proofs of her benevolence and humanity, that she is deservedly the object of admiration and applause. The English likewise, not to mention innumerable and most liberal pensions paid on account of public service, have their Hercules Lar at Blenheim, and will probably soon have an equally magnificent and equally merited Trafalgar.* THE LIFE OF CATO THE CENSOR. SUMMARY. His ancestors. Origin of the name of Cato. His elo quence and bravery. He profits by the example of Curius, and the instruction of Nearchus the philosopher. Valerius draws him to Rome. He attaches himself to Fabius Maximus, and refuses to attend Scipio into Afri ca. His eloquence and primitiveness of manners gain him the admiration of the Romans. His excessive economy. Kindness of the Athenians, even to animals. His integrity in the government of Sardinia. His style; and memorable sayings. His remonstrances to the Romans: bon mots: his consulship and expedition into Spain. He is superseded by Scipio. His triumph. His campaigns in Thrace and Greece. He retains the Greek cities in their subjection. He sends to reconnoitre the Straits of Thermopyla. Difficulties in passing them. His zeal for justice, and against the vicious. He stands for the office of Censor. Apprehensions of the higher classes, by whom he is ineffectually opposed. He gains his election, and displays great severity in the discharge of his duty. Incurs the odium of the wealthy by his imposts on articles of luxury: braves their resentment, and defeats their hostility. The people erect a statue to his honour, for having reformed the public manners. domestic virtues. The education, which he himself gives his son, and its success. His treatment of his slaves His Arrival of Car- He gives up agriculture for commerce. MARCUS CATO (it is said) was born at Tusculum, of which place his family originally was, and before he was concerned in civil or military affairs, lived upon an estate which his father had left him near the country of the Sabines. Though his ancestors were reckoned to have been persons of no note, yet Cato himself boasts of his father, as a brave man and an excellent soldier; and assures us that his great grand-father Cato received several military rewards, and that having had five horses killed under him, he had the value of them paid him out of the treasury, as an acknowledgement of his gallant behaviour. As the Romans always gave the appellation of "New Men"" to those who, having no honours transmitted to them from their ancestors, were the first of their family to distinguish themselves, they designated Cato by the same term: but he used to say that he was new indeed with respect to offices and dignities, but with regard to the services and virtues of his ancestors, very ancient. His third name, at first, was not Cato, but Priscus. It was subsequently changed to that of Cato, on account of his remarkable wisdom; for the Romans call 1 The jus imaginum was annexed to the great offices of state, and none had their statues or pictures, but such as had borne those offices. He therefore, who had the pictures of his ancestors, was called 'noble;' he who had only his own, a new man; and he, who had neither the one nor the other, ignoble.' So says Asconius. But it does not appear that a man who had borne a great office, the consulate for instance, was ignoble' because he had not his statue or picture; for he might not choose it. Cato himself did not choose it: his reason, we suppose, was because he had none of his ancestors, though he himself assigned another. (See A. Gell. xiii. 19.) wise men Catos 2. He had red hair and grey eyes, as the following little epigram ill-naturedly enough de clares: With eyes so grey and hair so red, Thou'lt fright the shades when thou art dead, Inured to labour and temperance, and brought up as it were in camps, he had an excellent constitution with respect to strength, as well as health. Eloquence he considered as a kind of second body, an instrument of great things, not only useful but necessary for every man, who does not choose to live obscure and inactive: hence he exercised and improved that talent in the neighbouring boroughs and villages, by undertaking the causes of such as applied to him; so that he was soon allowed to be an able pleader, and afterward a good orator. From this time, all that conversed with him discovered in him such a gravity of behaviour, such a dignity and depth of sentiment, as qualified him for the greatest affairs in the most respectable government in the world. For he was not only so disinterested as to plead without reward, but it appeared that even the honour to be gained in these contests was not his principal view. His ambition was military glory; and, when yet but a youth, he had fought in so many battles, that his breast was full of scars. He himself informs us that he made his first campaign at seventeen years of age, when Annibal in the height of his prosperity was laying Italy waste with fire and sword: In battle he stood with a firm and steadfast foot, a powerful arm, and a fierce countenance, and spoke to his 2 The Latin word catus signifies prudent: and he appears to have been the first, who bore it as a proper name. 6 one 3 The epigrammatist, when he says that he was ravdaneтns, that bit every thing which came in his way,' plays upon his name of Porcius (qu. Porcus, Hog.') 4 If we refer this to the year of the battle of Canna, A. U. C. 538. we shall find Cato, as Cicero states, was born A. U. C. 521. M. Ricard, from Cic. de Senect. iv., states his birth to have taken place A. U. C. 519., and his first campaign A. U. C. 539.* enemy in a threatening and dreadful accent; for he rightly judged, and endeavoured to convince others, that such a kind of behaviour often strikes an adversary with more terror than the sword itself. He always marched on foot, and carried his own arms, followed only by one servant who carried his provisions. And he never, it is said, was angry or found fault with that servant, whatever he set before him; but, when he was at leisure from military duty, would ease and assist him in dressing it. All the time he was in the army, he drank nothing but water, except that when almost consumed with thirst, he would ask for a little vinegar, or when he found his strength exhausted, he would take a little wine. Near his country-seat was a cottage formerly belonging to Manius Curius, who was thrice honoured with a triumph. Cato often walked thither, and reflecting on the smallness of the farm and the meanness of the dwelling, used to meditate upon, the peculiar virtues of the man who (though he was the most illustrious character in Rome, had subdued the fiercest nations, and driven Pyrrhus out of Italy) cultivated this little spot of ground with his own hands, and after three triumphs retired to this cottage. Here the embassadors of the Samnites found him in the chimney-corner dressing turnips, and offered him a large present of gold: but he absolutely refused it, remarking, "A man, who can be satisfied with such a supper, has no need of gold; and I think it more glorious to conquer the possessors of it, than to possess it myself." Full of these thoughts, Cato returned home; and taking a view of his own estate, his servants, and his manner of living, increased his labour and retrenched his expences. When Fabius Maximus took the city of Tarentum, 5 Ogos funtinov, says Hippocrates; and on account of its cooling quality, it was usually given to labourers in the harvest. (See Ruth, ii. 14.)* 6 Manius Curius Dentatus triumphed twice in his first consulate (see Hor. I. xii. 41., Flor. i. 15.) over the Samnites, and over the Sabines. And eight years after that, in his third consulate, he triumphed over Pyrrhus. He, subsequently, led up an Ovation for his victory over the Lucanians. (L.) This was the great man, who after so many achieve |