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

648 CATO.
moted the views of Caesar, who turned every combination of events to the purposes of his own
aggrandizement, and availed himself at once of the
influence of Pompey and the wealth of Crassus.
The state of political parties at Rome was now
such, that neither energy nor foresight could long
have retarded the downfall of the republic. The
party of the senate professed to adhere to the ancient doctrines of the constitution, clinging in
practice to oligarchical principles, but it possessed
in its ranks no man of great popularity or commanding political genius. Lucullus had often led
his troops to victory, and had considerable influence
over the army, but he preferred the quiet enjoyment of the vast wealth he had acquired in Asia
to the leadership of the party of the nobles. Had
he not lacked ambition, he might have given the
senate effectual support. Cato attached himself to
the senate, and may be numbered among its
leaders; but neither he nor his chief coadjutors in
the same cause, Catulus and Cicero, could boast of
that practical ability and ready command of
resources which were wanting at the present
crisis. He was far better suited for contemplation
than for action, and would have been more at
home, more happy, and not less useful, in the
calm pursuits of literature and philosophy, than
amidst the turmoil of public life. A man more
pure and disinterested could not be found. His
opinion as a judex and his testimony as a witness
were regarded as almost decisive. Such was the
reverence for his character, that when he went
into the theatre during the games of Flora, given
by Messius, the dancing-women were not required
to exhibit their performances in their accustomed
nudity; but when Cato learned from Savonius
that his presence damped the enjoyment of the
people, he retired amidst applause. The conduct
of his political friends was analogous. They rather
praised than imitated his virtues, and those who
praised him liked him best when he was at such a
distance as not to impose restraint upon their actions. Irregularity and corruption were so general,
that an honest man, in order to do good, must have
been master of remarkable discretion, whereas the
straightforward and uncompromising strictness of
Cato generally appeared ill-timed, and was deemed
better suited to the imaginary republic of Plato
than to the actual condition of the Roman people.
In the year of his tribunate he opposed the proposition of Metellus Nepos to recall Pompey from
Asia, and to give him the command of the legions
against Catiline. Cato exerted himself in the
midst of a riot to prevent the voting of the proposition, and exposed himself to considerable personal
danger without much prudence or much dignity.
In B. c. 60, he opposed the rogation of the tribune
L. Flavius to reward Pompey's veterans with
allotments of land. Caesar, when he was returning from Spain, sought the honour of a triumph,
and desired in the meantime to be allowed, though
absent, to be a candidate for the consulship. In
order to prevent a resolution to this effect from
being carried on the day when it was proposed,
Cato spoke against time until sunset; but Caesar
renounced his triumph and gained the consulship.
By a course of conduct which to the eyes of the
statesmen of that day appeared to be a series of
half-measures and vacillating policy, Cato desired
to prove that, while some were for Caesar and some
for Pompey, he, Cato, was for the commonwealth.

CATO.
Though Cato seemed generally to -waste his
strength in ineffectual efforts, he still was found to
be a trouble and a hindrance to the designs of
Caesar, Pompey, and Crassus. They accordingly
got Clodius, during his tribunate, to propose that
Ptolemy, king of Cyprus, should, without even a
plausible pretext, be deprived of his dominions,
and that Cato should be charged with the task of
reuniting the island to the Roman empire, and restoring the exiles who had been sent to Byzantium.
Constitutionally averse to active military measures,
as well as benevolently anxious to prevent the unnecessary shedding of blood, Cato sent a messenger
to Ptolemy to signify the determination of the
Roman people. The unfortunate king put an end
to his life by poison, and Cato took peaceable possession of Cyprus, and sold the royal treasures at
the highest price, offending some of his friends,
who hoped to enrich themselves by cheap bargains.
After restoring the Byzantine exiles, and successfully accomplishing a commission which, however
abstractedly unjust, he considered himself bound to
undertake by his duty to the state, he returned to
Rome in B. c. 56, displaying to the eyes of the
people the public wealth thus acquired. This very
treasure afterwards came to the hands of Caesar,
and contributed to the destruction of republican
liberty. The pecuniary accounts of the sale by
some accident were lost, and Clodius Pulcher took
occasion to accuse Cato of embezzlement. His
answer was, " What greater disgrace could befall
this age, than that Pulcher should be an accuser or
Cato be accused?" (Senec. Controvers. v. 30.)
Cicero, on his return from banishment, insisted
that Clodius was not legitimately appointed tribune, and that therefore all his official acts ought
to be annulled. The proposition was opposed by
Cato, as it would have rendered void his legation
to Cyprus. This affair produced a marked coldness between Cicero and Cato.
After his divorce from Atilia, Cato had married
Marcia, the daughter of Philippus, and had three
children by his second wife. About the year B. c.
56 happened that strange transaction by which he
ceded Marcia to his friend Q. Hortensius, with the
consent of her father. At the death of Hortensius
in the year 50, he took her back again. Heineccius
(Antiq. Rom. lib. i. append. c. 47) infers, from the
words of Plutarch (Cato Mlin. 25), that Cato did
not, according to the common belief, lend his wife,
but that she was divorced from him by the ceremony of sale, and married to Hortensius. Heineccius quotes the case as an instance of a marriage
contracted by coemntio and dissolved by remancipatio,
in accordance with the maxim " unumquodque eo
modo dissolvitur quo colligatum est." But it does
not appear that Cato married her again after the
death of Hortensius, and yet it seems that she
returned to her former relation of wife.
Cato continued to oppose the triumvirs. In
B. c. 55 he actively assisted L. Domitius Ahenobarbus in canvassing for the consulship against
Pompey and Crassus, who were elected. In the
election riots he was wounded, and narrowly escaped with life. With no better success was he
himself a candidate for the praetorship in the same
year in opposition to Vatinius. He would not
submit to employ the bribery which was necessary
to obtain a majority. Again, in an unsuccessful
opposition to the Trebonian law conferring extraordinary powers upon the triumvirs, we find him