Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 1.djvu/664

Rh 646 CATO. that tyrant?** "Because," answered Sarpedon, me have a sword, that I might put him to death, and restore my country to freedom ?" This out- break induced his tutor to watch him, lest he should attempt something desperate. He received 120 talents as his share of his fa- ther's fortune, and, being now his own master, still further contracted his expenditure, hitherto extremely moderate. He addicted himself to poli- tical studies, and practbed in solitude oratorical declamation. As he hated luxury and was accus- tomed to self-denial, the precepts of the Porch found favour in his sight ; and, under the guidance of Antipater of Tyre, he pursued with all the ar- dour of a devotee the ethical philosophy of the Stoics. The virtue he chiefly worshipped was a rigid justice, not only unmoved by favour, but rejecting the corrective of equity and mercy. Differing widely in disposition and natural gifts from his great ancestor the Censor, he yet looked up to him as a model, adopted his principles, and imitated his conduct. His constitution was natu- rally vigorous, and he endeavoured to harden it still more by excessive toil. He travelled bare- headed in the heat of summer, and amid the win- ter snow. When his friends were making long journeys on horseback, he accompanied them on foot. In illness and fever, he passed his hours alone, not bearing any witness of his physical in- firmities. He was singular in his dress, preferring, by way of sober contraat, a dark purple to the rich crimson then in vogue, and he often appeared in public after dinner without shoes or tunic. Up to his twentieth year, his inseparable companion was his half-brother, Q. Servilius Caepio, to whom he was aflfactionately attached. When Caepio was praised for his moderation and frugality, he ac- knowledged that he was but a Sippius (a notorious prodigal) when compared with Cato. Thus Cato became a mark for the eyes of the throng. Vicious luxury was one of tlve crying evils of the tinves, and he was pointed to as the natural successor of his ancestor in reforming manners, and in repre- senting the old, simple, undegenerate Roman. It is much to become a type of a national character. The first occasion of his appearance in public life was connected with the name of his ancestor. The elder Cato in his censorship had erected and dedicated a building called the Porcia Basilica. In this the tribunes of the people were accustomed to transact business. There was a column in the way of the benches where they sat, and they de- termined either to remove it altogether or to change its place. This proposition called forth the younger Cato, who successfully resisted the measure in a speecli which was graceful while it was cutting, and was elevated iu tone without any of the tu- mour of juvenile declamation. Cato was capable of warm and tender attach- ment, and much that was stiff and angular in his character was enhanced by early disappointment and blighted affection. Lepida had been betrothed to MeteUus Scipio, who broke off the match. Free once more, she was wooed by Cato ; but the atten- tions of a new admirer recalled the ardour of her former lover, who sued again, and was again ac- cepted. Stung to the quick, Cato was with diffi- culty prevented, by the entreaties of friends, from exposing himself by going to law, and expended CATO. the bitterness of his wrath against Scipio in satin* cal iambics. He soon afterwards married Atilia, the daughter of Serranus, but was obliged to divorce her for adultery after she had borne him two chil- dren. He served his first campaign as a volunteer, b. c. 72, under the consul Gellius Poblicola, in the ser- vile war of Spart<icus. He joined the army rather from a desire to be near Caepio, who was tribunus militum, than out of any love for a military life. In this new career he had no opportunity of dis- tinguishing himself; but his observation of discip- line was perfect, and in courage he was never found wanting. The general offered him military rewards, which he refused on the ground that he had done nothing to deserve them. For this he was reckoned perverse and cross-grained, but his own estimate of his services was not perhaps much below the mark. He had many of the qualities which make a good soldier, but of that peculiar genius which constitutes a great general he had not a spark. About the year b. jC. 67, he became a candidate for the post of tribunus militum, and obeyed the law b}' canvassing without nomenclatores. He was elected, and joined the anny of the propraetor M.Rubrius in Macedonia. Here he was appointed to <:ommand a legion, and he won the esteem and attachment of the soldiery by the force of reason, by sharing all their labours, and by a strict atten- tion to his duty. He treated them as rational beings, not as mere machines, and he preserved order without harsh punishments or lavish bribes. But the life of the camp was ill suited to his tem- perament. Hearing that the famous Stoic philo- sopher Athenodorus, sumamed Cordylion, was at Pergamus, he obtained a free legation, which gave him leave of absence for two months, travelled to Asia in search of the philosopher, and succeeded in persuading Athenodorus to return with him to Macedonia. This was deemed by Cato a greater triumph than the capture of a rich city, for the Stoic had refused repeated offers of friendship and society from kings and emperors. Cato was now doomed to suffer a severe mis- fortune, and to put to the test all the lessons of his philosophy. Servilius Caepio, on his way to Asia, was taken ill at Aenus, a town of Thrace. Cato was informed of this by letter, and, embarking without delay in a small vessel, set sail in stormy weather from Thessalonica ; but he did not arrive in time to close the eyes of his beloved brother. The tumult of his grief was excessive. He em- braced the corpse with tears and cries, and spared no expense in the splendour of the funeral He sent back to the provincials their preferred gifts of money, and paid them for the odours and precious vestments which they contributed to the sad so- lemnit}'. At the cost of eight talents, he erected to the memory of Caepio a polished monument of Thasian marble in the market-place at Aenus. He now returned to Rome in a ship which con- veyed the ashes of his brother. At Rome his time was divided between the lessons of philosophy from the lips of Athenodorus, the advocacy of his friends' causes in the forum, and the studies that were necessary to qualify him for political offices. He was now of an age to offer himself for the quaestorship, but he determined not to put himself forward as a candidate until he was master of the details of his duties. He was able to purchase fot I
 * 'men fear him more strongly than they hate him."
 * ' Why then," subjoined Cato, " would you not let