previous next
40. When this election had been avoided by the wisdom and courage of the senate, another followed,1 involving a greater contest, as it was both for a more important prize and participated in by more and more powerful [2] men. The censorship was sought with [p. 349]the most intense rivalry by Lucius Valerius Flaccus,2 Publius and Lucius Scipio, Gnaeus Manlius Volso and Lucius Furius Purpurio, patricians, as well as by the plebeians Marcus Porcius Cato, Marcus Fulvius Nobilior, Tiberius Sempronius Longus and Marcus Sempronius [3] Tuditanus.3 But among all the patricians and plebeians of the most illustrious houses, Marcus Porcius Cato stood out most conspicuously. In this man there was such force of mind and character that in whatever station he had been born it seemed that he would have made his fortune for [4] himself. No art of conducting either private or public business was lacking to him; he was equally skilled in affairs of the city and of the farm. Some men were advanced to the highest offices by knowledge of the law, others by eloquence, others by military reputation: his comprehensive genius was so adapted to everything alike that you would say that whatever he was doing was the one thing for which he was [5] born: in war he was the bravest of fighters and was famous for many remarkable battles,4 and after he attained to the highest offices, he was likewise a consummate commander; the same man in peace was, if you asked advice on law, most skilled therein, if there was a case to be pleaded, most eloquent, nor was he merely one whose tongue was potent while he lived but left no record of his [6] eloquence: rather, he lives and flourishes by his eloquence, enshrined in books of every kind. There are many orations, both for himself and for and against others; for he wore down his enemies not only by accusing them but also by pleading his own [7] cause.5 Feuds in excessive numbers pursued him [p. 351]and he himself pursued them;6 nor could you easily7 say whether the nobility worked harder to suppress him or he to irritate the nobility. Without question he had a stern temper, a bitter tongue and one immoderately free, but he had a soul unconquerable by appetites, an unwavering integrity, and a contempt for influence and [8] wealth. In his economy, in his endurance of toil and danger, he was of almost iron-like body and mind, and his mind not even old age, which weakens everything, could break down, since at [9??] the age of eighty-six he pleaded a case, spoke and wrote in his own defence, and in his ninetieth year brought Servius Galba to trial before the [10] assembly.8

1 Cf. the similar contest at the preceding election of 189 B.C. (XXXVII. lvii. 9 —lviii. 2).

2 B.C. 184

3 All the candidates were ex-consuls, as usual. Publius Scipio is Nasica, Lucius Scipio was striving for rehabilitation after his trial, but the outcome of the election suggests that the glory of the Scipios had, at least for a time, departed.

4 That is, battles in which he took part as a private.

5 Plutarch (Cato Major, xv.) says that Cato was put on trial about fifty times.

6 The play on the verb is so clumsy that it may have been preserved from Livy's source.

7 B.C. 184

8 According to Per. XLIX, L. Scribonius and not Cato prosecuted Galba for his treacherous treatment of the Lusitanians. Cato, however, spoke against him (Cicero. de oratore I. 227; Brutus 89, etc.).

This characterization raises once more the question of a special source dealing with Cato which Livy used (cf. XXXIV. xxi. 8; XXXVI. xxi. 4-6 and the notes). [11??] I see no reason — least of all the play on words mentioned in the preceding note — why this passage and the account of the censorship in the' following chapters should not have been derived from the same source. [12??] There seems to be nothing in this passage which Cato would not have regarded as a compliment and would not have been willing to say about himself.

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.

An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.

load focus Notes (W. Weissenborn, 1875)
load focus Notes (W. Weissenborn, H. J. Müller, 1911)
load focus Notes (W. Weissenborn, H. J. Müller, 1875)
load focus Summary (Latin, Evan T. Sage, Ph.D., 1936)
load focus Summary (English, Evan T. Sage, Ph.D., 1936)
load focus Summary (Latin, W. Weissenborn, H. J. Müller, 1911)
load focus Latin (W. Weissenborn, 1875)
load focus English (William A. McDevitte, Sen. Class. Mod. Ex. Schol. A.B.T.C.D., 1850)
load focus Latin (Evan T. Sage, Ph.D., 1936)
load focus Latin (W. Weissenborn, H. J. Müller, 1911)
load focus English (Rev. Canon Roberts, 1912)
hide Dates (automatically extracted)
Sort dates alphabetically, as they appear on the page, by frequency
Click on a date to search for it in this document.
189 BC (1)
hide References (53 total)
  • Commentary references to this page (14):
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn, books 31-32, commentary, 32.27
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn, books 33-34, commentary, 34.17
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn, books 33-34, commentary, 34.5
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn, books 35-38, commentary, 35.10
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn, books 35-38, commentary, 35.49
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn, books 35-38, commentary, 38.40
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn, books 39-40, commentary, 39.54
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn, books 39-40, commentary, 40.22
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn, books 39-40, commentary, 40.33
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn, books 39-40, commentary, 40.42
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn, books 39-40, commentary, 40.51
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn, books 39-40, commentary, 40.7
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn, books 41-42, commentary, 42.15
    • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn, book 45, commentary, 45.25
  • Cross-references to this page (20):
  • Cross-references in general dictionaries to this page (19):
hide Display Preferences
Greek Display:
Arabic Display:
View by Default:
Browse Bar: