Marcus Porcius Cato (Latin: M·PORCIVS·M·F·CATO) (234 - 149 BC), Roman statesman, surnamed "The Censor," Sapiens, Priscus, or Major (the Elder), to distinguish him from Cato the Younger (his great-grandson), was born at Tusculum. Download high resolution version (487x679, 46 KB)Picture of statue of Cato. ... Latin is the language originally spoken in the region around Rome called Latium. ... Centuries: 4th century BC - 3rd century BC - 2nd century BC Decades: 280s BC 270s BC 260s BC 250s BC 240s BC - 230s BC - 220s BC 210s BC 200s BC 190s BC 180s BC Years: 239 BC 238 BC 237 BC 236 BC 235 BC - 234 BC - 233 BC 232 BC... Centuries: 3rd century BC - 2nd century BC - 1st century BC Decades: 190s BC 180s BC 170s BC 160s BC 150s BC - 140s BC - 130s BC 120s BC 110s BC 100s BC 90s BC Years: 154 BC 153 BC 152 BC 151 BC 150 BC - 149 BC - 148 BC 147 BC... Marcus Porcius Cato Uticencis (95 BC-46 BC), known as Cato the younger to distinguish him from his great-grandfather Cato the Elder, was a Roman politician and statesman, and a follower of the Stoic philosophy. ...

He came of an ancient plebeian family, noted for some military services, but not ennobled by the discharge of the higher civil offices. He was bred, after the manner of his Latin forefathers, to agriculture, to which he devoted himself when not engaged in military service. But, having attracted the notice of L. Valerius Flaccus, he was brought to Rome, and became successively quaestor (204), aedile (199), praetor (198), and consul (195) with his old patron. At least four notable Romans were named Lucius Valerius Flaccus. ... City motto: Senatus Populusque Romanus – SPQR (The Senate and the People of Rome) Founded 21 April 753 BC mythical, 1st millennium BC Region Latium Mayor Walter Veltroni (Democratici di Sinistra) Area  - City Proper  1290 km² Population  - City (2004)  - Metropolitan  - Density (city proper) 2,546,807 almost 4,000,000 1... Quaestors were elected officials of the Roman Republic who supervised the treasury and financial affairs of the state, its armies and its officers. ... Aedile was an office of the Roman Republic. ... Definition According to Cicero, Praetor was a title which designated the consuls as the leaders of the armies of the state. ... For modern diplomatic consuls, see Consulate general. ...

During his early career he vainly opposed the repeal of the lex Oppia, passed during the Second Punic War to restrict luxury and extravagance on the part of women. Meanwhile he served in Africa, taking part in the crowning campaign of Zama. He held commands in Sardinia, where he first showed his strict public morality, and in Spain, which he reduced to subjection with great cruelty, gaining thereby the honour of a triumph (194). The Second Punic War was fought between Carthage and Rome from 218 to 202 BC. It was the second of three major wars fought between the Phoenician colony of Carthage, and the Roman Republic, then still confined to the Italian Peninsula. ... Battle of Zama Conflict Second Punic War Date October 19, 202 BC Place Zama, near Carthage Result Roman victory; end of Second Punic War The Battle of Zama, fought on October 19, 202 BC, was the decisive battle of the Second Punic War. ... Sardinia (Sardigna, Sardinna or Sardinnia in the Sardinian language, Sardegna in Italian, Sardenya in Catalan), is the second largest island in the Mediterranean Sea (Sicily is the largest), between Italy, Spain and Tunisia, south of Corsica. ... A Roman Triumph was a civil ceremony and religious rite of ancient Rome, held to publicly honour the military commander (dux) of a notably successful foreign war or campaign and to display the glories of Roman victory. ...

In the year 191 BC he acted as military tribune in the war against Antiochus of Syria, and played an important part in the a battle at Thermopylae, which finally delivered Greece from the encroachments of Persia. Centuries: 3rd century BC - 2nd century BC - 1st century BC Decades: 240s BC 230s BC 220s BC 210s BC 200s BC - 190s BC - 180s BC 170s BC 160s BC 150s BC 140s BC Years: 196 BC 195 BC 194 BC 193 BC 192 BC - 191 BC - 190 BC 189 BC... Silver coin of Antiochus III. The reverse shows Apollo seated on an omphalos. ... The Battle of Thermopylae of 480 BC set an alliance of Greek city-states against an invading Persian army. ...

His reputation as a soldier was now established; henceforth he preferred to serve the state at home, scrutinizing the conduct of the candidates for public honours and of generals in the field. If he was not personally engaged in the prosecution of the Scipios (Africanus and Asiaticus) for corruption, it was his spirit that animated the attack upon them. Even Scipio Africanus, who refused to reply to the charge, saying only, "Romans, this is the day on which I conquered Hannibal," and was absolved by acclamation, found it necessary to retire self-banished to his villa at Liternum. Cato's enmity dated from the African campaign when he quarrelled with Scipio for his lavish distribution of the spoil amongst the troops, and his general luxury and extravagance. Lucius Cornelius Scipio Asiaticus (2nd century BC) was Roman general and statesman. ... Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus Major (Latin: P·CORNELIVS·P·F·L·N·SCIPIO·AFRICANVS) (236 - 183 BC) was a general in the Second Punic War and statesman of the Roman Republic. ... An ancient town of Campania, Italy, on the low sandy coast between Cumae and the mouth of the Volturnus. ...

Cato had, however, a more serious task to perform in opposing the spread of the new Hellenic culture which threatened to destroy the rugged simplicity of the conventional Roman type. He conceived it to be his special mission to resist this invasion. It was in the discharge of the censorship that this determination was most strongly exhibited, and hence that he derived the title (the Censor) by which he is most generally distinguished. He revised with unsparing severity the lists of senators and knights, ejecting from either order the men whom he judged unworthy of it, either on moral grounds or from their want of the prescribed means. The expulsion of L. Quinctius Flamininus for wanton cruelty was an example of his rigid justice.

His regulations against luxury were very stringent. He imposed a heavy tax upon dress and personal adornment, especially of women, and upon young slaves purchased as favourites. In 181 he supported the lex Orchia (according to others, he first opposed its introduction, and subsequently its repeal), which prescribed a limit to the number of guests at an entertainment, and in 169 the lex Voconia, one of the provisions of which was intended to check the accumulation of an undue proportion of wealth in the hands of women. Centuries: 3rd century BC - 2nd century BC - 1st century BC Decades: 230s BC 220s BC 210s BC 200s BC 190s BC - 180s BC - 150s BC 140s BC 130s BC 120s BC 110s BC Years: 186 BC 185 BC 184 BC 183 BC 182 BC - 181 BC - 180 BC 179 BC... Centuries: 3rd century BC - 2nd century BC - 1st century BC Decades: 210s BC 200s BC 190s BC 180s BC 170s BC - 160s BC - 150s BC140s BC 130s BC 120s BC 110s BC Years: 174 BC 173 BC 172 BC 171 BC 170 BC - 169 BC - 168 BC 167 BC 166...

Amongst other things he repaired the aqueducts, cleansed the sewers, prevented private persons drawing off public water for their own use, ordered the demolition of houses which encroached on the public way, and built the first basilica in the forum near the curia (Livy, History, 39.44; Plutarch, Marcus Cato, 19). He raised the amount paid by the publicani for the right of farming the taxes, and at the same time diminished the contract prices for the construction of public works. The Basilica of St. ... Forum, originally a Latin word, currently refers in English to a place or a space for meeting or for trading. ... The Curia, inside the Forum The Curia of ancient Rome was the place where the Senate met to discuss the making of laws and take decisions about the affairs of the Republic. ...

From the date of his censorship (184) to his death in 149, Cato held no public office, but continued to distinguish himself in the senate as the persistent opponent of the new ideas. He was struck with horror, along with many other Romans of the graver stamp, at the licence of the Bacchanalian mysteries, which he attributed to the fatal influence of Greek manners; and he vehemently urged the dismissal of the philosophers (Carneades, Diogenes, and Critolaus), who came as ambassadors from Athens, on account of the dangerous nature of the views expressed by them. The Bacchanalia were wild and mystic festivals of the Roman god Bacchus. ... Carneades (c. ... Diogenes (Διογένης) is a Greek name shared by several important historical figures: Diogenes of Sinope ( 412- 323 BC), better known as Diogenes the Cynic or simply Diogenes Diogenes Apolloniates (c:a 460 BC), philosopher Diogenes of Seleukia (c:a 150 BC) Diogenes Laertius (between 200- 500 AD), historian This is... The Acropolis in central Athens, one of the most important landmarks in world history. ...

He had a horror of physicians, who were chiefly Greeks. He procured the release of Polybius, the historian, and his fellow prisoners, contemptuously asking whether the senate had nothing more important to do than discuss whether a few Greeks should die at Rome or in their own land. It was not till his eightieth year that he made his first acquaintance with Greek literature. Polybius (ca 203 BC - 120 BC) was a Greek historian of the Mediterranean world famous for his book called The Histories or The Rise of the Roman Empire, covering the period of 220 BC to 146 BC. // Personal experiences As the former tutor of the Scipio Africanus the Younger, the...

Almost his last public act was to urge his countrymen to the Third Punic War and the destruction of Carthage. In 157 he was one of the deputies sent to Carthage to arbitrate between the Carthaginians and Massinissa, king of Numidia. The mission was unsuccessful and the commissioners returned home. But Cato was so struck by the evidences of Carthaginian prosperity that he was convinced that the security of Rome depended on the annihilation of Carthage. From this time, in season and out of season, he kept repeating the cry: "Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam." (Moreover, I advise that Carthage should be destroyed. - Plutarch, Life of Cato) He was known for saying this at the conclusion of each of his speeches. The Third Punic War was fought between Carthage and the Roman Republic from 149 BC to 146 BC. This was the last in a series of three wars. ... A map of the central Mediterranean Sea, showing the location of Carthage (near modern Tunis). ... Centuries: 3rd century BC - 2nd century BC - 1st century BC Decades: 200s BC 190s BC 180s BC 170s BC 160s BC - 150s BC - 140s BC 130s BC 120s BC 110s BC 100s BC Years: 162 BC 161 BC 160 BC 159 BC 158 BC - 157 BC - 156 BC 155 BC... Masinissa (c. ... Numidia was an ancient African Berber kingdom and later a Roman province on the northern coast of Africa between the province of Africa (where Tunisia is now) and the province of Mauretania (which is now the western part of Algerias coastal area). ... Mestrius Plutarch (c. ...

To Cato the individual life was a continual discipline, and public life was the discipline of the many. He regarded the individual householder as the germ of the family, the family as the germ of the state. By strict economy of time he accomplished an immense amount of work; he exacted similar application from his dependents, and proved himself a hard husband, a strict father, a severe and cruel master. There was little difference apparently, in the esteem in which he held his wife and his slaves; his pride alone induced him to take a warmer interest in his sons.

To the Romans themselves there was little in this behaviour which seemed worthy of censure; it was respected rather as a traditional example of the old Roman manners. In the remarkable passage (xxxix. 40) in which Livy describes the character of Cato, there is no word of blame for the rigid discipline of his household. Bust of Livy Titus Livius (around 59 BC - 17 AD), known as Livy in English, wrote a monumental history of Rome, Ab Urbe Condita, from its founding (traditionally dated to 753 BC). ...

Cato perhaps deserves even more notice as a literary man than as a statesman or a soldier. He was the first Latin prose writer of any importance, and the first author of a history of Rome in Latin. His treatise on agriculture (De Agricultura or De Re Rustica) is the only work by him that has been preserved; it is not agreed whether the work we possess is the original or a later revision. It contains a miscellaneous collection of rules of good husbandry, conveying much curious information on the domestic habits of the Romans of his age. His most important work, Origines, in seven books, related the history of Rome from its earliest foundations to his own day. It was so called from the second and third books, which described the rise of the different Italian towns.

His speeches, of which as many as 150 were collected, were principally directed against the young free-thinking and loose-principled nobles of the day. He also wrote a set of maxims for the use of his son (Praecepta ad Filium), and some rules for everyday life in verse (Carmen de Moribus).

The two collections of proverbs (Distichs of Cato, Monosticha Catonis) in hexameter verse, extant under the name of Cato, probably belong to the 4th century AD, mistakingly attributed to Cato the Elder. The Distichs of Cato (Latin: Catonis Disticha, most famously known simply as Cato), is a Latin collection of proverbial wisdom and morality by an unknown author named Dionysius Cato from the 3rd or 4th century AD. The Cato was the most popular medieval schoolbook for teaching Latin, prized not only... Hexameter is a literary and poetic form, consisting of six metrical feet per line as in the Iliad. ... (3rd century - 4th century - 5th century - other centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 4th century was that century which lasted from 301 to 400. ...

External link

• Cato's De Agricultura: Latin text, English translation, information on the manuscripts, prefatory material.
• The Monosticha and Disticha: Latin text, English translation.

This article incorporates text from the public domain 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica. The public domain comprises the body of all creative works and other knowledge—writing, artwork, music, science, inventions, and others—in which no person or organization has any proprietary interest. ... The Eleventh Edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica (1911) in many ways represents the sum of knowledge at the beginning of the 20th century. ...

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Cato the Elder