Page:Plutarch's Lives (Clough, v.4, 1865).djvu/381

 CATO THE YOUNGER. 373 riding courses on horseback, which they called Troy,* having gotten together the youth of good birth, he ap- pointed two for their leaders. One of them they ac- cepted for his mother's sake, being the son of Metella, the wife of Sylla; but as for the other, Sextus, the nephew of Pompey, they would not be led by him, nor exercise under him. Then Sylla asking, whom they would have, they all cried out, Cato ; and Sextus wil- lingly yielded the honor to him, as the more worthy. Sylla, who was a friend of their family, sent at times for Cato and his brother to see them and talk with them; a favor which he showed to very few. after gaining his great power and authority. Sarpedon, full of the advan- tage it would be, as well for the honor as the safety of his scholars, would often bring Cato to wait upon Sylla at his house, which, for the multitude of those that were being carried off in custody, and tormented there, looked like a place of execution. Cato was then in his four- teenth year, and seeing the heads of men said to be of great distinction brought thither, and observing the secret sighs of those that were present, he asked his pre- ceptor, "Why does nobody kill this man?" "Because," said he, " they fear him, child, more than they hate him." " Why, then," replied Cato, " did you not give me a sword, that I might stab him, and free my country from this slavery ? " Sarpedon hearing this, and at the same time seeing his countenance swelling with anger and determination, took care thenceforward to watch him strictly, lest he should hazard any desperate attempt. While he was yet very young, to some that asked him, whom he loved best, he answered, his brother. And being asked, whom next, he replied, his brother, again. horseback, which Virgil takes occa- nunc, pueri, Trojanum dicitur ag- 6ion to describe in the fifth Book of men.
 * The favorite show of boys on the jEneid, 545-603. Trojaqwt