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

640 CATO.
plies. (Gell. xiii. 24, x. 3.) Cato's opposition was
successful; but the passage of Festus already referred to shews that, after his return from Aetolia
in 189, he had to defend his own conduct against
Thermus, who was tribune B. c. 189, and died in
battle, B. c. 188.
In B. c. 189, Cato and his old friend L. Valerius
Flaccus were among the candidates for the censorship, and, among their competitors, was their
former general M'. Acilius Glabrio. Glabrio, who
did not possess the advantage of nobility, determined to try what the influence of money could
effect. In order to counteract his endeavours, he
was met by an accusation of having applied the
treasures of Antiochus to his own use, and was ultimately obliged to retire from the contest. Cato
was active in promoting the opposition to his old
general, and declared that he had seen vessels of
gold and silver among the royal booty in the camp,
but had not seen them displayed in the parade of
Glabrio's triumph. Neither Cato nor Flaccus was
elected. The choice fell upon two of the opposite
party, T. Flamininus and M. Marcellus.
Cato was not to be daunted by a failure. In
B. c. 187, M. Fulvius Nobilior returned from
Aetolia, and sought the honour of a triumph.
Again, Cato was found at his post of opposition.
Fulvius was indulgent to his soldiers. He was a
man of literary taste, and patronized Ennius, who
was his companion in hours not devoted to military
duty. All this was repugnant to the old Roman
principles of Cato, who, among other charges,
found fault with Fulvius for keeping poets in his
camp (Cic. Tusc. i. 2), and impairing military discipline, by giving crowns to his soldiers for such
mighty services as digging a well with spirit, or
valorously throwing up a mound. (Gell. v. 6.)
Again, Cato was unsuccessful, and Fulvius obtained the triumph he sought for.
When P. Scipio Africanus was charged with
having received sums of money from Antiochus,
which had not been duly accounted for to the
state, and with having allowed the unfortunate
monarch to come off too leniently, Cato is said
to have been the instigator of the accusation.
(Liv. xxxviii. 54.) Every one has read how the
proud conqueror of Africa tore with his own
hands the books of account which his brother
Lucius was producing to the senate; and how, on
the day of his own trial, he bade the people follow him from the rostra to the Capitol to return
thanks to the immortal gods on the anniversary of
the battle of Zama. Unused to submit to question, and conscious of his great benefits to the
state, he deemed himself almost above the law.
Though Cato devolved upon others the obloquy of
accusing Africanus, he hesitated not openly to
speak in favour of a proposition which was calculated to prepare the way for the successful prosecution of a similar charge against L. Scipio Asiaticus. By his influence a plebiscitum was carried,
referring it to the senate to appoint a commissioner
to inquire into the charge concerning the money
of Antiochus. The result was, that Lucius and
others were condemned. As to the dates and details of these transactions, there is the utmost
variance in the early authorities. [SCIPIO.]
Cato was now again a candidate for the censorship, with his old friend L. Valerius Flaccus and
six others, among whom were the patricians P.
and L. Scipio, and the plebeian L. Fulvius Nobi

CATO.
lior. He was loud in his promises or threats of
reform, and declared that, if invested with power,
he would not belie the professions of his past life.
The dread of his success alarmed all his personal
enemies, all who were notorious for their luxury,
and all who derived profit from the mismanagement of the public finances. Notwithstanding
the combined opposition of the six other candidates, he obtained the censorship, B. c. 184, bringing in by his own influence L. Valerius Flaccus
as his colleague.
This was a great epoch in Cato's life. He applied himself strenuously to the duties of his office,
regardless of the enemies he was making. He
repaired the watercourses, paved the reservoirs,
cleansed the drains, destroyed the communications
by which private individuals illegally drew off the
public water to supply their dwellings and irrigate
their gardens, raised the rents paid by the publicani for the farm of the taxes, and diminished the
contract prites paid by the state to the undertakers
of public works. It may be doubted whether he
did not go too far in his reforms, from considering
rather the cheapness of an offer than the security
which was afforded by the character and circumstances of the applicant; but there can be no doubt
that great abuses existed, with which nothing but
the undaunted courage and extraordinary administrative faculties of Cato could have successfully
grappled. He was disturbing a nest of hornets,
and all his future life was troubled by their buzz
and their attempts to sting. After his censorship,
he was prosecuted by some of the tribunes, at the
instigation of T. Flamininus, for misconduct in
this department of his office, and condemned to
pay a fine of two talents (Plut. Cat. IMaj. 10), or in
Roman money 12,000 asses. Though he was accused no fewer than forty-four times during the
course of his life, this is the only recorded instance in which his enemies prevailed against him.
The provisions against luxury, contained in his
censorial edict, were severe and stringent. He
directed unauthorized statues erected to the honour of unworthy men to be removed from the
public places, and declaimed against the unceremonious indecency and want ýof religious feeling
with which the images of gods taken from the
temples of conquered countries were used, like
ordinary household furniture, to ornament the
mansions of the nobles. In the lustral census,
young slaves, purchased at 10,000 asses and upwards, were valued at ten times their cost, and
then taxed, upon this fictitious value at the rate of
three, instead of one, per 1000-a circuitous mode
of imposing a rate of three per cent. The same
course was pursued in rating the dress, furniture,
and equipage of the women, when their real value
amounted to 15,000 asses. (Liv. xxxix. 44.)
Whether or not the rating were anciently or
usually confined to res mancipi, such was clearly
not the case upon the present occasion. In the
exercise of the tremendous power of the nota censoria, he was equally uncompromising. He most
justly degraded from the senate L. Quintius Flamininus (the brother of Titus, his former successful opponent in the canvas for the censorship), for
having committed (whatever version of the story
we accept) an act of the most abominable cruelty,
accompanied by circumstances of the most disgusting profligacy (Liv. xxxix. 42, 43; Plut. Cat. Maj. 17;
Cic. Senect. 12); yet such was already the low