Plutarch: Lives of the noble Grecians and Romans
and groin is taken up by the belly?" When one who was much given to
pleasures desired his acquaintance, begging his pardon, he said, he
could not live with a man whose palate was of a quicker sense than
his heart. He would likewise say, that the soul of a lover lived in
the body of another: and that in his whole life he most repented of
three things; one was, that he had trusted a secret to a woman;
another, that he went by water when he might have gone by land; the
third, that he had remained one whole day without doing any business
of moment. Applying himself to an old man who was committing some
vice: "Friend," said he, "old age has of itself blemishes enough; do
not you add to it the deformity of vice." Speaking to a tribune, who
was reputed a poisoner, and was very violent for the bringing in of a
bill, in order to make a certain law: "Young man," cried he, "I know
not which would be better, to drink what you mix, or confirm what you
would put up for a law." Being reviled by a fellow who lived a
profligate and wicked life: "A contest," replied he, "is unequal
between you and me; for you can hear ill words easily, and can as
easily give them; but it is unpleasant to me to give such, and
unusual to hear them." Such was his manner of expressing himself in
his memorable sayings.
Being chosen consul, with his friend and familiar Valerius Flaccus,
the government of that part of Spain which the Romans call the Hither
Spain, fell to his lot. Here, as he was engaged in reducing some of
the tribes by force, and bringing over others by good words, a large
army of barbarians fell upon him, so that there was danger of being
disgracefully forced out again. He therefore called upon his
neighbors, the Celtiberians, for help; and on their demanding two
hundred talents for their assistance, everybody else thought it
intolerable, that ever the Romans should promise barbarians a reward
for their aid; but Cato said, there was no discredit or harm in it;
for if they overcame, they would pay them out of the enemy's purse,
and not out of their own; but if they were overcome, there would be
nobody left either to demand the reward or to pay it. However, he
won that battle completely, and after that, all his other affairs
succeeded splendidly. Polybius says, that by his command the walls
of all the cities, on this side the river Baetis, were in one day's
time demolished, and yet there were a great many of them full of
brave and warlike men. Cato himself says, that he took more cities
than he stayed days in Spain. Neither is this a mere rhodomontade,
if it be true, that the number was four hundred. And though the
soldiers themselves had got much in the fights, yet he distributed a
pound of silver to every man of them, saying, it was better, that
many of the Romans should return home with silver, rather than a few
with gold. For himself he affirms, that of all the things that were
taken, nothing came to him beyond what he ate and drank. "Neither do
I find fault," continued he, "with those that seek to profit by these
spoils, but I had rather compete in valor with the best, than in
wealth with the richest, or with the most covetous in love of money."
Nor did he merely keep himself clear from taking anything, but even
all those who more immediately belonged to him. He had five servants
with him in the army; one of whom called Paccus, bought three boys,
out of those who were taken captive; which Cato coming to understand,
the man rather than venture into his presence, hanged himself. Cato
sold the boys, and carried the price he got for them into the public
exchequer.
Scipio the Great, being his enemy, and desiring, whiles he was
carrying all things so successfully, to obstruct him, and take the
affairs of Spain into his own hands, succeeded in getting himself
appointed his successor in the government, and, making all possible
haste, put a term to Cato's authority. But he, taking with him a
convoy of five cohorts of foot, and five hundred horse to attend him
home, overthrew by the way the Lacetanians, and salting from them six
hundred deserters, caused them all to be beheaded; upon which Scipio
seemed to be in indignation, but Cato, in mock disparagement of
himself, said, "Rome would become great indeed, if the most honorable
and great men would not yield up the first place of valor to those
who were more obscure, and when they who were of the commonalty (as
he himself was) would contend in valor with those who were most
eminent in birth and honor." The senate having voted to change
nothing of what had been established by Cato, the government passed
away under Scipio to no manner of purpose, in idleness and doing
nothing; and so diminished his credit much more than Cato's. Nor did
Cato, who now received a triumph, remit after this and slacken the
reins of virtue, as many do, who strive not so much for virtue's
sake, as for vainglory, and having attained the highest honors, as
the consulship and triumphs, pass the rest of their life in pleasure
and idleness, and quit all public affairs. But he, like those who
are just entered upon public life for the first time, and thirst
after gaining honor and glory in some new office, strained himself,
as if he were but just setting out; and offering still publicly his
service to his friends and citizens, would give up neither his
pleadings nor his soldiery.
He accompanied and assisted Tiberius Sempronius, as his lieutenant,
when he went into Thrace and to the Danube; and, in the quality of
tribune, went with Manius Acilius into Greece, against Antiochus the
Great, who, after Hannibal, more than anyone struck terror into the
Romans. For having reduced once more under a single command almost
the whole of Asia, all, namely, that Seleucus Nicator had possessed,
and having brought into obedience many warlike nations of the
barbarians, he longed to fall upon the Romans, as if they only were
now worthy to fight with him. So across he came with his forces,
pretending, as a specious cause of the war, that it was to free the
Greeks, who had indeed no need of it, they having been but newly
delivered from the power of king Philip and the Macedonians, and made
independent, with the free use of their own laws, by the goodness of
the Romans themselves; so that all Greece was in commotion and
excitement, having been corrupted by the hopes of royal aid which the
popular leaders in their cities put them into. Manius, therefore,
sent ambassadors to the different cities; and Titus Flamininus (as is
written in the account of him) suppressed and quieted most of the
attempts of the innovators, without any trouble. Cato brought over
the Corinthians, those of Patrae and of Aegium, and spent a good deal
of time at Athens. There is also an oration of his said to be
extant, which he spoke in Greek to the people; in which he expressed
his admiration of the virtue of the ancient Athenians, and signified
that he came with a great deal of pleasure to be a spectator of the
beauty and greatness of their city. But this is a fiction; for he
spoke to the Athenians by an interpreter, though he was able to have
spoken himself; but he wished to observe the usage of his own
country, and laughed at those who admired nothing but what was in
Greek. Jesting upon Postumius Albinus, who had written a historical
work in Greek, and requested that allowances might be made for his
attempt, he said, that allowance indeed might be made, if he had done
it under the express compulsion of an Amphictyonic decree. The
Athenians, he says, admired the quickness and vehemence of his
speech; for an interpreter would be very long in repeating what he
expressed with a great deal of brevity; but on the whole he professed
to believe, that the words of the Greeks came only from their lips,
whilst those of the Romans came from their hearts.
Now Antiochus, having occupied with his army the narrow passages
about Thermopylae, and added palisades and walls to the natural
fortifications of the place, sat down there, thinking he had done
enough to divert the war; and the Romans, indeed, seemed wholly to
despair of forcing the passage; but Cato, calling to mind the compass
and circuit which the Persians had formerly made to come at this
place, went forth in the night, taking along with him part of the
army. Whilst they were climbing up, the guide, who was a prisoner,
missed the way, and wandering up and down by impracticable and
precipitous paths, filled the soldiers with fear and despondency.
Cato, perceiving the danger, commanded all the rest to halt, and stay
where they were, whilst he himself, taking along with him one Lucius
Manlius, a most expert man at climbing mountains, went forward with a
great deal of labor and danger, in the dark night, and without the
least moonshine, among the wild olive trees, and steep craggy rocks,
there being nothing but precipices and darkness before their eyes,
till they struck into a little pass which they thought might lead
down into the enemy's camp. There they put up marks upon some
conspicuous peaks which surmount the hill called Callidromon, and
returning again, they led the army along with them to the said marks,
till they got into their little path again, and there once made a
halt; but when they began to go further, the path deserted them at a
precipice, where they were in another strait and fear; nor did they
perceive that they were all this while near the enemy. And now the
day began to give some light, when they seemed to hear a noise, and
presently after to see the Greek trenches and the guard at the foot
of the rock. Here, therefore, Cato halted his forces, and commanded
the troops from Firmum only, without the rest, to stick by him, as he
had always found them faithful and ready. And when they came up and
formed around him in close order, he thus spoke to them. "I desire,"
he said, "to take one of the enemy alive, that so I may understand
what men these are who guard the passage; their number; and with what
discipline, order, and preparation they expect us; but this feat,"
continued he, "must be an act of a great deal of quickness and
boldness, such as that of lions, when they dart upon some timorous
animal." Cato had no sooner thus expressed himself, but the Firmans
forthwith rushed down the mountain, just as they were, upon the
guard, and, falling unexpectedly upon them, affrighted and dispersed
them all. One armed man they took, and brought to Cato, who quickly
learned from him, that the rest of the forces lay in the narrow
passage about the king; that those who kept the tops of the rocks
were six hundred choice Aetolians. Cato, therefore, despising the
smallness of their number and carelessness, forthwith drawing his
sword, fell upon them with a great noise of trumpets and shouting.
The enemy, perceiving them thus tumbling, as it were, upon them from
the precipices, flew to the main body, and put all things into
disorder there.
In the meantime, whilst Manius was forcing the works below, and
pouring the thickest of his forces into the narrow passages,
Antiochus was hit in the mouth with a stone, so that his teeth being
beaten out by it, he felt such excessive pain, that he was fain to
turn away with his horse; nor did any part of his army stand the
shock of the Romans. Yet, though there seemed no reasonable hope of
flight, where all paths were so difficult, and where there were deep
marshes and steep rocks, which looked as if they were ready to
receive those who should stumble, the fugitives, nevertheless,
crowding and pressing together. In the narrow passages, destroyed even
one another in their terror of the swords and blows of the enemy. Cato
(as it plainly appears) was never oversparing of his own praises, and