CAT 



Cato. on him the title of Father of his Country, an eulo- 

 V""'' gium of no mean value as pronounced by the stern 

 and patriotic Cato. He shewed great zeal and cou- 

 rage in attacking those who had joined in the conspi- 

 racy, of which Catiline was the head, and succeeded, 

 by his energy and his eloquence in the senate, in pro- 

 curing the capital punishment of the conspirators. 

 On this occasion, he boldly attacked Caesar, who ar- 

 gued for mild measures, and who himself was not al- 

 together free from suspicion of being a partaker in 

 the guilt of those for whom he pleaded. Fearing 

 every thing that was bad to the commonwealth from 

 the vast and unprincipled ambition of this extraordi- 

 nary man, Cato regarded him with jealousy and dis- 

 trust, and thwarted him without ceremony and with- 

 out intermission, in those projects by which he at- 

 tempted to aggrandize himself at the expence of his 

 country. After a variety of occurrences, in all of 

 which Cato acted in the most disinterested manner, 

 as well as with his characteristic boldness, the fate of 

 Rome came to depend upon the issue of a contest be- 

 tween Pompey and Coesar. Although he had dis- 

 liked and opposed many of the proceedings of Pom- 

 pey ; although he had on some occasions met with 

 very injurious treatment from him ; and although the 

 prospect of that civil war, which was now inevitable, 

 filled him with sorrow ; yet, sensible that it was ne- 

 cessary to take a decided part, and that the only hope 

 which remained for the liberties of Rome, was to be 

 derived from Pompey's success, he attached himself 

 to the cause of that general, and co-operated with 

 him for the discomfiture and humiliation of Caesar. 

 The prudence of some parts of Cato's conduct in 

 this important crisis, may perhaps be disputed ; and 

 it has even been suspected that his hostility to Caesar 

 was partly produced by the personal injuries which 

 he had received. But when it is recollected that the 

 injuries alluded to were the effects of the profligacy 

 of Caesar, who had debauched Cato's sister ; and 

 that the difficulties which a man of real virtue had to 

 struggle with in those corrupted times were neither 

 few nor inconsiderable, the character of this patriot 

 cannot suffer from such partial and feeble imputa- 

 tions. After the fatal battle of Pharsalia, Cato re- 

 tired into Africa with the forces under his command, 

 expecting to meet with Pompey. Hearing of 

 Pompey's death, he marched into Lybia to join Sci- 

 pio, which he accomplished after a painful and hazar- 

 dous march in the midst of winter. Scipio acted 

 rashly and foolishly : for though Cato, who remain- 

 ed in Utica as governor of the town, strongly advi- 

 sed him not to risk a general engagement, he despi- 

 sed the advice, and was completely overthrown. Cae- 

 ser advanced to Utica: " Strange!" said Cato when 

 he heard of his approach, " it seems he takes us for 

 men!" . Cato was determined not to fall into the 

 conqueror's hands : and seeing no chance of escape, 

 or of successful resistance if he should escape, he re- 

 solved to fly to the last refuge of a Roman. Having 

 demanded a sword, and read Plato's dialogue on the 

 immortality of the soul, he stabbed himself under the 

 left breast. The physician attempted to sew up the 

 wound, but Cato tore it open again, plucked out his 

 bowels, and instantly expired. Caesar on receiving 

 the intelligence of Cato's death, is reported to have 

 exclaimed, ' Cato, I envy thee thy death, since thou 

 couldest envy me the glory of saving thy life." Ca- 



1 



CAT 



to was forty-eight years of age when he died. He Catoptric* 

 left a son and daughter. The former was worthless : 

 the latter married Brutus who killed Caesar, was 

 trusted with the secret of the conspiracy, and died as 

 her father had done. See Plutarch, Sallust, &c. (T) 



CATOPTRICS, from xr7rT ? v speculum, and 

 that from *T and vxTOfict^ I see, is that branch of 

 optics which treats of the laws and properties of light, 

 when reflected either from plane or curved surfaces* 

 See the article OPTICS, (w) 



CATTLE. See AGRICULTURE, Index. 



CATULLUS, CAIUS VALERIUS, a celebrated 

 Roman poet, was born at Verona, of a respectable 

 family, probably about the year of Rome 667. Hia 

 father, Valerius, appears to have been a man of some 

 consideration in the commonwealth ; at least, it ia 

 certain that he enjoyed the friendship of Julius Cae- 

 sar, who was in the habit of lodging at his house, 

 when he happened to pass by the way of Verona. 

 Although by no means in very opulent circumstan- 

 ces, Catullus must have inherited a moderate for- 

 tune ; for he not only possessed a small villa at Ti- 

 bur, whither he occasionally retired from the bustla 

 of a city life ; but in the beautiful little poem, which 

 he addressed to the peninsula of Sirmio, he speaks of 

 that delightful spot as his hereditary property, and 

 his home. 



He accompanied Memmius, the prtetor, in his ex- 

 pedition to Bithynia ; from which, however, he tells 

 us, neither he nor his comrades derived much emolu- 

 ment or advantage : 



Id quod erat> mihi nee ipsi, 

 JVec preetoribus esse, nee cokorti, 

 Cur yvisquam caput unctius rcferret. X. 9, &c. 



In his progress to Bithynia, upon reaching Troas, 

 he had the misfortune to lose his brother, whom, in 

 several of his poems, he laments with great feeling 

 and tenderness. 



Catullus usually resided at Rome, where he devo- 

 ted his time to literature, to society, and pleasure. 

 His wit and genius recommended him to the compa- 

 ny, and procured him the friendship of many of the 

 most distinguished characters of his age and country, 

 among whom were Manlius Torquatus, Cicero, Cal- 

 vus, an orator and poet, Cornelius Nepos, to whom 

 he dedicated his poems, Asinius Pollio, Lucretius 

 the poet, and several other persons of no mean repu- 

 tation. His mistress, whose real name was Clodia, 

 was celebrated by him under the name of Lesbia, 

 probably from Lesbos, the birth-place of Sappho. 

 This lady, to whom he appears to have been much 

 attached, became, as he himself informs us in one of 

 his poems, not in the most delicate terms, a common 

 prostitute. 



Catullus was a man of learning, according to the 

 notions of his age, having acquired a perfect know- 

 ledge of the Greek language, from which he trans- 

 lated two of his most beautiful poems, the one from 

 Sappho, and the other from Callimachus. Hence, 

 he came to be distinguished by contemporary wri- 

 ters by the epithet doctus. The precise date of his 

 death is uncertain ; but that event is generally belie- 

 ved to have taken place about the fortieth year of his 

 age. 



A considerable proportion of the poems of Catul- 

 lus consists of verses written upon amatory subjects, 



