Cato The Elder

 Marcus Porcius Cato was a Roman statesman, orator, writer, and defender of conservative Roman Republican ideas who lived between 234 and 149 BC. He was born into a wealthy family of Roman landholders during the early Republican period on a farm in the city of Tusculum, southeast of present–day Rome. His early farm upbringing resulted in a lifelong interest in agriculture and the writing of his De Agri Cultura in 160 BC which is the oldest Latin literary encyclopedia in existence today. His conservative views of traditional Roman Republican culture and the importance of the development of Latin literature and its survival as a written language resulted in his fear and dislike of the increasing Greek influence on the Romans. Cato helped insure the survival of Latin by being the first to write an encyclopedic history of Rome in Latin called Origines, of which only small fragments survive.

Cato was born Marcus Porcius Priscus but, due to his abilities as a skillful orator, he became known as Marcus Porcius Cato. The Romans called an experienced or skillful man Catus. The Latin word catus means sharp intellect.

Cato was also known as Cato the Censor for his monitoring of the behavior of public officials and his desire to extricate any Greek influence or capitalist ideas and to return to conservative Roman conduct and morality.

As censor, he attempted to preserve old Roman ancestral custom, mos maiorum. He supported, in 181 BC, the law against luxury, lex Orchia, and in 169 BC, the law that limited a woman’s financial freedom, lex Voconia. He is also known as Cato the Censor due to his austere scrutinization of Senate officials in 184 BC and the removal of those who he considered too liberal or open to new foreign ideas, and those who were extravagant or who he felt lived luxurious, immoral lives.

“The common people, however, liked Cato’s censorship. When they set up a statue in his honour, the inscription in it did not refer to his military triumphs, but simply to the fact that this was Cato the Censor, who, by his discipline and temperance, kept the Roman state from sinking into vice.” (p.100, Plutarch : Ten Famous Lives)

Cato fought in the Second Punic War in Spain. It was here where the Carthaginians were driven out by Publius Scipio Africanus in 206 BC, and Hannibal’s army was destroyed in 202 BC. Three important terms of peace were that the Carthaginians cede Spain to Rome, that they were forbidden from waging war without the permission of Rome, and that they were allowed to keep their original territory in Africa.

Masinissa, who provided essential military assistance to Scipio Africanis in fighting Hannibal’s army at Zama, continued to attack Carthaginian territory in Africa, unchecked by the Roman Senate, land that was supposed to be protected by the peace terms of the Second Punic War. This led to Carthage declaring war on Masinissa, violating the peace treaty with Rome and giving justification for Rome’s invasion of Carthage.

Earlier, Cato was sent on a diplomatic mission to Africa to negotiate peace terms between the Carthaginians and Numidian tribesmen. While visiting Carthage he became disgusted at the wasteful indulgence and luxury, the wealth and power of the merchants and their thriving international trade, and he believed that Carthage posed a threat to Rome. Cato concluded every speech that he gave with the phrase, ‘Delenda est Carthago’ meaning ‘Carthage must be destroyed’. Cato was instrumental in leading to Rome’s attack on Carthage, that led to the beginning of the Third Punic War that began in 149 BC, the year of Cato’s death, and ended in 146 BC with Carthage being burnt to the ground and salt being plowed into its soil.

Cato served as a quaestor under Scipio Africanus in 204 BC. A quaestor was a Roman official either in charge of public funds such as a state treasurer or army paymaster, or a public judge or prosecutor in a criminal trial. He served as an aedile in 199 BC. An aedile was a Roman official who was the superintendent of public works, monitored the public grain supply, was responsible for policing the city and maintaining order, and was held accountable for providing for the public games. He was an advocate of public works and supported the construction of the Basilica Porcia—that was the first basilica in Rome. He served as praetor in 198 BC in Sardinia where he used his legal authority to suppress usury, the practice of lending money at an exorbitant rate of interest. A praetor was an ancient Roman magistrate ranking below a consul, but the word came to mean a defender of a traditional established culture or social order: a conservative. This was an excellent description of Cato since he was closed to new ideas and liberal attitudes. Cato served as consul in 195 BC, with his influential friend L. Valerius Flaccus. A consul was either one of two chief Roman magistrates of the Republic or a powerful honorary official of the Empire who advised the emperor. As consul, he won the honor of a triumph for his suppressing of an insurrection in his province of Spain.

The Scipio family, possessing tremendous power as victorious generals in battle and influential public officials, were open to new liberal ideas and Greek cultural influence thereby undermining traditional Roman standards of morality. Cato successfully attacked L. Scipio and his son Scipio Africanus and was able to diminish their political influence so that in 184 BC, he was elected to the censorship with his friend L. Valerius Flaccus. He was known as Cato the Censor for his oratories concerning the immorality of luxurious living and his activities in extricating those Senate officials whom he believed were leading extravagant lives or were not displaying classical Roman public behavior and so were unfit to serve public office. One such example was a senator who publicly kissed his wife in the presence of his daughter and was thus removed from his official position. In classical Rome a censor was one of two magistrates who acted as tax assessors, census takers, and inspectors of morals and conduct.

Cato lived modestly on a simple farm, ate with his servants, acted moderately and did not believe in overworking his slaves, though they were sold when they became old or ill and were no longer wanted. He walked to plead cases in the court by day and walked home at night to practice oratory, which he felt was a way that one could become a good pleader, or lawyer—one practiced in the art of rhetoric. He attempted to eliminate all luxury in his life and maintained his frugal Spartan ways until his death. He was a strict father, harsh husband, and inflexible political official who enforced his own austere sense of morality on the Roman Republic, particularly in the administration of justice. As Rome became more open to new ideas and Greek influence and learning, which is what eventually led to the success and development of the great Roman Empire, Cato became more critical of the Greek scholars and philosophers whom he saw as rebellious men, i.e., those who were attempting to undermine ancient customs and the best interests of classical Rome. Cato became fearful of the corrupting Greek influence on Rome and stated, “That country (i.e. Greece) will present us with her literature, and corrupt everything—even more so, if she sends her physicians here. They have sworn to kill off every non-Greek with medicine!” (p.305, Literary History of Rome/Silver Age, Duff). He was wary of the influence of the new Greek philosophy on Roman culture and attempted to avoid Greek-Italian interaction. In 155 BC, he publicly spoke out against visiting Athenian philosophers and in 167 BC, he opposed the declaration of war on Rhodes and he supported the granting of independence to Macedonia.

Roman education for the upper classes in Cato’s time was expected to include a broad range of skills and general knowledge. Cato considered the five following branches of education as fundamental: oratory, agriculture, law, war, and medicine. Several generations later considered oratory the fundamental branch of education, as composed of grammar, dialectic, and rhetoric known as the trivium. Cato’s branches of agriculture, law, and war were eventually considered as professions and replaced by the quadrivium: geometry, arithmetic, astronomy, and music.

Cato believed that 2 qualifications were essential to being a great orator: wide knowledge and a good character. In Cato’s words, ‘uir bonus dicendi peritus’, where he writes that “In the teacher of oratory also moral qualities are required” (p. 318, Literary History of Rome/Silver Age, Duff). Though Cato wrote in a very simple Latin style “rem tene, verba sequentur" : keep to the subject and the words will follow” (p. 84, Vol.5, Encyclopaedia Britannica, Marcus Porcius Cato), the influence of Greek rhetoric can be heard in his speeches. Of the more than 150 speeches that he published, only small portions have survived. He compiled an encyclopedia of rules, or maxims, for his son entitled Praecepta. He also compiled a comprehensive instructive encyclopedia for his son on medicine, law, military science, morals, farming, and other subjects entitled Vade-mecum. Cato wrote a series of handbooks for his son covering various subjects, excluding philosophy, since Romans were of such high character and morality that they did not need to waste their time studying philosophy. He filled these handbooks with praise of Roman classical values, dignity, and austerity. These works were written to provide his son with a Roman “cultural” education so that he would not be influenced by Greek literature or education. During this time it was first becoming popular for many Roman noblemen to send their sons to be educated in Athens.

In a manual on the art of speaking that he wrote for his son, he based his instruction on meticulous observation of the style of the Greek orators Demosthenes and Thucydides! Cato was not ignorant of Greek as a grown man since he negotiated with Greeks in law and business, but it was not until he was much older, possibly towards the end of his life, that he began to study Greek literature and culture and acknowledge his admiration and respect for it. The debate all of his life was not so much as conservative versus liberal values and morality but classical austere Roman culture versus the more luxurious and dangerous freedoms arising out of the “enlightenment and relaxation of traditional values” and ideas coming out of what he saw as a threatening liberal Greek culture. In his later years, he took to capitalist farming, became less critical of Greek influence in Rome, and professed his admiration of Greek literature.

Cato’s style of writing showed a simple form lacking eloquence but highly theatrical. His speeches show a didactic presentation, witty and powerful, by a skillful orator expressing classical values. His writing is dry and direct. In his own words, the main principle in rhetoric is that “you hold fast to the matter (the subject) and the words will follow— rem tene, verba sequentur”.

Ancient Roman society did not respect artists, especially poets. They were respected as much as non-productive slothful individuals. The tragedies of Livius, the great Greek dramatist, were translated into Latin. Livius not only wrote plays but acted in them as well. As a result of his writing and activities in promoting the interests of the guild of writers and actors, poetry began to receive official public recognition. Though Cato was born 6 years after the writing of Livius’ first play, Livius influenced his writing and the literary atmosphere in which Cato wrote his poetry.

Cato brought the talented writer of Greek, Oscan, and Latin, Quintus Ennius (239-169 BC) to Rome. Ironically, Ennius was a major force in introducing Greek culture into Rome, but for his shaping of Roman patriotism and the influence he had in shaping the development of Latin literature, he is often considered the father of Latin literature.

Latin writers used the encyclopedic method as a means of instruction. One might say that this began with Cato’s Origines and his De Re Rustica, also known as De Agri Cultura. One of Cato’s greatest literary accomplishments is his 7-volume encyclopedic history of Rome that was written for his son and is known as Origines. In his old age, he compiled this Roman history with (1) a collection of ideas on all sorts of subjects such as geography and ethnography, (2) Roman politics, social life, ideals, and traditions, and (3) reminiscences of his personal experiences and travels, into an encyclopedic work. The first volume talks about the kings of the Romans during the regal period. The second and third volumes discuss the origins or rise and prosperity of Italian cities, hence the name Origines. The fourth volume was about the First Punic War, and the fifth volume about the Second Punic War. The last two were personal narratives that continued until 149 BC—the year of his death. Hadas (p.162) believes that “The latter four books seemed to have been joined on to the first three after Cato’s death and the title Origines then applied to the whole.”

Cato’s historical writings were considered didactic and presented forcefully in “unadorned directness”, rather than with graceful form. His disdain of the indulgent aristocracy led to his suppressing of the names of the generals, thus denying the powerful and influential families their rightful glory and pride.

Written about 160 B.C., De Agri Cultura's origin was most probably notes for private use. Losing its "archaic" diction by modernizations, it has maintained its original spirit. It includes the instructions for the construction of a threshing floor and medicine for cattle, but embedded are recipes for cakes and many old world dainties. His list of duties on a rainy day:

Cum tempestates pluuiae fuerint, quae opera per imbrem fieri potuerint, dolia lauri, picari, uillam purgari, frumentum transferri, stercus foras efferi, sterquilinium fieri, semen purgari, funes sarciri, nouos fieri, centones, cucliones, familiam oportuisse sibi sarcire (s.c. reuoca ad rationem).

Included in De Agri Cultura was: the preserving of olives, the sacrifice before the harvest, the treatment of those with gout, and the management of dogs. De Agri Cultura then closes with a few miscellaneous paragraphs on chafed skin(intertrigo), the cantation for a sprain, cabbages, the growing of asparagus & the curing of hams.

An authentic collection of his sayings was compiled in a book of verse proverbs. His maxims and moralizings are presented in groups of two hexameters. Later, altered versions, counterfeit imitations, that arose as the set of 4 books evolved, came to be known as Catonis disticha. Catonis referring to wise Cato and disticha referring to the Latin word distichon meaning poetic verse consisting of 2 lines.

During the time of Cato, the Romans were superstitious and believed in charms and incantations or carmina. The word carmen means a chant, song, poem, or incantation. Cato wrote a book of prayers or incantations for the dead in verse, known as Carmen de moribus. It also included his own conservative moral views and religious ideas.

"His very manner of speaking seemed to have such a kind of idea with it; for it was courteous, and yet forcible; pleasant, yet overwhelming; facetious, yet austere; sententious, and yet vehement; like Socrates, in the description of Plato, who seemed outwardly to those about him to be but a simple, talkative, blunt fellow; whilst at the bottom he was full of such gravity and matter as would even move tears and touch the very hearts of his auditors. (Plutarch, Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans, p. 416)

Cato wrote over 150 speeches whose existence we know of only from quotes and references found in the works of later authors, but only a few fragments still remain. One oration exemplifies Cato's style and the following is a paragraph from this speech advocating the declaration of war on Rhodes:

Scio solere hominibus [in] rebus secundus atque prolixis atque prosperis animum excellere, atque superbiam atque ferociam augescere atque crescere. Quo mihi nunc magnae curae est, quod haec res tam secunde processit, ne quid in consulendo aduorsi eueniat, quod nostras

Though his views concerning politics and public morals were too conservative, in light of the Roman society’s changing values and more liberal ideas brought in by foreigners, his ideas on the importance of rhetoric and open public discussion and the compilation of Roman knowledge written in Latin in encyclopedic form represented a major contribution to Latin literature. Cato’s influence thus preserved the Latin language. One last interesting piece of information is his epigram (p. 115, Lives of the Noble Romans, Plutarch): “Porcius, who snarls at all in every place, With his gray eyes, and with his fiery face, Even after death will scarce admitted be Into the infernal realms by Hecate.” Et memento—delenda est carthago And remember—Carthage must be destroyed.

Quotes

After I'm dead I'd rather have people ask why I have no monument than why I have one.

Anger so clouds the mind, that it cannot perceive the truth.

From lightest words sometimes the direst quarrel springs.

Grasp the subject, the words will follow.

I think the first virtue is to restrain the tongue; he approaches nearest to gods who knows how to be silent, even though he is in the right.

Lighter is the wound foreseen.

Patience is the greatest of all virtues.

Tis sometimes the height of wisdom to feign stupidity.

We cannot control the evil tongues of others; but a good life enables us to disregard them.

I would much rather have men ask why I have no statue, than why I have one.

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