The CDPD Public Domain Collection for CDTV 3/CDPDIII.bin/books/plutarch/marcus cato

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                                      75 AD
                                  MARCUS CATO
                                  234-149 B.C.
                                  by Plutarch
                           translated by John Dryden

  MARCUS cato, we are told, was born at Tusculum, though (till he
betook himself to civil and military affairs) he lived and was bred up
in the country of the Sabines, where his father's estate lay. His
ancestors seeming almost entirely unknown, he himself praises his
father Marcus, as a worthy man and a brave soldier, and Cato, his
great-grandfather, too, as one who had often obtained military prizes,
and who, having lost five horses under him, received, on the account
of his valour, the worth of them out of the public exchequer. Now it
being the custom among the Romans to call those who, having no
repute by birth, made themselves eminent by their own exertions, new
men or upstarts, they called even Cato himself so, and so he confessed
himself to be as to any public distinction or employment, but yet
asserted that in the exploits and virtues of his ancestors he was very
ancient. His third name originally was not Cato, but Priscus, though
afterwards he had the surname of Cato, by reason of his abilities; for
the Romans call a skilful or experienced man Catus. He was of a
ruddy complexion and grey-eyed; as the writer, who, with no good-will,
made the following epigram upon him lets us see:-

         "Porcius, who snarls at all in every place,
          With his grey eyes, and with his fiery face,
          Even after death will scarce admitted be
          Into the infernal realms by Hecate."

  He gained, in early life, a good habit of body by working with his
own hands, and living temperately, and serving in war; and seemed to
have an equal proportion both of health and strength. And he exerted
and practised his eloquence through all the neighbourhood and little
villages; thinking it as requisite as a second body, and an all but
necessary organ to one who looks forward to something above a mere
humble and inactive life. He would never refuse to be counsel for
those who needed him, and was, indeed, early reckoned a good lawyer,
and, ere long, a capable orator.
  Hence his solidity and depth of character showed itself gradually
more and more to those with whom he was concerned, and claimed, as
it were, employment in great affairs and places of public command. Nor
did he merely abstain from taking fees for his counsel and pleading,
but did not even seem to put any high price on the honour which
proceeded from such kind of combats, seeming much more desirous to
signalize himself in the camp and in real fights; and while yet but
a youth, had his breast covered with scars he had received from the
enemy: being (as he himself says) but seventeen years old when he made
his first campaign; in the time when Hannibal, in the height of his
success, was burning and pillaging all Italy. In engagements he
would strike boldly, without flinching, stand firm to his ground,
fix a bold countenance upon his enemies, and with a harsh
threatening voice accost them, justly thinking himself and telling
others that such a rugged kind of behaviour sometimes terrifies the
enemy more than the sword itself, In his marches he bore his own
arms on foot, whilst one servant only followed, to carry the provision
for his table, with whom he is said never to have been angry or
hasty whilst he made ready his dinner or supper, but would, for the
most part, when he was free from military duty, assist and help him
himself to dress it. When he was with the army, he used to drink
only water; unless, perhaps, when extremely thirsty, he might mingle
it with a little vinegar, or if he found his strength fail him, take a
little wine.
  The little country house of Manius Curius, who had been thrice
carried in triumph, happened to be near his farm; so that often
going thither, and contemplating the small compass of the place, and
plainness of the dwelling, he formed an idea of the mind of the
person, who being one of the greatest of the Romans, and having
subdued the most warlike nations, nay, had driven Pyrrhus out of
Italy, now, after three triumphs, was contented to dig in so small a
piece of ground, and live in such a cottage. Here it was that the
ambassadors of the Samnites, finding him boiling turnips in the
chimney corner, offered him a present of gold; but he sent them away
with this saying; that he, who was content with such a supper, had
no need of gold; and that he thought it more honourable to conquer
those who possessed the gold, than to possess the gold itself. Cato,
after reflecting upon these things, used to return and, reviewing
his own farm, his servants, and housekeeping, increase his labour
and retrench all superfluous expenses.
  When Fabius Maximus took Tarentum, Cato, being then but a youth, was
a soldier under him; and being lodged with one Nearchus, a
Pythagorean, desired to understand some of his doctrine, and hearing
from him the language, which Plato also uses- that pleasure is
evil's chief bait; the body the principal calamity of the soul; and
that those thoughts which most separate and take it off from the
affections of the body most enfranchise and purify it; he fell in love
the more with frugality and temperance. With this exception, he is
said not to have studied Greek until when he was pretty old; and in
rhetoric to have then profited a little by Thucydides, but more by
Demosthenes; his writings, however, are considerably embellished
with Greek sayings and stories; nay, many of these, translated word
for word, are placed with his own opophthegms and sentences.
  There was a man of the highest rank, and very influential among
the Romans, called Valerius Flaccus, who was singularly skilful in
discerning excellence yet in the bud, and also much disposed to
nourish and advance it. He, it seems, had lands bordering upon Cato's;
nor could he but admire when he understood from his servants the
manner of his living, how he laboured with his own hands, went on foot
betimes in the morning to the courts to assist those who wanted his
counsel: how, returning home again, when it was winter, he would throw
a loose frock over his shoulders, and in the summer time would work
without anything on among his domestics, sit down with them, eat of
the same bread, and drink of the same wine. When they spoke, also,
of other good qualities, his fair dealing and moderation, mentioning
also some of his wise sayings, he ordered that he should be invited to
supper; and thus becoming personally assured of his fine temper and
his superior character, which, like a plant, seemed only to require
culture and a better situation, he urged and persuaded him to apply
himself to state affairs at Rome. Thither, therefore, he went, and
by his pleading soon gained many friends and admirers; but, Valerius
chiefly assisting his promotion, he first of all got appointed tribune
in the army, and afterwards was made quaestor, or treasurer. And now
becoming eminent and noted, he passed, with Valerius himself,
through the greatest commands, being first his colleague as consul,
and then censor. But among all the ancient senators, he most
attached himself to Fabius Maximus; not so much for the honour of
his person, and the greatness of his power, as that he might have
before him his habit and manner of life, as the best examples to
follow; and so he did not hesitate to oppose Scipio the Great, who,
being then but a young man, seemed to set himself against the power of
Fabius, and to be envied by him. For being sent together with him as
treasurer, when he saw him, according to his natural custom, make
great expenses, and distribute among the soldiers without sparing,
he freely told him that the expense in itself was not the greatest
thing to be considered, but that he was corrupting the frugality of
the soldiers, by giving them the means to abandon themselves to
unnecessary pleasures and luxuries. Scipio answered, that he had no
need for so accurate a treasurer (bearing on as he was, so to say,
full sail to the war), and that he owed the people an account of his
actions, and not of the money he spent. Hereupon Cato returned from
Sicily and, together with Fabius, made loud complaints in the open
senate of Scipio's lavishing unspeakable sums, and childishly
loitering away his time in wrestling matches and comedies, as if he
were not to make war, but holiday; and thus succeeded in getting
some of the tribunes of the people sent to call him back to Rome, in
case the accusations should prove true. But Scipio demonstrating, as
it were, to them, by his preparations, the coming victory, and,
being found merely to be living pleasantly with his friends, when
there was nothing else to do, but in no respect because of that
easiness and liberality at all the more negligent in things of
consequence and moment, without impediment, set sail toward the war.
  Cato grew more and more powerful by his eloquence, so that he was
commonly called the Roman Demosthenes; but his manner of life was
yet more famous and talked of. For oratorical skill was, as an
accomplishment, commonly studied and sought after by all young men;
but he was very rare who would cultivate the old habits of bodily
labour, or prefer a light supper, and a breakfast which never saw
the fire, or be in love with poor clothes and a homely lodging, or
could set his ambition rather on doing without luxuries than on
possessing them. For now the state, unable to keep its purity by
reason of its greatness, and having so many affairs, and people from
all parts under its government, was fain to admit many mixed customers
and new examples of living. With reason, therefore, everybody
admired Cato, when they saw others sink under labours and grow
effeminate by pleasures; and yet beheld him unconquered by either, and
that not only when he was young and desirous of honour, but also
when old and grey-headed, after a consulship and triumph; like some
famous victor in the games, persevering in his exercise and
maintaining his character to the very last. He himself says that he
never wore a suit of clothes which cost more than a hundred
drachmas; and that, when he was general and consul, he drank the
same wine which his workmen did; and that the meat or fish which was
bought in the meat-market for his dinner did not cost above thirty
asses. All which was for the sake of the commonwealth, that so his
body might be the hardier for the war. Having a piece of embroidered
Babylonian tapestry left him, he sold it; because none of his
farmhouses were so much as plastered. Nor did he ever buy a slave
for above fifteen hundred drachmas; as he did not seek for
effeminate and handsome ones, but able sturdy workmen, horse-keepers
and cow-herds: and these he thought ought to be sold again, when
they grew old, and no useless servants fed in the house. In short,
he reckoned nothing a good bargain which was superfluous; but whatever
it was, though sold for a farthing, he would think it a great price,
if you had no need of it; and was for the purchase of lands for sowing
and feeding, rather than grounds for sweeping and watering.
  Some imputed these things to petty avarice, but others approved of
him, as if he had only the more strictly denied himself for the
rectifying and amending of others. Yet certainly, in my judgment, it
marks an over-rigid temper for a man to take the work out of his
servants as out of brute beasts, turning them off and selling them
in their old age, and thinking there ought to be no further commerce
between man and man than whilst there arises some profit by it. We see
that kindness or humanity has a larger field than bare justice to
exercise itself in; law and justice we cannot, in the nature of
things, employ on others than men; but we may extend our goodness
and charity even to irrational creatures; and such acts flow from a
gentle nature, as water from an abundant spring. It is doubtless the
part of a kind-natured man to keep even worn-out horses and dogs,
and not only take care of them when they are foals and whelps, but
also when they are grown old. The Athenians, when they built their
Hecatompedon, turned those mules loose to feed freely which they had
observed to have done the hardest labour. One of these (they say) came
once of itself to offer its service, and ran along with, nay, and went
before, the teams which drew the wagons up to the acropolis, as if
it would incite and encourage them to draw more stoutly; upon which
there passed a vote that the creature should be kept at the public
charge even till it died. The graves of Cimon's horses, which thrice
won the Olympian races, are yet to be seen close by his own
monument. Old Xanthippus, too (amongst many others who buried the dogs
they had bred up), entombed his which swam after his galley to
Salamis, when the people fled from Athens, on the top of a cliff,
which they call the Dog's Tomb to this day. Nor are we to use living
creatures like old shoes or dishes and throw them away when they are
worn out or broken with service; but if it were for nothing else,
but by way of study and practice in humanity, a man ought always to
prehabituate himself in these things to be of a kind and sweet
disposition. As to myself, I would not so much as sell my draught ox
on the account of his age, much less for a small piece of money sell a
poor old man, and so chase him, as it were, from his own country, by
turning him not only out of the place where he has lived a long while,
but also out of the manner of living he has been accustomed to, and
that more especially when he would be as useless to the buyer as to
the seller. Yet Cato for all this glories that he left that very horse
in Spain which he used in the wars when he was consul, only because he
would not put the public to the charge of his freight. Whether these
acts are to be ascribed to the greatness or pettiness of his spirit,
let every one argue as they please.
  For his general temperance, however, and self-control he really
deserves the highest admiration. For when he commanded the army, he
never took for himself, and those that belonged to him, above three
bushels of wheat for a month, and somewhat less than a bushel and a
half a day of barley for his baggage-cattle. And when he entered
upon the government of Sardinia, where his predecessors had been
used to require tents, bedding and clothes upon the public account,
and to charge the state heavily with the cost of provisions and
entertainments for a great train of servants and friends, the
difference he showed in his economy was something incredible. There
was nothing of any sort for which he put the public to expense; he
would walk without a carriage to visit the cities, with one only of
the common town officers, who carried his dress, and a cup to offer
libation with. Yet though he seemed thus easy and sparing to all who
were under his power, he, on the other hand, showed most inflexible
severity and strictness in what related to public justice, and was
rigorous and precise in what concerned the ordinances of the
commonwealth; so that the Roman government never seemed more terrible,
nor yet more mild than under his administration.
  His very manner of speaking seemed to have such a kind of idea
with it; for it was courteous, and yet forcible; pleasant, yet
overwhelming; facetious, yet austere; sententious, and yet vehement;
like Socrates, in the description of Plato, who seemed outwardly to
those about him to be but a simple, talkative, blunt fellow; whilst at
the bottom he was full of such gravity and matter, as would even
move tears and touch the very hearts of his auditors. And,
therefore, I know not what has persuaded some to say that Cato's style
was chiefly like that of Lysias. However, let us leave those to
judge of these things who profess most to distinguish between the
several kinds of oratorical style in Latin; whilst we write down
some of his memorable sayings; being of the opinion that a man's
character appears much more by his words than, as some think it
does, by his looks.
  Being once desirous to dissuade the common people of Rome from their
unseasonable and impetuous clamour for largesses and distributions
of corn, he began thus to harangue them: "It is a difficult task, O
citizens, to make speeches to the belly, which has no ears."
Reproving, also, their sumptuous habits, he said it was hard to
preserve a city where a fish sold for more than an ox. He had a
saying, also, that the Roman people were like sheep; for they, when
single, do not obey, but when altogether in a flock, they follow their
leaders: "So you," said he, "when you have got together in a body, let
yourselves be guided by those whom singly you would never think of
being advised by." Discoursing of the power of women: "Men," said
he, "usually command women; but we command all men, and the women
command us." But this, indeed, is borrowed from the sayings of
Themistocles, who, when his son was making many demands of him by
means of the mother, said, "O woman, the Athenians govern the
Greeks; I govern the Athenians, but you govern me, and your son
governs you; so let him use his power sparingly, since, simple as he
is, he can do more than all the Greeks together." Another saying of
Cato's was, that the Roman people did not only fix the value of such
and such purple dyes, but also of such and such habits of life: "For,"
said he, "as dyers most of all dye such colours as they see to be most
agreeable, so the young men learn, and zealously affect, what is
most popular with you." He also exhorted them that, if they were grown
great by their virtue and temperance, they should not change for the
worse; but if intemperance and vice had made them great, they should
change for the better; for by that means they were grown indeed
quite great enough. He would say, likewise, of men who wanted to be
continually in office, that apparently they did not know their road;
since they could not do without beadles to guide them on it. He also
reproved the citizens for choosing still the same men as their
magistrates: "For you will seem," said he, "either not to esteem
government worth much, or to think few worthy to hold it." Speaking,
too, of a certain enemy of his, who lived a very base and
discreditable life: "It is considered," he said, "rather as a curse
than a blessing on him, that this fellow's mother prays that she may
leave him behind her." Pointing at one who had sold the land which his
father had left him, and which lay near the seaside, he pretended to
express his wonder at his being stronger even than the sea itself; for
what it washed away with a great deal of labour, he with a great
deal of ease drank away. When the senate, with a great deal of
splendour, received King Eumenes on his visit to Rome, and the chief
citizens strove who should be most about him, Cato appeared to
regard him with suspicion and apprehension; and when one that stood
by, too, took occasion to say that he was a very good prince and a
great lover of the Romans: "It may be so," said Cato; "but by nature
this same animal of a king is a kind of man-eater;" nor, indeed,
were there ever kings who deserved to be compared with Epaminondas,
Pericles, Themistocles, Manius Curius, or Hamilcar, surnamed Barcas.
He used to say, too, that his enemies envied him because he had to get
up every day before light and neglect his own business to follow
that of the public. He would also tell you that he had rather be
deprived of the reward for doing well than not to suffer the
punishment for doing ill; and that he could pardon all offenders but
himself.
  The Romans having sent three ambassadors to Bithynia, of whom one
was gouty, another had his skull trepanned, and the other seemed
little better than a fool, Cato, laughing, gave out that the Romans
had sent an embassy which had neither feet, head, nor heart. His
interest being entreated by Scipio, on account of Polybius, for the
Achaean exiles, and there happening to be a great discussion in the
senate about it, some being for, and some against their return,
Cato, standing up, thus delivered himself: "Here do we sit all day
long, as if we had nothing to do but beat our brains whether these old
Greeks should be carried to their graves by the bearers here or by
those in Achaea." The senate voting their return, it seems that a
few days after Polybius's friends further wished that it should be
further moved in the senate that the said banished persons should
receive again the honours which they first had in Achaea; and to
this purpose they sounded Cato for his opinion; but he, smiling,
answered, that Polybius, Ulysses like, having escaped out of the
Cyclops' den, wanted, it would seem, to go back again because he had
left his cap and belt behind him. He used to assert, also, that wise
men profited more by fools, than fools by wise men for that wise men
avoided the faults of fools, but that fools would not imitate the good
examples of wise men. He would profess, too, that he was more taken
with young men that blushed than with those who looked pale; and
that he never desired to have a soldier that moved his hands too
much in marching, and his feet too much in fighting; or snored
louder than he shouted. Ridiculing a fat, overgrown man: "What use,"
said he, "can the state turn a man's body to, when all between the
throat and groin is taken up by the belly?" When one who was much
given to pleasures desired his acquaintance, begging his pardon, he
said he could not live with a man whose palate was of a quicker
sense than his heart. He would likewise say that the soul of a lover
lived in the body of another: and that in his whole life he most
repented of three things; one was, that he had trusted a secret to a
woman; another that he went by water when he might have gone by
land; the third, that he had remained one whole day without doing
any business of moment. Applying himself to an old man who was
committing some vice: "Friend," said he, "old age has of itself
blemishes enough; do not you add to it the deformity of vice."
Speaking to a tribune, who was reputed a Poisoner, and was very
violent for the bringing in of a bill, in order to make a certain law:
"Young man," cried he, "I know not which would be better, to drink,
what you mix, or confirm what you would put up for a law." Being
reviled by a fellow who lived a profligate and wicked life: "A
contest," replied he, "is unequal between you and me: for you can hear
ill words easily, and can as easily give them: but it is unpleasant to
me to give such, and unusual to hear them." Such was his manner of
expressing himself in his memorable sayings.
  Being chosen consul, with his friend and familiar Valerius
Flaccus, the government of that part of Spain which the Romans
called the Hither Spain fell to his lot. Here, as he was engaged in
reducing some of the tribes by force, and bringing over others by good
words, a large army of barbarians fell upon him, so that there was
danger of being disgracefully forced out again. He therefore called
upon his neighbours, the Celtiberians, for help; and on their
demanding two hundred talents for their assistance, everybody else
thought it intolerable that even the Romans should promise
barbarians a reward for their aid; but Cato said there was no
discredit or harm in it; for, if they overcame, they would pay them
out of the enemy's purse, and not out of their own; but if they were
overcome, there would be nobody left either to demand the reward or to
pay it. However, he won that battle completely, and, after that, all
his other affairs succeeded splendidly. Polybius says that, by his
command, the walls of all the cities on this side the river Baetis
were in one day's time demolished, and yet there were a great many
of them full of brave and warlike men. Cato himself says that he
took more cities than he stayed days in Spain. Neither is this a
mere rhodomontade, if it be true that the number was four hundred. And
though the soldiers themselves had got much in the fights, yet he
distributed a pound of silver to every man of them, saying, it was
better that many of the Romans should return home with silver,
rather than a few with gold. For himself, he affirms, that of all
the things that were taken, nothing came to him beyond what he ate and
drank. "Neither do I find fault," continued he, "with those that
seek to profit by these spoils, but I had rather compete in valour
with the best, than in wealth with the richest, or with the most
covetous in love of money." Nor did he merely keep himself clear
from taking anything, but even all those who more immediately belonged
to him. He had five servants with him in the army; one of whom
called Paccus, bought three boys out of those who were taken
captive; which Cato coming to understand, the man, rather than venture
into his presence, hanged himself. Cato sold the boys, and carried the
price he got for them into the public exchequer.
  Scipio the Great, being his enemy, and desiring, whilst he was
carrying all things so successfully, to obstruct him, and take the
affairs of Spain into his own hands, succeeded in getting himself
appointed his successor in the government, and, making all possible
haste, put a term to Cato's authority. But he, taking with him a
convoy of five cohorts of foot and five hundred horse to attend him
home, overthrew by the way the Lacetanians, and taking from them six
hundred deserters, caused them all to be beheaded; upon which Scipio
seemed to be in indignation, but Cato, in mock disparagement of
himself, said, "Rome would become great indeed, if the most honourable
and great men would not yield up the first place of valour to those
who were more obscure, and when they who were of the commonalty (as he
himself was) would contend in valour with those who were most
eminent in birth and honour." The senate having voted to change
nothing of what had been established by Cato, the government passed
away under Scipio to no manner of purpose, in idleness and doing
nothing; and so diminished his credit much more than Cato's. Nor did
Cato, who now received a triumph, remit after this and slacken the
reins of virtue, as many do, who strive not so much for virtue's sake,
as for vainglory, and having attained the highest honours, as the
consulship and triumphs, pass the rest of their life in pleasure and
idleness, and quit all public affairs. But he, like those who are just
entered upon public life for the first time, and thirst after
gaining honour and glory in some new office, strained himself, as if
he were but just setting out; and offering still publicly his
service to his friends and citizens, would give up neither his
pleadings nor his soldiery.
  He accompanied and assisted Tiberius Sempronius, as his
lieutenant, when he went into Thrace and to the Danube; and, in the
quality of tribune, went with Manius Acilius into Greece, against
Antiochus the Great, who, after Hannibal, more than any one struck
terror into the Romans. For having reduced once more under a single
command almost the whole of Asia, all, namely, that Seleucus Nicator
had possessed, and having brought into obedience many warlike
nations of the barbarians, he longed to fall upon the Romans, as if
they only were now worthy to fight with him. So across he came with
his forces, pretending, as a specious cause of the war, that it was to
free the Greeks, who had indeed no need of it, they having been but
newly delivered from the power of king Philip and the Macedonians, and
made independent, with the free use of their own laws, by the goodness
of the Romans themselves: so that all Greece was in commotion and
excitement, having been corrupted by the hopes of royal aid which
the popular leaders in their cities put them into. Manius,
therefore, sent ambassadors to the different cities; and Titus
Flaminius (as is written in the account of him) suppressed and quieted
most of the attempts of the innovators, without any trouble. Cato
brought over the Corinthians, those of Patrae and Aegium, and spent
a good deal of time at Athens. There is also an oration of his said to
be extant which he spoke in Greek to the people; in which he expressed
his admiration of the virtue of the ancient Athenians, and signified
that he came with a great deal of pleasure to be a spectator of the
beauty and greatness of their city. But this is a fiction; for he
spoke to the Athenians by an interpreter, though he was able to have
spoken himself; but he wished to observe the usage of his own country,
and laughed at those who admired nothing but what was in Greek.
Jesting upon Postumius Albinus, who had written an historical work
in Greek, and requested that allowances might be made for his attempt,
he said that allowance indeed might be made if he had done it under
the express compulsion of an Amphictyonic decree. The Athenians, he
says, admired the quickness and vehemence of his speech; for an
interpreter would be very long in repeating what he expressed with a
great deal of brevity; but on the whole he professed to believe that
the words of the Greeks came only from their lips, whilst those of the
Romans came from their hearts.
  Now Antiochus, having occupied with his army the narrow passages
about Thermopylae, and added palisades and walls to the natural
fortifications of the place, sat down there, thinking he had done
enough to divert the war; and the Romans, indeed, seemed wholly to
despair of forcing the passage; but Cato, calling to mind the
compass and circuit which the Persians had formerly made to come at
this place, went forth in the night, taking along with him part of the
army. Whilst they were climbing up, the guide, who was a prisoner,
missed the way, and wandering up and down by impracticable and
precipitous paths, filled the soldiers with fear and despondency.
Cato, perceiving the danger, commanded all the rest to halt, and
stay where they were, whilst he himself, taking along with him one
Lucius Manlius, a most expert man at climbing mountains, went
forward with a great deal of labour and danger, in the dark night, and
without the least moonshine, among the wild olive-trees and steep
craggy rocks, there being nothing but precipices and darkness before
their eyes, till they struck into a little pass which they thought
might lead down into the enemy's camp. There they put up marks upon
some conspicuous peaks which surmount the hill called Callidromon,
and, returning again, they led the army along with them to the said
marks, till they got into their little path again, and there once made
a halt; but when they began to go further, the path deserted them at a
precipice, where they were in another strait and fear; nor did they
perceive that they were all this while near the enemy. And now the day
began to give some light, when they seemed to hear a noise, and
presently after to see the Greek trenches and the guard at the foot of
the rock. Here, therefore, Cato halted his forces, and commanded the
troops from Firmum only, without the rest, to stick by him, as he
had always found them faithful and ready. And when they came up and
formed around him in close order, he thus spoke to them: "I desire,"
he said, "to take one of the enemy alive, that so I may understand
what men these are who guard the passage; their number; and with
what discipline, order, and preparation they expect us; but this
feat," continued he, "must be an act of a great deal of quickness
and boldness, such as that of lions, when they dart upon some timorous
animal." Cato had no sooner thus expressed himself, but the Firmans
forthwith rushed down the mountain, just as they were, upon the guard,
and, falling unexpectedly upon them, affrighted and dispersed them
all. One armed man they took, and brought to Cato, who quickly learned
from him that the rest of the forces lay in the narrow passage about
the king; that those who kept the tops of the rocks were six hundred
choice Aetolians. Cato, therefore, despising the smallness of their
number and carelessness, forthwith drawing his sword, fell upon them
with a great noise of trumpets and shouting. The enemy, perceiving
them thus tumbling, as it were, upon them from the precipices, flew to
the main body, and put all things into disorder there.
  In the meantime, whilst Manius was forcing the works below, and
pouring the thickest of his forces into the narrow passages, Antiochus
was hit in the mouth with a stone, so that his teeth being beaten
out by it, he felt such excessive pain, that he was fain to turn
away with his horse; nor did any part of his army stand the shock of
the Romans. Yet, though there seemed no reasonable hope of flight,
where all paths were so difficult, and where there were deep marshes
and steep rocks, which looked as if they were ready to receive those
who should stumble, the fugitives, nevertheless, crowding and pressing
together in the narrow passages, destroyed even one another in their
terror of the swords and blows of the enemy. Cato (as it plainly
appears) was never oversparing of his own praises, and seldom
shunned boasting of any exploit; which quality, indeed, he seems to
have thought the natural accompaniment of great actions; and with
these particular exploits he was highly puffed up; he says that
those who saw him that day pursuing and slaying the enemies were ready
to assert that Cato owed not so much to the public as the public did
to Cato; nay, he adds, that Manius the consul, coming hot from the
fight, embraced him for a great while, when both were all in a
sweat; and then cried out with joy that neither he himself, no, nor
all the people together, could make him a recompense equal to his
actions. After the fight he was sent to Rome, that he himself might be
the messenger of it: and so, with a favourable wind, he sailed to
Brundusium, and in one day got from thence to Tarentum; and having
travelled four days more, upon the fifth, counting from the time of
his landing, he arrived at Rome, and so brought the first news of
the victory himself; and filled the whole city with joy and
sacrifices, and the people with the belief that they were able to
conquer every sea and every land.
  These are pretty nearly all the eminent actions of Cato relating
to military affairs: in civil policy, he was of opinion that one chief
duty consisted in accusing and indicting criminals. He himself
prosecuted many, and he would also assist others who prosecuted
them, nay, would even procure such, as he did the Petilii against
Scipio; but not being able to destroy him, by reason of the
nobleness of his family, and the real greatness of his mind, which
enabled him to trample all calumnies under foot, Cato at last would
meddle no more with him; yet joining with the accusers against
Scipio's brother Lucius, he succeeded in obtaining a sentence
against him, which condemned him to the payment of a large sum of
money to the state; and being insolvent, and in danger of being thrown
into jail, he was, by the interposition of the tribunes of the people,
with much ado dismissed. It is also said of Cato, that when he met a
certain youth, who had effected the disgrace of one of his father's
enemies, walking in the market-place, he shook him by the hand,
telling him, that this was what we ought to sacrifice to our dead
parents- not lambs and goats, but the tears and condemnations of their
adversaries. But neither did he himself escape with impunity in his
management of affairs; for if he gave his enemies but the least
hold, he was still in danger, and exposed to be brought to justice. He
is reported to have escaped at least fifty indictments; and one
above the rest, which was the last, when he was eighty-six years
old, about which time he uttered the well-known saying, that it was
hard for him who had lived with one generation of men, to plead now
before another. Neither did he make this the least of his lawsuits;
for, four years after, when he was fourscore and ten, he accused
Servilius Galba: so that his life and actions extended, we may say, as
Nestor's did, over three ordinary ages of man. For, having had many
contests, as we have related, with Scipio the Great, about affairs
of state, he continued them down to Scipio the younger, who was the
adopted grandson of the former, and the son of that Paulus who
overthrew Perseus and the Macedonians.
  Ten years after his consulship, Cato stood for the office of censor,
which was indeed the summit of all honour, and in a manner the highest
step in civil affairs; for besides all other power, it had also that
of an inquisition into every one's life and manners. For the Romans
thought that no marriage, or rearing of children, nay, no feast or
drinking-bout, ought to be permitted according to every one's appetite
or fancy, without being examined and inquired into; being indeed of
opinion that a man's character was much sooner perceived in things
of this sort than in what is done publicly and in open day. They
chose, therefore, two persons, one out of the patricians, the other
out of the commons, who were to watch, correct, and punish, if any one
ran too much into voluptuousness, or transgressed the usual manner
of life of his country; and these they called Censors. They had
power to take away a horse, or expel out of the senate any one who
lived intemperately and out of order. It was also their business to
take an estimate of what every one was worth, and to put down in
registers everybody's birth and quality; besides many other
prerogatives. And therefore the chief nobility opposed his pretensions
to it. Jealousy prompted the patricians, who thought that it would
be a stain to everybody's nobility, if men of no original honour
should rise to the highest dignity and power; while others,
conscious of their own evil practices, and of the violation of the
laws and customs of their country, were afraid of the austerity of the
man; which, in an office of such great power, was likely to prove most
uncompromising and severe. And so, consulting among themselves, they
brought forward seven candidates in opposition to him, who
sedulously set themselves to court the people's favour by fair
promises, as though what they wished for was indulgent and easy
government. Cato, on the contrary, promising no such mildness, but
plainly threatening evil livers, from the very hustings openly
declared himself, and exclaiming that the city needed a great and
thorough purgation, called upon the people, if they were wise, not
to choose the gentlest, but the roughest of physicians; such a one, he
said, he was, and Valerius Flaccus, one of the patricians, another;
together with him, he doubted not but he should do something worth the
while, and that by cutting to pieces and burning like a hydra all
luxury and voluptuousness. He added, too, that he saw all the rest
endeavouring after the office with ill intent, because they were
afraid of those who would exercise it justly, as they ought. And so
truly great and so worthy of great men to be its leaders was, it would
seem the Roman people, that they did not fear the severity and grim
countenance of Cato, but rejecting those smooth promisers who were
ready to do all things to ingratiate themselves, they took him,
together with Flaccus; obeying his recommendations not as though he
were a candidate, but as if he had had the actual power of
commanding and governing already.
  Cato named, as chief of the senate, his friend and colleague
Lucius Valerius Flaccus, and expelled, among many others, Lucius
Quintius, who had been consul seven years before, and (which was
greater honour to him than the consulship) brother to that Titus
Flaminius who overthrew King Philip. The reason he had for his
expulsion was this. Lucius, it seems, took along with him in all his
commands a youth whom he had kept as his companion from the flower
of his age, and to whom he gave as much power and respect as to the
chiefest of his friends and relations.
  Now it happened that Lucius being consular governor of one of the
provinces, the youth setting himself down by him, as he used to do,
among other flatteries with which he played upon him, when he was in
his cups, told him he loved him so dearly that, "though there was a
show of gladiators to be seen at Rome, and I," he said, "had never
beheld one in my life; and though I, as it were, longed to see a man
killed, yet I made all possible haste to come to you." Upon this
Lucius, returning his fondness, replied, "Do not be melancholy on that
account; I can remedy that." Ordering therefore, forthwith, one of
those condemned to die to be brought to the feast, together with the
headsman and axe, he asked the youth if he wished to see him executed.
The boy answering that he did, Lucius commanded the executioner to cut
off his neck; and this several historians mention; and Cicero, indeed,
in his dialogue de Senectute, introduces Cato relating it himself. But
Livy says that he that was killed was a Gaulish deserter, and that
Lucius did not execute him by the stroke of the executioner, but
with his own hand; and that it is so stated in Cato's speech.
  Lucius being thus expelled out of the senate by Cato, his brother
took it very ill, and appealing to the people, desired that Cato
should declare his reasons; and when he began to relate this
transaction of the feast, Lucius endeavoured to deny it; but Cato
challenging him to a formal investigation, he fell off and refused it,
so that he was then acknowledged to suffer deservedly. Afterwards,
however, when there was some show at the theatre, he passed by the
seats where those who had been consuls used to be placed, and taking
his seat a great way off, excited the compassion of the common people,
who presently with a great noise made him go forward, and as much as
they could tried to set right and salve over what had happened.
Manilius, also, who, according to the public expectation, would have
been next consul, he threw out of the senate, because, in the presence
of his daughter, and in open day, he had kissed his wife. He said
that, as for himself, his wife never came into his arms except when
there was great thunder; so that it was for jest with him, that it was
a pleasure for him, when Jupiter thundered.
  His treatment of Lucius, likewise the brother of Scipio, and one who
had been honoured with a triumph, occasioned some odium against
Cato; for he took his horse from him, and was thought to do it with
a design of putting an affront on Scipio Africanus, now dead. But he
gave most general annoyance by retrenching people's luxury; for though
(most of the youth being thereby already corrupted) it seemed almost
impossible to take it away with an open hand and directly, yet
going, as it were, obliquely around, he caused all dress, carriages,
women's ornaments, household furniture, whose price exceeded one
thousand five hundred drachmas, to be rated at ten times as much as
they were worth; intending by thus making the assessments greater,
to increase the taxes paid upon them. He also ordained that upon every
thousand asses of property of this kind, three should be paid, so that
people, burdened with these extra charges, and seeing others of as
good estates, but more frugal and sparing, paying less into the public
exchequer, might be tried out of their prodigality. And thus, on the
one side, not only those were disgusted at Cato who bore the taxes for
the sake of their luxury, but those, too, who on the other side laid
by their luxury for fear of the taxes. For people in general reckon
that an order not to display their riches is equivalent to the
taking away of their riches, because riches are seen much more in
superfluous than in necessary things. Indeed this was what excited the
wonder of Ariston the philosopher; that we account those who possess
superfluous things more happy than those who abound with what is
necessary and useful. But when one of his friends asked Scopas, the
rich Thessalian, to give him some article of no great utility,
saying that it was not a thing that he had any great need or use for
himself, "In truth," replied he, "it is just these useless and
unnecessary things that make my wealth and happiness." Thus the desire
of riches does not proceed from a natural passion within us, but
arises rather from vulgar out-of-doors opinion of other people.
  Cato, notwithstanding, being little solicitous as to those who
exclaimed against him, increased his austerity. He caused the pipes,
through which some persons brought the public water into their
houses and gardens, to be cut, and threw down all buildings which
jutted out into the common streets. He beat down also the price in
contracts for public works to the lowest, and raised it in contracts
for farming the taxes to the highest sum; by which proceedings he drew
a great deal of hatred upon himself. Those who were of Titus
Flaminius's party cancelled in the senate all the bargains and
contracts made by him for the repairing and carrying on of the
sacred and public buildings as unadvantageous to the commonwealth.
They incited also the boldest of the tribunes of the people to
accuse him and to fine him two talents. They likewise much opposed him
in building the court or basilica, which he caused to be erected at
the common charge, just by the senate-house, in the market-place,
and called by his own name, the Porcian. However, the people, it
seems, liked his censorship wondrously well; for, setting up a
statue for him in the temple of the goddess of Health, they put an
inscription under it, not recording his commands in war or his
triumph, but to the effect that this was Cato the Censor, who, by
his good discipline and wise and temperate ordinances, reclaimed the
Roman commonwealth when it was declining and sinking down into vice.
Before this honour was done to himself, he used to laugh at those
who loved such kind of things, saying, that they did not see that they
were taking pride in the workmanship of brass-founders and painters;
whereas the citizens bore about his best likeness in their breasts.
And when any seemed to wonder that he should have never a statue,
while many ordinary persons had one, "I would," said he, "much
rather be asked, why I have not one, than why I have one." In short,
he would not have any honest citizen endure to be praised, except it
might prove advantageous to the commonwealth. Yet still he had
passed the highest commendation on himself; for he tells us that those
who did anything wrong, and were found fault with, used to say it
was not worth while to blame them, for they were not Catos. He also
adds, that they who awkwardly mimicked some of his actions were called
left-handed Catos; and that the senate in perilous times would cast
their eyes on him, as upon a pilot in a ship, and that often when he
was not present they put off affairs of greatest consequence. These
things are indeed also testified of him by others; for he had a
great authority in the city, alike for his life, his eloquence, and
his age.
  He was also a good father, an excellent husband to his wife, and
an extraordinary economist; and as he did not manage his affairs of
this kind carelessly, and as things of little moment, I think I
ought to record a little further whatever was commendable in him in
these points. He married a wife more noble than rich; being of opinion
that the rich and the high-born are equally haughty and proud; but
that those of noble blood would be more ashamed of base things, and
consequently more obedient to their husbands in all that was fit and
right. A man who beat his wife or child laid violent hands, he said,
on what was most sacred; and a good husband he reckoned worthy of more
praise than a great senator; and he admired the ancient Socrates for
nothing so much as for having lived a temperate and contented life
with a wife who was a scold, and children who were half-witted.
  As soon as he had a son born, though he had never such urgent
business upon his hands, unless it were some public matter, he would
be by when his wife washed it and dressed it in its swaddling clothes.
For she herself suckled it, nay, she often too gave her breast to
her servants' children, to produce, by suckling the same milk, a
kind of natural love in them to her son. When he began to come to
years of discretion, Cato himself would teach him to read, although he
had a servant, a very good grammarian, called Chilo, who taught many
others; but he thought not fit, as he himself said, to have his son
reprimanded by a slave, or pulled, it may be, by the ears when found
tardy in his lesson: nor would he have him owe to a servant the
obligation of so great a thing as his learning; he himself,
therefore (as we were saying), taught him his grammar, law, and his
gymnastic exercises. Nor did he only show him, too, how to throw a
dart, to fight in armour, and to ride, but to box also and to endure
both heat and cold, and to swim over the most rapid and rough
rivers. He says, likewise, that he wrote histories, in large
characters, with his own hand, that so his son, without stirring out
of the house, might learn to know about his countrymen and
forefathers; nor did he less abstain from speaking anything obscene
before his son, than if it had been in the presence of the sacred
virgins, called vestals. Nor would he ever go into the bath with
him; which seems indeed to have been the common custom of the
Romans. Sons-in-law used to avoid bathing with fathers-in-law,
disliking to see one another naked; but having, in time, learned of
the Greeks to strip before men, they have since taught the Greeks to
do it even with the women themselves.
  Thus, like an excellent work, Cato formed and fashioned his son to
virtue; nor had he any occasion to find fault with his readiness and
docility; but as he proved to be of too weak a constitution for
hardships, he did not insist on requiring of him any very austere
way of living. However, though delicate in health, he proved a stout
man in the field, and behaved himself valiantly when Paulus Aemilius
fought against Perseus; where when his sword was struck from him by
a blow, or rather slipped out of his hand by reason of its
moistness, he so keenly resented it, that he turned to some of his
friends about him, and taking them along with him again fell upon
the enemy; and having by a long fight and much force cleared the
place, at length found it among great heaps of arms, and the dead
bodies of friends as well as enemies piled one upon another. Upon
which Paulus, his general, much commended the youth; and there is a
letter of Cato's to his son, which highly praised his honourable
eagerness for the recovery of his sword. Afterwards he married Tertia,
Aemilius Paulus's daughter, and sister to Scipio; nor was he
admitted into this family less for his own worth than his father's. So
that Cato's care in his son's education came to a very fitting result.
  He purchased a great many slaves out of the captives taken in war,
but chiefly brought up the young ones, who were capable to be, as it
were, broken and taught like whelps and colts. None of these ever
entered another man's house, except sent either by Cato himself or his
wife. If any one of them were asked what Cato did, they answered
merely that they did not know. When a servant was at home, he was
obliged either to do some work or sleep, for indeed Cato loved those
most who used to lie down often to sleep, accounting them more
docile than those who were wakeful, and more fit for anything when
they were refreshed with a little slumber. Being also of opinion
that the great cause of the laziness and misbehaviour of slaves was
their running after their pleasures, he fixed a certain price for them
to pay for permission amongst themselves, but would suffer no
connections out of the house. At first, when he was but a poor
soldier, he would not be difficult in anything which related to his
eating, but looked upon it as a pitiful thing to quarrel with a
servant for the belly's sake; but afterwards, when he grew richer, and
made any feasts for his friends and colleagues in office, as soon as
supper was over he used to go with a leather thong and scourge those
who had waited or dressed the meat carelessly. He always contrived,
too, that his servants should have some difference one among
another, always suspecting and fearing a good understanding between
them. Those who had committed anything worthy of death, he punished if
they were found guilty by the verdict of their fellow-servants. But
being after all much given to the desire of gain, he looked upon
agriculture rather as a pleasure than profit; resolving, therefore, to
lay out his money in safe and solid things, he purchased ponds, hot
baths, grounds full of fuller's earth, remunerative lands, pastures,
and woods; from all which he drew large returns, nor could Jupiter
himself, he used to say, do him much damage. He was also given to
the form of usury, which is considered most odious, in traffic by sea;
and that thus:- he desired that those whom he put out his money to
should have many partners; when the number of them and their ships
came to be fifty, he himself took one share through Quintio his
freedman, who therefore was to sail with the adventurers, and take a
part in all their proceedings, so that thus there was no danger of
losing his whole stock, but only a little part, and that with a
prospect of great profit. He likewise lent money to those of his
slaves who wished to borrow, with which they bought also other young
ones, whom, when they had taught and bred up at his charges, they
would sell again at the year's end; but some of them Cato would keep
for himself, giving just as much for them as another had offered. To
incline his son to be of his kind or temper, he used to tell him
that it was not like a man, but rather like a widow woman, to lessen
an estate, But the strongest indication of Cato's avaricious humour
was when he took the boldness to affirm that he was a most
wonderful, nay, a godlike man, who left more behind him than he had
received.
  He was now grown old, when Carneades the Academic, and Diogenes
the Stoic, came as deputies from Athens to Rome, praying for release
from a penalty of five hundred talents laid on the Athenians, in a
suit, to which they did not appear, in which the Oropians were
plaintiffs and Sicyonians judges. All the most studious youth
immediately waited on these philosophers, and frequently, with
admiration, heard them speak. But the gracefulness of Carneades's
oratory, whose ability was really greatest, and his reputation equal
to it, gathered large and favourable audiences, and ere long filled,
like a wind, all the city with the sound of it. So that it soon
began to be told that a Greek, famous even to admiration, winning
and carrying all before him, had impressed so strange a love upon
the young men, that quitting all their pleasures and pastimes, they
ran mad, as it were, after philosophy; which indeed much pleased the
Romans in general; nor could they but with much pleasure see the youth
receive so welcomely the Greek literature, and frequent the company of
learned men. But Cato, on the other side, seeing the passion for words
flowing into the city, from the beginning took it ill, fearing lest
the youth should be diverted that way, and so should prefer the
glory of speaking well before that of arms and doing well. And when
the fame of the philosophers increased in the city, and Caius Acilius,
a person of distinction, at his own request, became their
interpreter to the senate at their first audience, Cato resolved,
under some specious pretence, to have all philosophers cleared out
of the city; and, coming into the senate, blamed the magistrates for
letting these deputies stay so long a time without being despatched,
though they were persons that could easily persuade the people to what
they pleased; that therefore in all haste something should be
determined about their petition, that so they might go home again to
their own schools, and declaim to the Greek children, and leave the
Roman youth to be obedient, as hitherto, to their own laws and
governors.
  Yet he did this not out of any anger, as some think, to Carneades;
but because he wholly despised philosophy, and out of a kind of
pride scoffed at the Greek studies and literature; as, for example, he
would say, that Socrates was a prating, seditious fellow, who did
his best to tyrannize over his country, to undermine the ancient
customs, and to entice and withdraw the citizens to opinions
contrary to the laws. Ridiculing the school of Isocrates, he would
add, that his scholars grew old men before they had done learning with
him, as if they were to use their art and plead causes in the court of
Minos in the next world. And to frighten his son from anything that
was Greek, in a more vehement tone than became one of his age, he
pronounced, as it were, with the voice of an oracle, that the Romans
would certainly be destroyed when they began once to be infected
with Greek literature; though time indeed has shown the vanity of this
his prophecy; as, in truth, the city of Rome has risen to its
highest fortune while entertaining Grecian learning. Nor had he an
aversion only against the Greek philosophers, but the physicians also;
for having, it seems, heard how Hippocrates, when the king of Persia
sent for him, with offers of a fee of several talents, said, that he
would never assist barbarians who were enemies to the Greeks; he
affirmed, that this was now become a common oath taken by all
physicians, and enjoined his son to have a care and avoid them; for
that he himself had written a little book of prescriptions for
curing those who were sick in his family; he never enjoined fasting to
any one, but ordered them either vegetables, or the meat of a duck,
pigeon, or leveret; such kind of diet being of light digestion and fit
for sick folks, only it made those who ate it dream a little too much;
and by the use of this kind of physic, he said, he not only made
himself and those about him well, but kept them so.
  However, for this his presumption he seemed not to have escaped
unpunished; for he lost both his wife and his son; though he
himself, being of a strong, robust constitution, held out longer; so
that he would often, even in his old days, address himself to women,
and when he was past a lover's age, married a young woman, upon the
following pretence: Having lost his own wife, he married his son to
the daughter of Paulus Aemilius, who was sister to Scipio; so that
being now a widower himself, he had a young girl who came privately to
visit him, but the house being very small, and a daughter-in-law
also in it, this practice was quickly discovered; for the young
woman seeming once to pass through it a little too boldly, the
youth, his son, though he said nothing, seemed to look somewhat
indignantly upon her. The old man perceiving and understanding that
what he did was disliked, without finding any fault or saying a
word, went away, as his custom was, with his usual companions to the
market: and among the rest, he called aloud to one Salonius, who had
been a clerk under him, and asked him whether he had married his
daughter? He answered no, nor would he, till he had consulted him.
Said Cato, "Then I have found out a fit son-in-law for you, if he
should not displease by reason of his age; for in all other points
there is no fault to be found in him; but he is indeed, as I said,
extremely old." However, Salonius desired him to undertake the
business, and to give the young girl to whom he pleased, she being a
humble servant of his, who stood in need of his care and patronage.
Upon this Cato, without any more ado, told him he desired to have
the damsel himself. These words, as may well be imagined, at first
astonished the man, conceiving that Cato was as far off from marrying,
as he from a likelihood of being allied to the family of one who had
been consul and had triumphed; but perceiving him in earnest, he
consented willingly; and going onwards to the forum, they quickly
completed the bargain.
  Whilst the marriage was in hand, Cato's son, taking some of his
friends along with him, went and asked his father if it were for any
offence he brought in a stepmother upon him? But Cato cried out,
"Far from it, my son, I have no fault to find with you or anything
of yours; only I desire to have many children, and to leave the
commonwealth more such citizens as you are." Pisistratus, the tyrant
of Athens, made, they say, this answer to his sons, when they were
grown men, when he married his second wife, Timonassa of Argos, by
whom he had, it is said, Iophon and Thessalus. Cato had a son by
this second wife, to whom, from his mother, he gave the surname of
Salonius. In the meantime, his eldest died in his praetorship; of whom
Cato often makes mention in his books, as having been a good man. He
is said, however, to have borne the loss moderately and like a
philosopher, and was nothing the more remiss in attending to affairs
of state; so that he did not, as Lucius Lucullus and Metellus Pius
did, grow languid in his old age, as though public business were a
duty once to be discharged, and then quitted; nor did he, like
Scipio Africanus, because envy had struck at his glory, turn from
the public, and change and pass away the rest of his life without
doing anything; but as one persuaded Dionysius, that the most
honourable tomb he could have would be to die in the exercise of his
dominion; so Cato thought that old age to be the most honourable which
was busied in public affairs; though he would, now and then, when he
had leisure, recreate himself with husbandry and writing.
  And, indeed, he composed various books and histories; and in his
youth he addicted himself to agriculture for profit's sake; for he
used to say he had but two ways of getting- agriculture and parsimony;
and now, in his old age, the first of these gave him both occupation
and a subject of study. He wrote one book on country matters, in which
he treated particularly even of making cakes and preserving fruit;
it being his ambition to be curious and singular in all things. His
suppers, at his country house, used also to be plentiful; he daily
invited his friends and neighbours about him, and passed the time
merrily with them; so that his company was not only agreeable to those
of the same age, but even to younger men; for he had had experience in
many things, and had been concerned in much, both by word and deed,
that was worth the hearing. He looked upon a good table as the best
place for making friends; where the commendations of brave and good
citizens were usually introduced, and little said of base and unworthy
ones; as Cato would not give leave in his company to have anything,
either good or ill, said about them.
  Some will have the overthrow of Carthage to have been one of his
last acts of state; when, indeed, Scipio the younger did by his valour
give it the last blow, but the war, chiefly by the counsel and
advice of Cato, was undertaken on the following occasion. Cato was
sent to the Carthaginians and Masinissa, King of Numidia, who were
at war with one another, to know the cause of their difference. He, it
seems, had been a friend of the Romans from the beginning; and they,
too, since they were conquered by Scipio, were of the Roman
confederacy, having been shorn of their power by loss of territory and
a heavy tax. Finding Carthage, not (as the Romans thought) low and
in an ill condition, but well manned, full of riches and all sorts
of arms and ammunition, and perceiving the Carthaginians carry it
high, he conceived that it was not a time for the Romans to adjust
affairs between them and Masinissa; but rather that they themselves
would fall into danger, unless they should find means to check this
rapid new growth of Rome's ancient irreconcilable enemy. Therefore,
returning quickly to Rome, he acquainted the senate that the former
defeats and blows given to the Carthaginians had not so much
diminished their strength, as it had abated their imprudence and
folly; that they were not become weaker, but more experienced in
war, and did only skirmish with the Numidians to exercise themselves
the better to cope with the Romans: that the peace and league they had
made was but a kind of suspension of war which awaited a fairer
opportunity to break out again.
  Moreover, they say that, shaking his gown, he took occasion to let
drop some African figs before the senate. And on their admiring the
size and beauty of them, he presently added, that the place that
bore them was but three days' sail from Rome. Nay, he never after this
gave his opinion, but at the end he would be sure to come out with
this sentence, "ALSO, CARTHAGE, METHINKS, OUGHT UTTERLY TO BE
DESTROYED." But Publius Scipio Nasica would always declare his opinion
to the contrary, in these words, "It seems requisite to me that
Carthage should still stand." For seeing his countrymen to be grown
wanton and insolent, and the people made, by their prosperity,
obstinate and disobedient to the senate, and drawing the whole city,
whither they would, after them, he would have had the fear of Carthage
to serve as a bit to hold the contumacy of the multitude; and he
looked upon the Carthaginians as too weak to overcome the Romans,
and too great to be despised by them. On the other side, it seemed a
perilous thing to Cato that a city which had been always great, and
was now grown sober and wise, by reason of its former calamities,
should still lie, as it were, in wait for the follies and dangerous
excesses of the over-powerful Roman people; so that he thought it
the wisest course to have all outward dangers removed, when they had
so many inward ones among themselves.
  Thus Cato, they say, stirred up the third and last war against the
Carthaginians: but no sooner was the said war begun, than he died,
prophesying of the person that should put an end to it who was then
only a young man; but, being tribune in the army, he in several fights
gave proof of his courage and conduct. The news of which being brought
to Cato's ears at Rome, he thus expressed himself:-

         "The only wise man of them all is he,
          The others e'en as shadows flit and flee."

This prophecy Scipio soon confirmed by his actions.
  Cato left no posterity, except one son by his second wife, who was
named, as we said, Cato Salonius; and a grandson by his eldest son,
who died. Cato Salonius died when he was praetor, but his son Marcus
was afterwards consul, and he was grandfather of Cato the philosopher,
who for virtue and renown was one of the most eminent personages of
his time.


                               THE END