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122 CATO labiatce, which is very common in the fields throughout the United States, though supposed to have been introduced from Europe. The plant possesses medicinal virtues, so that it is Catnip (Nepeta catarla). recognized in the pharmacopoeias, and is em- ployed as a domestic remedy, but rarely in regu- lar practice. The leaves, which alone are used, are aromatic and somewhat bitter and pungent to the taste, and of disagreeable odor ; cats eat them with great relish. Catnip is administered in infusion. It acts as a tonic and excitant, and possibly as an antispasmodic and emmena- gogue, being frequently given with reference to such supposed qualities. CATO, a surname, signifying the Wise, first given to the Roman Marcus Porcius, known in history as Cato the Censor, and afterward borne by that family of the (plebeian) Porcian gens of which he was the first famous member. I. Mir- ens Porflns, afterward called PRISCUS, and sur- named CATO and CENSOBIUB, a Roman states- man and patriot, born at Tusculum, probably in 234 B. C., died in Rome in 149. His father, the descendant of a family for many genera- tions resident in Latium, died when he was very young, and left him a small estate at a considerable distance from his birthplace, in the territory of the Sabines. Here he spent his early youth in work upon his land, leading a simple life, and studying such subjects as he thought would beet advance the career of patriotic service which he had already marked out for himself. When 17 years of age, in 217, he entered the Roman army, and served in the campaign of that year against Hannibal. In 214 he served at Capua, and in 20^ he was with Fabius Maximus at Tarentum. During the short periods between his various terms of service he devoted his time to labor on his farm. Near this favorite resort a Roman patrician, Lucius Valerius Flaccus, had a large estate. Cato was constantly brought into contact with him, and impressed the noble so favorably that the latter begged him to go to Rome with him, and under his patronage, as the custom was, to study law and oratory. Cato con- sented, and made his entry into the Roman political world with marked success, rapidly acquiring celebrity as a pleader and orator in the forum, and becoming a candidate for the qusestorship, an office which he attained in 205. In this capacity he accompanied Scipio Africanus to Sicily in 204, but went back to Rome before the return of his general, whom he accused to the senate of prodigality and mismanagement. This is the story given by some authorities, though Livy says the inhabi- tants of Locri were the complainants against Scipio, and does not mention Cato by name as having pleaded their cause. A commission of investigation was the result of the complaint, and Scipio was acquitted. Concerning the next few years of Cato's life we have slight details, but know that he was aedile in 199, and that in 198 he was made praetor, and received the province of Sardinia. Here he showed in his administration and mode of life the economy, simplicity, and impartial justice which distin- guished his whole career. By the frugality of his habits, by his example in public, and his prompt punishment of venality and corrupt practices, he endeavored to combat the intro- duction of habits of luxury and extravagance from Greece, and to restore the old severity and strength of the Roman character. In 1 95 he was chosen consul, Lucius Valerius Flaccus, his former patron, being his colleague. It was then customary for one of the consuls to take the governorship of a distant portion of the Roman possessions, and Cato was assigned to that of Hither Spain, a province then in a state of revolt and great disorder. Here he showed remarkable ability as a military leader, sup- pressed the rebellion, compelled the Spanish cities to destroy the greater part of their fortifi- cations, and restored affairs to their old condi- tion. On his return to Rome in 194 he re- ceived the honor of a triumph. In the consul- ship of Manius Acilius Glabrio, which immedi- ately followed his own, Cato accompanied that officer as legate in his campaign against Anti- ochus in Greece. Here, by a sudden and re- markably difficult march, he decided the princi- pal battle of the war in flavor of the Romans, and compelled the retreat of the enemy. Re- turning to Rome, he from this time abandoned military life, and resumed his place as a popular orator in the forum and the courts. In 184 he was made censor, again having his old friend Flaccus as his colleague. In the exercise of the censorship Cato gamed the most enduring fume of his life. He was now in a position to power- fully oppose the growing corruption, luxury, and immorality at Rome, and to do more tlian ever toward restoring his old ideals of simplicity and severity of manners. He raised the taxes on luxuries of many kinds, degraded officers for the most trifling acts of levity as well as