Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 1.djvu/655

CATO. general admitted the young soldier to the honour of intimate acquaintance. While Fabius communi- cated the valued results of military experience, he omitted not to instil his own personal and political partialities and dislikes into the ear of his attached follower. At the siege of Tarentum, b. c. 209, Cato was again at the side of Fabius. Two years later, Cato was one of the select band who accom- panied the consul Claudius Nero on his northern march from Lucania to check the progress of Has- drubal. It is recorded tjiat the services of Cato contributed not a little to the decisive victory of Sena on the Metaurus, where Hasdrubal was slain. In the intervals of war, Cato returned to his Sabine farm, using the plainest dress, and working and faring like his labourers. Young as he was, the neighbouring farmers liked his hardy mode of living, relished his quaint and sententious sayings, and recognized his abilities. His own active tem- perament made him willing and anxious to employ his powers in the service of his neighbours. He was engaged to .ict, sometimes as an arbiter of dis- putes, and sometimes as an advocate, in local causes, which were probably tried before recuperatores in the country. Thus was he enabled to strengthen by practice his oratorical faculties, to gain self- confidence, to observe the manners of men, to dive into the springs of human nature, to apply the rules of law, and practically to investigate the principles of justice. In the vicinity of Cato's Sabine farm was the estate of L. Valerius Flaccus, a young nobleman of considerable influence, and high patrician family. Flaccus could not help remarking the energy of Cato, his military talent, his eloquence, his frugal and simple life, and his old-fashioned principles. Flaccus himself was one of that old-fashioned party who professed their adherence to the severer vir- tues of the ancient Roman character. There was now in progress a transition from Samnite rusticity to Grecian civilization and oriental voluptuousness. The chief magistracies of the state had become al- most the patrimony of a few distinguished families, whose wealth was correspondent with their illus- trious birth. Popular by lavish expenditure, by acts of graceful but cornipting munificence, by ■winning manners, and by the chanii of hereditary honours, they united with the influence of office the material power conferred by a numerous reti- nue of clients and adherents, and the intellectual ascendancy which the monopoly of philosophical education, of taste in the fine arts, and of acquain- tance with elegant literature, could not fail to be- stow. Nevertheless, the reaction was strong. The less fortunate nobles, jealous of this exclusive oli- garchy, and keenly observant of the degeneracy and disorder which followed in the train of luxury, placed themselves at the head of a party which professed its determination to resort to purer mo- dels and to stand upon the ancient ways. In their eyes, rusticity, austerity, and asceticism were the marks of Sabine hardihood and religion, and of the old Roman unbending integrity and love of order. Marcellus, the family of Scipio, and the two Fla- minini, may be taken as types of the new civiliza- tion ; Cato's friends, Fabius and Flaccus, were leading men in the party of the old plainness. Flaccus was one of those clear-sighted politicians who seek out and patronize remarkable ability in young and rising men. He had observed Cato's CATO. 687 martial spirit and eloquent tongue. He knew how much courage and eloquence were prized at Rome. He knew that the distinctions of the battle-field opened the way to the successes of the gown ; and that, for a municipal stranger like Cato, forensic success was almost the only possible avenue to magisterial honours. Accordingly, he recommended Cato to transplant his ambition to the fitter soil and ampler field of Rome. The advice was eagerly followed. Invited to the town-house of Flaccus, and countenanced by his support, Cato began to distinguish himself in the forum, and became a candidate for office. We have dwelt upon the accidents of his early history, since they affected the whole tenor of Cato's life. We have seen a youth, indomitably active and strong-minded — the fellow- workman and oracle of rustics — not suffered to droop from want of practice or encouragement, but befriended by opportunity and always equal to the exigencies of his position, disciplined in the best school of arms, the favourite of his general, listened to with applause in the courts of Rome, and introduced at once into a high political circle. What wonder if, in such scenes, the mind of Cato received a better training for wide command and worldly success than could have been supplied by a more regular education ? What wonder if his strength and originality were tinged with dogmatism, coarse- ness, harshness, vanity, self-sufficiency, and pre- judice, — if he had little sympathy with the pursuits of calm and contemplative scholars, — if he disdain- ed or hated or disparaged the accomplishments which he had no leisure to master, — if he railed and rebelled against the conventional elegancies of a more polished society to which he and his party were opposed, — if he confounded delicacy of sen- timent with unmanly wealcness, and refinement of manners with luxurious vice ? In B. c. 205, Cato was designated quaestor, and in the following year entered upon the duties of his office, and followed P. Scipio Africanus to Sicily. When Scipio, acting on the permission which, after much opposition, he had obtained from the senate, transported the army from the island into Africa, Cato and C. Laelius were appointed to convoy the baggage-ships. There was not that cordiality of co-operajion between Cato and Scipio which ought to subsist between a quaestor and his proconsul. Fabius had opposed the permission given to Scipio to carry the attack into the enemy's home, and Cato, whose appointment was intended to operate as a check upon Scipio, adopted the views of his friend. It is reported by Plutarch, that the lax discipline of the troops under Scipio's command, and the extravagant expense incurred by the general, provoked the remonstrance of Cato ; that Scipio thereupon retorted haughtily, saying he would give an account of victories, not of pelf ; that Cato, returning to Rome, denounced the pro- digality of his general to the senate ; and that, at the joint instigation of Cato and Fabius, a com- mission of tribunes was despatched to Sicily to in- vestigate the conduct of Scipio, who was acquitted upon the view of his extensive and judicious pre- parations for the transport of the troops. (Plut. Cat. Maj. 3.) This account is scarcely consistent with the narrative of Livy, and would seem to attribute to Cato the irregularity of quitting his post before his time. If Livy be correct, the com- mission was sent upon the complaint of the in-