Plutarch: Lives of the noble Grecians and Romans
luxurious and effeminate living.
Cato being made priest of Apollo, went to another house, took his
portion of their paternal inheritance, amounting to a hundred and
twenty talents, and began to live yet more strictly than before.
Having gained the intimate acquaintance of Antipater the Tyrian,
the Stoic philosopher, he devoted himself to the study, above
everything, of moral and political doctrine. And though
possessed, as it were, by a kind of inspiration for the pursuit
of every virtue, yet what most of all virtue and excellence fixed
his affection, was that steady and inflexible Justice, which is
not to be wrought upon by favor or compassion. He learned also
the art of speaking and debating in public, thinking that
political philosophy, like a great city, should maintain for its
security the military and warlike element. But he would never
recite his exercises before company, nor was he ever heard to
declaim. And to one that told him, men blamed his silence, "But
I hope not my life," he replied, "I will begin to speak, when I
have that to say which had not better be unsaid."
The great Porcian Hall, as it was called, had been built and
dedicated to the public use by the old Cato, when aedile. Here
the tribunes of the people used to transact their business, and
because one of the pillars was thought to interfere with the
convenience of their seats, they deliberated whether it were
best to remove it to another place, or to take it away. This
occasion first drew Cato, much against his will, into the forum;
for he opposed the demand of the tribunes, and in so doing, gave
a specimen both of his courage and his powers of speaking, which
gained him great admiration. His speech had nothing youthful or
refined in it, but was straightforward, full of matter, and
rough, at the same time that there was a certain grace about his
rough statements which won the attention; and the speaker's
character showing itself in all he said, added to his severe
language something that excited feelings of natural pleasure and
interest. His voice was full and sounding, and sufficient to be
heard by so great a multitude, and its vigor and capacity of
endurance quite indefatigable; for he often would speak a whole
day, and never stop.
When he had carried this cause, he betook himself again to study
and retirement. He employed himself in inuring his body to labor
and violent exercise; and habituated himself to go bareheaded in
the hottest and the coldest weather, and to walk on foot at all
seasons. When he went on a journey with any of his friends,
though they were on horseback and he on foot, yet he would often
join now one, then another, and converse with them on the way.
In sickness, the patience he showed in supporting, and the
abstinence he used for curing his distempers, were admirable.
When he had an ague, he would remain alone, and suffer nobody to
see him, till he began to recover, and found the fit was over.
At supper, when he threw dice for the choice of dishes, and lost,
and the company offered him nevertheless his choice, he declined
to dispute, as he said, the decision of Venus. At first, he was
wont to drink only once after supper, and then go away; but in
process of time he grew to drink more, insomuch that oftentimes
he would continue till morning. This his friends explained by
saying that state affairs and public business took him up all
day, and being desirous of knowledge, he liked to pass the night
at wine in the conversation of philosophers. Hence, upon one
Memmius saying in public, that Cato spent whole nights in
drinking, "You should add," replied Cicero, "that he spends whole
days in gambling." And in general Cato esteemed the customs and
manners of men at that time so corrupt, and a reformation in them
so necessary, that he thought it requisite, in many things, to go
contrary to the ordinary way of the world. Seeing the lightest
and gayest purple was then most in fashion, he would always wear
that which was nearest black; and he would often go out of doors,
after his morning meal, without either shoes or tunic; not that
he sought vainglory from such novelties, but he would accustom
himself to be ashamed only of what deserves shame, and to despise
all other sorts of disgrace.
The estate of one Cato, his cousin, which was worth one hundred
talents, falling to him, he turned it all into ready money, which
he kept by him for any of his friends that should happen to want,
to whom he would lend it without interest. And for some of them,
he suffered his own land and his slaves to be mortgaged to the
public treasury.
When he thought himself of an age fit to marry, having never
before known any woman, he was contracted to Lepida, who had
before been contracted to Metellus Scipio, but on Scipio's own
withdrawal from it, the contract had been dissolved, and she
left at liberty. Yet Scipio afterward repenting himself, did all
he could to regain her, before the marriage with Cato was
completed, and succeeded in so doing. At which Cato was
violently incensed, and resolved at first to go to law about it;
but his friends persuaded him to the contrary. However, he was
so moved by the heat of youth and passion, that he wrote a
quantity of iambic verses against Scipio, in the bitter,
sarcastic style of Archilochus, without, however, his license and
scurrility. After this, he married Atilia, the daughter of
Soranus, the first, but not the only woman he ever knew, less
happy thus far than Laelius, the friend of Scipio, who in the
whole course of so long a life never knew but the one woman to
whom he was united in his first and only marriage.
In the war of the slaves, which took its name from Spartacus,
their ringleader, Gellius was general, and Cato went a volunteer,
for the sake of his brother Caepio, who was a tribune in the
army. Cato could find here no opportunity to show his zeal or
exercise his valor, on account of the ill conduct of the general.
However, amidst the corruption and disorders of that army, he
showed such a love of discipline, so much bravery upon occasion,
and so much courage and wisdom in everything, that it appeared
he was no way inferior to the old Cato. Gellius offered him
great rewards, and would have decreed him the first honors;
which, however, he refused, saying, he had done nothing that
deserved them. This made him be thought a man of a strange and
eccentric temper.
There was a law passed, moreover, that the candidates who stood
for any office should not have prompters in their canvass, to
tell them the names of the citizens; and Cato, when he sued to
be elected tribune, was the only man that obeyed this law. He
took great pains to learn by his own knowledge to salute those he
had to speak with, and to call them by their names; yet even
those who praised him for this, did not do so without some envy
and jealousy, for the more they considered the excellence of
what he did, the more they were grieved at the difficulty they
found to do the like.
Being chosen tribune, he was sent into Macedon to join Rubrius,
who was general there. It is said that his wife showing much
concern, and weeping at his departure, Munatius, one of Cato's
friends, said to her, "Do not trouble yourself, Atilia, I will
engage to watch over him for you." "By all means," replied Cato;
and when they had gone one day's journey together, "Now," said he
to Munatius, after they had supped, "that you may be sure to keep
your promise to Atilia, you must not leave me day nor night," and
from that time, he ordered two beds to be made in his own
chamber, that Munatius might lie there. And so he continued to
do, Cato making it his jest to see that he was always there.
There went with him fifteen slaves, two freedmen, and four of his
friends; these rode on horseback, but Cato always went on foot,
yet would he keep by them, and talk with each of them in turn, as
they went.
When he came to the army, which consisted of several legions, the
general gave him the command of one; and as he looked upon it as
a small matter, and not worthy a commander, to give evidence of
his own single valor, he resolved to make his soldiers, as far as
he could, like himself, not, however, in this, relaxing the
terrors of his office, but associating reason with his authority.
He persuaded and instructed every one in particular, and bestowed
rewards or punishments according to desert; and at length his men
were so well disciplined, that it was hard to say, whether they
were more peaceable, or more warlike, more valiant, or more just;
they were alike formidable to their enemies and courteous to
their allies, fearful to do wrong, and forward to gain honor.
And Cato himself acquired in the fullest measure, what it had
been his least desire to seek, glory and good repute; he was
highly esteemed by all men, and entirely beloved by the soldiers.
Whatever he commanded to be done, he himself took part in the
performing; in his apparel, his diet and mode of traveling, he
was more like a common soldier than an officer; but in character,
high purpose, and wisdom, he far exceeded all that had the names
and titles of commanders, and he made himself, without knowing
it, the object of general affection. For the true love of virtue
is in all men produced by the love and respect they bear to him
that teaches it; and those who praise good men, yet do not love
them, may respect their reputation, but do not really admire, and
will never imitate their virtue.
There dwelt at that time in Pergamus, Athenodorus, surnamed
Cordylio, a man of high repute for his knowledge of the stoic
philosophy, who was now grown old, and had always steadily
refused the friendship and acquaintance of princes and great men.
Cato understood this; so that imagining he should not be able to
prevail with him by sending or writing, and being by the laws
allowed two months' absence from the army, he resolved to go into
Asia to see him in person, trusting to his own good qualities not
to lose his labor. And when he had conversed with him, and
succeeded in persuading him out of his former resolutions, he
returned and brought him to the camp, as joyful and as proud of
this victory as if he had done some heroic exploit, greater than
any of those of Pompey or Lucullus, who, with their armies, at
that time were subduing so many nations and kingdoms.
While Cato was yet in the service, his brother, on a journey
towards Asia, fell sick at Aenus in Thrace, letters with
intelligence of which were immediately dispatched to him. The
sea was very rough, and no convenient ship of any size to be had;
so Cato, getting into a small trading-vessel, with only two of his
friends and three servants, set sail from Thessalonica, and
having very narrowly escaped drowning, he arrived at Aenus just
as Caepio expired. Upon this occasion, he was thought to have
showed himself more a fond brother than a philosopher, not only
in the excess of his grief, bewailing, and embracing the dead
body, but also in the extravagant expenses of the funeral, the
vast quantity of rich perfumes and costly garments which were
burnt with the corpse, and the monument of Thasian marble, which
he erected, at the cost of eight talents, in the public place of
the town of Aenus. For there were some who took upon them to
cavil at all this, as not consistent with his usual calmness and
moderation, not discerning that though he were steadfast, firm,
and inflexible to pleasure, fear, or foolish entreaties, yet he
was full of natural tenderness and brotherly affection. Divers
of the cities and princes of the country, sent him many presents,
to honor the funeral of his brother; but he took none of their
money, only the perfumes and ornaments he received, and paid for