106 



CATO. 



destroyed). He died a year after his return (147 

 B. C.), eighty-five years old. Cato, who was so 

 frugal of the public revenues, was not indifferent to 

 riches. He was rigorously severe towards his slaves, 

 and considered them quite in the light of property. 

 lie made every exertion to promote and improve 

 agriculture. In his old age, he gave himself up to 

 the I-. unj un y of his friends and the pleasures of da- 

 table. To this the verses of Horace allude 



Narratur et prisci Catonis 

 Stepe in. T,> r.ilin.-M- virtus. 



He was twice married, and liad a son by each of his 

 wi\ cs. His conduct as a husband and a father was 

 equally exemplary. He composed a multitude of 

 works, of which the only one extant is that De Re 

 Rust int. Those of which the loss is most to be re- 

 i; relied are his orations, which Cicero mentions in 

 terms of the highest encomium, and his history of the 

 origin of the Roman people, which is frequently quot- 

 ed uy the old historians. 



CATO, MARCUS PORCICS (called, to distinguish 

 him from the censor, his great grandfather, Cato of 

 Utica, the place of his death), was born 93 B. C., 

 and, after the death of his parents, was brought up 

 in the house of his uncle, Livius Drusus. He early 

 discovered great maturity of judgment and firmness 

 of character. It is related of him, that, in his four- 

 teenth year, when he saw the heads of several pro- 

 scribed persons in the house of Sylla, by whose or- 

 ders they had been murdered, he demanded a sword 

 of his teacher, to stab the tyrant, and free his coun- 

 try from servitude. With his brother by the mother's 

 side, Caepio, he lived hi the tenderest friendship. 

 Cato was chosen priest of Apollo. He formed an in- 

 timacy with the Stoic Antipater of Tyre, and ever 

 remained true to the principles of the Stoic philoso- 

 phy. His first appearance in public was against the 

 tribunes of the people, who wished to pull down a 

 basilica erected by the censor Cato, which was in 

 their way. On this occasion, he displayed tUat power- 

 ful eloquence, which afterwards rendered him so for- 

 midable, and won the cause. He served his first 

 campaign as a volunteer in the war against Sparta- 

 cus, and distinguished himself so highly, that the pre- 

 tor Gellius awarded liiin a prize, which he refused. 

 He was sent as military tribune to Macedonia. When 

 the term of his office had expired, he travelled into 

 Asia, and carried the Stoic Athenodorus with him to 

 Rome. He was next made questor, and executed 

 his difficult trust with the strictest integrity, while 

 he had the spirit to prosecute the public officers for 

 their acts of extortion and violence. His conduct 

 pained liim the admiration and love of the Romans, 

 so that, on the last day of his questorship, he was es- 

 corted to liis house by the whole assembly of the 

 people. The fame of his virtue spread far and wide. 

 In the games of Flora, the dancers were not allowed 

 to lay aside their garments as long as Cato was pre- 

 sent. The troubles of the state did not permit him 

 to remain in seclusion. The example of Sylla, in 

 usurping supreme power, was followed by many am- 

 bitious men, whose mutual dissensions were all that 

 saved the tottering constitution from immediate ruin. 

 Crassus hoped to purchase the sovereignty with his 

 gold ; Pompey expected that it would be voluntarily 

 conferred upon him ; and Caesar, superior to both in 

 talent, united himself to both, and made use of the 

 wealth of the one, and the reputation of the other, 

 to attain his own objects. At the head of the senate, 

 the sole prop of the republic, stood Catulus, Cicero, 

 and Cato. Lucullus, who stood very high in the 

 favour of the army, which he had so victoriously 

 commanded, might alone have upheld the senace, had 

 lie not been more desirous to enjoy his wealth than 

 to devote himself to the care of the common .veal th. 



Cato, keeping aloof from all parties, served the com- 

 monwealth with sagacity and courage ; but he often 

 injured the cause which lie was trying to benefit, by 

 the inflexibility of his cliaracter. He was on Uie way 

 to his estate, when he met Metellus Nepos.who was 

 travelling to Rome to canvass for the tribunes! iip. 

 Knowing him to be a dangerous man, Cato returned 

 immediately, stood candidate for the office himself 

 and was chosen, together with Metellus. About* 

 this time, the conspiracy of Catiline broke out. Cato 

 supported with all his power the consul Cicero, lh>t 

 gave him publicly the name of father of Im country, 

 and urged, in a fine speech preserved by Sail ust, the' 

 rigorous punishment of the traitors. He opposed ilic 

 proposition of Metellus Nepos to recall Pompey from 

 Asia, and give him the command against Catiline, 

 and came near losing his life in a riot excited against 

 him on tliis account oy his colleague and Caesar. Af- 

 ter the return of Pompey, he frustrated many of his 

 ambitious plans, and first predicted the conse<|iieiiees 

 of his union with Crassus and Cassar. He afterward- 

 opposed, but in vain, the division of lands in Cam- 

 pania. Caesar at that time abused his power so much 

 as to send Cato to prison, but was constrained, by 

 the murmurs of the people, to set him at liberty. The 

 triumvuate, in order to remove him to a distance, 

 had him sent to Cyprus, to depose lung Ptolemy, un- 

 der some frivolous pretext. He was compelled to 

 obey, and executed his commission with so much ad- 

 dress that he enriched the treasury with a larger sum 

 than had ever been deposited in it by any private 

 man. In the mean time, he continued his opposition 

 to the triumvirate. Endeavouring to prevent the 

 passage of the Tribonian law, which invested Cras- 

 sus with an extraordinary power, he was a second 

 time arrested ; but the people followed him hi a body 

 to the prison, and his enemies were compelled to re- 

 lease him. Being afterwards made pretor, he carri- 

 ed into execution a law against bribery, that displea>- 

 ed all parties. After the death of Crassus, the civil 

 commotions increased, and Cato, as the only means 

 of preventing greater evils, proposed that Pompey 

 should be made sole consul, contrary to the constitu- 

 tion, and the proposition was adopted. The year fol- 

 lowing, Cato lost the consulship by refusing to take 

 the steps necessary for obtaining it. At this time 

 the civil war broke out. Cato, then propretor in Si- 

 cily, on the arrival of Curio with three of Caesar's le- 

 gions, departed for the camp of Pompey, at Dyrra- 

 chium. He had still been in hopes to prevent the 

 war by negotiation ; and when it broke out, he put 

 on mourning in token of his grief. Pompey, having 

 been victorious at Dyrrachium, left Cato behind to 

 guard the military chest and magazine, while he 

 pushed after his rival. For this reason, Cato was 

 not present at the battle of Pharsalia after which he 

 sailed over with his troops to Cyrene, in Africa. 

 Here he learned that Pompey's father-in-law, Scipio, 

 had gone to Juba, king of Mauritania, where Yarns 

 had collected a considerable force. Cato immediate- 

 ly set oft" to join him, and, after undergoing hunger, 

 thirst, and every hardship, readied Utica, where the 

 two armies effected a junction. The soldiers wished 

 him to be their general, but he gave this office to 

 Scipio, and took the command in Utica, while Scipio 

 and Labienus sallied out against Caesar. Cato liad 

 advised them to protract the war, but they ventured 

 an engagement, in which they were entirely defeat- 

 ed, and Africa submitted to the victor. Cato had at 

 first determined to defend himself to the last, with 

 the senators in the place ; but he afterwards aban- 

 doned this plan, and dismissed all who wished to 

 leave him His resolution was taken. On the even- 

 ing before the day vhich he liad fixed upon for ex- 

 ecuting it he took a tranquil meal, and discussed 



