A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

CATO.
general admitted the young soldier to the honour of
intimate acquaintance. While Fabius communicated the valued results of military experience, he
omitted not to instil his own personal and political
partialities and dislikes into the ear of his attached
follower. At the siege of Tarentum, B. c. 209,
Cato was again at the side of Fabius. Two years
later, Cato was one of the select band who accompanied the consul Claudius Nero on his northern
march from Lucania to check the progress of Hasdrubal. It is recorded that the services of Cato
contributed not a little to the decisive victory of
Sena on the Metaurus, where Hasdrubal was
slain.
In the intervals of war, Cato returned to his
Sabine farm, using the plainest dress, and working
and faring like his labourers. Young as he was,
the neighbouring farmers liked his hardy mode of
living, relished his quaint and sententious sayings,
and recognized his abilities. His own active ternperament made him willing and anxious to employ
his powers in the service of his neighbours. He
was engaged to act, sometimes as an arbiter of disputes, and sometimes as an advocate, in local causes,
which were probably tried before recuperatores in
the country. Thus was he enabled to strengthen
by practice his oratorical faculties, to gain selfconfidence, to observe the manners of men, to dive
into the springs of human nature, to apply the rules
of law, and practically to investigate the principles
of justice.
In the vicinity of Cato's Sabine farm was the
estate of L. Valerius Flaccus, a young nobleman of
considerable influence, and high patrician family.
Flaccus could not help remarking the energy of
Cato, his military talent, his eloquence, his frugal
and simple life, and his old-fashioned principles.
Flaccus himself was one of that old-fashioned party
who professed their adherence to the severer virtues of the ancient Roman character. There was
now in progress a transition from Samnite rusticity
to Grecian civilization and oriental voluptuousness.
The chief magistracies of the state had become almost the patrimony of a few distinguished families,
whose wealth was correspondent with their illustrious birth. Popular by lavish expenditure, by
acts of graceful but corrupting munificence, by
winning manners, and by the charm of hereditary
honours, they united with the influence of office
the material power conferred by a numerous retinue of clients and adherents, and the intellectual
ascendancy which the monopoly of philosophical
education, of taste in the fine arts, and of acquaintance with elegant literature, could not fail to bestow. Nevertheless, the reaction was strong. The
less fortunate nobles, jealous of this exclusive oligarchy, and keenly observant of the degeneracy
and disorder which followed in the train of luxury,
placed themselves at the head of a party which
professed its determination to resort to purer models and to stand upon the ancient ways. In their
eyes, rusticity, austerity, and asceticism were the
marks of Sabine hardihood and religion, and of the
old Roman unbending integrity and love of order.
Marcellus, the family of Scipio, and the two Flaminini, may be taken as types of the new civilization; Cato's friends, Fabius and Flaccus, were
leading men in the party of the old plainness.
Flaccus was one of those clear-sighted politicians
who seek out and patronize remarkable ability in
young and rising men. He had observed Cato's

CATO. 637
martial spirit and eloquent tongue. He knew how
much courage and eloquence were prized at Rome.
He knew that the distinctions of the battle-field
opened the way to the successes of the gown; and
that, for a municipal stranger like Cato, forensic
success was almost the only possible avenue to
magisterial honours. Accordingly, he recommended
Cato to transplant his ambition to the fitter soil
and ampler field of Rome. The advice was eagerly
followed. Invited to the town-house of Flaccus,
and countenanced by his support, Cato began to
distinguish himself in the forum, and became a
candidate for office.
We have dwelt upon the accidents of his early
history, since they affected the whole tenor of
Cato's life. We have seen a youth, indomitably
active and strong-minded--the fellow-workman
and oracle of rustics-not suffered to droop from
want of practice or encouragement, but befriended
by opportunity and always equal to the exigencies
of his position, disciplined in the best school of
arms, the favourite of his general, listened to with
applause in the courts of Rome, and introduced at
once into a high political circle. What wonder if,
in such scenes, the mind of Cato received a better
training for wide command and worldly success
than could have been supplied by a more regular
education? What wonder if his strength and
originality were tinged with dogmatism, coarseness, harshness, vanity, self-sufficiency, and prejudice,-if he had little sympathy with the pursuits
of calm and contemplative scholars,-if he disdained or hated or disparaged the accomplishments
which he had no leisure to master,-if he railed
and rebelled against the conventional elegancies of
a more polished society to which he and his party
were opposed,-if he confounded delicacy of sentiment with unmanly weakness, and refinement of
manners with luxurious vice?
In B. c. 205, Cato was designated quaestor, and
in the following year entered upon the duties of
his office, and followed P. Scipio Africanus to
Sicily. When Scipio, acting on the permission
which, after much opposition, he had obtained from
the senate, transported the army from the island
into Africa, Cato and C. Laelius were appointed to
convoy the baggage-ships. There was not that
cordiality of co-operation between Cato and Scipio
which ought to subsist between a quaestor and his
proconsul. Fabius had opposed the permission
given to Scipio to carry the attack into the enemy's
home, and Cato, whose appointment was intended
to operate as a check upon Scipio, adopted the
views of his friend. It is reported by Plutarch,
that the lax discipline of the troops under Scipio's
command, and the extravagant expense incurred by
the general, provoked the remonstrance of Cato;
that Scipio thereupon retorted haughtily, saying
he would give an account of victories, not of pelf;
that Cato, returning to Rome, denounced the prodigality of his general to the senate; and that, at
the joint instigation of Cato and Fabius, a commission of tribunes was despatched to Sicily to investigate the conduct of Scipio, who was acquitted
upon the view of his extensive and judicious preparations for the transport of the troops. (Plut.
Cat. Maj. 3.) This account is scarcely consistent
with the narrative of Livy, and would seem to
attribute to Cato the irregularity of quitting his
post before his time. If Livy be correct, the commission was sent upon the complaint of the in