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

CATO.
engaged in popular tumults and personal conflict.
At length, B. c. 54, he was made praetor, and this
was the highest office to which he attained. His
exertions during his praetorship to put down the
notorious bribery of the consular comitia disgusted
both the buyers and the sellers of votes. Again
he was attacked by a hooting and pelting mob, who
put his attendants to flight; but he persisted in
mounting the tribunal, and succeeded in appeasing
the violence of the populace.
After the death of Crassus, when the senate had
to make choice between Pompey and Caesar, it
naturally wished to place itself under the protection of the former. In B. c. 52, Pompey was anxious to obtain the dictatorship; but as the nobles
had not given him their full confidence, and yet
at the same time were anxious to gratify him, Bibulus proposed that he should be created sole consul, and in this proposition was supported by Cato.
In the following year, Cato himself, mistrusting
Pompey, was a candidate for the consulship; but
he would not bribe, and his competitors, S. Sulpicius and M. Claudius Marcellus, who had the support of Caesar and Pompey, were elected. On the
day of his defeat, Cato amused himself with playing at ball, and renounced for ever all aspiration
after an office which the people had not thought
proper to confer upon him.
On the commencement of the civil war, B. c. 49,
Cato supported those illegal proceedings [CAESAR,
p. 550] which gave some colour of right to the hostile preparations of Caesar. On the approach of
Caesar to the city, Cato took flight with the consuls to Campania, and yielded himself up to unavailing grief. From that day forth he allowed
his hair to grow; he never after wore a garland, but
seeing that Roman blood must be shed, whichever
party might prevail, he determined to mourn until
his death the unhappy lot of his country. It was
a time for decisive and strong measures. Caesar
was not now to be fought by laws or resolutions,
and the time for negotiation was past. Cato recommended a temporizing policy. Thoughts of
patriotic philanthropy were uppermost in his mind.
He made Pompey promise to pillage no Roman
town, and, except in battle, to put to death no
Roman citizen.
The senate entrusted Cato, as propraetor, with
the defence of Sicily; but, on the landing of Curio
with three of Caesar's legions, Cato, thinking resistance useless, instead of defending the island,
took flight, and proceeded to join Pompey at Dyrrachium. Little confidence was placed in his military skill, or in the course that he would pursue if
his party succeeded; for, though it was now his
object to crush the rebellion of Caesar, it was
felt that his efforts might soon be directed to
limit the power of Pompey. After Pompey's victory at Dyrrachium, Cato was left in charge of the
camp, and was thus saved from being present
at the disastrous battle of Pharsalia. (a. c. 48.)
After this battle, he set sail for Corcyra with the
troops and the fleet left in his charge; but he
offered to resign his command to Cicero, who was
now anxious for a reconciliation with Caesar.
Cicero, a man equally incompetent to command,
declined the offer. Cato now proceeded to Africa,
where he hoped to find Pompey; but on his route
he received intelligence from Cornelia of Pompey's assassination. After a circuitous voyage he
effected a landing, and wvas admitted by the inha

CATO. 649
bitants of Cyrene, who had refused to open their
gates to Labienus.
In the spring of the year B. c. 47 Cato marched
his troops across the desert, for six days supporting
hunger and thirst, and every privation, with remarkable fortitude, in order to form a junction
with Scipio Metellus, Attius Varus, and the Numidian Juba. Here arose a question of military
precedence. The army wished to be led by Cato;
but, as a strict disciplinarian, he thought it necessary to yield to the consular Scipio. Most probably he was glad to rid himself of a position in
which immediate action appeared inevitable, and
felt himself oppressed by the weight of a responsibility to which his shoulders were unequal. Here
the mildness of his disposition was again manifest.
He resisted the counsel of Scipio to put Utica to
the sword, and, though now nothing could be hoped
but a putting-off of the evil day, wisely advised
him not to risk a decisive engagement; but Scipio
disregarded his advice, and was utterly routed at
Thapsus. (April 6th, B. c. 46.) All Africa now,
with the exception of Utica, submitted to the victorious Caesar. Cato wanted to inspire the Romans in Utica with courage to stand a siege; but
they quailed at the approach of Caesar, and were
inclined to submit. Plutarch relates in detail the
events which now occurred at Utica, and his narrative exhibits a lamentable picture of a good man
standing at bay with fortune. Careless for his
own safety, or rather determined not to live under
the slavery of Caesar's despotism, Cato yet was
anxious to provide for the safety of his friends,
advised them to flee, accompanied them to the port,
besought them to make terms with the conqueror,
composed the speech in which L. Caesar interceded
for them, but would not allow his own name to
appear. Bewildered and oppressed, driven into a
corner where his irresolution could not lurk, and
from which he had not strength to break forth, he
deeply felt that the only way to preserve his high
personal character and unbending moral dignity,
and to leave to posterity a lofty Roman name, was
-to die. For the particulars of his death, which
our limits prevent us from giving, we must refer
our readers to the graphic account of Plutarch.
After spending the greater part of the night in
perusing Plato's Phaedo several times, he stabbed
himself below the breast, and in falling overturned
an abacus. His friends, hearing the noise, ran up,
found him bathed in blood, and, while he was
fainting, dressed his wound. When however he
recovered feeling, he tore open the bandages, let
out his entrails, and expired, B. c. 46, at the age of
forty-nine.
There was deep grief in Utica on account of his
death. The inhabitants buried him on the coast,
and celebrated his funeral with much pomp. A
statue, with sword in hand, was erected to his
memory on the spot, and was still standing when
Plutarch wrote.
Caesar had hastened his march in order to catch
Cato; but arriving too late, he exclaimed, " Cato,
I grudge thee thy death, since thou hast grudged
me the glory of sparing thy life."
The only existing composition of Cato (not to
count the speech in Sallust) is a letter written in
B. c. 50. It is a civil refusal in answer to an elaborate letter of Cicero, requesting that Cato would
use his influence to procure him a triumph. (Cic.
ad Famr. xv. 4-6.)