CATO, Marcus Porcine, THE CENSOR, sur named Piuscus, also SAPIENS (othe wise'), and MAJOR ('the elder'), Roman statesman and general: b. near Tusculum 234 a.c.; d.,149 D.C. The modern village of Monte Porzio Catone near Tusculum perpetuates his memory. He inherited from his father, a plebeian, a small estate in the territory of the Sabines, which he cultivated with his own hands. He was a youth at the time of Hannibal's invasion of Italy, and served his first campaign, at the age of 17, under Fabius Maximus, when he besieged Capua. Five years after he fought under the same commander at the siege of Tarentum. After the capture of the city he became ac quainted with the Pythagorean, Nearchus, who initiated him into the sublime doctrines of his philosophy, with which, in practice, he was already conversant. After the war was ended Cato returned to his farm. As he was versed in the laws, and a fluent speaker, he went at daybreak to the neighboring towns and acted as counsellor and advocate to those who ap plied to him. Valerius Flaccus, a noble and powerful Roman, who had an estate in the vicinity, observed the talents and virtue of the youth, conceived an affection for him and per suaded him to remove to Rome, where he prom ised to assist him with his influence and patron age. A few rich And high-born families then stood at the head of the republic. Cato was poor and unknown; but his eloquence, which some compared to that of Demosthenes, and the integrity and strength of his character, soon drew public attention to him. At the age of 30 he went as military tribune to Sicily. In the •following year he was qumstor, at which period there began between him and Scipio a rivalry and hatred which lasted till death. Cato, who had returned to Rome, accused Scipio of extravagance; and, although his rival was acquitted, this zeal in the cause of the public gave Cato a great influence over the people. Five years after, having been already wdile, he was chosen praetor, and obtained the province of Sardinia. His strict moderation, integrity and love of justice were here still more strongly displayed than in Rome. On this island he formed an acquaintance with the poet Ennius, of whom he learned Greek, and whom he ,took with him to Rome on his return. He was made consul 192 'Le., having his friend Valerius Flaccus for colleague. He opposed with all his power the abolition of the Oppian law, passed in the pressing times of the Second Punk War, forbidding the Roman women to wear more than half an ounce of gold, to dress in garments of various colors or wear other ornaments; but he was obliged to yield to the eloquence of the tribune Valerius and still more potent female im portunities. Soon after, he set out for Spain, which was in a state of rebellion. His first act was to send back to Rome the supplies provided for the army, declaring that the war ought to support the soldiers. He gained several victories with a newly-raised army, reduced the province to submission and re turned to Italy, where the honor of a triumph was granted to him. He afterward put himself under the commatid of the Consul Manlius Acil ius, to fight against Antiochus, and to carry on the war in Thessaly. By a bold march he
made himself master of the Callidromus, one of the highest peaks of the mountain pass of Thermopylae, and thus decided the issue of the battle. He brought the intelligence of this victory to Rome, 189 13,c. Five years after, in spite of a powerful faction opposed to him, he obtained the most honorable, and as the same time the most feared, of all the magistracies of Rome, the censorship. He had not canvassed for the office, but had only expressed his will ingness to fill it. In compliance with his wishes Valerius Flaccus was chosen his colleague, as the only person qualified to assist him in cor recting the public disorders, and restoring the ancient purity of morals. He fulfilled this trust with, inflexible rigor; and though his measures brought him some obloquy and op position, they met, in the end, with the highest applause; and when he resigned his office, it was resolved to erect a statue to him with an honorable inscription. He appears to have been quite indifferent to the honor; and when, before this, some one expressed his wonder that no statue had been erected to him, he answered, °I would rather have it asked why no image has been erected to Cato than why one. has.) Still he was not void of self-com placency. °Is he a Cato, then?' he was accus tomed, to say, when he would excuse the errors of another. Cato's political life was a con tinued warfare. He was continually accusing, and was himself accused with animosity, but was always acquitted. His last public com mission was an embassy to Carthage to settle the dispute between the Carthaginians and King Massinissa. It is said that this journey was. the original cause of the destruction of Carthage; for Cato was so astonished at the rapid recovery of the city from its losses, that he ever after ended ever, speech of his with the words, / 'Urea censeo Carthag inem esse delendam ( am also of opinion that Carthage must be destroyed'). He died a year after his return. Cato, who was so frugal of the public revenues, was not indif ferent to riches. He was rigorously severe toward his slaves, and considered them quite in the light of property. He made every exer tion to promote and improve agriculture. He was twice married, and had a son by each of his wives. His conduct as a husband and a father was equally exemplary. He composed a multitude of worics, of which the only one ex tant is De Agri Cultura.' Those of which the loss is most to be regretted are his orations, which Cicero mentions in terms of the highest encomium, and his history of the origin of the Roman people, which is frequently quoted by the old historians. Fragments of his orations are to be found in Meyers, 'Oratorum Roman orum Fragmenta' (Zurich 1842); and in Jor dan's edition (Leipzig 1860) ; and Peter, H., 'Historicorum Romanorum Fragmenta' (ib. 1870). Consult Sears, 'History of Oratory' (Chicago 1896). For a translation of Agri Cultura) see 'Roman Farm Management: The Treatises of Cato and Varro done into English, by a Virginia Farmer' (New York 1913).