(AT 



;;i early life, and of 

 the habit-, .vhich drew him on t > -uch ;i C..M urnma- 



don of wtckednesi, it ti much t> l> n-.^.-tted tint 

 no full account has been ir.n. > us. It would 



i a most instructive M .tl !. on to mark 

 the progress of such a man, and to \\i- i'-lii- 



sions and wickedness \vti,c':i in-v.isibiy brought him 

 . whirlpool of vice. S.illu t mentions, 

 in general terms, that he was a profligate almost when 

 a boy, and was early hardened in guilt. But the au- 

 thority of Cicero, who says, that originally he had a 

 good disp isition, and evinced a strong desire of ho- 

 nourable distinction, is on this point unimpeachable. 

 " IIit'iHtt Ulc /XT nnltd lion < -il (ulitm- 



brata virtiitum," &c. But oftlr. ,:id vigour 



ot liis talents of his ardent arid comprehensive mind, 

 and of the dauntless and lofty intrepidity of his cha- 

 racter, he has left too striking proofs to allow any 

 slur to be thrown upon his abilities. Bold and fer- 

 tile in invention, and of invincible perseverance and 

 courage in execution, he was well fitted for the head 

 of a faction. Yet the same qualities, kept under 

 steady controul by reason and prudence, would have 

 rendered him an ornament to his country. But he 

 was naturally volatile ; and his keenness of disposition 

 led him to join with equal eagerness in the society of 

 the virtuous or the profligate, in the pursuits of vir- 

 tue, or the indulgence of vice. Unaccustomed to re- 

 gular restraint, his mind yielded easily to temptations; 

 and by a lamentable perversion of talents, he became 

 the first in the career of licentiousness, as he had 

 once been also in more becoming and worthy occu- 

 pations. It was natur.-il that a character produced 

 by so strange a mixture of vicious and praiseworthy 

 principles, by a combination of passion with the ta- 

 lents and energy that could render it formidable, 

 should prove dangerous to the liberty and independ- 

 ence of his country. But the actions of Catiline, let 

 it be remembered, are preserved to us only in the 

 treacherous and exaggerated statements of political 

 adversaries ; and we ought to receive with caution 

 the invectives with which his memory has been load- 

 ed. At the period when his conspiracy was formed, 

 the internal condition of Rome was such as to make 

 almost any change preferable to her lifeless and de- 

 graded government. The people were corrupt and 

 licentious ; more interested in the triumph of the fac- 

 tions to which they H'ad attached themselves, than in 

 securing the freedom, and promoting the welfare of 

 their country. The energy and spirit of public vir- 

 tue was palsied by the deadening influence of luxury ; 

 and the public opinion, the firmest bulwark against 

 the encroachments of tyranny, was now employed to 

 buoy up the vices of party. The government was be- 

 come a capricious oligarchy ; a few ambitious and in- 

 triguing leaders, to whose power and influence the li- 

 berty of the people was saciificed, divided the state, 

 and embroiled it in the miseries of civil dissensions. 

 To the arrogance and struggles of these conflicting 

 factions, the people submitted with abject acquies- 

 cence ; they even encouraged and strengthened the 

 intrigues of party ; and though a determined resist- 

 ance might have crushed this many-headed monster, 

 they Deemed to consider that their hopes of liberty 

 were gone, and thoughtlessly joined in raising the 

 power which finally reduced them to subjection. 

 While such was the situation of Rome, we cannot 



CAT 



u jn Jer that a man of ardent and enterprising ulcntt 



should have sei/ed the opportunity which her dh- 



-d state afforded of aiming at absolute power. 



v i'O OK UTICA, a celebrated Roman, was the 

 it-grandson of Cnto the Censor. At a very earlr 

 -d he was left an 01 , bro- 



ther Casnio, and his sisters Porcia and Servilia, was 

 brought up in the house of Livius Drusus, his mater- 

 nal uncle, who at that time had great influence in the 

 administration of public affairs. He soon gave mark- 

 ed indications of that firm, virtuous, and decided cha- 

 racter, by which he was afterwards so much distin- 

 guished. It appeared in his look, in h manner, in 

 his conversation, and even in his amusements. Plu- 

 tarch relates various anecdotes of his childhood, which 

 shew how much the dispositions of the boy resem- 

 bled those of the man. One of these particularly de- 

 serves to be mentioned. When in his fourteenth year, 

 he happened to be in Sylla's house, and seeing the 

 heads of many il'ustrious persons carried out, a:id the 

 spectators sighing in secret at the bloody scene, he 

 asked his preceptor, ' Why somebody did not kill 

 that man ?" " Because," said he, " they fear him, 

 more than they hate him." * Why then," said Ca- 

 to, ' do you not give me a sword, that I may kill 

 him, and deliver my country from slavery ?" His 

 austere manner of life led Cato to be partial to the 

 doctrine of the Stoics, whose philosophy he studied 

 and embraced. He also devoted considerable atten- 

 tion to popular eloquence, in which he became no 

 mean proficient. In the servile war with Spartacus, 

 he served as a volunteer, and gave such proofs of his 

 military skill and courage, as to secure for himself 

 the highest praises of the commander, and afterward* 

 a tribune's commission in the army sent into Mace- 

 donia under the Praetor Rubrius. On being appoint- 

 ed to the office of qusestor, for the duties of which 

 he had prepared himself with great industry, he in- 

 troduced a very thorough reform into that depart- 

 ment, correcting with an unsparing hand the abuses 

 which had crept into it, punishing those who had been 

 guilty of introducing them, and putting the affairs of 

 the treasury on a new and excellent footing. For his 

 conduct in this, he received great applause from the 

 people. The office of tribune, which he filled in the 

 consulship of Cicero, was equally honoured by his 

 integrity and public spirit. He obtained it in spite 

 of very formidable opposition, by the assistance of 

 men of honour and virtue, and he discharged its func- 

 tions, in the midst of many difficulties, with credit to 

 himself, satisfaction to the people, and advantage to 

 the stale. 



Cato took an early and conspicuous part in the pub- 

 lic transactions ot that most interesting and momentous 

 period in the history of Rome. His whole conduct 

 seems to have been actuated by a spirit of patriotism. 

 He respected men in proportion to their solicitude 

 for the general welfare. To those who were hostile 

 or indifferent to the interests of the republic, he set 

 himself in active and undaunted opposition ; and for- 

 got personal comfort, and the partialities of friendship, 

 and every private consideration, when the interests of 

 his country demanded his aid. To Cicero he gave 

 his warm support ; not yielding to him implicitly in 

 every case, but defending the great principles and fea- 

 tures of his administration, and openly bestowing up- 





