No More Learning

on the Mons Caelia because it obstructed the Throughout his life, the same want of flexibility
auspices, sold it to the defendant without giving and gradation was one of his obvious defects. He
notice of the order. The defendant was obliged to had none of that almost unconscious intuition
obey a similar order, and brought an action to by which great men modify the erroneous results
recover damages for the fraud. Upon these facts, of abstract reasoning, and take hints from passing
Cato decided in favour of the purchaser. (De Off: events. There was in him no accommodation to
üi. 16. )
circumstances, no insight into the windings of cha-
7. L. Porcius Cato, the son of No. 3, and racter, no power of gaining influence by apt and
uncle of Cato of Utica, attached himself to the easy insinuation. The influence he gained was
party of the senate. In the year B. c. 100, he was due to his name for high and stubborn virtue.
tribune of the plebs, and in that office opposed the As a boy he took little interest in the childislı
attempts of L. Apuleius Saturninus, and assisted pursuits of his fellows. He rarely smiled, and he
in rejecting a rogation on behalf of the exiled exhibited a firmness of purpose which was not to
Metellus Numidicus. In the social war, B. C. 90, be cajoled by flattery nor daunted by violence.
he defeated the Etruscans, and in the following year Yet was there something in his unsocial individu-
was consul with Pompeius Strabo. On one oc- ality which attracted notice and inspired respect.
casion a portion of his troops, consisting of town Once, at the game of Trials, he rescued by force
rabble, was instigated to disobedience and mutiny from a bigger boy a youth sentenced to prison who
by the impudent prating of one C. Titius. He lost appealed to him for protection, and, burning with
his life in an unlucky skirmish with the Marsians, passion, led him home accompanied by his com-
near Lake Fucinus, at the end of a successful rades. When Sulla gave to the noble youths of
battle. It was thought by some that his death Rome the military game called Troja, and proposed
was not to be attributed to the enemy, but to the as their leaders the son of his wife Metella and
art of the younger Marius ; for Caro had boasted Sex. Pompeius, the boys with one accord cried
that his own achievements were equal to the Cim- out for Cato in place of Sextus. Sarpedon took
brian victory of Marius the father. (Liv. Epit. him occasionally, when he was in his fourteenth
lxxv. ; Oros. v. 17. )
year, to pay his respects to Sulla, his late father's
8. M. PORCIUS Cato, son of No. 4. After friend. The tortures and executions which some-
having been curule aedile and praetor, he obtained times were conducted in Sulla's house made it re-
the government of Gallia Narbonensis, where he semble (in the words of Plutarch) “ the place of
died. (Gell. xiii. 19. )
the damned. ” On one of his visits, seeing the
9. M. Porcius Cato, son of No. 6 by Livin, beads of several illustrious citizens carried forth,
great-grandson of Cato the Censor, and surnamed and hearing with indignation the suppressed groans
Uticensis from Utica, the place of his death, was of those who were present, he turucd to his pre-
born B. C. 95. In early childhood he lost both his ceptor with the question “Why does no one kill


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CATO.
2
a
that tyrant? " “ Because," answered Sarpedon, the bitterness of his wrath against Scipio in satiria
“men fear him more strongly than they hate him. " cal iambics. He soon afterwards married Arilia,
" Why then,” subjoined Cato, “ would you not let the daughter of Serranus, but was obliged to divorce
me bave a sword, that I might put him to death, her for adultery after she had borne bim two chil-
and restore my country to freedom ? ” This out- dren.
break induced his tutor to watch him, lest he He served his first campaign as a volunteer, B. C.
should attempt something desperate.
72, under the consul Gellius Poblicola, in the ser-
He received 120 talents as his share of his fa- vile war of Spartacus. He joined the army rather
ther's fortune, and, being now his own master, from a desire to be near Caepio, who was tribunus
still further contracted his expenditure, hitherto militum, than out of any love for a military life.
extremely moderate. He addicted himself to poli- | In this new career he had no opportunity of dis-
tical studies, and practised in solitude oratorical tinguishing himself; but his observation of discip
declamation. As he hated luxury and was accus- line was perfect, and in courage he was never
tomed to self-denial, the precepts of the Porch found wanting. The general ofiered him military
found favour in his sight; and, under the guidance rewards, which he refused on the ground that he
of Antipater of Tyre, he pursued with all the ar- had done nothing to deserve them. For this he
dour of a devotee the ethical philosophy of the was reckoned perverse and cross-grained, but his
Stoics. The virtue he chiefly worshipped was a own estimate of his services was not perhaps much
rigid justice, not only unmoved by favour, but below the mark. He had many of the qualities
rejecting the corrective of equity and mercy. which make a good soldier, but of that peculiar
Differing widely in disposition and natural gifts genius which constitutes a great general he had
from his great ancestor the Censor, he yet looked not a spark.
up to him as a model, adopted his principles, and About the year B. C. 67, he became a candidate
imitated his conduct. His constitution was natu- for the post of tribunus militum, and obeyed the
rally vigorous, and he endeavoured to harden it law by canvassing without nomenclatores.
Не
still more by excessive toil. He travelled bare- was elected, and joined the army of the propraetor
headed in the heat of summer, and amid the win- M. Rubrius in Macedonia. Here he was appointed
ter snow. When his friends were making long to command a legion, and he won the esteem and
journeys on horseback, he accompanied them on attachment of the soldiery by the force of reason,
foot. In illness and fever, be passed his hours by sharing all their labours, and by a strict atten-
alone, not bearing any witness of his physical in- tion to his duty. He treated them as rational
firmities. He was singular in his dress, preferring, beings, not as mere machines, and he preserved
by way of sober contrast, a dark purple to the rich order without harsh punishments or lavish bribes.
crimson then in vogue, and he often appeared in But the life of the camp was ill suited to his tem-
public after dinner without shoes or tunic. Up to perament. Hearing that the famous Stoic philo
his twentieth year, his inseparable companion was sopher Athenodorus, surnamed Cordylion, was at
his half-brother, Q. Servilius Caepio, to whom he Pergamus, he obtained a free legation, which gave
was affectionately attached. When Caepio was him leave of absence for two months, travelled to
praised for his moderation and frugality, he ac- Asia in search of the philosopher, and succeeded
knowledged that he was but a Sippius (a notorious in persuading Athenodorus to return with him to
prodigal) when compared with Cato. Thus Cato Macedonia. This was deemed by Cato a greater
became a mark for the eyes of the throng. Vicious triumph than the capture of a rich city, for the
luxury was one of the crying evils of the times, Stoic had refused repeated offers of friendship and
and he was pointed to as the natural successor of society from kings and emperors.
his ancestor in reforming manners, and in repre- Cato was now doomed to suffer a severe mis-
senting the old, simple, undegenerate Roman. It fortune, and to put to the test all the lessons of his
is much to become a type of a national character. philosophy. Servilius Caepio, on his way to Asia,
The first occasion of his appearance in public was taken ill at Aenus, a town of Thrace. Cato
life was connected with the name of his ancestor. was informed of this by letter, and, embarking
The elder Cato in his censorship had erected and without delay in a small vessel, set sail in stormy
dedicated a building called the Porcia Basilica. In weather from Thessalonica ; but he did not arrive
this the tribunes of the people were accustomed to in time to close the eres of his beloved brother.
transact business. There was a column in the The tumult of his grief was excessive. He em-
way of the benches where they sat, and they de braced the corpse with tears and cries, and spared
termined either to remove it altogether or to change no expense in the splendour of the funeral. He
its place. This proposition called forth the younger sent back to the provincials their proferred gifts of
Cato, who successfully resisted the measure in a money, and paid them for the odours and precious
speech which was graceful while it was cutting, vestments which they contributed to the sad so-
and was elevated in tone without any of the tu- lemnity. At the cost of eight talents, he erected
mour of juvenile declamation.
to the memory of Caepio a polished monument of
Cato was capable of warm and tender attach- Thasian marble in the market-place at Aenus.
ment, and much that was stiff and angular in his He now returned to Rome in a ship which con-
character was enhanced by early disappointment veyed the ashes of his brother. At Rome his
and blighted affection. Lepida had been betrothed time was divided between the lessons of philosophy
to Metellus Scipio, who broke off the match. Free from the lips of Athenodorus, the advocacy of his
once more, she was wooed by Cato; but the atten- friends' causes in the forum, and the studies that
tions of a new admirer recalled the ardour of her were necessary to qualify him for political offices.
former lover, who sued again, and was again ac- He was now of an age to offer himself for the
cepted. Stung to the quick, Cato was with difti- quacstorship, but he determined not to put himself
cnity prevented, by the entreaties of friends, from forward as a candidate until he was master of the
exposing himself by going to law, and expended details of his duties. He was able to purchase for


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647
CATO.
five talents a book which contained the pecuniary able candidate for the tribuneship, but he declined
nccounts of the quaestorship from the time of Sulla, to stand for that office, and determined to pass
and this he attentively perused. Further, he some time at his country seat in Lucania in the
made himself acquainted with all the laws relating company of his books and his philosophers. On
to the public treasure. Armed with this know- his way he met a long train of baggage, and was
ledge, he was elected to the quaestorship. The informed that it belonged to Metellus Nepos, who
scribes and subordinate clerks of the treasury, ac- was hastening from Pompey's army to seek the
customed to the routine of official business and tribuneship. His resolution was at once taken.
official documents, relied upon their own expe- He determined to oppose this emissary of Pompey,
rience and the ignorance of ordinary quaestors, and, after spending a day or two in the country,
and thus were able to teach their teachers and reappeared in Rome. He compared the sudden
to rule their rulers. Cato broke in upon this arrival of Metellus to a thunderbolt falling upon
official monopoly, which had been made a cover the state, but his own arrival equally surprised
for much fraud and abuse, and, in spite of the re- his friends. The nobles, who were jealous of
sistance which might have been expected from such Pompey's power and designs, flocked in crowds to
an interested swarm, he routed and exposed their vote for him, aud he succeeded in gaining his own
misdeeds. The debts that were due from the state election, but not in ousting Metellus. One of his
to individuals he promptly paid, and he rigidly de first acts after his election was the prosecution of
manded prompt payment of the debts that were L. Licinius Muraena for bribery at the consular
due to the state. He took effectual measures to comitia ; but Muraena, who was defended by
prevent the falsification of the decrees of the Cicero, Hortensius, and Crassus, was acquitted by
senate and other public documents which were the judges. This (B. C. 63) was the famous year
entrusted to the custody of the quaestors. He of Cicero's consulship, and of the suppression of
obliged the informers who had received blood-money Catiline's conspiracy. Cato supported the consul
from Sulla out of the public treasure to refund in proposing that the conspirators should suffer
their ill-gotten gains. His colleagues, who were at death, and was the first who gave to Cicero the
first offended at his strictness, finding that he con- name of pater patriae. It was Cato's speech of
tinued to act with impartiality and upon consistent the 5th of December which determined the senate,
principle, sought to avoid his reproach and began previously wavering from the force of Caesar's
to admire his conduct. By his bonest and de- oratory. The severer sentence was carried, and
termined administration he replenished the trea- Cato's part in this transaction occasioned a rupture
sury, and quitted office at the end of the year between him and Caesar, whom he charged with
amid the general applause of his fellow-citizens. being a secret accomplice of Catiline. Plutarch
It is probable that after the termination of his (Cato Minor, 23) speaks of Cato's speech as extant,
quaestorship he went a second time to Asia, upon and says that it was taken down by short-hand
the invitation of king Deiotarus, his father's writers placed in the senate house for that purpose
friend, for, as Drumann has observed (Geschichte by Cicero. Sallust gives two well-known orations
Roms, v. p. 157), the narrative of Plutarch, who as the speeches of Caesar and Cato, but there is
makes the events of his Asiatic journey anterior reason to believe that not only is the language
to his quaestorship, is beset with numerous diffi- Sallust's own, but that the fabricated speeches
culties and anachronisms. In his travels in the differ considerably in several particulars from
east, he neglected that external splendour to which those which were actually delivered.
tbe Orientals were accustomed, and sometimes was The crushing of Catiline's conspiracy was an
treated with slight on account of the meanness important step, but, in order to accomplish the
of bis equipage and apparel. By Pompey, Cato political theories of Cato, much remained to be
was received with the utmost civility and respect, done. Induced by the example of Sulla, several
and this external show of honour from the great ambitious men were now aspiring to supreme
man upon whom all eyes were turned, considerably power, and those who, like Catiline, endeavoured
exalted Cato's dignity and importance elsewhere. to grasp it in the disorder occasioned by popular
But there was no cordiality in Pompey's welcome. tumult and anarchy, were not the most formidable.
The visitor, who seemed to be a damper upon his free The wealth of Crassus and the character and
command, was not invited to stay, and was dis position of Pompey were directed to the same end.
missed without regret.
Caesar, who had watched the conspiracy of Cati-
Deiotarus, upon the arrival of Cato, offered him line, and, if it had succeeded, would most likely
all kinds of presents, and pressed their acceptance have been the person to profit by its success, saw
with an earnestness which offended his guest, who their object, and had the address to baffle their
departed early on the following day. Upon reach- schemes. Pompey, his more formidable rival,
ing Pessinus, Cato found that still richer presents wished to obtain supreme power by constitutional
had been sent on with a letter from the king, be means, and waited in hope of a voluntary sur-
seeching him, if he would not take them himself, render ; but he had not the unscrupulous courage
to let his attendants take them ; but, much to the which would have been required to seize it, or to
dissatisfaction of some of his attendants, he re- keep it when gained. Caesar, of a more daring,
jected this specious bribery too.
vigorous, and comprehensive intellect, was not re-
Upon Cato's return to Rome, B. c. 63, he found strained by similar scruples. He contrived by
Lucullus, who had married one of his half-sisters, entering into a combination with Pompey and
Servilia, before the gates soliciting a triumph for Crassus to detach both from the senatorial party,
his success against Mithridates. In obtaining this from which they were already estranged by their
object, he succeeded by the assistance of Cato and own unambiguous ambition. Cato wished to de-
the nobility, notwithstanding the opposition of feat this combination, but the measures he resorted
Memmius and other creatures of Pompey.
to were clumsy and injudicious. His opposition
Cato was now looked upon by many as a suit- to Pompey was conducted in a manner which pro-
;


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1
moted the views of Caesar, who turned every com- Thongh Cato seemed generally to waste his
bination of events to the purposes of his own strength in ineffectual efforts, he still was found to
aggrandizement, and availed himself at once of the be a trouble and a hindrance to the designs of
infiuence of Pompey and the wealth of Crassus. Caesar, Pompey, and Crassus. They accordingly
The state of political parties at Rome was now got Clodius, during his tribunate, to propose that
such, that neither energy nor foresight could long Ptolemy, king of Cyprus, should, without even a
have retarded the downfall of the republic. The plausible pretext, be deprived of his dominions,
party of the senate professed to adhere to the an- and that Cato should be charged with the task of
cient doctrines of the constitution, clinging in reuniting the island to the Roman empire, and re-
practice to oligarchical principles, but it possessed storing the exiles who had been sent to Byzantium.
in its ranks no man of great popularity or com- Constitutionally averse to active military measures,
inanding political genius. Lucullus had often led as well as benevolently anxious to prevent the un-
his troops to victory, and had considerable influence necessary shedding of blood, Cato sent a messenger
over the army, but he preferred the quiet enjoy- to Ptolemy to signify the determination of the
ment of the vast wealth he had acquired in Asia Roman people. The unfortunate king put an end
to the leadership of the party of the nobles. Had to his life by poison, and Cato took peaceable pos-
He not lacked ambition, he might have given the session of Cyprus, and sold the royal treasures at
senate effectual support. Cato attached himself to the highest price, offending some of his friends,
the senate, and may be numbered among its who hoped to enrich themselves by cheap bargains.
leaders ; but neither he nor his chief coadjutors in After restoring the Byzantine exiles, and success-
the same cause, Catulus and Cicero, could boast of fully accomplishing a commission which, however
that practical ability and ready command of abstractedly unjust, he considered himself bound to
resources which were wanting at the present undertake by his duty to the state, he returned to
crisis. He was far better suited for contemplation Rome in B. C. 56, displaying to the eyes of the
than for action, and would have been more at people the public wealth thus acquired. This very
home, more happy, and not less useful, in the treasure afterwards came to the hands of Caesar,
calm pursuits of literature and philosophy, than and contributed to the destruction of republican
amidst the turmoil of public life. A man more liberty. The pecuniary accounts of the sale by
pure and disinterested could not be found. His some accident were lost, and Clodius Pulcher took
opinion as a judex and his testimony as a witness occasion to accuse Cato of embezzlement. His
were regarded as almost decisive. Such was the answer was, “What greater disgrace could befall
reverence for his character, that when he went this age, than that Pulcher should be an accuser or
into the theatre during the games of Flora, giren Cato be accused ? " (Senec. Controvers. v. 30. )
by Messius, the dancing-women were not required Cicero, on his return from banishment, insisted
to exhibit their performances in their accustomed that Clodius was not legitimately appointed tri-
nudity; but when Cato learned from Savonius bune, and that therefore all his official acts ought
that his presence damped the enjoyment of the to be annulled. The proposition was opposed by
people, he retired amidst applause. The conduct Cato, as it would bave rendered void his legation
of his political friends was analogous. They rather to Cyprus. This affair produced a marked cold-
praised than imitated his virtues, and those who ness between Cicero and Cato.
praised him liked him best when he was at such a After his divorce from Atilia, Cato had married
distance as not to impose restraint upon their ac- Marcia, the daughter of Philippus, and bad three
tions. Irregularity and corruption were so general, children by his second wife. About the year B. C.
that an honest man, in order to do good, must have 56 happened that strange transaction by which he
been master of remarkable discretion, whereas the ceded Marcia to his friend Q. Hortensius, with the
straightforward and uncompromising strictness of consent of her father.
At the death of Hortensius
Cato generally appeared ill-timed, and was deemed in the year 50, he took her back again. Heineccius
better suited to the imaginary republic of Plato (Antiq. Rom. lib. i. append. c. 47) infers, from the
than to the actual condition of the Roman people. words of Plutarch (Cato Min. 25), that Cato did
In the year of liis tribunate he opposed the pro not, according to the common belief, lend his wife,
position of Metellus Nepos to recall Pompey from but that she was divorced from him by the cere-
Asia, and to give him the command of the legions mony of sale, and married to Hortensius. Hei-
against Catiline. Cato exerted himself in the neccius quotes the case as an instance of a marriage
- midst of a riot to prevent the voting of the proposi- contracted by coemtio and dissolved by remancipatio,
tion, and exposed himself to considerable personal in accordance with the maxim“ unumquodque eo
danger without much prudence or much dignity. modo dissolvitur quo colligatum est. ” But it does
In B. C. 60, he opposed the rogation of the tribune not appear that Cato married her again after the
L. Flavius to reward Pompey's veterans with death of Hortensius, and yet it seems that she
allotments of land. Caesar, when he was return- returned to her former relation of wife.
ing from Spain, sought the honour of a triumph, Cato continued to oppose the triumvirs. In
and desired in the meantime to be allowed, though B. c. 55 he actively assisted L. Domitius Aheno-
absent, to be a candidate for the consulship. În barbus in canvassing for the consulship against
order to prevent a resolution to this effect from Pompey and Crassus, who were elected. In the
being carried on the day when it was proposed, election riots he was wounded, and narrowly es-
Cato spoke against time until sunset; but Caesar caped with life. With no better success was he
renounced his triumph and gained the consulship. himself a candidate for the praetorship in the same
By a course of conduct which to the eyes of the year in opposition to Vatinius. He would not
statesmen of that day appeared to be a series of submit to employ the bribery which was necessary
half-measures and vacillating policy, Cato desired to obtain a majority. Again, in an unsuccesstul
to prove that, while some were for Caesar and some opposition to the Trebonian law conferring extra-
for Pompey, he, Cato, was for the commonwealth. ordinary powers upon the triumvirs, we find hina
a


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:
engaged in popular tumults and personal conflict. I bitants of Cyrene, who had rcfused to open their
Ai length, B. C. 54, he was made praetor, and this gates to Labienus.
was the highest office to which he attained. His
In the spring of the year B. C. 47 Cato marched
exertions during his praetorship to put down the his troops across the desert, for six days supporting
notorious bribery of the consular comitia disgusted hunger and thirst, and every privation, with re-
both the buyers and the sellers of votes. Again markable fortitude, in order to form a junction
he was attacked by a hooting and pelting mob, who with Scipio Metellus, Attius Varus, and the Nu-
put his attendants to flight; but he persisted in midian Juba. Here arose a question of military
mounting the tribunal, and succeeded in appeasing precedence. The army wished to be led by Cato ;
the violence of the populace.
but, as a strict disciplinarian, he thought it neces-
After the death of Crassus, when the senate had sary to yield to the consular Scipio. Most proba-
to make choice between Pompey and Caesar, it bly he was glad to rid himself of a position in
naturally wished to place itself under the protec- which immediate action appeared inevitable, and
tion of the former. In B. c. 52, Pompey was anx- felt himself oppressed by the weight of a responsi-
jous to obtain the dictatorship; but as the nobles bility to which his shoulders were unequal. Here
had not given him their full confidence, and yet the mildness of his disposition was again manifest.
at the same time were anxious to gratify him, Bi. He resisted the counsel of Scipio to put Utica to
bulus proposed that he should be created sole con- the sword, and, though now nothing could be hoped
sul, and in this proposition was supported by Cato. but a putting-off of the evil day, wisely advised
In the following year, Cato himself, mistrusting him not to risk a decisive engagement; but Scipio
Ponipey, was a candidate for the consulship; but disregarded his advice, and was utterly routed at
he would not bribe, and his competitors, S. Sulpi- Thapsus. (April 6th, B. C. 46. ) All Africa now,
cius and M. Claudius Marcellus, who had the sup with the exception of Utica, submitted to the vic-
port of Caesar and Pompey, were elected. On the torious Caesar. Cato wanted to inspire the Ro-
day of his defeat, Cato amused himself with play- mans in Utica with courage to stand a siege ; but
ing at ball, and renounced for ever all aspiration they quailed at the approach of Caesar, and were
after an office which the people had not thought inclined to submit. Plutarch relates in detail the
proper to confer upon him.
events which now occurred at Utica, and his nar-
On the commencement of the civil war, B. C. 49, rative exhibits a lamentable picture of a good man
Cato supported those illegal proceedings (CAESAR, standing at bay with fortune. Careless for bis
p. 550) which gave some colour of right to the hos- own safety, or rather determined not to live under
tile preparations of Caesar. On the approach of the slavery of Caesar's despotism, Cato yet was
Caesar to the city, Cato took flight with the con- anxious to provide for the safety of his friends,
suls to Campania, and yielded himself up to un- advised them to flee, accompanied them to the port,
arailing grief. From that day forth be allowed besought them to make terms with the conqueror,
his hair to grow; he never after wore a garland, but composed the speech in which L. Caesar interceded
seeing that Roman blood must be shed, whichever for them, but would not allow his own name to
party might prevail, be determined to mourn until appear. Bewildered and oppressed, driven into a
his death the unhappy lot of his country. It was corner where his irresolution could not lurk, and
a time for decisive and strong measures. Caesar from which he bad not strength to break forth, he
was not now to be fought by laws or resolutions, deeply felt that the only way to preserve his high
and the time for negotiation was past. Cato re- personal character and unbending moral dignity,
commended a temporizing policy. Thoughts of and to leave to posterity a lofty Roman name, was
patriotic philanthropy were uppermost in his mind. to die. For the particulars of his death, which
He made Pompey promise to pillage no Roman our limits prevent us from giving, we must refer
town, and, except in battle, to put to death no our readers to the graphic account of Plutarch.
Roman citizen.
After spending the greater part of the night in
The senate entrusted Cato, as propraetor, with perusing Plato's Phaedo several times, he stabbed
the defence of Sicily; but, on the landing of Curio himself below the breast, and in falling overturned
with three of Caesar's legions, Cato, thinking re- an abacus. His friends, hearing the noise, ran up,
sistance useless, instead of defending the island, found him bathed in blood, and, while he was
took flight, and proceeded to join Pompey at Dyr-fainting, dressed his wound. When however he
rachium. Little confidence was placed in his mili- recovered feeling, he tore open the bandages, let
tary skill, or in the course that he would pursue if out his entrails, and expired, B. C. 46, at the age of
his party succeeded ; for, though it was now his forty-nine.
object to crush the rebellion of Caesar, it was There was deep grief in Utica on account of his
felt that his efforts might soon be directed to death. The inhabitants buried him on the coast,
limit the power of Pompey. After Pompey's vic- and celebrated his funeral with much pomp.
tory at Dyrrachium, Cato was left in charge of the statue, with sword in hand, was erected to his
camp, and was thus saved from being present memory on the spot, and was still standing when
at the disastrous battle of Pharsalia. (B. C. 48. ) Plutarch wrote.
After this battle, he set sail for Corcyra with the Caesar had hastened his march in order to catch
troops and the fleet left in his charge ; but he Cato ; but arriving too late, he exclaimed, “ Cato,
offered to resign his command to Cicero, who was I grudge thee thy death, since thou hast grudged
now anxious for a reconciliation with Caesar. me the glory of sparing thy life. ”
Cicero, a man equally incompetent to command, The only existing composition of Cato (not to
declined the offer. Cato now proceeded to Africa, count the speech in Sallust) is a letter written in
where he hoped to find Pompey; but on his route B. C. 50. It is a civil refusal in answer to an ela-
he received intelligence from Cornelia of Pom-borate letter of Cicero, requesting that Cato would
pey's assassination. After a circuitous voyage he use his intiuence to procure him a triumph. (Cice
effected a landing, and was admitted by the inha- ad Fam. xv. 4–6. )
A
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650
CATO.
CATO.
Cato soon became the subject of biography and nianam venditurum. ” (Cic. ad Qu. Fr. Ü. 6. )
panegyric. Shortly after his death appeared Ci- Afterwards he made himself useful to the triumviri
cero's “ Cato," which provoked Caesar's “ Anti- by delaying the comitia in order to promote the
cało," also called “ Anticatones," as it consisted of election of Pompey and Crassus, when they were
two books; but the accusations of Caesar appear candidates for the consulship in B. C. 55. In his
to have been wholly unfounded, and were not be- manæuvre on this occasion he was assisted by
lieved by his contemporaries. Works like Cicero's Nonius Sufenas, one of his colleagues in the tri-
Cato were published by Fabius Gallus, and M. bunate. (Dion Cass. xxxvii. 27, 28. ) In the
Brutus. In Lucan the character of Cato is a per- following year he and Sufenas were accused of
sonification of godlike virtue. In modern times, violating the Lex Junia et Licinia and the Lex
the closing events of to's life have been often Fufia, by proposing laws without due notice and
dramatized. Of the French plays on this subject on improper days. (Ascon. in Cic. pro Scauro. )
that of Deschamps (1715) is the best; and few Cato was defended by C. Licinius Calvus and M.
dramas have gained more celebrity than the Cato Scaurus, and obtained an acquittal, which, how-
of Addison. (Plut. Cato Minor; Sall. Catil. 54 ; ever, was chiefly owing to the interest of Pompey.
Tacit. Hist. iv, 8; Cic. ad Att. i. 18, ii. 9; Senec. (Cic. ad Att. iv. 5, 6. )
[J. T. G. ]
Ep. 95 ; Val. Max. vi. 2. & 5; Lucan, i. 128, ii. 380; On the coins of the Porcia gens, we find only
Hor. Carm. i. 12. 35, ii. 1,24; Virg. Aen. vi. 841, the names of C. Cato and M. Cato. Who the
viii. 670; Juv. xi. 90; Drumann's Gesch. Roins, former was, is quite uncertain; the latter is M.
v. p. 153. )
Cato of Utica. In the two coins annexed the ob-
10, 11. PORCIAR. [Porcia. ]
verse of the former represents the head of Pallas,
12. M. Porcius Cato, a son of Cato of Utica
[No. 9] by Atilia. He accompanied his father
upon his flight from Italy, and was with him at
Utica on the night of his death. Caesar pardoned
him, and allowed him to possess his father's pro-
perty. (Bell. Afr. 89. ) After Caesar's death, he
attached himself to M. Brutus, his sister's husband,
and followed him from Macedonia to Asia. He
was a man of warm and sensual temperament, the reverse Victory in a biga ; the obverse of the
much addicted to illicit gallantry. His long stay latter a female head, the reverse Victory sitting.
in Cappadocia on a visit to Marphadates, who
had a very beautiful wife named Psyche, gave
occasion to the jest that the young Cato and his
host had but one soul (Psyche) between them.
(Plut. Cato Minor, 73. ) At the battle of Philippi
(B. C. 42) he behaved bravely, and sold his life
dearly.
iCRIX
13. Porcius Cato, son of Cato of Utica [No.
9] by Marcia, and therefore half-brother of No.