Marcus Porcius Cato (; 234–149 BC), also known as Cato the Censor (), the Elder and the Wise, was a Roman soldier, senator, and historian known for his conservatism and opposition to Hellenization. He was the first to write history in Latin with his Origines, a now fragmentary work on the history of Rome. His work De agri cultura, a treatise on agriculture, rituals, and recipes, is the oldest extant prose written in the Latin language. Cato's epithet "Elder" distinguishes him from his great-grandson Cato the Younger.
Cato came from an ancient plebeian family who were noted for their military service. As a youth, he fought as a military tribune in the Second Punic War with distinction. Like his forefathers, when not serving in the army, Cato was devoted to agriculture. Having attracted the notice of patrician Lucius Valerius Flaccus, he was brought to Rome and began his political career. Cato was successively quaestor (204), aedile (199), praetor (198), and in 195 he was elected consul with Flaccus. As consul, he unsuccessfully opposed the repeal of the Lex Oppia, a law restricting female luxury. His subsequent military campaign and administrative efforts in Hispania proved a major success, and on his return to Rome in 194 BC he was rewarded with a triumph.
Following the end of his consulship, Cato served with distinction as a legate at the Battle of Thermopylae against Seleucid king Antiochus III. In 184 he was elected censor, shortly after his attacks forced Scipio Africanus into retirement. As censor, he introduced taxes on luxuries and oversaw extensive constructions and repairs of public works. Seeking to preserve Rome's ancestral customs, he strongly opposed Hellenistic influences. Later in his life, he also became known for his vigorously anti-Carthaginian stance.
Biography
Cato the Elder was born in the municipal town of Tusculum, like some generations of his ancestors. His father had earned a reputation as a brave soldier, and his great-grandfather had received a reward from the state for having had five horses killed under him in battle. However, the Tusculan Porcii had never obtained the privileges of the Roman magistracy. Cato the Elder, their famous descendant, at the beginning of his career in Rome, was regarded as a novus homo (new man), and the feeling of his unsatisfactory position, working along with the belief of his inherent superiority, aggravated and drove his ambition. Early in life, he so far exceeded the previous deeds of his predecessors that he is frequently spoken of not only as the leader, but as the founder of the Porcia gens.
Cognomen Cato His ancestors for three generations had been named Marcus Porcius, and it was said by Plutarch that at first he was known by the additional cognomen Priscus, but was afterwards called Cato—a word (from Latin catus) indicating 'common sense that is the result of natural wisdom combined with experience'.Plutarch, Life of Cato the Elder, 1. Priscus, like Major, may have been merely an epithet used to distinguish him from the later Cato the Younger.
There is no precise information as to when he first received the title of Cato, which may have been given in childhood as a symbol of distinction. The qualities implied in the word Cato were acknowledged by the plainer and less outdated title of Sapiens, by which he was so well known in his old age that Cicero says it became his virtual cognomen.Cicero, Laelius On Friendship, 2. From the number and eloquence of his speeches, he was a gifted orator,Justinus, xxxiii. 2Gellius, xvii. 21. but Cato the Censor (Cato Censorius), and Cato the Elder are now his most common, as well as his most characteristic names, since he carried out the office of Censor with extraordinary standing and was the only Cato who ever held it.
Deducing Cato's date of birth The date of Cato's birth has to be deduced from conflicting reports of his age at the time of his death, which is known to have happened in 149 BC. According to the chronology of Cicero, Cato was born in 234 BC, in the year before the first Consulship of Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus, and died at the age of 85, in the consulship of Lucius Marcius Censorinus and Manius Manilius. PlinyPliny, Natural History, xxix. 8. agrees with Cicero. Other authors exaggerate the age of Cato. According to Valerius MaximusValerius Maximus, viii. 7. § 1. he survived his 86th year, according to LivyLivy, History of Rome, xxxix. 40. and PlutarchPlutarch, Life of Cato the Elder, 15. he was 90 years old when he died. These exaggerated ages, however, are inconsistent with a statement of Cato himself that is recorded by Plutarch.
Youth
In the Punic Wars
When Cato was very young, after his father's death, he inherited a small property in Sabine territory, at a distance from his native town. There, he spent most of his childhood overseeing the operations of the farm, learning business and the rural economy. Near this land was a small hut owned by Manius Curius Dentatus, whose military feats and rigidly simple character were remembered and admired in the neighborhood. Cato was inspired to imitate that character, hoping to match the glory of Dentatus.
Soon an opportunity came for a military campaign. In 218 BC Hannibal Barca attacked one of Rome's allies, starting the Second Punic War. Experts express some disagreement about Cato's early military life. In 214, he served at Capua, and the historian Wilhelm Drumann imagines that already, at the age of 20, he was a military tribune.Wilhelm Drumann, Geschichte Roms (History of Rome), v. p. 99, 6 Bde. Königsberg 1834–1844. Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus had the command in this area, Campania, during the year of his fourth consulship.
At the siege of Tarentum, in 209, Cato was again at the side of Fabius. Two years later, Cato was one of the men who went with the consul Claudius Nero on his northern march from Lucania to check the progress of Hasdrubal Barca. It is recorded that the services of Cato contributed to the decisive and important victory of Sena at the Battle of the Metaurus, where Hasdrubal was slain.
Cato later gave several vehement speeches, which he often ended by saying "Carthago delenda est", or "Carthage must be destroyed."Plutarch, Life of Cato the Elder, 27.
Between the wars In the pauses between campaigns Cato returned to his Sabine farm, where he dressed simply, working and behaving like his laborers. Young as he was, the neighboring farmers liked his tough mode of living, enjoyed his old-fashioned and concise proverbs, and had a high regard for his abilities. His own active personality made him willing and eager to make himself available in the service of his neighbors. He was selected to act, sometimes as an arbitrator of disputes, and sometimes as a supporter in local causes, which were probably tried in front of recuperatores, the judges for causes of great public interest. Consequently, he was enabled to strengthen by practice his oratorical abilities, to gain self-confidence, to observe the manners of men, to analyze the diversity of human nature, to apply the rules of law, and to practically investigate the principles of justice.
Follower of the old Roman strictness In the area surrounding Cato's Sabine farm were the lands of Lucius Valerius Flaccus, a young nobleman of significant influence and high patrician family. Flaccus could not help remarking on Cato's energy, his military talent, his eloquence, his frugal and simple life, and his traditional principles. Flaccus himself was a member of that purist patrician faction which displayed its adherence to the stricter virtues of the Roman character.
Within Roman society a transition was in progress—from Samnite rusticity to Grecian civilization and oriental luxuriance. The chief magistracies of the state had become almost hereditary for a few wealthy and upper-class families. They were popular by acts of generosity and charming manners, and they collected material wealth from their clients and followers, as well as intellectual prowess provided by their education, taste in the fine arts, and knowledge of literature.
Nonetheless, the less fortunate nobles, envious of this exclusive oligarchy and critical of the decadence and luxury, formed a party with a more conservative and ascetic ideology. In their eyes, rusticity and austerity were the marks of Sabine character, and of the old Roman inflexible integrity and love of order. Marcus Claudius Marcellus, Scipio Africanus and his family, and Titus Quinctius Flamininus may be taken as representative of the new culture; Cato's friends, Fabius and Flaccus, were the leading men in the faction defending the old plainness.
Path to magistracies
Flaccus was a perceptive politician, who looked for young and emergent men to support him. He had observed Cato's martial spirit and heard his eloquent tongue. He knew how much courage and persuasiveness were valued at Rome. He also knew that distinction achieved on the battlefield opened the way to achievements in the higher civil offices. Flaccus knew too that for a stranger like Cato, the only way to the magisterial honours was success in the Roman Forum.
For that reason, he suggested to Cato that he shift his ambition to the field of Roman politics. The advice was followed. Invited to the townhouse of Flaccus, and ratified by his support, Cato began to distinguish himself in the forum, and became a candidate for assuming a post in the magistracy.
Early military career
Quaestor In 205 BC, Cato was appointed quaestor, and in the next year (204) he entered upon the duties of his place of work, following Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus Major to Sicily. When Scipio, after much opposition, obtained from the Senate permission to transport armed forces from Sicily to Africa, Cato and Gaius Laelius were appointed to escort the baggage ships. Yet there proved not to be the friendliness of cooperation between Cato and Scipio which ought to have existed between a quaestor and his proconsul.
Fabius had opposed the permission given to Scipio to carry the attack to the enemy's home, and Cato, whose appointment was intended to monitor Scipio's behavior, adopted the views of his friend. Plutarch reports that the lenient discipline of the troops under Scipio's command and the exaggerated expenses incurred by the general provoked Cato's protests, such that Scipio, immediately afterward, replied angrily, saying he would give an account of victories, not of money.Plutarch, Life of Cato the Elder, 3.
Cato left his place of duty after the dispute with Scipio about the latter's alleged extravagance, and returning to Rome, condemned the uneconomical activities of his general to the senate. Plutarch went on to say that at the joint request of Cato and Fabius, a commission of tribunes was sent to Sicily to examine Scipio's activity. Upon their review of his extensive and careful arrangements for the transport of the troops, they determined he was not guilty of Cato's charges.
Plutarch's version, which seemed to attribute to Cato the wrongdoing of quitting his post before his time, is barely consistent with Livy's narrative. If Livy is correct, the commission was sent because of the complaints of the inhabitants of Locri, who had been harshly oppressed by Quintus Pleminius, Scipio's legate. Livy says nothing of Cato's interference in this matter, but mentions the bitterness with which Fabius blamed Scipio for corrupting military discipline and for having illegally left his province to take the town of Locri.Livy, History of Rome, xxix. 19, etc.