No More Learning

43. (Cic. ad if we distrust our own judgment, we can feel little
Fum. 3. 23. )
hesitation in believing that what such men as
CA'TIUS, an Epicurean philosopher, was a na- Erasmus, Joseph Scaliger, Laurentius Valla, and
tive of Gallia Transpadana (Insuber), and composed Pithou concurred in admiring warmly and prais-
a treatise in four books on the nature of things and ing loudly, cannot, although its merits may have
on the chief good (de Rerum Natura et de summo been exaggerated, be altogether worthless; and
Bono). Cicero, in a letter written B. C. 45 (ad Fam. any scholar, who examines the book with an im-
xv. 16), speaks of him as having died recently, and partial eye, will readily perceive that, making al-
jests with his correspondent about the “spectra lowance for the numerous and palpable corruptions,
Catiana,” that is, the crowia or material images the style is not unworthy of the Silver Age. As
which were supposed by the disciples of the garden to the other matters under discussion, it will be
to present themselves to the mind, and thus to call sufficient to state what facts we can actually prove.
up the idea of absent objects. Quintilian (x. 1. The very circumstance that every one of the sup-
$ 124) characterises him briefly as “in Epicureis positions alluded to above has been ingeniously
levis quidem sed non injucundus auctor. " The old maintained and ingeniously refuted, would in ii.
commentators on Horace all assert, that the Catius self lead us to conclude, that the evidence which
addressed in the fourth satire of the second book, admits of such opposite interpretations must be
and who is there introduced as delivering a grave both scanty and indistinct.
and sententious lecture on various topics connected The work is first mentioned in an epistle ad-
with the pleasures of the table, is Catius the Epi- dressed by Vindicianus, Comes Archiatrorum, to
curean, author of the work whose title we have Valentinian, in which he states that a certain sick
given above. It appears certain, however, from man used often to repeat the words of Cato-
the words of Cicero, that the satire in questions Corporis exigua (leg. auxiliuin) medico committo
could not have been written until several years fideli”-


## p. 635 (#655) ############################################

CATO.
635
CATO.
a line which is found in ii. D. 22; the next allu- false quantity in the first syllable of Macer, con-
sion is in Isidorus, who quotes Cato as an autho- tains a most gross blunder, such as no one but an
rity for the rarc word officiperdu (see iv. D. 42); illiterate monk was likely to commit,-for the
and the third in order of time is in Alcuin, con- Punic wars are spoken of as the subject of Lucan's
temporary with Charlemagne, who cites one of the poem.
Distichs (ii. D. 31) as the words of the "philoso- This Catechism of Morals, as it has been called,
pher Cato. " In our own early literature it is fre- seems to have been held in great estimation in the
quently quoted by Chaucer. It is clear, therefore, middle ages, and to bave been extensively employ-
that these saws were familiarly known in the mid- ed as a school-book. This will account for the
dle of the fourth century, and recognized from vast number of early editions, more than thirty
that time forward as the composition of some belonging the fifteenth century, which have
Cato. So, in like manner, all the MSS. agree in proved a source of the greatest interest to bibliogra-
presenting that name; while for the addition of phers. One of these, on vellum, of which only a
Dionysius we are indebted to a single codex once single copy is known to exist, is in the Spenser
in the possession of Simeon Bos, which was collection, and is believed by Dibdin to be older
inspected by Scaliger and Vinet, and pronounced than the Gottenburg Bible of 1465. The title in
by them of great antiquity. We must remark, the earlier impressions is frequently Cato Morali-
however, that the combination Dionysius Cato is satus, Cato Moralissimus, Cato Carmen de Moribus,
exceedingly suspicious. Dionysius was a name and so forth.
frequently borne by slaves of Greek extraction ; The best edition is that of Otto Arntzenius, 8vo.
but when combined with a Roman name, accord- | Amsterdam, 1754, which contains an ample collec-
ing to the fashion among libertini, it was added tion of commentaries; the Greek paraphrases by
as a cognomen to the gentile appellation of the Maximus Planudes and Joseph Scaliger; the dis-
patron. Thus, C. Julius Dionysius appears in sertations of Boxhorn, written with as much extra-
an inscription as a freedman of Augustub; so we vagant bitterness as if the author of the Distichs
find P. Aelius Dionysius, and many others; but it had been a personal enemy; the learned but ram-
does not occur prefixed to a Roman cognomen, as bling and almost interminable reply of Cannegieter;
in the present case. Names purely Greek, such and two essays by Withof. These, together with
as Dionysius Socrates, Dionysius Philocalus, and the preliminary notices, contain everything that is
the like, do not of course bear upon the question. worth knowing:
No one now imagines that either of the Catos One of the oldest specimens of English typogra-
celebrated in history has any connexion with this phy is a translation of Cato by Caxton through the
metrical systeni of ethics. Aulus Gellius (xi. 2), medium of an earlier French version : The BOOKE
it is true, gives some fragments of a Carmen de CALLYD CATHOX, Translated oute of Frenche into
Noribus in prose by the elder; and Pliny (H. N. Englyssh by William Carton in thabby of West-
xxix. 6) has preserved a passage from the precepts mystre the yere of our lorde mcccclxxxiij and the
delivered by the same sage to his son; but these fyrst of the regne of K'yng Rychard the thyrde
were both works of a totally different description, xxiij day of Decemure. From the preface to this
and no hint has been given by the ancients that curious volume we learn, that the same task had
anything such as we are now discussing ever pro- previously been accomplished in verse.
“ Here
ceeded from Cato of Utica.
beginneth the prologue or proheme of the book
In truth, we know nothing about this Cato or called Caton, which book hath been translated out
Dionysius Cato, if he is to be so called ; and, as of Latin into English, by Maister Benet Burgh,
we have no means of discovering anything with late Archdeacon of Colchester, and high canon of
regard to him, it may be as well to confess our ig- St. Stephen at Westminster; which full craftily
norance once for all.
hath made it, in ballad royal for the erudition of
Perhaps we ought to notice the opinion enter- my Lord Bousher, son and heir at that time to my
tained by several persons, that Cuto is not intended lord the Earl of Essex. ” The Cato we have been
to represent the name of the author, but is merely discussing is frequently termed by the first English
to be regarded as the significant title of the work, printers Cato Magnus, in contradistinction to Cato
just as we have the Brutus, and the Laelius, and Parvus, which was a sort of supplement to the for
the Cato Major of Cicero, and the treatise men- mer, composed originally by Daniel Church (Eccle-
tioned by Aulus Gellius, called Cato, aut de Liberis siensis), a domestic in the court of Henry the Se-
educandis.
cond, about 1180, and also translated by Burgh.
Lastly, it has been inferred, from the introduc- The two tracts were very frequently bound up to-
tion to book second, in which mention is made of gether. (See Ames, Typographical Antiquities, vol.
Virgil and Lucan, that we have here certain proof i. pp. 195—202; Warton's History of English
that the distichs belong to some period later than Poetry, vol. ii. section 27. )
(W. R. ]
the reign of Nero; but even this is by no means CATO, POʻRCIUS. Cato was the name of a
clear, for all the prologues have the air of forgeries; family of the plebeian Porcia gens, and was first
and the one in question, above all, in addition to al given to M. Cato, the censor. (See below, No. 1. ]
a
STEMMA CATONUM.
1. M. Porcius Cato Censorius, Cos. B. c. 195, Cens. B. C. 184,
married l. Licinia. 2. Salonia,
1
1
2. M. Porcius Cato Licinianus, Pr. design. B. C.
3. M. Porcius Cato Salonianus,
:52, married Aemilia.
Pr.
.


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636
CATO.
CATO.
a
6
1
5. C. Porcius Cato,
Cos. B. c. 114.
6. M. Porcius Cato, Tr.
Pl. married Livia.
7. L. Porcins Cato,
Cos. B. c. 89.
4. M. Porcius Cato,
Cos. B. c. 118.
1
8. M. Porcius Cato, Pr.
9. M. Porcius Cato Uticensis, Pr. B. C. 54,
married l. Atilia.
2. Marcia.
.
10. Porcia, married
L. Domitius
Ahenobarbus.
11. Porcia, married
1. M. Bibulus.
2. M. Brutus.
14. Porcia.
12. M. Porcius
Cato, died
B. C. 42.
13. Porcius
Cato.
15. A son or
daughter.
16. C. Porcius Cato, Tr. Pl. B. c. 56.
1. M. Porcius Cato Censorius, was born at are to go back from this date is a question upon
Tusculum, a municipal town of Latium, to which which the authorities are not unanimous. Accord-
his ancestors had belonged for some generations. ing to the consistent chronology of Cicero (Senect.
His father had earned the reputation of a brave 4), Cato was born B. C. 234, in the year preceding
soldier, and his great-grandfather had received an the first consulship of Q. Fabius Maximus, and
honorary compensation from the state for five horses died at the age of 85, in the consulship of L. Mar-
killed under him in battle. The haughtiest patri- cius and M. Manilius. Pliny (H. N. xxix. 8)
cian of Rome never exulted in the splendour of the agrees with Cicero. Other authors exaggerate the
purest nobility with a spirit more proud than Cato's age of Cato. According to Valerius Maximus
when he remembered the warlike achievements and (viii. 7. $ 1) he survived his 86th year; according
the municipal respectability of his family, to which to Livy (xxxix. 40) and Plutarch (Cat. Maj. 15)
he ascribed extreme antiquity. Yet the Tusculan he was 90 years old when he died. The exagge-
Porcii had never obtained the honours of the Roman rated age, however, is inconsistent with a statenient
magistracy. Their illustrious descendant, at the recorded by Plutarch (Cat. Maj. 1) on the assert-
commencement of his career in the great city, was ed authority of Cato himself.
regarded as a novus homo, and the feeling of his Cato is represented to have said, that he served
unmeet position, working along with the conscious his first campaign in his 17th year, when Hannibal
ness of inherent superiority, contributed to exas- was over-running Italy. Plutarch, who had the
perate and stimulate his ambitious soul. Early in works of Cato before him, but was careless in dates,
life, he so far eclipsed the previous glimmer of his did not observe that the reckoning of Livy would
race, that he is constantly spoken of, not only as take back Cato's 17th year to B. c. 222, when there
the leader, but as the founder, of the Porcia Gens. was not a Carthaginian in Italy, whereas the
His ancestors for three generations had been reckoning of Cicero would make the truth of Cato's
named M. Porcius, and it is said by Plutarch statement reconcileable with the date of Hannibal's
(Cato Maj. 1), that at first he was known by the first invasion.
additional cognomen Priscus, but was afterwards When Cato was a very young man, the death of
called Cato—a word denoting that practical wis his father put him in possession of a small heredi-
dom which is the result of natural sagacity, com- tary estate in the Sabine territory, at a distance
bined with experience of civil and political affairs. from his native town. It was here that he passed
However, it may well be doubted whether Priscus, the greater part is boyhood, hardening his body
like Major, were not merely an epithet used to dis- by healthful exercise, snperintending and sharing
tinguish him from the later Cato of Utica, and we the operations of the farm, learning the manner in
have no precise information as to the date when he which business was transacted, and studying the
first received the appellation of Cato, which may rules of rural economy. Near his estate was an
have been bestowed in childhood rather as an omen humble cottage which had been tenanted, after three
of eminence, than as a tribute to past desert. triumphs, by its owner M. Curius Dentatus, whose
The qualities implied in the word Cato were ac- warlike exploits and rigidly simple character were
knowledged by the plainer and less archaïc title of fresh in the memory of the old, and were often
Sapiens, by which he was so well known in bis talked of with admiration in the neighbourhood.
old age, that Cicero (Amic. 2) says, it became his The ardour of the youthful Cato was kindled.
quasi cognomen. From the number and eloquence He resolved to imitate the character, and hoped to
of his speeches, he was styled orator (Justin, rival the glory, of Dentatus. Opportunity was not
xxxiii. 2; Gell. xvii. 21), but Cato the Ce or wanting : in the school of Hannibal he took his
Cato Censorius, is now his most common, as well first military lessons, namely in the campaign of
his most characteristic appellation, since he filled B. C. 217. There is some discrepancy among his-
the office of censor with extraodinary repute, and torians as to the events of Cato's early military life.
was the only Cato who ever filled it.
In B. c. 214 he served at Capua, and Drumann
In order to ascertain the date of Cato's birth, (Gesch. Roms, v. p. 99) imagines that already, at
we have to consider the testimony of ancient wri- the age of 20, he was a military tribune. Fabius
ters as to his age at the time of his death, which is Maximus had now the comniand in Campania,
known to have happened B. c. 149. How far we | during the year of his fourth consulship. The old


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CATO.
637
CATO.
general admitted the young soldier to the honour of martial spirit and eloquent tongue. He knew how
intimate acquaintance. While Fabius communi-much courage and eloquence were prized at Rome.
cated the valued results of military experience, he He knew that the distinctions of the battle-field
omitted not to instil his own personal and political opened the way to the successes of the gown; and
partialities and dislikes into the ear of his attached that, for a municipal stranger like Cato, forensic
follower. At the siege of Tarentum, B. C. 209, success was almost the only possible avenue to
Cato was again at the side of Fabius. Two years magisterial honours. Accordingly, he recommended
later, Cato was one of the select band who accom- Cato to transplant his anibition to the fitter soil
panied the consul Claudius Nero on his northern and ampler field of Rome. The advice was eagerly
march from Lucania to check the progress of Has followed. Invited to the town-house of Flaccus,
drubal. It recorded that the services of Cato and countenanced by his support, Cato began to
contributed not a little to the decisive victory of distinguish himself in the forum, and became a
Sena on the Metaurus, where Hasdrubal was candidate for office.
slain.
We have dwelt upon the accidents of his early
In the intervals of war, Cato returned to his history, since they affected the whole tenor of
Sabine farm, using the plainest dress, and working Cato's life. We have seen a youth, indomitably
and faring like his labourers. Young as he was, active and strong-minded - the fellow-workman
the neighbouring farmers liked his hardy mode of and oracle of rustics—not suffered to droop from
living, relished his quaint and sententious sayings, want of practice or encouragement, but befriended
and recognized his abilities. His own active tem- by opportunity and always equal to the exigencies
perament made him willing and anxious to employ of his position, disciplined in the best school of
his powers in the service of his neighbours. He arms, the favourite of his general, listened to with
was engaged to act, sometimes as an arbiter of dis- applause in the courts of Rome, and introduced at
putes, and sometimes as an ad vocate, in local causes, once into a high political circle. What wonder if,
which were probably tried before recuperatores in in such scenes, the mind of Cato received a better
the country. Thus was he enabled to strengthen training for wide command and worldly success
by practice his oratorical faculties, to gain self-than could have been supplied by a more regular
confidence, to observe the manners of men, to dive education ? What wonder if his strength and
into the springs of human nature, to apply the rules originality were tinged with dogmatism, coarse-
of law, and practically to investigate the principles ness, harshness, vanity, self-sufficiency, and pre-
of justice.
judice,-if he had little sympathy with the pursuits
În the vicinity of Cato's Sabine farm was the of calm and contemplative scholars,—if he disdain-
estate of L. Valerius Flaccus, a young nobleman of ed or hated or disparaged the accomplishments
considerable influence, and high patrician family. which he had no leisure to master,-if he railed
Flaccus could not belp remarking the energy of and rebelled against the conventional elegancies of
Caro, his military talent, his eloquence, bis frugal | a more polished society to which he and his party
and simple life, and his old-fashioned principles. were opposed,—if he confounded delicacy of sen-
Flaccus himself was one of that old-fashioned party timent with unmanly weakness, and refinement of
who professed their adherence to the severer vir- manners with luxurious vice ?
tues of the ancient Roman character. There was In B. C. 205, Cato was designated quaestor, and
now in progress a transition from Samnite rusticity in the following year entered upon the duties of
to Grecian civilization and oriental voluptuousness. his office, and followed P. Scipio Africanus to
The chief magistracies of the state had become al- Sicily. When Scipio, acting on the permission
most the patrimony of a few distinguished families, which, after much opposition, he had obtained from
whose wealth was correspondent with their illus- the senate, transported the army from the island
trious birth. Popular by lavish expenditure, by into Africa, Cato and C. Laelius were appointed to
acts of graceful but corrupting munificence, by convoy the baggage-ships. There was not that
winning manners, and by the charm of hereditary cordiality of co-operation between Cato and Scipio
honours, they united with the influence of office which ought to subsist between a quaestor and his
the material power conferred by a numerous reti- proconsul. Fabius had opposed the permission
nue of clients and adherents, and the intellectual given to Scipio to carry the attack into the enemy's
ascendancy which the monopoly of philosophical home, and Cato, whose appointment was intended
education, of taste in the fine arts, and of acquain- to operate as a check upon Scipio, adopted the
tarce with elegant literature, could not fail to be views of his friend. It is reported by Plutarch,
stow. Nevertheless, the reaction was strong. The that the lax discipline of the troops under Scipio's
less fortunate nobles jealous of this exclusive oli- command, and the extravagant expense incurred by
garchy, and keenly observant of the degeneracy the general, provoked the remonstrance of Cato;
and disorder which followed in the train of luxury, that Scipio thereupon retorted haughtily, saying
placed theinselves at the head of a party which he would give an account of victories, not of pelf:
professed its determination to resort to purer mo- that Cato, returning to Rome, denounced the pro-
dels and to stand upon the ancient ways. In their digality of his general to the senate; and that, at
eyes, rusticity, austerity, and asceticism were the the joint instigation of Cato and Fabius, a com-
marks of Sabine hardihood and religion, and of the mission of tribunes was despatched to Sicily to in-
old Roman unbending integrity and love of order. vestigate the conduct of Scipio, who was acquitted
Marcellus, the family of Scipio, and the two Fla- upon the view of his extensive and judicious pre-
minini, may be taken as types of the new civiliza- parations for the transport of the troops. (Plut.
tion ; Cato's friends, Fabius and Flaccus, were Cat. Maj. 3. ) This account is scarcely consistent
leading men in the party of the old plainness. with the narrative of Livy, and would seem to
Flaccus was one of those clear-sighted politicians attribute to Cato the irregularity of quitting his
who seek out and patronize remarkable ability in post before his time. If Livy be correct, the com-
young and rising men. He had observed Cato's mission was sent upor. the complaint of the in-


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638
CATO.
CATO.
trates.
habitants of Locri, who had been cruelly oppressed the boldness to accost and implore the praetors and
by Pleminius, the legate of Scipio. Livy says not consuls and other magistrates. Even Flaccus wa-
a word of Cato’s interference in this transaction, vered, but his colleague Cato was inexorable, and
but mentions the acrimony with which Fabius ac- made an ungallant and characteristic speech, the
cused Scipio of corrupting military discipline, and substance of which, remodelled and modernized, is
of having unlawfully left his province to take the given by Livy. Finally, the women carried the day.
town of Locri. (Liv. xxix. 19, &c. )
Worn out by their importunity, the recusant tri-
The author of the abridged life of Cato which | bunes withdrew their opposition. The hated law
commonly passes as the work of Cornelius Nepos, was abolished by the suffrage of all the tribes, and
states that Cato, upon his return from Africa, the women evinced their exultation and triumph by
touched at Sardinia, and brought the poet Ennius going in procession through the streets and the
in his own ship from the island to Italy; but Sar- forum, bedizened with their now legitimate finery.
dinia was rather out of the line of the voyage to Scarcely had this important affair been brought
Rome, and it is more likely that the first ac- to a conclusion when Cato, who had maintained
quaintance of Ennius and Cato occurred at a sub during its progress a rough and sturdy consistency
sequent date, when the latter was praetor in without, perhaps, any very serious damage to his
Sardinia. (Aur. Vict. de Vir. Ill. 47. )
popularity, set sail for his appointed province, Ci-
In B. c. 199, Cato was aedile, and with his col- terior Spain.
league Helvius, restored the plebeian games, and In his Spanish campaign, Cato exhibited military
gave upon that occasion a banquet in honour of genius of a very high order. He lived abstemiously,
Jupiter. In the following year he was made prae sharing the food and the labours of the common
• tor, and obtained Sardinia as his province, with the soldier. With indefatigable industry and vigilance,
command of 3,000 infantry and 200 cavalry. Here he not only gave the requisite orders, but, where-
he took the earliest opportunity of illustrating his ever it was possible, personally superintended their
principles by his practice. He diminished official execution. His movements were bold and rapid,
expenses, walked his circuits with a single atten- and he never was remiss in reaping the fruits and
dant, and, by the studied absence of pomp, placed pushing the advantages of victory. The sequence
his own frugality in striking contrast with the op- of his operations and their harmonious combination
pressive magnificence of ordinary provincial magis with the schemes of other generals in other parts
The rites of religion were solemnized with of Spain appear to have been excellently contrived.
decent thrift ; justice was administered with strict His stratagems and manoeuvres were original,
impartiality; usury was restrained with unsparing brilliant, and successful. The plans of his battles
severity, and the usurers were banished.
Sar-
were arranged with consummate skill. He managed
dinia had been for some time completely subdued, to set tribe against tribe, availed himself of native
but if we are to believe the improbable and unsup treachery, and took native mercenaries into his pay.
ported testimony of Aurelius Victor (de Vir. Ill. 47), The details of the campaign, as related by Liry
an insurrection in the island was quelled by Cato, (lib. xxxiv. ), and illustrated by the incidental anec-
during his praetorship.
dotes of Plutarch, are full of horror. We read of
Cato had now established a reputation for pure multitudes who, after they had been stript of their
morality, and strict old-fashioned virtue. He was arms, put themselves to death for very shame ; of
looked upon as the living type and representative wholesale slaughter of surrendered victims, and the
of the ideal ancient Roman. His very faults bore frequent execution of merciless razzias. The poli-
the impress of national character, and humoured tical elements of Roman patriotism inculcated the
national prejudice. To the advancement of such a maxim, that the good of the state ought to be the
man opposition was vain. In B. C. 195, in the first object, and that to it the citizen was bound to
39th year of his age, he was elected consul with his sacrifice upon demand natural feelings and indivi-
old friend and patron L. Valerius Flaccus. dual morality. Such were the principles of Cato.
During this consulship a strange scene took place. He was not the man to feel any compunctious
peculiarly illustrative of Roman manners. In B. c. visitings of conscience in the thorough performance
215, at the height of the Punic war, a law had been of a rigorous public task. His proceedings in Spain
passed on the rogation of the tribune Oppius, that were not at variance with the received idea of the
no woman should possess more than half an ounce fine old Roman soldier, or with his own stern and
of gold, nor wear a garment of divers colours, nor imperious temper. He boasted of having destroyed
drive a carriage with horses at less distance than a more towns in Spain than he had spent days in that
mile from the city, except for the purpose of at country.
tending the public celebration of religious rites. Now When he had reduced the whole tract of land
that Hannibal was conquered ; that Rome abound between the Iberus and the Pyrenees to a hollow,
ed with Carthaginian wealth ; and that there was sulky, and temporary submission, he turned his at-
no longer any necessity for women to contribute tention to administrative reforms, and increased the
towards the exigencies of an impoverished treasury revenues of the province by improvements in the
the savings spared from their ornaments and plea- working of the iron and silver mines. On account
sures, the tribunes T. Fundanius and L. Valerius, of his achievements in Spain, the senate decreed a
thought it time to propose the abolition of the thanksgiving of three days. In the course of the
Oppian law; but they were opposed by their col- year, B. C. 194, he returned to Rome, and was re-
leagues, M. Brutus and T. Brutus. The most im- warded with a triumph, at which he exhibited an
portant affairs of state excited far less interest and extraordinary quantity of captured brass, silver,
zeal than this singular contest. The matrons poured and gold, both coin and bullion. In the distribu-
forth into the streets, blockaded every avenue to the tion of prize-money to his soldiery, he was more
forum, and intercepted their husbands as they ap- | liberal than might have been expected from so
proached, beseeching them to restore the ancient strenuous a professor of parsimonious economy.
ornanents of the Roman matrone. Nay, they had |(Liv. xxxiv. 46. )


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639
CATO.
The return of Cato appears to have been accele | who had been sent off from Greece a few days be
mted by the enmity of P. Scipio Africanus, who fore him. (Liv. xxxvi. 21. )
was consul, B. & 194, and is said to have coveted It was during the campaign in Greece under
the command of the province in which Cato was Glabrio, and, as it would appear from the account
reaping renown. There is some variance between of Plutarch, (rejected by Drumann,) before the
Nepos (or the pseudo-Ncpos), and Plutarch (Cat. battle of Thermopylac, that Cato was commissioned
Maj. 11), in their accounts of this transaction. to keep Corinth, Patrae, and Aegium, from siding
The former asserts that Scipio was unsuccessful in with Antiochus. It was then too that he visited
his attempt to obtain the province, and, offended by Athens, and, to prevent the Athenians from listen-
the repulse, remained after the end of his consul ing to the overtures of the Syrian king, addressed
ship, in a private capacity at Rome. The latter them in a Latin speech, which was explained to
relates that Scipio, who was disgusted by Catoºs them by an interpreter. Already perhaps he had a
severity, was actually appointed to succeed him, smattering of Greek, for, it is said by Plutarch,
but, not being able to procure from the senate a vote that, while at Tarentum in his youth, he became
of censure upon the administration of his rival, intimately acquainted with Nearchus, a Greek plii-
passed the time of his command in utter inactivity. losopher, and it is said by Aurelius Victor that
From the statement in Livy (xxxiv. 43), that while praetor in Sardinia, he received instruction
B. C. 194, Sex. Digitius was appointed to the pro- in Greek from Ennius. It was not so much, per-
vince of Citerior Spain, it is probable that Plutarch haps, on account of his still professed contempt for
was mistaken in assigning that province to Scipio everything Greek, as because his speech was an
Africanus. The notion that Africanus was ap- affair of state, that he used the Latin language, in
pointed successor to Cato in Spain may have arisen compliance with the Roman custom, which was ob-
from a double confusion of name and place, for P. served as a diplomatic mark of Roman majesty.
Scipio Nasica was appointed, B. c. 194, to the Ul- (Val. Max. ii. 2. $ 2. )
terior province.
After his arrival at Rome, there is no certain
However this may be, Cato successfully vindi- proof that Cato was ever again engaged in war.
cated himself by his eloquence, and by the pro Scipio, who had been legatus under Glabrio, was
duction of detailed pecuniary accounts, against the consul B. C. 190, and the province of Greece was
attacks made upon his conduct while consul ; and awarded to him by the senate. An expression
the existing fragments of the speeches, (or the same occurs in Cicero (pro Muren. 14), which might
speech under different names,) made after his re- lead to the opinion that Cato returned to Greece,
turn, attest the vigour and boldness of his defence. and fought under L. Scipio, but, as to such au event,
Plutarch (Cat. Maj. 12), states that, after his history is silent. “Nunquam cum Scipione esset
consulship, Cato accompanied Tib. Senipronius profectus [M.