Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 04.djvu/402

CATO. 344 CATOPTROMANCY. words: "Ccterura cciiseo, Carthafrineni esse de- lendani" ( "-Moreiivcr, I vote that Carthage must be destroyed"). Though Cato vas acquainted with the Greek language and its literature, his reactionary ])rin- ciples led him to denounce the latter as injurious to national morals. He died li.C. 149. at the age of So. He was twice married. In his eightietlx year his second wife, Salonia, bore him a .son, the grandfather of Cato of Utica. In his old age Cato became greedy of gain, yet never once al- lowed his avarice to interfere with his honesty as a State functionary. He eom])osed various literary works, such as De Agri CuUura (also known as Dn lie Ixustica), which has been pre- served entile. The best edition is by Kreil (Leipzig, 1884). His greatest historical work, the t)nV/iHcs, has, unfortunately. ])erished. It was an account of the beginning and develop- ment of the Roman State. Fragments of Cato's orations — of which as many as 150 were read by Cicero — are given in ileyer's Oratorum Ro- matiornm Fragmcnta (Zurich, 1842). As an ora- tor, Cato was very famous, his style being natu- ral, forcible, and racy to a degree. See Sears, History of Oratory (Chicago, 1890). Fragments from the lost works of Cata were published by Jordan (Leipzig, 1860. CATO. The title of a tragedy by Addison (1713), the scene of which was laid in Utica, whither Cato had retired after the successes of CiEsar. CATO. A iioiii-de-pJunie adopted by Alexander Hamilton and other Federalists in their articles written in support of the Jay Treaty with Eng- land in 1795. CATO, Marcus PoRCirs, named Cato the Younger, or Cato Uticensis (from the place ol his deatl ) (H.c. 05-4(i). A Roman statesman and soldier. Having lost both parents during childhood, he was educated in the house of his imele, M. Livius Prusus, and even in boyhood gave proofs of decision and strength of character. In n.c. 72 he served with distinction in the cam- paign against Spartacus. but without finding satisfaction in military life, though he proved himself a good soldier. From Macedonia, where he was military tribune in 07. he went to Rcr- gamus in search of the Stoic |)hilo^o))licr Atlicn- odorus, whom he brought 1)ack to liis cam]), and whom be induced to proceed with him to Rome, Avhere he spent the time partly in philosoph- ical studies and partly in forensic discussions. Desirous of thoroughly qualifying himself for the o_nestorship, he commenced to study all the finan- cial questions connected with it. Immediately after his election to this position (n.c. 05) he introduced, in spite of violent opposition from those interested, a rigorous reform into the treasury offices. He quitted the qnestorship at the appointed time amid general ai)prol)ation. In B.C. 0.3 he was elected tribune and delivered his famous speech on the Catilinarian conspiracy, in which he dencainced Ca'sar as an accomplice of Catiline, and determined the sentence of the Senate. Strongly dreading the influence of un- bridled greatness, and not discerning that an im|)erial genius like that of C;esar was the only thing that could remedy the ills which afllicted the Roman Republic, he commenced a career of opposition to the most powerful men in Rome — Pompeius, Cuesar, and Crassus. Cato was a noble but strait-laced theorist, who lacked the intuition into circumstances which belongs to- men like Ca-sar and Cromwell. His first oppo- sition to Pompeius was successful; but his op- position to CiEsar's consulate for the year ,5!> was of no avail. Soon after this date the Tri- umvirs, in order to rid themselves of his inter- ference, ordered him to proceed to Cy|)rus and take possession of that island for Rome. On his return (B.C. 50), he was elected pretor, a position in which he fearlessly fought against corruption. When the open breach came between Caesar and Pompeius, Cato sided with the oppo- nents of Giesar. At the time of the battle of Pharsalia (B.C. 48) he was holding Dyrrhachium for Pompeius. After the disaster he .sailed for Africa with his troops in order to join Pompeius. Before his landing, the Triumvir had been mur- dered. Cato was elected commander by the Pom- peians in Africa, but resigned the post in favor of Jletellus Seipio, and undertook the defense of I'tica. Herei when he had tidings of Ca-sar'* decisive victory over Seipio and Jnba at Thap- sus (April 0, n.c. 40), Cato, finding that his troops were wholly intimidated, advised the Ra- man senators and knights to escape from L'tica and make terms with the victor, but prohibited all intercessions in his own favor. He resolved to die rather than surrender; and, after spending the night in reading Plato's PhwrJo, committed suicide by stabbing himself in the breast. CATO, Valerius, or Cato GRAjfjiATicus. A Roman grammarian and poet of the First Cen- tury B.C. He lost his estate during the usurpa- tion of Sulla, became an instructor to students of rank, and enjoyed great success, particularly as a trainer in the poetic art. In his later years he fell into extreme poverty, and was obliged to surrender to his creditors his splendid villa at Tusculum. Suetonitis (De Granimaticis) states that, in addition to works on grammar, he wrote a short autobiographical narrative en- titled Iiulignatio, and some poems, of which two — Lydia and Dinmi — were chiefly esteemed. The 18,"! hexameters called Dirm in Jlatleruni were originally included in the minor poems of Vergil; later were attributed, with little rea- son, to Cato; and are now quite generally con- sidered sjiurious. The text of the Uircc has been edited by I'ibbeck (Kiel, 1S07). Consult the essay by X.ickius (Bonn, 1847). CATOCHE, Cape. See Cape Catoche. CATOP'TRICS (Fr. cntoptrique, Gk. /cnroT- rpmu^, lilt opt rikos, pertaining to a mirror, from HivniTTpuv, kiitoptron. mirror). That branch of geometrical optics which treats of the phenomena of light incident upon a surface and reflected tiicii'from. See l.icuT. CATOP'TROMANCY (Gk. KaToTrrimv, katop- iron, mirror -f- /lavTcIa, nuinteia. prophecy). A sort of prophecy by the mirror or looking- glass. It first originated at Patras. in Greece, where the death or recovery of the sick was foretold by means of a mirror let down with a tlircad until its base touched the water in a fountain before the Temple of Demeter. The face of the sick person ajipearing healthy in the mirror l)ctokened recovery; if it looked ghastly then death was sure to ensue. More Tuodern superstitions attach ill luck to the breaking of a looking-glass, and to seeing one's face in a, glass by candle-light. See Super.stition.