I. Marcus Cato is said to have been born at Tusculum, but to have been
brought up and spent his time upon a farm belonging to his father in
the Sabine territory, before he began to take part in war or politics.
We know nothing of his ancestry, except that he himself tells us that
his father, Marcus, was a good man and brave soldier, and that his
grandfather, Cato, received several military rewards for his services,
and that having had five horses killed under him, he received the
value of them from the public treasury, as an acknowledgment of his
gallantry.
It was the Roman custom to call those who had no ancestry to recommend
them, but who rose by their own merits, _new_ men. This name was
applied to Cato, who said that he was indeed new to honours and posts
of importance, but that, in respect of his brave and virtuous
ancestry, he was a man of ancient family. His third name originally
was not Cato, but Priscus, and was changed to Cato on account of his
wisdom, for in Latin _catus_ means "clever." In appearance he was
rather red-haired, and grey-eyed, peculiarities which are
ill-naturedly dwelt upon by the writer of the epigram--
"Red-haired, grey-eyed, and savage-tusked as well,
Porcius will find no welcome e'en in hell."
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, 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 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, 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
preparations 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 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 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.
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 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 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, "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. 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 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 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 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.
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 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
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 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
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 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 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
indulgences 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 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.
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, 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. 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 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 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 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.