Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 04.djvu/401

CATLETTSBURG. 343 CATO. CATXETTSBURG. A city and county-seat of Boyil Cimiily, Ky., at the conllueiice of the Ohio and Big Sandy rivers, the latter forming the boundary between Kentucky and West Vir- ginia (Map: Kentucky, J 2). "The torni is on the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad. It has a con- siderable trade in lumber and contains whole- sale groceries and sawmills, flour-mills, machine- shops, etc. Population, in 1890, 1374; in 1900, 3061. CATtlN", George (1790-1S72). A traveler and writer and painter of Indian portraits, born in Wilkesbarre, Pa. He studied law, but having a taste for art, became a portrait-painter. Hav- ing conceived the idea of executing a gallery of Indian paintings in order to rescue from ob- livion the various types and customs of the aborigines, he began in 1832 a series of travels extending over eight years among the wildest tribes of Xorth and South America, resulting in a collection of some hundreds of Indian pictures painted by himself, together with several books descriptive of Indian scenes and customs. Host of the paintings, after having been exhibited by the artist in the United States and Europe, finally came into possession of the Government and now constitute the famous 'Catlin Gallery* of the Xational Museum. CATLINITE (after Catlin, the American traveler and artist). A hardened clay of red- dish color found in Pipestone County, Minn., which was used by the Dakota Indians for the manufacture of pipes. , CATNIP (probably a corruption of catmint, cat's mint, by popular contusion with nip, Ger. kneifen, Lith. kncbti, to pinch; hardly connected with Lat. nepeta. catnipl, or Catmint (Sepeta cataria). A plant of the order Labiatoe, re- markable for the fondness which cats display for it. It is common in England, in chalky and gravelly soils, but less abundant in Scotland and Ireland, and is widely difTused throughout Europe and the middle latitudes of Asia' and of North America. It affects cats in much the same manner as does valerian root, and when it-s leaves are bruised so as to be highly odoriferous, they are at once attracted to it, rub themselves on it, tear at it, and chew it. Its odor has been described as intermediate between that of mint and that of pennyroyal. It has erect stems, two to three feet high, dense whorls of many whitish flowers, tinged and spotted with rose-color or jiurple, and stalked, heart-shaped leaves of a velvety softness, whitish and downy beneath. Other species are numerous in the south of Eu- rope and middle latitudes of Asia. For illustra- tion, see DiCOTYLEDOXS. CA'TO, DioxYSius. The name prefixed to a little volume of moral precepts in verse, which was a great favorite during the Middle Ages. It is very doubtful if such a person as 'Dionj-sius Cato' ever lived. The date of the original com- position seems to be about the Third Century B.C. The title which the book itself commonly bears is Oioiiysii Catonifi Disticha tie Moribus ad I'ilium. It begins with a preface addressed by the supposed author to his son, after which come fifty-six injunctions of rather a sini[)le character, such as parcntem ama. This is followed by the substance and main portion of the book — viz. 144 moral precepts, each of which is expressed in two dactylic hexameters. During the Middle Ages the Disticha was used as a text-book for young scholars. In the Fifteenth Century more than thirty editions were printed. An early English translation was published by Caxlon. For a modern edition, consult Hauthal (Berlin, 1809). CATO, iI.Kcus PoRcivs (n.c. 234-149). A Koman statesman, surnamed Censorius and Sapiens (the wise), afterwards known as Cato Priscis, or C.To JU.JOR (Cato the Elder), to distinguish him from Cato of Utica. He was born at Tusculum, in B.C. 234. He inherited from his jilebeian father a small farm in the country of the Sabines, where he busied himself in agricultural operations, and learned to lova the simple and severe manners of his Roman forefathers, which still lingered round his rural home. Induced by Lucius Valerius Flaccus to remove to Rome, when that city was in a transi- tion epoch from the old-fashioned strictness and severe frugality of Roman habits to the luxury and licentiousness of Grecian manners, Cato pro- tested against this, denounced the degeneracy of the Philo-Hellenic Party, and set a pattern of sterner and purer character. He soon distin- guished himself as a pleader at the bar of jus- tice, and. after passing tlirough minor oflices. was elected consul (B.C. 105). In his province of Hither Spain, where an insurrection had broken out after the departure of the elder Scipio (B.C. 206), Cato was so successful in restoring order and displayed such military genius that in the following year he was honored by a triumph. In B.C. 187 a fine opportunity occurred for the display of 'antique Roman' notions. M. Fulvius Xobilior had just returned from .Etolia victori- ous, and sought the honor of a triumph. Cato objected. Fulvius was indulgent to his soldiers and a man of literary taste, and Cato charges him, among other enormities, with "keeping poets in his camp." These rude prejudices of Cato were not acceptable to the Senate, and his opposition was fruitless. In n.c. 184 Cato was elected censor, and discharged so rigorously the duties of his office that the epithet Censoriux, formerly applied to all persons in the same station, was made his distinctive surname. Many of his acts were highly commendable. He re- paired the watercourses, bricked the reservoirs, cleansed the drains, increased the sums paid by the publicans for the farming of the taxes, and diminished the contract prices paid by the State to the contractors of public works. More ques- tionable reforms were those in regard to the price of slaves, dress, furniture, equipage, etc. His despotism in enforcing his own idea of decency may be illustrated from the fact that he degraded Manilius, a man of pretorian rank, for having kissed his wife in his daughter's pres- ence in open day. Cato was a thoroughly dog- matic moralist, intolerant and .stoical; great because he manfully contended with rapidly growing evils; yet not wise, because he opposed l)oth the bad and the good in the innovations of his age with equal animosity. In the year n.c. 17.5 Cato was sent to Carthage to negotiate as to the differences between the Car- thaginians and the Xumidian King Jfasinissa; but having been offended by the Carthaginians, he returned to Ronie. where, ever afterwards, he described Carthage as the most formidable rival of the Empire, and concluded all his ad- dresses in the Senate house — whatever the im- mediate subject might be — with the well-known