmer's manual,
in which there is even an account of how to cook cakes and
preserve fruits, so desirous was he to show a thorough knowledge
of every subject. His table was never so well served as when he
was in the country; for he used to invite all his friends and
acquaintances from the neighbourhood, and make himself very
agreeable to them, as he was a pleasant companion not only to men
of his own age, but also to the young, having in the course of
his long life seen and heard from others much that was
interesting and curious. He regarded the table as the best means
of forming friendships, and when dining used to praise the good
without stint, but never would allow the names of worthless men
to be [Pg 126]mentioned, either by way of praise or blame, at
his entertainments.
XXVI. The last of his political acts is said to have
been the destruction of Carthage. This was actually brought to
pass by Scipio the Younger, but it was chiefly owing to the
counsels of Cato that the war was begun. His reason for insisting
on its destruction was this. He was sent on a mission to Africa
to investigate the grounds of a quarrel which existed between the
Carthaginians and Masinissa, the king of the Numidians. Masinissa
had always been the friend of Rome, whereas the Carthaginians,
after their defeat by Scipio, had been subjected to hard
conditions, having lost their sovereignty over the neighbouring
tribes, and having been compelled to pay a large sum as tribute
to Rome. Cato, however, found the city, not, as the Romans
imagined it to be, crushed by its recent overthrow, but full of
young men, overflowing with wealth, well provided with arms and
munitions of war, and, as may be expected, full of warlike
spirit. He concluded that it was no time for the Romans to
arbitrate about the grievances of Masinissa and his Numidians,
but that, unless they at once destroyed a city which bore them an
undying hatred and which had recovered its strength in an
incredibly short space of time, they would have as much to fear
from Carthage as ever. He quickly returned home, and pointed out
to the Senate that the former defeats and misfortunes suffered by
the Carthaginians had not really broken their strength so much as
they had dissipated their overweening self-confidence, and that
in the late war they had not lost so much in strength as they had
gained in experience and skill. Their present difference with the
Numidians was, he urged, merely a prelude to an attack upon Rome,
with which city they kept up the fiction of a peace which would
soon upon a suitable opportunity be exchanged for war.
XXVII. After these words it is said that Cato threw
down in the senate house some ripe figs which he had brought on
purpose; and when the senators admired their size and beauty, he
remarked that "the country which produced this fruit is only
three days' sail distant from Rome." Another and a more violent
method of forcing [Pg 127]the Romans to attack them was his
habit, when giving his opinion on any subject whatever, to append
the words, "And I also am of opinion that Carthage must he
destroyed." On the other hand, Publius Scipio, called Nasica,
used to end all his speeches with the words, "And I further am of
opinion that Carthage should be left alone." Scipio's reason for
this was that he perceived that the lower classes in Rome, elated
by success, were becoming difficult for the Senate to manage, and
practically forced the State to adopt whatever measures they
chose. He thought that to have this fear of Carthage kept
constantly hanging over them would be a salutary check upon the
insolence of the people, and he thought that although Carthage
was too weak to conquer the Romans, yet that it was too strong to
be despised by them. Cato, on the other hand, thought it a
dangerous thing that, at a time when the Romans were giddy and
drunk with power, they should leave in existence a city which
always had been important, and which now, sobered by defeat, was
biding its time and lying in wait for a favourable opportunity to
avenge itself. He argued that it was better to set the Romans
free from any fear of foreign states, in order that they might be
able to devote themselves uninterruptedly to the task of
political reform.
These are said to have been Cato's reasons for urging his
countrymen to begin the third and last Punic war. He died as soon
as the war was begun, leaving a prophecy that it would be
finished by a young man who was then serving as military tribune,
and who had given remarkable proofs of courage and generalship.
Cato, on hearing of his exploits is said to have quoted Homer's
line—
"He alone has solid wisdom; all the rest are shadows
vain."
This opinion Scipio soon confirmed by his actions.
Cato left one son by his second wife, who, as has been said,
was named Salonius, and one grandson, the child of his eldest son
who was dead. Salonius died during his prætorship, but his
son Marcus became consul. This man was the grandfather of Cato
the Philosopher, who was one of the foremost men of his day in
courage and ability.
[26] Cf. Livy, xxix. ch. 19,
sqq.
[27] See vol. i., 'Life of Themistokles,'
ch. x.
[28] Lictors were attendants granted to
Roman magistrates as a mark of official dignity. See vol. i.,
'Life of Romulus,' ch. xxvi.
[29] Spain was divided by the Romans into
two provinces, of which this out was that which was nearer to
Rome.
[30] The inhabitants of the town of Firmum,
in Picenum; now Fermo.
[31] On the nature of these relations, see
'Smith's Dict. of Ant.,' s.v.
Index