Cato the Younger

Roman philosopher

• Born: 95 b.c.e.
• Birthplace: Rome (now in Italy)
• Died: 46 b.c.e.
• Place of death: Utica (now in Tunisia)

Early Life

Cato (KAY-toh) the Younger, also known as Cato Uticensis from the place of his death, was born in Rome in 95 b.c.e. He was the great-grandson of Cato the Censor, who remained an inspiration for the younger Cato throughout his life. Cato the Younger was orphaned at an early age and grew up in the household of his maternal uncle Marcus Livius Drusus. Cato idealized the early Republic. He cultivated the old Roman virtues of simplicity and frugality, in contrast to the materialism of his own day. He studied the philosophy of Stoicism, from which he came to believe that true freedom comes from within. According to the Stoics, the human body was merely a shell, and whatever happened to it was without consequence in the great world order.

Cato was known for the austerity of his life. He accustomed his body to labor and hard exercise. He traveled on foot everywhere. In taking journeys with friends who rode on horseback, he would remain on foot, conversing with one, then another, along the way. He bore illnesses with patience. He seldom laughed. He learned the art of oratory and spoke in a deep, full voice without refinements.

Cato first saw military service in 72 b.c.e., serving in the ranks against the slave revolt led by Spartacus. He distinguished himself to the extent that his commander wished to bestow a prize on him, but Cato refused, saying that he did no more than others. In 67-66 b.c.e. he served as a military tribune in Macedonia. As commander of a legion, he shared the hardships with his troops. He ate the same food, wore the same clothing, and marched on foot with the soldiers in the ranks, even when his staff rode on horseback. After completing his term of military service, Cato traveled through the cities of Asia and brought back the Stoic philosopher Athenodorus with him when he returned to Rome.

Life’s Work

At the outset of his political career, Cato was elected to the office of quaestor, or finance minister, in 64 b.c.e. During his year in office, he kept exact records of accounts, collected old debts, and dismissed and prosecuted clerks in the treasury who for years had been stealing from the public funds. The following year, Cato won the election for tribune. As tribune-elect, he made a powerful speech in the senate denouncing the Catilinarian conspirators, whose plot to overthrow the government had been uncovered by the consul Cicero. Cato’s speech, which called for the death penalty for the conspirators, carried the day despite a plea by Julius Caesar for a lesser punishment. In the same year, Cato prosecuted the consul-elect Lucinius Murena for bribery in winning the election to the consulship for 62 b.c.e., but Murena was acquitted.

In subsequent years, Cato became the leader of the conservative senatorial faction that opposed any threat to the established order. When Pompey the Great returned from the East at the end of 62 b.c.e. seeking ratification for his treaties and land for his veterans, Cato rigidly opposed Pompey’s requests. Cato also prevented the passage of a bill that would have revised the tax codes for Asia. In opposing this measure, Cato antagonized both the equestrian class that stood to profit by the new tax revisions as well as Marcus Licinius Crassus, who had invested heavily in the publican tax companies. The equestrians withdrew their support from the Senatorial Party, and Cicero’s hope that the equestrian class would act in harmony with the Senatorial Party was destroyed.

When Caesar returned from Spain in 60 b.c.e. seeking a triumph, he asked permission to run for the consulship in absentia while he remained with the army outside the city. The senate refused, with Cato speaking all day to prevent approval. Caesar gave up his triumph and entered the city as an ordinary citizen to stand for the consulship. Pompey, Caesar, and Crassus now joined forces, and the First Triumvirate was born. The three men agreed to work together toward their common goals.

With the support of Pompey and Crassus, Caesar won the consulship for the year 59 b.c.e. Caesar soon paid off his political debts with proposals for the ratification of Pompey’s treaties in the east, a land-distribution bill for Pompey’s veterans and some of the poor in Rome, and a revision of the tax codes for Asia. Cato vigorously opposed all these measures but was unable to block their passage in the Assembly. When the Assembly passed a bill giving Caesar the military command of Cisalpine Gaul and Illyricum for five years, Cato protested so strongly that Caesar had him arrested for a brief time.

In 58 b.c.e., the Triumvirate decided to rid themselves of Cato by securing his appointment as commissioner to oversee the annexation of Cyprus and to reconcile two opposing factions in Byzantium. At the time, Cyprus was ruled as a client state of Rome by King Ptolemy, the brother of Ptolemy XII, pharaoh of Egypt. Cato realized that he was being relegated to the backwaters of Roman politics but accepted the assignment out of a sense of duty. He was given only two secretaries and neither a ship nor money for the undertaking. Cato first traveled to Byzantium, where he brought about a peaceful settlement between conflicting parties. At Cyprus, the problem was resolved when King Ptolemy committed suicide. Cato supervised the inventory of the royal treasures and sent a precious cargo worth seven thousand talents of silver back to Rome.

Cato returned to Rome in 56 b.c.e. In the years that followed, he continued to oppose the political ambitions of the Triumvirate but with little success. In 54 b.c.e., Cato was elected to the office of praetor, or judge. During his one-year term, he rendered his decisions from the praetor’s bench with fairness and integrity. In 51 b.c.e., he stood for the consulship but was unsuccessful; he refused to resort to bribery or other corrupt practices that had become part of Roman politics.

When the civil war between Pompey and Caesar began in 49 b.c.e., Cato sided with Pompey as the best hope for saving the Republic. Pompey had been moving closer to the senate since the death of Crassus during an unsuccessful invasion of Parthia in 53 b.c.e. Cato now viewed Pompey as a counterforce to the growing power of Caesar in Gaul. As Caesar swept down the Italian peninsula, Pompey and the senatorial forces retreated to Greece. Cato was entrusted with the defense of Sicily but was forced to withdraw from the island after the arrival of Caesarean forces. Cato joined Pompey in Greece and was with him at the Battle of Dyrrhachium in western Greece, where Caesar’s forces were repulsed.

Pompey followed Caesar into the interior of Greece but was defeated at the Battle of Pharsalus in 48 b.c.e. Cato was not present at Pharsalus. He was given command of fifteen cohorts and garrisoned Dyrrhachium, which held Pompey’s weapons and stores as well as the civilians in Pompey’s camp.

When news of Pompey’s defeat reached Cato, he brought his forces to the island of Corcyra (modern-day Corfu), where he joined Pompey’s fleet. Correctly surmising that Pompey had fled to North Africa, Cato sailed with ten thousand troops and landed at Cyrene, only to learn of Pompey’s death in Egypt. Cato now marched his troops westward through the Libyan deserts and eventually reached Utica, where he joined forces with other remnants of Pompey’s army under Metellus Scipio, Titus Labienus, and King Juba of Numidia. As proconsul, Metellus Scipio was given command of the Pompeian forces. While Cato commanded the camp at Utica, Scipio met Caesar at the Battle of Thapsus in 46 b.c.e. and suffered a severe defeat.

Cato remained unperturbed when the news of Scipio’s defeat reached Utica. He readied ships in the harbor and made certain that those who might wish to flee would be able to do so. With Caesar and his army only a day’s march away, Cato spent the evening at dinner engaging in philosophic discussions with his friends. After dinner, he retired to his room and read Plato’s Phaedōn, on the immortality of the soul. When he saw that his sword had been removed from its usual place near his bed, he called his servants and ordered that it be returned. Cato then slept for a few hours. In the early hours, before dawn he rose and suddenly stabbed himself with his sword in the abdomen. His servants heard him fall; entering the room, they found him still alive, lying in blood with his intestines protruding from his stomach. A physician pushed back the intestines, which were not pierced, and bandaged the wound. When left alone again, Cato removed the bandages, pulled open his wound, and died soon afterward; he was forty-eight years old. When Caesar arrived the next day, he grieved that Cato had deprived him of the glory of granting a pardon to his defeated adversary.

Significance

Cato is remembered as a man of principle whose honesty and integrity were unquestioned in an age conspicuous for its political corruption and opportunism. He idealized the virtues of the early Republic and dedicated his life to preserving those traditions and values on which the Republic was founded. Like the ancient fathers of the early Republic, he found monarchy to be an abomination. Ironically, Cato’s uncompromising opposition to the early demands of Pompey, Crassus, and Caesar had the effect of driving the three of them together to form the First Triumvirate. In the years that followed, Cato remained an obstructionist but could no longer control the sequence of events. When Cato died at Utica, the Republic died with him. Julius Caesar emerged as the sole power of the Roman world, but Cato’s life and the manner of his death became an inspiration for later generations of republicans.

Bibliography

Gruen, Erich S. The Last Generation of the Roman Republic. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1995. A highly interpretive study that seeks to show the continuity of Roman political institutions into the age of Cicero. Valuable insights on the life of Cato the Younger in the context of the historical background. Useful notes and bibliography.

Plutarch. Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans. Translated by John Dryden. New York: The Modern Library, 1992. The indispensable primary source for the study of Cato the Younger. Plutarch’s life of Cato provides a detailed narrative on Cato’s life. Plutarch includes numerous anecdotes that serve to highlight Cato’s character.

Scullard, H. H. From the Gracchi to Nero. New York: Routledge, 1988. Useful for the background of the last century of the Roman Republic. Highly readable and assembled with sound scholarly judgment. Numerous references to Cato the Younger and his role in Roman politics. Extensive notes, with references for additional study.

Syme, Ronald. The Roman Revolution. 1939. Reprint. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002. The classic study of the transformation of Roman government from an oligarchy to one-man rule. Covers the years from 60 b.c.e. to 14 c.e. Contains details of Cato’s political career as the leader of the Senatorial Party.