Cato the Younger (also known as Marcus Porcius Cato) was a Roman statesman widely known for his steadfastness, immunity to bribery, moral integrity, and opposition to the rampant corruption and tyranny present in the Roman empire at the time. By all accounts, he was a decent guy.
He lived from 95 BC to 46 BC, during the latter years of the Roman Republic.
Cato was a descendant of an old Roman family, and his early life was marked by his commitment to Stoic philosophy, a philosophy that emphasizes ethics and personal virtue.
He became famous for his strict adherence to these principles, often to the point of austerity, and his life was seen as a model of Roman virtue and stoic philosophy.
Cato in Politics:
Politically, Cato is best remembered for his determined opposition to Julius Caesar.
He was a leading figure in the Senate, where he consistently opposed Caesar’s policies and ambitions, viewing him as a threat to the republic’s traditions and legal framework. This rivalry with Caesar was one of the defining conditions of the late Republic’s political landscape.
Cato’s opposition to Caesar extended to the civil war between Caesar and Pompey.
Cato supported Pompey, not necessarily because he agreed with him on all matters, but because he saw Pompey as the lesser of two threats to the Republic.
After the defeat of Pompey’s forces at the Battle of Pharsalus, Cato retreated to Africa to continue the resistance against Caesar. Following the defeat of the Pompeian forces at the Battle of Thapsus, Cato committed suicide rather than submit to Caesar’s authority, believing it to be the final act of defiance and a way to maintain his principles untarnished by compromise or surrender.
Cato the Younger’s life and death became emblematic of the struggle for the preservation of the Roman Republic and its values against the forces of autocracy. His legacy was celebrated by Stoics and Republicans alike and became a symbol of civic virtue and resistance to tyranny throughout Western history.
Cato the Younger’s Greatest Quotes:
Bitter are the roots of study, but how sweet their fruit.
I will begin to speak, when I have that to say which had not better be unsaid.
Consider it the greatest of all virtues to restrain the tongue.
I know not what treason is, if sapping and betraying the liberties of a people be not treason.
Some have said that it is not the business of private men to meddle with government–a bold and dishonest saying, which is fit to come from no mouth but that of a tyrant or a slave. To say that private men have nothing to do with government is to say that private men have nothing to do with their own happiness or misery; that people ought not to concern themselves whether they be naked or clothed, fed or starved, deceived or instructed, protected or destroyed.
A honest man is seldom a vagrant.
Consider in silence whatever any one says: speech both conceals and reveals the inner soul of man.
The cabbage surpasses all other vegetables. If, at a banquet, you wish to dine a lot and enjoy your dinner, then eat as much cabbage as you wish, seasoned with vinegar, before dinner, and likewise after dinner eat some half-dozen leaves. It will make you feel as if you had not eaten, and you can drink as much as you like.
I will begin to speak, when I have that to say which had not better be unsaid.
In doing nothing men learn to do evil.
Blessed be they as virtuous, who when they feel their virile members swollen with lust, visit a brothel rather than grind at some husband’s private mill.
For some people there is no comfort without pain. Thus; we define salvation through suffering. Hence, why we choose people who we know aren’t right for ourselves.
Speak briefly and to the point.
Whoever would overthrow the liberty of a nation must begin by subduing freedom of speech. Without freedom of thought, there can be no such thing as wisdom; and no such thing as public liberty without freedom of speech.
Flee sloth; for the indolence of the soul is the decay of the body.
It is remarkable that men, when they differ in what they think considerable, will be apt to differ in almost everything else; their difference begets contradiction; contradiction begets heat; heat quickly rises into resentment, rage, and ill-will; thus they differ in affections, as they differ in judgment.
Wise men are more dependent on fools than fools on wise men.
The primary virtue is: hold your tongue; who knows how to keep quiet is close to God.
To say that private men have nothing to do with government is to say that private men have nothing to do with their own happiness or misery; that people aught not to concern themselves whether they be naked or clothed, fed or starved, deceived or instructed, protected or destroyed.
Regard not dreams, since they are but the images of our hopes and fears.
All have the gift of speech, but few are possessed of wisdom.
I would not be beholden to a tyrant, for his acts of tyranny. For it is but usurpation in him to save, as their rightful lord, the lives of men over whom he has no title to reign.
This is my firm persuasion, that since the human soul exerts itself with so great activity, since it has such a remembrance of the best, such a concern for the future, since it is enriched with so many arts, sciences, and discoveries, it is impossible but the being which contains all these must be immortal.
