DIONY'SIUS CATO. This is the name given to the author of a Latin work in four books entitled ‘Dionyaii Catonie Makin" de Moribus ad Mum. But the real name of the author is unknown, and also the time when ho lived. It is admitted however that he lived before the time of the Emperor Valentinlan. These Dial icha, which are in verse, are short moral precepts intended for the edifica tion of youth.
There was a work by M. Cato (probably the younger Cato) entitled 'Carmen de Modems; from which Aulue Gellius (xi. 2) has given several extracts ; but it was not a poem, as some critics have falsely concluded from the word Carmen; for that word meant aomethiog expressed concisely, and did not necessarily imply any metrical arrangement of the words. The work of Cato seems mainly to have consisted of moral precepts, and the existence of such a work may have induced the writer or compiler of these Distichs to attach to it the name of Cato.
The style of these Disticha is simple, and the language generally pure. During the middle ages they were much used in the schools for the purposes of instruction, both on the continent of Europe and in England, and they have been used in some parts of England even to the present century.
The great nnmber of editions shows the popularity which this little work once had. The earliest known edition is without date : a copy of it, apparently the only copy known to exist, is in the library of Earl Spencer. One of the latest and best editions is by Arntzenius, Utrecht, 8vo, 1735. There is a Greek translation of the Distichs by Maximus Planudes, which was pnblished at Paris, 4to, 1543, Weigel. There are translations of the Distichs into many of the languages of Europe. Caxton published an English version of the Distichs, which wen made from the French, folio, 1483. There are several English translations from the Latin, the latest of which perhaps is that of N. Bailey, 8vo, London, 1771.
(Bahr, &vitiate Ram. ; Schweiger, Handbuch der Classischen Bibliographie.1