In 536 A.U.C. [217 B.C.] he served in one of the legions defending Italia. During this and later campaigns, Marcus Porcius developed a reputation for firmness and bold action. He was said to stand his ground and threaten his opponents with his stance and countenance. Even on marches, he was known to carry his own arms with only a single servant in attendance to carry his provisions. This man he treated moderately, and he was even known to assist his servant in the preparation of the meal when military duties did not interrupt. On campaign, Cato drank only water, sometimes mixed with a small amount of vinegar. Only in extreme conditions would he take a little wine, such was his hardy character.

Fabius Maximus

Cato attracted the attention of others for his good conduct, and in 539 A.U.C. [214] he was appointed to the rank of military tribune under Quintus Fabius Maximus. Cato’s friend from Reate, Valerius Flaccus, also had a role in securing his advancement, and this was a mark of their mutual esteem. This was one of the difficult years of trying to stem the tide of Hannibal’s advance after the defeat of the army at Cannae two years earlier. In this campaign, Cato served at Capua, and many have noted that Cato became a close friend of his commander. Fabius Maximus instructed his young aide in military affairs and strategy, but equally imparted his political views and conservative values.

Cato served with Fabius Maximus again in 544 A.U.C. [209] at the seige and brutal recapture of Tarentum. He served with the army again in 542 as an officer under the consul C. Claudius Nero and participated in Nero’s “bellum fulgetrum” march from Lucania to the north to reinforce the armies of his colleague M. Livius Salinator and the praetor Licinus. Together the Roman legions defeated the invasion of Hasdrubal Barca aimed at reinforcing his brother Hannibal. Cato played an important role on Nero’s staff and contributed to the consuls’ victory in the battle along the Metaurus river, in which Hasdrubal was killed.

Political Career

Cato began his public career in Rome as a novus homo. Although his family had been rewarded for military service, no ancestor before him had held a magistracy of the state. Cato himself said that “in terms of office and power he was New, but in terms of his family’s bravery and prowess he was extremely Old.” Because he later held the high magistracies of consul and censor, others have called Cato, with some exaggeration, not just the leader, but the founder, of the gens Porcia.

Cato’s election to office was greatly assisted by his patrician friend Lucius Valerius Flaccus. Valerius Flaccus was the member of a conservative faction of Romans that revered ancient traditions, austerity, and rural life. By contrast, they rejected the increasing influence of Greek art and philosophy, luxuries associated with Rome’s growing wealth, and the political influence of certain aristocratic families.

To the conservative faction, the Sabine ideals of rustic hard work, plain-spokenness, and strict morals were an appealing model. In Cato, the frugal plebeian military veteran with a talent for eloquence, Flaccus found a man to represent the faction in public office. Fabius Maximus was another member of this circle who gave support to his former military aide.

Cato was elected quaestor, his first civil magistracy, in 548 [205] at the age of 29. During his term of office he went with the army of the consul Publius Cornelius Scipio to Sicily and then to Africa. Scipio had secured the Senate’s consent to invade Africa only after contentious debate and unusual political manuevers. Fabius Maximus was one of the main opponents of Scipio’s command, and the appointment of Cato to Scipio’s staff was probably arranged by Scipio’s opponents as a means to keep an eye on the consul. When the army was transported from Sicily to Africa, Cato was assigned to escort the transport ships on the right side of the fleet.

It was on this campaign that Cato first clashed with Scipio. Plutarch says that Cato was disgusted by lax discipline in Scipio’s command and by unjustified expenses in the general’s accounts. According to Plutarch, Fabius Maximus and Cato requested the Senate to examine the alleged abuses, but the commission sent by the Senate exhonorated Scipio’s conduct. The learned Titus Livius, however, says that the Senate’s investigation was based on the complaints of the citizens of Locri for their harsh treatment by Scipio’s legatus. Further research in the Senate archives has not turned up the records for this incident. We believe this is actually the correct version of events, for Cato went with the army to Africa and was at the critical Battle of Zama in 555 [202].

The next office Cato held was aedile in 554 [199]. He and his colleague restored the staging of the Plebeian Games, which were held along with a public banquet in honor of Jupiter.

The next year, he was elected praetor and drew Sardinia as his province. Cato’s command consisted of 3,000 infantry and 200 cavalry. Cato set a firm example in his conduct of office on the island. He cut the operating expenses of the administration, went on walks accompanied by only a single aide, and banished usurers from the province. Cato’s frugal lifestyle stood in contrast to many ostentatious Roman officials. During his term in Sardinia, Cato made the acquaintence of the poet Quintus Ennius, whom he later brought to Italy in his own ship. Although Cato at first supported the first great poet in our beautiful Latin tongue, the two later had a falling out over the poet’s unorthodox writings about the gods.

Consul and Afterwards

Marcus Porcius Cato was elected consul in 558 A.U.C. [195] at the age of 39, the first member of his family to reach the chief magistracy of Rome. His consular colleague for the year was his friend Valerius Flaccus, achieving a sweep for the conservative faction they both represented.

The chief domestic event of their consulships was the attempt to repeal the Lex Oppia, passed during the Hannibalic War in 538 [215] to restrict the display of luxury in wartime. The law prevented any woman from owning more than a half ounce of gold, prohibited them from driving a carriage drawn by horses within a mile of the city (except in religious rites), and also prohibited them from wearing garments of multiple colors.

With the war now over, two of the tribunes for the year proposed to repeal the Oppian Law, but their effort was opposed by two of their colleagues. The wrangling in the assembly stirred a public debate, in which married women including those of the upper class went into the streets and the Forum and called on their husbands and even the various magistrates to repeal the law. This novel protest disturbed the political order and led many leading men in the senate and the assembly to support the law’s repeal. Nearly alone, Cato protested and made a vehement speech in favor of the Oppian Law and against the public display of wealth. Nevertheless, bowing to the considerable ferment and pressure brought by the women of the city, the opposing tribunes lifted their vetoes and a unanimous vote of the tribes abolished the Oppian Law’s regulations.

Cato had suffered an embarrassment and lost on an issue of principle, but it did him little lasting political damage. With this event behind him, he left for the command of his assigned province Hispania Citerior where a number of tribes were in revolt against Roman rule.

Hispania had only recently been freed from Carthaginian control and brought under Roman rule after conquest in the second war with Carthage. Many of the native tribes were attempting to assert their independence. The Senate underestimated the actual threat until 556 A.U.C. [197] when the proconsul Sempronius Tuditanus was defeated and killed in battle. Two years later, the praetors of both Hispania Citerior and Hispania Ulterior defeated native tribes in battle in their respective provinces. Yet, the tribes gathered an even greater armies before the year was out, and Rome was faced with a serious threat to control of Hispania.

Thus, Marcus Porcius was sent by the Senate with a large consular army to deal with the situation. He established his main camp just outside the city of Emporiae, which at that time was a Greek city loyal to Rome. The city itself was fortified against the native tribes who inhabited their own city further inland. Cato immediately began to train his army for battle. He also prevented the army contractors from supplying corn, but instead set the army to raid the granaries and burn the fields of the countryside around. The plundering raids were a means of training the troops of his command to operate in the local territory and test the defenses of the enemy.

When he felt that the training and morale of his army was high, Cato determined to engage the enemy in a major battle. He marched his legions to attack the rear of the enemy camp, leaving them no retreat but victory as he said when he addressed the troops. He sent the flower of the first legion to the gates of the enemy camp to draw them out; this stratagem succeeded as our troops again retreated to their lines. The resulting battle, however, was well-matched even with the cavalry attacking the enemy on the wings. Cato had to commit more of his reserves to hold the Roman line as his right began to give way.

As the battle remained hard fought and uncertain in outcome, Cato he called up more reserves. The renewed attack finally broke the Spanish line, and the enemy soldiers began to retreat into their camp. Cato then called up the second legion. Seeing a weakness around the left-hand gate of the enemy camp, Cato ordered the hastate and principes of the second legion to attack there, and this attack succeeded in breaking into the enemy camp. The tribesmen were caught between both legions, and enemy losses were large as many were struck down trying to escape.

The decisions Cato made in this battle have received much praise, as the eminent Titus Livius has recorded. The victory achieved was overwhelming, and left the enemy in confusion. Cato followed up the battle at Emporiae by marching through the country and compelling the native towns to submit. By the time Cato’s legions reached Tarraco, the tribes north of the Iberus River had ceased their rebellions and returned to acceptance of Roman authority over them.

Cato attempted to disarm the native tribes, but this resulted in bitter feeling and many of the proud natives went so far as to kill themselves. Cato attempted to negotiate with the elders of the tribes, but the native still refused to comply with Cato’s demands for disarmament. Finally, Cato had the walls of their cities leveled, and these all in a single day it is reported. The legions put down any attempts at further resistance.

As in his previous military service, Cato set a moral example for those under his command through his own conduct in the field. He lived without the ostentation of some commanders. He had only five members of his personal staff, and he shared meals with the common soldiers. The suppression of the tribes required a strenuous effort, and Cato was always to be seen sharing the hardships of his troops. He often supervised the execution of his own orders. Although soldiers on this campaign were well rewarded with the spoils of plunder taken, Cato himself refused any share, unlike many of our generals who have grown rich from military command.

The effort to pacify his own province was achieved at great effort in a short time. However, at this time the praetor P. Manlius in Hispania Ulterior found himself under severe pressure from a rebellion of the Turdetani along the Baetis River. Cato resolved to march in aid of the praetor’s army, but feared for the possibility of renewed rebellion if he left Hispania Citerior unguarded. When some of the Bergistani anticipated his withdrawal and rebelled, his reaction was swift. Cato reduced their towns and had them all sold into slavery after they capitulated. Other tribes were cowed by the example, and Cato also reinforced those tribes that were loyal to Rome.

Cato marched the bulk of his consular army toward the south to relieve Manlius’ army. Once the Roman armies were joined, Cato attempted to reduce the threat of the Turdetani by depriving them of their Celtiberian mercenaries. He offered the Celtiberians the choice of twice their usual pay or free passage to return to their homes. The consul’s effort at diplomacy was a source of disagreement among many of the Romans, who felt that it was unworthy of a Roman general to offer a reward to barbarians. But Cato said that there was no disgrace in the effort, for if the Romans succeeded, the money would be paid from the enemy’s purse, and if not, no one would be left either to demand the payment or to pay it.

The truth of the situation was that the Turdetani and the Celtiberians combined were too large a force to overcome without risking all in that place and season. Cato’s attempt to divide the native tribes and the Celtiberians was not successful, so he left his whole army with the praetor, except for an escort of only seven cohorts. Cato himself returned to the north to put down small rebellions that had occurred in his absence. The small tribe of the Lacetani, for example, had made raids against the tribes allied to Rome. Using his own small force and loyal native auxiliaries, Cato assaulted the town of the Lacetani and captured it, compelling the tribe’s surrender. He also attacked the town of Vergium, which had been taken over by a rough group of brigands that raided other towns nearby. With the help of loyal inhabitants, Cato took the town and restored proper authority to that place.

Cato also kept in mind his responsibilities to Rome as consul. When Hispania Citerior had been returned to peace, he carried out administrative reforms to restore the government of the province. He also greatly increased the public revenue by putting the iron and silver mines back into operation.

Cato’s command in Hispania was ended when his opponents in the Senate, led by Scipio Africanus, obtained his recall. He left the province in peace, when it had been in rebellion little more than a year before. So, at least, it seemed at the time, though we know that the pernicious tribes of that place revolted again many times and cost the armies of Sertorius, Pompey, Caesar, and even Augustus many lives.

Though his actions in the province had been successful and pleased many in the Senate, some attacked Cato for his administration. However, Cato gave a strong speech defending his record and his accounts as consul, and the matter was put aside. He noted that he had taken more cities than he had spent days in Hispania. Cato also mocked his patrician opponents, Scipio in particular, with another memorable passage in his speech, when he said that Rome would become great indeed if the most honorable and great men refused to yield up the first place of valor to those who were more obscure, and when they who were of common birth would contend in valor with those who were most eminent in birth and honor.

Triumphator

Despite his opponents, Marcus Porcius Cato was awarded the honor of a triumph and three days thanksgiving for his actions in Hispania. Large quantities of gold, silver, and brass were displayed during his triumph. Livius tells us that: “In the procession there were carried 25,000 pounds of unwrought silver, 12,300 silver denarii, 540 of Oscan coinage, and 1200 pounds' weight of gold.” Cato defied his own reputation by distributing a generous reward to every soldier in his command, above the plunder they had already taken in Hispania. To each soldier in the infantry he gave 270 ases, then worth 27 silver denarii, and three times this amount to the cavalry. Cato kept no share for himself. He was not against the practice, as he said:

Neither do I find fault with those that seek to profit by these spoils, but I had rather compete in valor with the best, than in wealth with the richest, or with the most covetous in love of money.

In 560 [193], Cato dedicated a shrine to Victoria Virgo to fulfill a vow he had made two years before. This aedicula is on the Palatine Hill in Rome near the Aedes Victoria of L. Postumius Megellus.

Campaign in Greece

It may be noted that both Marcus Cato and Valerius Flaccus graciously agreed to serve as legates under Manius Acilius Glabrio when he was sent to Greece to repel the invasion of Antiochus III in 562 [191]. Antiochus had united the territories of Asia and Syria under his rule and at this time was attempting to turn Greece against the Romans. Plutarch tells us that all Greece was in commotion and excitement from the intrigues of the popular factions in the cities, which were corrupted by the hopes of royal aid.

The consul thus sent ambassadors to the different cities to prevent them from aiding Antiochus. Cato went to Corinth, Patrae, and Aegium, each of which he kept on the side of peace with Rome. He also visited Athens and made a speech to the Athenians that was said to have been well-received.

The major event of the campaign was the Battle of Thermopylae. Glabrio sent Cato with a part of the army on a difficult maneuver to remove the king’s Aetolian auxiliaries from high ground on Mount Callidromus. Cato succeeded in this attack and proceeded with his force down the slope into the rear of the enemy position. At the same time, Glabrio led the legions against Antiochus’ camp in the plain below. Caught by surprise, Antiochus’ forces were routed and the invasion of Greece was crushed. After the battle, Glabrio is said to have hugged Cato with the greatest warmness and credited him with victory, though this was said by Cato himself. However, Cato was given the honor of taking the news of the victory to Rome.

Political Conflicts

Throughout his career, Cato’s forceful pursuit of his conception of virtue in the Roman state made powerful enemies of some leading politicians. The conduct of others in office was a special concern of his, and he often examined the records of those recommended for public honors or for appointments to military command. Cato was particularly active in prosecuting or supporting the prosecution of opponents for corruption and other perceived moral failures.

In 565 [190], Cato accused the former consul Q. Minucius Thermus of claiming an undeserved triumph and of beating allied officials. He also charged that Thermus had executed ten men without proper charges or allowing them a trial.

In 564 [189], Cato and the conservative faction in the Senate humbled the powerful Scipio brothers by preventing Lucius Cornelius Scipio (Asiaticus) from settling terms with Antiochus III. Lucius had decisively defeated Antiochus at Magnesia the previous year with his brother Scipio Africanus serving as his legate. The Senate, instead, sent the consul Cn. Manlius Vulso to Asia with powers to make a treaty ending the war, already effectively over.

Cato and his ally Valerius Flaccus also entered the elections for the censorship in 564 [189]. Their rival candidates were the patricians T. Quinctius Flamininus and P. Cornelius Scipio Nasica and the plebeians M. Claudius Marcellus and Manius Acilius Glabrio. Acilius Glabrio had a popular following for his recent victory over Antiochus and the Aetolians at Thermopylae. He had also distributed a great deal of money to extend his influence. In an attempt to blunt the novus homo Glabrio’s appeal, the patrician faction, acting through two of the tribunes of the plebs, arranged to bring him to trial on a charge of mishandling a large amount of treasure plundered from Antiochus’ camp. Cato himself was brought forward as a witness in his role as one of Glabrio’s officers. Other officers and the military tribunes had given conflicting testimony, but Cato stated that gold and silver plate he had seen among the booty had not been on display in Glabrio’s triumphal procession.

Glabrio was outraged and accused Cato of perjuring himself to distract from his own status as a new man and to deflect the patrician opposition against Cato. Glabrio abandoned the campaign for the censorship, and finally the Assembly was unable to obtain a verdict against him. Cato’s own candidacy was damaged by the acrimony surrounding the trial. In the balloting, T. Quinctius Flamininus and M. Claudius Marcellus were elected censors.

Despite his earlier support for sending Manlius Vulso to Asia, Cato joined many patricians who attempted to block Manlius’ request for a triumph. The consul had spent much of his time in Asia campaigning against the Galatians without Senate authorization, and Cato accused Manlius of using his office to pursue personal glory and wealth, instead of Roman interests.

Sensing vulnerablility, Cato also supported the attempt to indict Scipio Asiaticus and Scipio Africanus in 566 [187] for peculation. The brothers were accused of misappropriating funds seized from Antiochus during the eastern campaign, apparently to weaken their political power before the next censorship elections.

The attack on Africanus failed when the hero of Carthage famously destroyed his brother’s account books during questioning. On the second day of his trial, he recalled that it was the anniversary of his battle in Africa against the Carthaginians and invited the citizens of Rome to join him in a sacrifice at the Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus, whereupon he left the court. Scipio’s boycott of the trial did not stop the legal actions, but he faced no further direct threat. He withdrew to his country estate at Liternum, never to return to Rome again before his death in late 569 [184].

Scipio Asiaticus, however, was condemned in the Assembly and punished with a large fine. Without funds to pay the fine, he was nearly thrown into prison, but the intervention of the tribune Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus prevented that disgrace.

Censor

Roman Voting

The elections for censor in 569 [184] were hotly contested by a wide field of candidates. Cato stood for the plebeian censorship, and his old friend Valerius Flaccus stood for the patrician seat. Fearing what the austere Cato and Flaccus could do in an office with significant power over public morals and behavior, their opponents put forward four other patrician candidates (including Publius Cornelius Scipio Nasica and Lucius Cornelius Scipio Asiaticus, Cnaeus Manlius Vulso, and L. Furius Purpureo) and three plebeians (M. Fulvius Nobilior, Tiberius Sempronius Longus, and M. Sempronius Tuditanus). All seven directed their campaigns primarily against Cato with promises to the voters of moderation. Cato, however, campaigned with a straightforward promise of deep reform, urging the people to choose “not the gentlest, but the roughest of physicians.” In another campaign remark, Cato said he and Flaccus would be able to cut and burn “like a hydra” all displays of extravagance and wealth. In the elections, Cato and Flaccus came first over all, and the opposition’s strategy of dividing into a wide field failed.

In office, Cato lived up to his promises to the voters. His actions as censor showed unusual initiative, and his uncompromising record as censor are undoubtedly the capstone of Cato’s public career. In the area of reform, he revised the lists of senators and equites to expel those who failed to qualify by the rules, but also those he deemed morally unfit. Thus, he expelled L. Quinctius Flamininus, a former consul and brother of the previous censor, for taking a favored youth on all his campaigns and for cruelty, and also M. Fulvius Nobilior, who triumphed in 564 [189] for his defeat of the Aetolian League. Ennius had written a play about Fulvius’ capture of Ambracia, and Cato accused the commander of compromising his dignity as a general. He also deprived Scipio Asiaticus of his horse. As princeps senatus, he named Valerius Flaccus.

In regulating public morality, Cato took a special interest. He spoke out in speeches On Clothes and Vehicles and On Statues and Pictures against ostentation. Following through on these, he imposed a large tax levy on luxurious dress and displays of jewelry, especially by women, and another on slaves less than twenty years old who had been sold since the last lustrum for 10,000 ases. In 572 [181] he gave support to the Lex Orchia, which limited the number of guests permitted at entertainments.

The censors at that time also had responsibility for public constructions and services. Cato and Flaccus made a great effort to repair the aqueducts and clean the sewers. The also ended corruption in these areas, knocking down houses that encroached on the public land and fining those persons who had been illegally drawing public water for private uses. The censors constructed the first large basilica in Rome, the Basilica Porcia, although unfortunately this building no longer stands in the Forum. Cato and Flaccus also increased the amount to be paid by the publicani to the state for the right of farming taxes, while at the same time reducing the cost of contracts for the creation of public works.

In all of this, Cato acted with both a measure of sternness and austerity, but also attacked the corruption and misuse of state facilities that had been allowed to exist. Although he made lasting enemies, he also won a great measure of public respect and appreciation. In appreciation for his service, a group of people put up a statue for him in the temple of Salus with an inscription dedicated, not to his triumph or military commands, but to his service as censor, who “by his good discipline and wise and temperate ordinances, reclaimed the Roman commonwealth when it was declining and sinking down into vice.”

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