Plutarch: Lives of the noble Grecians and Romans
Caesar had been informed that Cato stayed at Utica, and did not
seek to fly; that he had sent away the rest of the Romans, but
himself, with his son and a few of his friends, continued there
very unconcernedly, so that he could not imagine what might be
his design. But having a great consideration for the man, he
hastened thither with his army. When he heard of his death, it
is related he said these words, "Cato, I grudge you your death,
as you have grudged me the preservation of your life." And,
indeed, if Cato would have suffered himself to owe his life to
Caesar, he would not so much have impaired his own honor, as
augmented the other's glory. What would have been done, of
course we cannot know, but from Caesar's usual clemency, we may
guess what was most likely.
Cato was forty-eight years old when he died. His son suffered no
injury from Caesar; but, it is said, he grew idle, and was
thought to be dissipated among women. In Cappadocia, he stayed
at the house of Marphadates, one of the royal family there, who
had a very handsome wife; and continuing his visit longer than
was suitable, he made himself the subject of various epigrams;
such as, for example,
Tomorrow, (being the thirtieth day),
Cato, 't is thought, will go away;
Porcius and Marphadates, friends so true,
One Soul, they say, suffices for the two,
that being the name of the woman, and so again,
To Cato's greatness every one confesses,
A royal Soul he certainly possesses.
But all these stains were entirely wiped off by the bravery of
his death. For in the battle of Philippi, where he fought for
his country's liberty against Caesar and Antony, when the ranks
were breaking, he, scorning to fly, or to escape unknown, called
out to the enemy, showed himself to them in the front, and
encouraged those of his party who stayed; and at length fell, and
left his enemies full of admiration of his valor.
Nor was the daughter of Cato inferior to the rest of her family,
for sober-living and greatness of spirit. She was married to
Brutus, who killed Caesar; was acquainted with the conspiracy,
and ended her life as became one of her birth and virtue. All
which is related in the life of Brutus.
Statyllius, who said he would imitate Cato, was at that time
hindered by the philosophers, when he would have put an end to
his life. He afterward followed Brutus, to whom he was very
faithful and very serviceable, and died in the field of Philippi.
AGIS
The fable of Ixion, who, embracing a cloud instead of Juno,
begot the Centaurs, has been ingeniously enough supposed to have
been invented to represent to us ambitious men, whose minds,
doting on glory, which is a mere image of virtue, produce
nothing that is genuine or uniform, but only, as might be
expected of such a conjunction, misshapen and unnatural actions.
Running after their emulations and passions, and carried away by
the impulses of the moment, they may say with the herdsmen, in
the tragedy of Sophocles,
We follow these, though born their rightful lords,
And they command us, though they speak no words.
For this is indeed the true condition of men in public life,
who, to gain the vain title of being the people's leaders and
governors, are content to make themselves the slaves and
followers of all the people's humors and caprices. For as the
look-out men at the ship's prow, though they see what is ahead
before the men at the helm, yet constantly look back to the
pilots there, and obey the orders they give; so these men
steered, as I may say, by popular applause, though they bear the
name of governors, are in reality the mere underlings of the
multitude. The man who is completely wise and virtuous, has no
need at all of glory, except so far as it disposes and eases his
way to action by the greater trust that it procures him. A
young man, I grant, may be permitted, while yet eager for
distinction, to pride himself a little in his good deeds; for
(as Theophrastus says) his virtues, which are yet tender and, as
it were, in the blade, cherished and supported by praises, grow
stronger, and take the deeper root. But when this passion is
exorbitant, it is dangerous in all men, and in those who govern
a commonwealth, utterly destructive. For in the possession of
large power and authority, it transports men to a degree of
madness; so that now they no more think what is good, glorious,
but will have those actions only esteemed good that are
glorious. As Phocion, therefore, answered king Antipater, who
sought his approbation of some unworthy action, "I cannot be
your flatterer, and your friend," so these men should answer the
people, "I cannot govern, and obey you." For it may happen to
the commonwealth, as to the serpent in the fable, whose tail,
rising in rebellion against the head, complained, as of a great
grievance, that it was always forced to follow, and required
that it should be permitted by turns to lead the way. And
taking the command accordingly, it soon indicted by its
senseless courses mischiefs in abundance upon itself, while the
head was torn and lacerated with following, contrary to nature,
a guide that was deaf and blind. And such we see to have been
the lot of many, who, submitting to be guided by the
inclinations of an uninformed and unreasoning multitude, could
neither stop, nor recover themselves out of the confusion.
This is what has occurred to us to say, of that glory which
depends on the voice of large numbers, considering the sad
effects of it in the misfortunes of Caius and Tiberius Gracchus,
men of noble nature, and whose generous natural dispositions
were improved by the best of educations, and who came to the
administration of affairs with the most laudable intentions; yet
they were ruined, I cannot say by an immoderate desire of glory,
but by a more excusable fear of disgrace. For being excessively
beloved and favored by the people, they thought it a discredit
to them not to make full repayment, endeavoring by new public
acts to outdo the honors they had received, and again, because
of these new kindnesses, incurring yet further distinctions;
till the people and they, mutually inflamed, and vieing thus
with each other in honors and benefits, brought things at last
to such a pass, that they might say that to engage so far was
indeed a folly, but to retreat would now be a shame.
This the reader will easily gather from the story. I will now
compare with them two Lacedaemonian popular leaders, the kings
Agis and Cleomenes. For they, being desirous also to raise the
people, and to restore the noble and just form of government,
now long fallen into disuse, incurred the hatred of the rich and
powerful, who could not endure to be deprived of the selfish
enjoyments to which they were accustomed. These were not indeed
brothers by nature, as the two Romans, but they had a kind of
brotherly resemblance in their actions and designs, which took a
rise from such beginnings and occasions as I am now about to
relate.
When the love of gold and silver had once gained admittance into
the Lacedaemonian commonwealth, it was quickly followed by
avarice and baseness of spirit in the pursuit of it, and by
luxury, effeminacy, and prodigality in the use. Then Sparta
fell from almost all her former virtue and repute, and so
continued till the days of Agis and Leonidas, who both together
were kings of the Lacedaemonians.
Agis was of the royal family of Eurypon, son of Eudamidas, and
the sixth in descent from Agesilaus, who made the expedition
into Asia, and was the greatest man of his time in Greece.
Agesilaus left behind him a son called Archidamus, the same who
was slain at Mandonium, in Italy, by the Messapians, and who
was then succeeded by his eldest son Agis. He being killed by
Antipater near Megalopolis, and leaving no issue, was succeeded
by his brother Eudamidas; he, by a son called Archidamus; and
Archidamus, by another Eudamidas, the father of this Agis of
whom we now treat.
Leonidas, son of Cleonymus, was of the other royal house of the
Agiadae, and the eighth in descent from Pausanias, who defeated
Mardonius in the battle of Plataea. Pausanias was succeeded by
a son called Plistoanax; and he, by another Pausanias, who was
banished, and lived as a private man at Tegea; while his eldest
son Agesipolis reigned in his place. He, dying without issue,
was succeeded by a younger brother, called Cleombrotus, who left
two sons; the elder was Agesipolis, who reigned but a short
time, and died without issue; the younger, who then became king,
was called Cleomenes, and had also two sons, Acrotatus and
Cleonymus. The first died before his father, but left a son
called Areus, who succeeded, and being slain at Corinth, left
the kingdom to his son Acrotatus. This Acrotatus was defeated,
and slain near Megalopolis, in a battle against the tyrant
Aristodemus; he left his wife big with child, and on her being
delivered of a son, Leonidas, son of the above-named Cleonymus,
was made his guardian, and as the young king died before
becoming a man, he succeeded in the kingdom.
Leonidas was a king not particularly suitable to his people.
For though there were at that time at Sparta a general decline
in manners, yet a greater revolt from the old habits appeared in
him than in others. For having lived a long time among the
great lords of Persia, and been a follower of king Seleucus, he
unadvisedly thought to imitate, among Greek institutions and in
a lawful government, the pride and assumption usual in those
courts. Agis, on the contrary, in fineness of nature and
elevation of mind, not only far excelled Leonidas, but in a
manner all the kings that had reigned since the great Agesilaus.
For though he had been bred very tenderly, in abundance and even
in luxury, by his mother Agesistrata and his grandmother
Archidamia, who were the wealthiest of the Lacedaemonians, yet
before the age of twenty, he renounced all indulgence in
pleasures. Withdrawing himself as far as possible from the
gaiety and ornament which seemed becoming to the grace of his
person, he made it his pride to appear in the coarse Spartan
coat. In his meals, his bathings, and in all his exercises, he
followed the old Laconian usage, and was often heard to say, he
had no desire for the place of king, if he did not hope by means
of that authority to restore their ancient laws and discipline.
The Lacedaemonians might date the beginning of their corruption
from their conquest of Athens, and the influx of gold and silver
among them that thence ensued. Yet, nevertheless, the number of
houses which Lycurgus appointed being still maintained, and the
law remaining in force by which everyone was obliged to leave
his lot or portion of land entirely to his son, a kind of order
and equality was thereby preserved, which still in some degree
sustained the state amidst its errors in other respects. But
one Epitadeus happening to be ephor, a man of great influence,
and of a willful, violent spirit, on some occasion of a quarrel
with his son, proposed a decree, that all men should have
liberty to dispose of their land by gift in their lifetime, or
by their last will and testament. This being promoted by him to
satisfy a passion of revenge, and through covetousness consented
to by others, and thus enacted for a law, was the ruin of the
best state of the commonwealth. For the rich men without
scruple drew the estates into their own hands, excluding the
rightful heirs from their succession; and all the wealth being
centered upon a few, the generality were poor and miserable.
Honorable pursuits, for which there was no longer leisure, were
neglected; and the state was filled with sordid business, and
with hatred and envy of the rich. There did not remain above