Marcus
Cato
(legendary,
died 149 B.C.E.)
By
Plutarch
Translated by John Dryden
Marcus cato,
we are told, was born at
"Porcius, who snarls at all in every place,
With his grey eyes, and with his fiery face,
Even after death will scarce admitted be
Into the infernal realms by Hecate."
He gained, in early life, a good habit of body by working with his
own hands, and living temperately, and serving in war; and seemed to have an equal proportion both of health and strength. And he
exerted and practised his eloquence through all the
neighbourhood and little villages; thinking it as requisite as a
second body, and an all but necessary organ to one who looks
forward to something above a mere humble and inactive life. He
would never refuse to be counsel for those who needed him, and was,
indeed, early reckoned a good lawyer, and, ere long, a capable orator.
Hence his solidity and depth of character showed itself
gradually more and more to those with whom he was concerned, and
claimed, as it were, employment in great affairs and places of
public command. Nor did he merely abstain from taking fees for
his counsel and pleading, but did not even seem to put any high
price on the honour which proceeded from such kind of combats,
seeming much more desirous to signalize himself in the camp and
in real fights; and while yet but a youth, had his breast covered with scars he had received from the enemy: being (as he himself says)
but seventeen years old when he made his first campaign; in the
time when Hannibal, in the height of his success, was burning
and pillaging all Italy. In engagements he would strike boldly,
without flinching, stand firm to his ground, fix a bold
countenance upon his enemies, and with a harsh threatening voice accost
them, justly thinking himself and telling others that such a rugged kind
of behaviour sometimes terrifies the enemy more than the sword itself, In his marches he bore his own arms on foot, whilst one servant
only followed, to carry the provision for his table, with whom
he is said never to have been angry or hasty whilst he made
ready his dinner or supper, but would, for the most part, when
he was free from military duty, assist and help him himself to
dress it. When he was with the army, he used to drink only water;
unless, perhaps, when extremely thirsty, he might mingle it with a
little vinegar, or if he found his strength fail him, take a little wine.
The little country house of Manius Curius, who had been thrice carried
in triumph, happened to be near his farm; so that often going thither, and contemplating the small compass of the place, and plainness of
the dwelling, he formed an idea of the mind of the person, who
being one of the greatest of the Romans, and having subdued the
most warlike nations, nay, had driven Pyrrhus out of Italy, now,
after three triumphs, was contented to dig in so small a piece
of ground, and live in such a cottage. Here it was that the
ambassadors of the Samnites, finding him boiling turnips in the
chimney corner, offered him a present of gold; but he sent them away
with this saying; that he, who was content with such a supper, had no
need of gold; and that he thought it more honourable to conquer those who possessed the gold, than to possess the gold itself. Cato,
after reflecting upon these things, used to return and,
reviewing his own farm, his servants, and housekeeping, increase
his labour and retrench all superfluous expenses.
When Fabius Maximus took Tarentum, Cato, being then but a youth, was
a soldier under him; and being lodged with one Nearchus, a Pythagorean, desired to understand some of his doctrine, and hearing from him
the language, which Plato also uses- that pleasure is evil's
chief bait; the body the principal calamity of the soul; and
that those thoughts which most separate and take it off from the
affections of the body most enfranchise and purify it; he fell
in love the more with frugality and temperance. With this exception, he is said not to have studied Greek until when he was pretty old;
and in rhetoric to have then profited a little by Thucydides,
but more by Demosthenes; his writings, however, are considerably
embellished with Greek sayings and stories; nay, many of these,
translated word for word, are placed with his own opophthegms
and sentences.
There was a man of the highest rank, and very influential among the
Romans, called Valerius Flaccus, who was singularly skilful in discerning excellence yet in the bud, and also much disposed to nourish and
advance it. He, it seems, had lands bordering upon Cato's; nor
could he but admire when he understood from his servants the
manner of his living, how he laboured with his own hands, went
on foot betimes in the morning to the courts to assist those who
wanted his counsel: how, returning home again, when it was
winter, he would throw a loose frock over his shoulders, and in the summer
time would work without anything on among his domestics, sit down with
them, eat of the same bread, and drink of the same wine. When they spoke,
also, of other good qualities, his fair dealing and moderation, mentioning
also some of his wise sayings, he ordered that he should be invited
to supper; and thus becoming personally assured of his fine temper and
his superior character, which, like a plant, seemed only to require culture and a better situation, he urged and persuaded him to
apply himself to state affairs at Rome. Thither, therefore, he
went, and by his pleading soon gained many friends and
admirers; but, Valerius chiefly assisting his promotion, he
first of all got appointed tribune in the army, and afterwards was
made quaestor, or treasurer. And now becoming eminent and noted, he passed, with Valerius himself, through the greatest commands,
being first his colleague as consul, and then censor. But among
all the ancient senators, he most attached himself to Fabius
Maximus; not so much for the honour of his person, and the
greatness of his power, as that he might have before him his
habit and manner of life, as the best examples to follow; and so he
did not hesitate to oppose Scipio the Great, who, being then but a young man, seemed to set himself against the power of Fabius, and to be
envied by him. For being sent together with him as treasurer,
when he saw him, according to his natural custom, make great
expenses, and distribute among the soldiers without sparing, he
freely told him that the expense in itself was not the greatest
thing to be considered, but that he was corrupting the
frugality of the soldiers, by giving them the means to abandon themselves to unnecessary pleasures and luxuries. Scipio answered, that he
had no need for so accurate a treasurer (bearing on as he was,
so to say, full sail to the war), and that he owed the people
an account of his actions, and not of the money he spent.
Hereupon Cato returned from Sicily and, together with Fabius,
made loud complaints in the open senate of Scipio's lavishing
unspeakable sums, and childishly loitering away his time in wrestling matches and comedies, as if he were not to make war, but holiday;
and thus succeeded in getting some of the tribunes of the
people sent to call him back to Rome, in case the accusations
should prove true. But Scipio demonstrating, as it were, to
them, by his preparations, the coming victory, and, being found
merely to be living pleasantly with his friends, when there was nothing else to do, but in no respect because of that easiness and
liberality at all the more negligent in things of consequence
and moment, without impediment, set sail toward the war.
Cato grew more and more powerful by his eloquence, so that he was commonly
called the Roman Demosthenes; but his manner of life was yet more famous
and talked of. For oratorical skill was, as an accomplishment, commonly studied and sought after by all young men; but he was very rare
who would cultivate the old habits of bodily labour, or prefer
a light supper, and a breakfast which never saw the fire, or be
in love with poor clothes and a homely lodging, or could set
his ambition rather on doing without luxuries than on
possessing them. For now the state, unable to keep its purity by reason
of its greatness, and having so many affairs, and people from all parts
under its government, was fain to admit many mixed customers and new
examples of living. With reason, therefore, everybody admired Cato, when they saw others sink under labours and grow effeminate by
pleasures; and yet beheld him unconquered by either, and that
not only when he was young and desirous of honour, but also
when old and grey-headed, after a consulship and triumph; like
some famous victor in the games, persevering in his exercise
and maintaining his character to the very last. He himself says
that he never wore a suit of clothes which cost more than a hundred drachmas; and that, when he was general and consul, he drank the
same wine which his workmen did; and that the meat or fish
which was bought in the meat-market for his dinner did not cost
above thirty asses. All which was for the sake of the
commonwealth, that so his body might be the hardier for the
war. Having a piece of embroidered Babylonian tapestry left him,
he sold it; because none of his farmhouses were so much as
plastered. Nor did he ever buy a slave for above fifteen
hundred drachmas; as he did not seek for effeminate and
handsome ones, but able sturdy workmen, horse-keepers and
cow-herds: and these he thought ought to be sold again, when they grew old, and no useless servants fed in the
house. In short, he reckoned nothing a good bargain which was
superfluous; but whatever it was, though sold for a farthing,
he would think it a great price, if you had no need of it; and
was for the purchase of lands for sowing and feeding, rather than grounds
for sweeping and watering.
Some imputed these things to petty avarice, but others approved of
him, as if he had only the more strictly denied himself
for the rectifying and amending of others. Yet certainly, in my
judgment, it marks an over-rigid temper for a man to take the
work out of his servants as out of brute beasts, turning them
off and selling them in their old age, and thinking there ought
to be no further commerce between man and man than whilst there arises some profit by it. We see that kindness or humanity has a larger
field than bare justice to exercise itself
in; law and justice we cannot, in the nature of things, employ
on others than men; but we may extend our goodness and charity
even to irrational creatures; and such acts flow from a gentle
nature, as water from an abundant spring. It is doubtless the part
of a kind-natured man to keep even worn-out horses and dogs, and not only take care of them when they are foals and whelps, but also
when they are grown old. The Athenians, when they built their
Hecatompedon, turned those mules loose to feed freely which
they had observed to have done the hardest labour. One of these
(they say) came once of itself to offer its service, and ran
along with, nay, and went before, the teams which drew the
wagons up to the acropolis, as if it would incite and encourage them to draw more stoutly; upon which there passed a vote that the
creature should be kept at the public charge even till it died.
The graves of Cimon's horses, which thrice won the Olympian races,
are yet to be seen close by his own monument. Old Xanthippus,
too (amongst many others who buried the dogs they had bred up),
entombed his which swam after his galley to Salamis, when the
people fled from Athens, on the top of a cliff, which they call the
Dog's Tomb to this day. Nor are we to use living creatures like old shoes or dishes and throw them away when they are worn out or
broken with service; but if it were for nothing else, but by
way of study and practice in humanity, a man ought always to
prehabituate himself in these things to
be of a kind and sweet disposition. As to myself, I would not so much as sell my draught ox on the account of his age, much less for a
small piece of money sell a poor old man, and so chase him, as
it were, from his own country, by turning him not only out of
the place where he has lived a long while, but also out of the
manner of living he has been accustomed to, and that more
especially when he would be as useless to the buyer as to the
seller. Yet Cato for all this glories that he left that very horse in
For his general temperance, however, and self-control he really deserves
the highest admiration. For when he commanded the army, he never took
for himself, and those that belonged to him, above three bushels of wheat for a month, and somewhat less than a bushel and a half a
day of barley for his baggage-cattle. And when he entered upon
the government of
His very manner of speaking seemed to have such a kind of idea with
it; for it was courteous, and yet forcible; pleasant, yet overwhelming; facetious, yet austere; sententious, and yet vehement; like
Socrates, in the description of Plato, who seemed outwardly to
those about him to be but a simple, talkative, blunt fellow;
whilst at the bottom he was full of such gravity and matter, as
would even move tears and touch the very hearts of his
auditors. And, therefore, I know not what has persuaded some to
say that Cato's style was chiefly like that of Lysias. However, let us leave those to judge of these things who profess most to
distinguish between the several kinds of oratorical style in
Latin; whilst we write down some of his memorable sayings;
being of the opinion that a man's character appears much more
by his words than, as some think it does, by his looks.
Being once desirous to dissuade the common people of
The Romans having sent three ambassadors to Bithynia, of whom one was
gouty, another had his skull trepanned, and the other seemed little better than a fool, Cato, laughing, gave out that the Romans had
sent an embassy which had neither feet, head, nor heart. His
interest being entreated by Scipio, on account of Polybius, for
the Achaean exiles, and there happening to be a great
discussion in the senate about it, some being for, and some against
their return, Cato, standing up, thus delivered himself: "Here do we sit all day long, as if we had nothing to do but beat our
brains whether these old Greeks should be carried to their
graves by the bearers here or by those in Achaea." The
senate voting their return, it seems that a few days after
Polybius's friends further wished that it should be further moved
in the senate that the said banished persons should receive again the
honours which they first had in Achaea; and to this purpose they sounded Cato for his opinion; but he, smiling, answered, that Polybius,
Ulysses like, having escaped out of the Cyclops' den, wanted,
it would seem, to go back again because he had left his cap and
belt behind him. He used to assert, also, that wise men
profited more by fools, than fools by wise men for that wise
men avoided the faults of fools, but that fools would not
imitate the good examples of wise men. He would profess, too, that he
was more taken with young men that blushed than with those who looked pale; and that he never desired to have a soldier that moved his
hands too much in marching, and his feet too much in fighting;
or snored louder than he shouted. Ridiculing
a fat, overgrown man: "What use," said he, "can
the state turn a man's body to, when all between the throat and groin is taken up by the belly?" When one who was much given
to pleasures desired his acquaintance, begging his pardon, he
said he could not live with a man whose palate was of a quicker
sense than his heart. He would likewise say that the soul of a
lover lived in the body of another: and that in his whole life
he most repented of three things; one was, that he had trusted a
secret to a woman; another that he went by water when he might have gone by land; the third, that he had remained one whole day without
doing any business of moment. Applying
himself to an old man who was committing some vice:
"Friend," said he, "old age has of itself blemishes enough; do
not you add to it the deformity of vice." Speaking
to a tribune, who was reputed a Poisoner, and was very violent
for the bringing in of a bill, in order to make a certain law:
"Young man," cried he, "I know not which would be better,
to drink, what you mix, or confirm what you would put up for a law."
Being reviled by a fellow who lived a profligate and wicked life: "A
contest," replied he, "is unequal between you and me: for you can
hear ill words easily, and can as easily give them: but it is
unpleasant to me to give such, and unusual to hear them."
Such was his manner of expressing himself in his memorable
sayings.
Being chosen consul, with his friend and familiar Valerius Flaccus, the government of that part of
Scipio the Great, being his enemy, and desiring, whilst he was carrying
all things so successfully, to obstruct him, and take the affairs of
Spain into his own hands, succeeded in getting himself appointed his successor in the government, and, making all possible haste, put a
term to Cato's authority. But he, taking with him a convoy of
five cohorts of foot and five hundred horse to attend him home,
overthrew by the way the Lacetanians, and taking from them six
hundred deserters, caused them all to be beheaded; upon which
Scipio seemed to be in indignation, but Cato, in mock
disparagement of himself, said, "Rome would become great indeed, if the most honourable and great men would not yield up the first
place of valour to those who were more obscure, and when they
who were of the commonalty (as he himself was) would contend in
valour with those who were most eminent in birth and
honour." The senate having voted to change nothing of what
had been established by Cato, the government passed away under Scipio
to no manner of purpose, in idleness and doing nothing; and so diminished his credit much more than Cato's. Nor did Cato, who now received a
triumph, remit after this and slacken the reins of virtue, as
many do, who strive not so much for
virtue's sake, as for vainglory, and having attained the highest
honours, as the consulship and triumphs, pass the rest of their life
in pleasure and idleness, and quit all public affairs. But he, like those who are just entered upon public life for the first time,
and thirst after gaining honour and glory in some new office,
strained himself, as if he were but just setting out; and
offering still publicly his service to his friends and
citizens, would give up neither his pleadings nor his soldiery.
He accompanied and assisted Tiberius Sempronius, as his lieutenant, when he went into
Now Antiochus, having occupied with his army the narrow passages about
Thermopylae, and added palisades and walls to the natural fortifications of the place, sat down there, thinking he had done enough to
divert the war; and the Romans, indeed, seemed wholly to
despair of forcing the passage; but Cato, calling to mind the
compass and circuit which the Persians had formerly made to
come at this place, went forth in the night, taking along with
him part of the army. Whilst they were climbing up, the guide, who was
a prisoner, missed the way, and wandering up and down by impracticable and precipitous paths, filled the soldiers with fear and
despondency. Cato, perceiving the danger, commanded all the
rest to halt, and stay where they were, whilst he himself,
taking along with him one Lucius Manlius, a most expert man at
climbing mountains, went forward with a great deal of labour and
danger, in the dark night, and without the least moonshine, among the wild olive-trees and steep craggy rocks, there being nothing but
precipices and darkness before their eyes, till they struck
into a little pass which they thought might lead down into the
enemy's camp. There they put up marks upon some conspicuous
peaks which surmount the hill called Callidromon, and,
returning again, they led the army along with them to the said marks, till they got into their little path again, and there once made a
halt; but when they began to go further, the path deserted them
at a precipice, where they were in another strait and fear; nor
did they perceive that they were all this while near the enemy.
And now the day began to give some light, when they seemed to
hear a noise, and presently after to see the Greek trenches and
the guard at the foot of the rock. Here, therefore, Cato halted
his forces, and commanded the troops from Firmum only, without the
rest, to stick by him, as he had always found them faithful and ready. And when they came up and formed around him in close order, he
thus spoke to them: "I desire," he said, "to
take one of the enemy alive, that so I may understand what men
these are who guard the passage; their number; and with what
discipline, order, and preparation they expect us; but this feat,"
continued he, "must be an act of a great deal of quickness and boldness, such as that of lions, when they dart upon some timorous
animal." Cato had no sooner thus expressed himself, but
the Firmans forthwith rushed down the mountain, just as they
were, upon the guard, and, falling unexpectedly upon them,
affrighted and dispersed them all. One armed man they took, and
brought to Cato, who quickly learned from him that the rest of the forces
lay in the narrow passage about the king; that those who kept the tops
of the rocks were six hundred choice Aetolians. Cato, therefore, despising the smallness of their number and carelessness, forthwith drawing his
sword, fell upon them with a great noise of trumpets and
shouting. The enemy, perceiving them thus tumbling, as it were,
upon them from the precipices, flew to the main body, and put
all things into disorder there.
In the meantime, whilst Manius was forcing the works below, and pouring
the thickest of his forces into the narrow passages, Antiochus was
hit in the mouth with a stone, so that his teeth being beaten out by it, he felt such excessive pain, that he was fain to turn away
with his horse; nor did any part of his army stand the shock of
the Romans. Yet, though there seemed no reasonable hope of
flight, where all paths were so difficult, and where there were
deep marshes and steep rocks, which looked as if they were
ready to receive those who should stumble, the fugitives, nevertheless,
crowding and pressing together in the narrow passages, destroyed even
one another in their terror of the swords and blows of the enemy. Cato
(as it plainly appears) was never oversparing of his own praises, and
seldom shunned boasting of any exploit; which quality, indeed, he seems to have thought the natural accompaniment of great actions; and
with these particular exploits he was highly puffed up; he says
that those who saw him that day pursuing and slaying the enemies
were ready to assert that Cato owed not so much to the public
as the public did to Cato; nay, he adds, that Manius the
consul, coming hot from the fight, embraced him for a great
while, when both were all in a sweat; and then cried out with joy that
neither he himself, no, nor all the people together, could make him a recompense equal to his actions. After the fight he was sent to
Rome, that he himself might be the messenger of it: and so,
with a favourable wind, he sailed to Brundusium, and in one day
got from thence to Tarentum; and having travelled four days
more, upon the fifth, counting from the time of his landing, he
arrived at Rome, and so brought the first news of the victory
himself; and filled the whole city with joy and sacrifices, and
the people with the belief that they were able to conquer every sea and every land.
These are pretty nearly all the eminent actions of Cato relating to
military affairs: in civil policy, he was of opinion that one chief duty consisted in accusing and indicting criminals. He himself
prosecuted many, and he would also assist others who prosecuted
them, nay, would even procure such, as he did the Petilii
against Scipio; but not being able to destroy him, by reason of
the nobleness of his family, and the real greatness of his
mind, which enabled him to trample all calumnies under foot,
Cato at last would meddle no more with him; yet joining with the accusers
against Scipio's brother Lucius, he succeeded in obtaining a sentence against him, which condemned him to the payment of a large sum of
money to the state; and being insolvent, and in danger of being
thrown into jail, he was, by the interposition of the tribunes
of the people, with much ado dismissed. It is also said of
Cato, that when he met a certain youth, who had effected the
disgrace of one of his father's enemies, walking in the market-place,
he shook him by the hand, telling him, that this was what we
ought to sacrifice to our dead parents- not lambs and goats, but the tears and condemnations of their adversaries. But neither did he
himself escape with impunity in his management of affairs; for
if he gave his enemies but the least hold, he was still in
danger, and exposed to be brought to justice. He is reported to
have escaped at least fifty indictments; and one above the
rest, which was the last, when he was eighty-six years old, about
which time he uttered the well-known saying, that it was hard for him
who had lived with one generation of men, to plead now before another. Neither did he make this the least of his lawsuits; for, four
years after, when he was fourscore and ten, he accused
Servilius Galba: so that his life and actions extended, we may
say, as Nestor's did, over three ordinary ages of man. For,
having had many contests, as we have related, with Scipio the
Great, about affairs of state, he continued them down to Scipio the younger, who was the adopted grandson of the former, and the son
of that Paulus who overthrew Perseus and the Macedonians.
Ten years after his consulship, Cato stood for the office of censor, which was indeed the summit of all honour, and in a manner the
highest step in civil affairs; for besides all other power, it
had also that of an inquisition into every one's life and
manners. For the Romans thought that no marriage, or rearing of
children, nay, no feast or drinking-bout, ought to be permitted
according to every one's appetite or fancy, without being
examined and inquired into; being indeed of opinion that a man's character
was much sooner perceived in things of this sort than in what is
done publicly and in open day. They chose, therefore, two persons, one out of the patricians, the other out of the commons, who were to
watch, correct, and punish, if any one ran too much into
voluptuousness, or transgressed the usual manner of life of his
country; and these they called Censors. They had power to take
away a horse, or expel out of the senate any one who lived intemperately and out of order. It was also their
business to take an estimate of what every one was worth, and
to put down in registers everybody's birth and quality; besides
many other prerogatives. And therefore the chief nobility
opposed his pretensions to it. Jealousy prompted the patricians,
who thought that it would be a stain to everybody's nobility, if
men of no original honour should rise to the highest dignity and power; while others, conscious of their own evil practices, and of the
violation of the laws and customs of their country, were afraid
of the austerity of the man; which, in an office of such great
power, was likely to prove most uncompromising and severe. And
so, consulting among themselves, they brought forward seven
candidates in opposition to him, who sedulously set themselves
to court the people's favour by fair promises, as though what they
wished for was indulgent and easy government. Cato, on the contrary, promising no such mildness, but plainly threatening evil livers,
from the very hustings openly declared himself, and exclaiming
that the city needed a great and thorough purgation, called upon
the people, if they were wise, not to choose the gentlest, but
the roughest of physicians; such a one, he said, he was, and
Valerius Flaccus, one of the patricians, another; together with
him, he doubted not but he should do something worth the while,
and that by cutting to pieces and burning like a hydra all luxury and
voluptuousness. He added, too, that he saw all the rest endeavouring after the office with ill intent, because they were afraid of
those who would exercise it justly, as they ought. And so truly
great and so worthy of great men to be its leaders was, it
would seem the Roman people, that they did not fear the
severity and grim countenance of Cato, but rejecting those
smooth promisers who were ready to do all things to ingratiate themselves, they took him, together with Flaccus; obeying his recommendations
not as though he were a candidate, but as if he had had the
actual power of commanding and governing already.
Cato named, as chief of the senate, his friend and colleague Lucius Valerius Flaccus, and expelled, among many others, Lucius
Quintius, who had been consul seven years before, and (which
was greater honour to him than the consulship) brother to that
Titus Flaminius who overthrew King Philip. The reason he had
for his expulsion was this. Lucius, it seems, took along with
him in all his commands a youth whom he had kept as his companion
from the flower of his age, and to whom he gave as much power and
respect as to the chiefest of his friends and relations.
Now it happened that Lucius being consular governor of one of the provinces,
the youth setting himself down by him, as he used to do, among other
flatteries with which he played upon him, when he was in his cups, told
him he loved him so dearly that, "though there was a show of gladiators to be seen at Rome, and I," he said, "had never beheld
one in my life; and though I, as it were, longed to see a man
killed, yet I made all possible haste to come to you."
Upon this Lucius, returning his fondness, replied, "Do not
be melancholy on that account; I can remedy that." Ordering therefore, forthwith, one of those condemned to die to be brought to the
feast, together with the headsman and axe, he asked the youth
if he wished to see him executed. The boy answering that he
did, Lucius commanded the executioner to cut off his neck; and
this several historians mention; and
Lucius being thus expelled out of the senate by Cato, his brother took
it very ill, and appealing to the people, desired that Cato should declare
his reasons; and when he began to relate this transaction of the feast,
Lucius endeavoured to deny it; but Cato challenging him to a formal investigation, he fell off and refused it, so that he was then
acknowledged to suffer deservedly. Afterwards, however, when
there was some show at the theatre, he passed by the seats
where those who had been consuls used to be placed, and taking
his seat a great way off, excited the compassion of the common
people, who presently with a great noise made him go forward, and
as much as they could tried to set right and salve over what had happened. Manilius, also, who, according to the public expectation, would
have been next consul, he threw out of the senate, because, in
the presence of his daughter, and in open day, he had kissed
his wife. He said that, as for himself, his wife never came
into his arms except when there was great thunder; so that it
was for jest with him, that it was a pleasure for him, when
Jupiter thundered.
His treatment of Lucius, likewise the brother of Scipio, and one
who had been honoured with a triumph, occasioned some odium
against Cato; for he took his horse from him, and was thought
to do it with a design of putting an affront on Scipio
Africanus, now dead. But he gave most general annoyance by
retrenching people's luxury; for though (most of the youth being
thereby already corrupted) it seemed almost impossible to take it away
with an open hand and directly, yet going, as it were, obliquely around, he caused all dress, carriages, women's ornaments, household
furniture, whose price exceeded one thousand five hundred
drachmas, to be rated at ten times as much as they were worth;
intending by thus making the assessments greater, to increase
the taxes paid upon them. He also ordained that upon every
thousand asses of property of this kind, three should be paid, so that
people, burdened with these extra charges, and seeing others of as good
estates, but more frugal and sparing, paying less into the public exchequer,
might be tried out of their prodigality. And thus, on the one side,
not only those were disgusted at Cato who bore the taxes for the sake
of their luxury, but those, too, who on the other side laid by their luxury for fear of the taxes. For people in general reckon that an
order not to display their riches is equivalent to the taking
away of their riches, because riches are seen much more in
superfluous than in necessary things. Indeed this was what
excited the wonder of Ariston the philosopher; that we account
those who possess superfluous things more happy than those who abound
with what is necessary and useful. But when one of his friends asked Scopas, the rich Thessalian, to give him some article of no great
utility, saying that it was not a thing that he had any great
need or use for himself, "In truth," replied he,
"it is just these useless and unnecessary things that make
my wealth and happiness." Thus the desire of riches does not proceed
from a natural passion within us, but arises rather from vulgar out-of-doors
opinion of other people.
Cato, notwithstanding, being little solicitous as to those who exclaimed
against him, increased his austerity. He caused the pipes, through which
some persons brought the public water into their houses and gardens, to be cut, and threw down all buildings which jutted out into the
common streets. He beat down also the price in contracts for
public works to the lowest, and raised it in contracts for
farming the taxes to the highest sum; by which proceedings he
drew a great deal of hatred upon himself. Those who were of
Titus Flaminius's party cancelled in the senate all the bargains
and contracts made by him for the repairing and carrying on of the
sacred and public buildings as unadvantageous to the commonwealth. They
incited also the boldest of the tribunes of the people to accuse him and to fine him two talents. They likewise much opposed him in
building the court or basilica, which he caused to be erected
at the common charge, just by the senate-house, in the
market-place, and called by his own name, the Porcian. However,
the people, it seems, liked his censorship wondrously well;
for, setting up a statue for him in the temple of the goddess of Health,
they put an inscription under it, not recording his commands in war
or his triumph, but to the effect that this was Cato the Censor, who, by his good discipline and wise and temperate ordinances,
reclaimed the Roman commonwealth when it was declining and
sinking down into vice. Before this honour was done to himself, he used to laugh at those who loved such kind of things, saying, that they did not see that they were
taking pride in the workmanship of brass-founders and painters;
whereas the citizens bore about his best likeness in their
breasts. And when any seemed to wonder that he should have
never a statue, while many ordinary persons had one, "I
would," said he, "much rather be asked, why I have not one, than why I have one." In short, he would not have any honest citizen
endure to be praised, except it might prove advantageous to the
commonwealth. Yet still he had passed the highest commendation
on himself; for he tells us that those who did anything wrong,
and were found fault with, used to say it was not worth while
to blame them, for they were not Catos. He also adds, that they
who awkwardly mimicked some of his actions were called left-handed Catos;
and that the senate in perilous times would cast their eyes on him, as upon a pilot in a ship, and that often when he was not present
they put off affairs of greatest consequence. These things are
indeed also testified of him by others; for he had a great
authority in the city, alike for his life, his eloquence, and
his age.
He was also a good father, an excellent husband to his wife, and an
extraordinary economist; and as he did not manage his affairs of this kind carelessly, and as things of little moment, I think I ought
to record a little further whatever was commendable in him in
these points. He married a wife more noble than rich; being of
opinion that the rich and the high-born are equally haughty and
proud; but that those of noble blood would be more ashamed of
base things, and consequently more obedient to their husbands in
all that was fit and right. A man who beat his wife or child laid violent hands, he said, on what was most sacred; and a good husband he
reckoned worthy of more praise than a great senator; and he
admired the ancient Socrates for nothing so much as for having
lived a temperate and contented life with a wife who was a
scold, and children who were half-witted.
As soon as he had a son born, though he had never such urgent business upon his hands, unless it were some public matter, he would be by
when his wife washed it and dressed it in its swaddling
clothes. For she herself suckled it, nay, she often too gave
her breast to her servants' children, to produce, by suckling
the same milk, a kind of natural love in them to her son. When
he began to come to years of discretion, Cato himself would teach
him to read, although he had a servant, a very good grammarian, called Chilo, who taught many others; but he thought not fit, as he
himself said, to have his son reprimanded by a slave, or
pulled, it may be, by the ears when found tardy in his lesson:
nor would he have him owe to a servant the obligation of so
great a thing as his learning; he himself, therefore (as we
were saying), taught him his grammar, law, and his gymnastic exercises. Nor did he only show him, too, how to throw a dart, to fight in
armour, and to ride, but to box also and to endure both heat
and cold, and to swim over the most rapid and rough rivers. He
says, likewise, that he wrote histories, in large characters,
with his own hand, that so his son, without stirring out of the
house, might learn to know about his countrymen and forefathers;
nor did he less abstain from speaking anything obscene before his
son, than if it had been in the presence of the sacred virgins, called vestals. Nor would he ever go into the bath with him; which seems
indeed to have been the common custom of the Romans.
Sons-in-law used to avoid bathing with fathers-in-law,
disliking to see one another naked; but having, in time, learned of the Greeks to strip before men, they have
since taught the Greeks to do it even with the women
themselves.
Thus, like an excellent work, Cato formed and fashioned his son to
virtue; nor had he any occasion to find fault with his readiness and docility; but as he proved to be of too weak a constitution for
hardships, he did not insist on requiring of him any very
austere way of living. However, though delicate in health, he
proved a stout man in the field, and behaved himself valiantly
when Paulus Aemilius fought against Perseus; where when his
sword was struck from him by a blow, or rather slipped out of his hand by reason of its moistness, he so keenly resented it, that he
turned to some of his friends about him, and taking them along
with him again fell upon the enemy; and having by a long fight
and much force cleared the place, at length found it among
great heaps of arms, and the dead bodies of friends as well as
enemies piled one upon another. Upon which Paulus, his general, much
commended the youth; and there is a letter of Cato's to his son, which highly praised his honourable eagerness for the recovery of his
sword. Afterwards he married Tertia,
Aemilius Paulus's daughter, and sister to Scipio; nor was he
admitted into this family less for his own worth than his
father's. So that Cato's care in his son's education came to a very fitting result.
He purchased a great many slaves out of the captives taken in war, but
chiefly brought up the young ones, who were capable to be, as it were, broken and taught like whelps and colts. None of these ever
entered another man's house, except sent either by Cato himself
or his wife. If any one of them were asked what Cato did, they
answered merely that they did not know. When a servant was at
home, he was obliged either to do some work or sleep, for
indeed Cato loved those most who used to lie down
often to sleep, accounting them more docile than those who were
wakeful, and more fit for anything when they were refreshed
with a little slumber. Being also of opinion that the great
cause of the laziness and misbehaviour of slaves was their
running after their pleasures, he fixed a certain price for
them to pay for permission amongst themselves, but would suffer no connections
out of the house. At first, when he was but a poor soldier, he
would not be difficult in anything which related to his eating, but looked upon it as a pitiful thing to quarrel with a servant for
the belly's sake; but afterwards, when he grew richer, and made
any feasts for his friends and colleagues in office, as soon as
supper was over he used to go with a leather thong and scourge
those who had waited or dressed the meat carelessly. He always
contrived, too, that his servants should have some difference
one among another, always suspecting and fearing a good understanding
between them. Those who had committed anything worthy of death,
he punished if they were found guilty by the verdict of their fellow-servants. But being after all much given to the desire of gain, he looked
upon agriculture rather as a pleasure than profit; resolving,
therefore, to lay out his money in safe and solid things, he
purchased ponds, hot baths, grounds full of fuller's earth, remunerative
lands, pastures, and woods; from all which he drew large
returns, nor could Jupiter himself, he used to say, do him much
damage. He was also given to the form of usury, which is considered most odious, in traffic by sea; and that thus:- he desired that
those whom he put out his money to should have many partners;
when the number of them and their ships came to be fifty, he
himself took one share through Quintio his freedman, who
therefore was to sail with the adventurers, and take a part in
all their proceedings, so that thus there was no danger of losing his
whole stock, but only a little part, and that with a prospect of great profit. He likewise lent money to those of his slaves who wished
to borrow, with which they bought also other young ones, whom,
when they had taught and bred up at his charges, they would
sell again at the year's end; but some of them Cato would keep
for himself, giving just as much for them as another had
offered. To incline his son to be of his kind or temper, he
used to tell him that it was not like a man, but rather like a widow woman, to lessen an estate, But the strongest indication of Cato's
avaricious humour was when he took the boldness to affirm that
he was a most wonderful, nay, a godlike man, who left more behind
him than he had received.
He was now grown old, when Carneades the Academic, and Diogenes the
Stoic, came as deputies from Athens to Rome, praying for release from a penalty of five hundred talents laid on the Athenians, in a
suit, to which they did not appear, in which the Oropians were
plaintiffs and Sicyonians judges. All the most studious youth
immediately waited on these philosophers, and frequently, with
admiration, heard them speak. But the gracefulness of
Carneades's oratory, whose ability was really greatest, and his reputation equal to it, gathered large and favourable audiences, and ere long
filled, like a wind, all the city with
the sound of it. So that it soon began to be told that a Greek,
famous even to admiration, winning and carrying all before him,
had impressed so strange a love upon the young men, that quitting all
their pleasures and pastimes, they ran mad, as it were, after philosophy; which indeed much pleased the Romans in general; nor could they
but with much pleasure see the youth receive so welcomely the
Greek literature, and frequent the company of learned men. But
Cato, on the other side, seeing the passion for words flowing
into the city, from the beginning took it ill, fearing lest the
youth should be diverted that way, and so should prefer the
glory of speaking well before that of arms and doing well. And when
the fame of the philosophers increased in the city, and Caius Acilius, a person of distinction, at his own request, became their
interpreter to the senate at their first audience, Cato
resolved, under some specious pretence, to have all
philosophers cleared out of the city; and, coming into the
senate, blamed the magistrates for letting these deputies stay so
long a time without being despatched, though they were persons that could easily persuade the people to what they pleased; that
therefore in all haste something should be determined about
their petition, that so they might go home again to their own
schools, and declaim to the Greek children, and leave the Roman
youth to be obedient, as hitherto, to their own laws and
governors.
Yet he did this not out of any anger, as some think, to Carneades; but
because he wholly despised philosophy, and out of a kind of pride scoffed at the Greek studies and literature; as, for example, he would
say, that Socrates was a prating, seditious fellow, who did his
best to tyrannize over his country, to undermine the ancient
customs, and to entice and withdraw the citizens to opinions
contrary to the laws. Ridiculing the
However, for this his presumption he seemed not to have escaped unpunished;
for he lost both his wife and his son; though he himself, being of
a strong, robust constitution, held out longer; so that he would often, even in his old days, address himself to women, and when he was
past a lover's age, married a young woman, upon the following
pretence: Having lost his own wife, he married his son to the
daughter of Paulus Aemilius, who was sister to Scipio; so that
being now a widower himself, he had a young girl who came
privately to visit him, but the house being very small, and a
daughter-in-law also in it, this practice was quickly discovered; for
the young woman seeming once to pass through it a little too boldly, the youth, his son, though he said nothing, seemed to look
somewhat indignantly upon her. The old man perceiving and
understanding that what he did was disliked, without finding
any fault or saying a word, went away, as his custom was, with
his usual companions to the market: and among the rest, he
called aloud to one Salonius, who had been a clerk under him, and asked him whether he had married his daughter? He answered no, nor would
he, till he had consulted him. Said Cato, "Then I have
found out a fit son-in-law for you, if he should not displease
by reason of his age; for in all other points there is no fault
to be found in him; but he is indeed, as I said, extremely
old." However, Salonius desired him to undertake the business, and to give the young girl to whom he pleased, she being a humble
servant of his, who stood in need of his care and patronage.
Upon this Cato, without any more ado, told him he desired to
have the damsel himself. These words, as may well be imagined,
at first astonished the man, conceiving that Cato was as far
off from marrying, as he from a likelihood of being allied to the
family of one who had been consul and had triumphed; but perceiving him in earnest, he consented willingly; and going onwards to the
forum, they quickly completed the bargain.
Whilst the marriage was in hand, Cato's son, taking some of his friends
along with him, went and asked his father if it were for any offence he brought in a stepmother upon him? But Cato cried out, "Far
from it, my son, I have no fault to find with you or anything
of yours; only I desire to have many children, and to leave the
commonwealth more such citizens as you are." Pisistratus,
the tyrant of
And, indeed, he composed various books and histories; and in his youth
he addicted himself to agriculture for profit's sake; for he used to
say he had but two ways of getting- agriculture and parsimony; and now, in his old age, the first of these gave him both occupation and a
subject of study. He wrote one book on country matters, in
which he treated particularly even of making cakes and
preserving fruit; it being his ambition to be curious and
singular in all things. His suppers, at his country house, used
also to be plentiful; he daily invited his friends and neighbours about
him, and passed the time merrily with them; so that his company was not only agreeable to those of the same age, but even to younger
men; for he had had experience in many things, and had been
concerned in much, both by word and deed, that was worth the
hearing. He looked upon a good table as the best place for
making friends; where the commendations of brave and good
citizens were usually introduced, and little said of base and unworthy
ones; as Cato would not give leave in his company to have anything, either good or ill, said about them.
Some will have the overthrow of Carthage to have been one of his last
acts of state; when, indeed, Scipio the younger did by his valour give
it the last blow, but the war, chiefly by the counsel and advice of Cato, was undertaken on the following occasion. Cato was sent to
the Carthaginians and Masinissa, King of Numidia, who were at
war with one another, to know the cause of their difference.
He, it seems, had been a friend of the Romans from the
beginning; and they, too, since they were conquered by Scipio, were
of the Roman confederacy, having been shorn of their power by loss of
territory and a heavy tax. Finding Carthage, not (as the Romans thought) low and in an ill condition, but well manned, full of riches and
all sorts of arms and ammunition, and perceiving the
Carthaginians carry it high, he conceived that it was not a
time for the Romans to adjust affairs between them and
Masinissa; but rather that they themselves would fall into danger, unless
they should find means to check this rapid new growth of Rome's ancient
irreconcilable enemy. Therefore, returning quickly to Rome, he acquainted
the senate that the former defeats and blows given to the Carthaginians had not so much diminished their strength, as it had abated their
imprudence and folly; that they were not become weaker, but
more experienced in war, and did only skirmish with the
Numidians to exercise themselves the better to cope with the Romans:
that the peace and league they had made was but a kind of
suspension of war which awaited a fairer opportunity to break out
again.
Moreover, they say that, shaking his gown, he took occasion to let
drop some African figs before the senate. And on their admiring the size and beauty of them, he presently added, that the place that
bore them was but three days' sail from
Thus Cato, they say, stirred up the third and last war against the
Carthaginians: but no sooner was the said war begun, than he died, prophesying
of the person that should put an end to it who was then only a
young man; but, being tribune in the army, he in several fights gave proof of his courage and conduct. The news of which being brought
to Cato's ears at
"The only wise man of them all is he,
The others e'en as shadows flit and flee."
This prophecy
Scipio soon confirmed by his actions.
Cato left no posterity, except one son by his second wife, who was
named, as we said, Cato Salonius; and a grandson by his eldest son, who died. Cato Salonius died when he was praetor, but his son
Marcus was afterwards consul, and he was grandfather of Cato
the philosopher, who for virtue and renown was one of the most
eminent personages of his time.
THE END