Cato the elder biography of abraham

Marcou, Jules. Marcou, David J. Marcosson, Samuel A. Marcosson, Isaac. Marcus Tullius Tiro. Marcus Valerius Martialis. Marcus Valerius Martialis Martial. Marcus Welby, M. Marcus, Aaron. Marcus, Adele — Marcus, Amy Dockser Marcus, Bernard. Carthage, a shadow of its once powerful self after two wars with Rome, was being unfairly harassed by its Numidian neighbors.

But Cato, determined in his longstanding hatred for Carthage made sure that the commission found in favor of Numidia, which inevitably led to the Third Punic War and the destruction of Carthage and its civilization. He created the first Roman encyclopedia, produced a work on medicine, wrote a history of Rome, and also, due to having grown up on a farm, wrote a text on farming the oldest complete Latin prose work.

Men in love were thought laughable by Romans, especially old dodderers who cato the elder biography of abraham young girls. Yet this is precisely what Cato eventually did. Being a sensible old man, on losing his wife he married off his son. Cato himself then frequented a certain slave girl, who came to see him every evening in his room, but his son felt that this carrying-on was rather shocking in a house where there was a young bride, his wife.

Cato went straight to the forum where his friends gathered around him, forming an escort. Cato called him over and asked whether he had found a husband yet for his daughter. He is a worthy man in all respects, but he is very old. Astounded but honored, Salonius rushed to put his signature on the contract. Cato the Elder was a historian, the first Latin prose writer of any importance, and the first author of a history of Italy in Latin.

Answer and Explanation: Cato was identified as being very conservative and a staunch upholder of Roman traditional values. These included such values as preventing extravagant living, upholding the power of men over women, combating corruption, and public service. He lived soberly, sharing the food and the labours of the common soldier. Wherever it was possible, he personally superintended the execution of his requisite orders.

His movements were reported as bold and rapid, and he never was negligent in pushing the advantages of victory. The sequence of his operations and their combination in agreement with the schemes of other generals in other parts of Hispania appear to have been carefully designed. His stratagems and manoeuvres were accounted as original, talented, and successful; and the plans of his battles were arranged with expert skill.

He managed to set tribe against tribe, benefited himself from native deceitfulness, and took native mercenaries into his pay. The details of the campaign, as related by Livy, [20] and illustrated by the incidental anecdotes of Plutarchare full of horror and they make clear that Cato reduced Hispania Citerior to subjection with great speed and little mercy.

We read of multitudes who, after they had been stripped of all their arms, put themselves to death because of the dishonour, of extensive massacres of surrendered victims, and the frequent execution of harsh plunders. The phrase bellum se ipsum alet —the war feeds itself—was coined by Cato during this period. He claimed to have destroyed more towns in Hispania than he had spent days in that country.

After he reduced the area between the River Iberus and the Pyrenees to a resentful and, as it turned out, temporary obedience, Cato turned his attention to administrative reforms, and increased the revenues of the province by improvements in the working of the iron and silver mines. For his achievements in Hispania, the senate decreed a thanksgiving ceremony of three days.

In the course of the year BC, he returned to Rome and was rewarded with the honor of a Roman triumphat which he exhibited an extraordinary quantity of captured brasssilver, and goldboth coin and ingots. Cato distributed the monetary prize to his soldiery, and was more liberal than might have been expected from his vigorous parsimony. The return of Cato seems to have accelerated the enmity of Scipio Africanuswho was Consul in BC and is said to have desired the command of the province in which Cato was harvesting notoriety.

There is some disagreement between Nepos or the pseudo-Neposand Plutarch, [23] in their accounts of this topic. Nepos claims that Scipio failed to obtain the province, and, offended by the rejection, remained after his consulship in a private capacity at Rome. Plutarch claims that Scipio, who was disgusted by Cato's severity, was appointed to succeed him but could not convince the senate to censure Cato's administration, and passed his consulship in inactivity.

Plutarch was probably mistaken, judging by the statement in Livy, [24] that in BC, Sextus Digitius was appointed to the province of Hispania Citerior. The notion that Scipio was appointed successor to Cato in Hispania may have arisen from a double confusion of name and place, since Publius Cornelius Scipio Nasica was chosen in BC to the province of Hispania Ulterior.

However true this account, Cato used his eloquence and produced detailed financial accounts to successfully defend against criticism of his consulship. The known fragments of the speeches or one speech under different names made after his return attest to the strength and boldness of his arguments. Plutarch [25] affirms that, after his Consulship, Cato accompanied Tiberius Sempronius Longus as legatus to Thracebut this seems incorrect because, although Scipio Africanus believed that one Consul should have MacedoniaSempronius was soon in Cisalpine Gaul[26] and in BC Cato was in Rome dedicating a small temple to Victoria Virgo.

The military career of Cato was not yet ended. In the decisive Battle of Thermopylae BCwhich led to the downfall of Antiochus, Cato behaved with his usual valor, and enjoyed good fortune. By a daring and difficult advance, he surprised and removed a body of the enemy's Aetolian auxiliarieswho were posted upon the Callidromus, the highest cato the elder biography of abraham of the range of Mount Oeta.

Then, coming to the aid of forces under Flaccus's command, he began a sudden descent from the hills above the royal camp, and the panic caused by this unexpected movement promptly turned the day in favor of the Romans, and signaled the end of the Seleucid invasion of Greece. After the action, the General hugged Cato with the greatest warmth and attributed to him the whole credit of the victory.

That this is a fact rests on the authority of Cato himself, who, like Cicerooften indulged in the habit, offensive to modern taste, of sounding his own praises. After an interval spent in the pursuit of Antiochus and the pacification of Greece, Cato was sent to Rome by the Consul Glabrio to announce the successful outcome of the campaign, and he performed his journey with such celerity that he had started his report in the senate before the return of Lucius Cornelius Scipiothe later conqueror of Antiochus, who had been sent off from Greece a few days before him.

During the campaign in Greece under Glabrio, Plutarch's account albeit rejected by historian Wilhelm Drumann suggests that before the Battle of Thermopylae, Cato was chosen to prevent CorinthPatraeand Aegium from siding with Antiochus. During this period, Cato visited Athens where, in trying to prevent the Athenians from listening to the propositions of the Seleucid king, Cato addressed them in a Latin speech, which required an interpreter to be understood by the audience.

Whether this was out of necessity or merely a choice by Cato remains unclear, however, since the assertion that he might very well have already known Greek at the time can be made from anecdotal evidence. For example, Plutarch said that while at Tarentum in his youth he had developed a close friendship with Nearchus, who was himself a Greek philosopher.

Similarly, Aurelius Victor stated he had received instruction in Greek from Ennius while praetor in Sardinia. Nevertheless, because his speech was an affair of state, it is probable that he complied with the Roman norms of the day in using the Latin language, which compliance was considered in diplomacy as a mark of Roman dignity.

His reputation as a soldier was now established; henceforth he preferred to serve the state at home, scrutinizing the conduct of the candidates for public honours and of generals in the field. If he was not personally engaged in the prosecution of the Scipiones Africanus and Asiaticus for corruption, it was his spirit that animated the attack upon them.

Even Scipio Africanus —who refused to reply to the charge, saying only, "Romans, this is the day on which I conquered Hannibal" and was absolved by acclamation—found it necessary to retire, self-banished, to his villa at Liternum. Cato's enmity dated from the African campaign when he quarreled with Scipio for his lavish distribution of the spoil among the troops, and his general luxury and extravagance.

Cato was also opposed to the spread of Hellenic culture, which he believed threatened to destroy the rugged simplicity of the conventional Roman type. It was in the discharge of this censorship that his determination to oppose Hellenism was most strongly exhibited, and hence, the behavior from which was derived the title the Censor by which he is most generally distinguished.

He revised with unsparing severity the lists of Senators and Knights, ejecting from either order the men whom he judged unworthy of membership, either on moral grounds or on the basis of their lack the prescribed means. The expulsion of L. Quinctius Flamininus for wanton cruelty was an example of his rigid justice. His regulations against luxury were very stringent.

He imposed a heavy tax upon dress and personal adornment, especially of women, and upon young slaves purchased as favourites. In BC he supported the lex Orchia according to others, he first opposed its introduction, and subsequently its repealwhich prescribed a limit to the number of guests at an entertainment, and in BC the lex Voconiaone of the provisions of which was intended to limit the accumulation of what Cato considered an undue proportion of wealth in the hands of women.

Among other things he repaired the aqueductscleansed the sewersand prevented private persons drawing off public water for their own use. The Aqua Appia was the first aqueduct of Rome. Unauthorised plumbing into Rome's aqueducts had always been a problem, as Frontinus records much later.

Cato the elder biography of abraham

Cato was tirelessly vigilant and worked hard. He shared the labour of war with his soldiers, eating and sleeping as they did. During the battle, he proved to be a good tactician and military man. When Cato was able to clear the land of rebels, his next step was to improve the administration of the province. Finally, in BCE, Cato had a triumphduring which Rome was shown enormous amounts of brass, gold, and Spanish silver.

During his reign, Cato had to deal with a series of attacks on himself, mainly from the Scipio family. However, his actions proved that he is an efficient and reasonable politician, manager and commander. The military career did not end with the campaign in Spain, however. Cato took part in the expedition, who once again proved his qualities.

He controlled, inter alia, candidates for state office and was personally involved in accusing, inter alia, such personalities as: Scipio Africanus or Lucius Scipio Asiatic for corruption. His great success was the destruction of the position of Scipio Africanuswho disappeared from the political scene and died in oblivion. In BCE he supported lex Voconiawhich was to control the accumulation of undue wealth in the hands of women.

It should also be mentioned that during his tenure in office, Cato had many aqueducts rebuilt, sewage cleaned and fought against the looting of public water by private individuals. Cato also commissioned the demolition of houses that overlap the public roads and the construction of the first basilica in the Forum Romanum, near the Curia.

In BCE Cato reached the peak of his career by becoming a censor. Attachment to republican virtues and Roman tradition earned him the nickname Censor. Cato became famous for his irreconcilable hostility towards Carthage and constant calls for its destruction. He accused the Carthaginians of breaking treaties six times between and BCE.