The Boys' and Girls' Plutarch · Plutarch
THE CHARACTER OF MARCUS CATO
Marcus Cato grew so powerful by his eloquence that he was commonly called the Roman Demosthenes; but his manner of life was yet more famous and talked of. For oratorical skill was, as an accomplishment, commonly studied and sought after by all young men; but he was a rare man who would cultivate the old habits of bodily labor, or prefer a light supper, and a breakfast which never saw the fire; or be in love with poor clothes and a homely lodging, or could set his ambition rather on doing without luxuries than on possessing them. For now the state, unable to keep its purity by reason of its greatness, and having so many affairs, and people from all parts under its government, was fain to admit many mixed customs, and new examples of living. With reason, therefore, everybody admired Cato, when they saw others sink under labors, and grow effeminate by pleasures, but beheld him unconquered by either; and that, too, not only when he was young and desirous of honor, but also when old and gray-headed, after a consulship and triumph; like some famous victor in the games, persevering in his exercise and maintaining his character to the very last.
He himself says, that he never wore a suit of clothes which cost more than a hundred drachmas; and that, when he was general and consul, he drank the same wine which his workmen did; and that the meat or fish which was bought in the market for his dinner, did not cost above thirty 'asses.' All which was for the sake of the commonwealth, that his body might be the hardier for the war. Having a piece of embroidered Babylonian tapestry left him, he sold it; because none of his farm-houses were so much as plastered. Nor did he ever buy a slave for above fifteen hundred drachmas; as he did not seek for effeminate and handsome ones, but able, sturdy workmen, horse-keepers, and cow-herds; and these he thought ought to be sold again, when they grew old, and no useless servants fed in a house. In short, he reckoned nothing a good bargain, which was superfluous; but whatever it was, though sold for a farthing, he would think it a great price, if you had no need of it.
Yet, in my judgment, it marks an over-rigid temper for a man to take the work out of his servants as out of brute beasts, turning them off and selling them in their old age. A kind-natured man will keep even worn-out horses and dogs, and not only take care of them when they are foals and whelps, but also when they are grown old. The Athenians, when they built their Hecatompedon,* (*The Parthenon; built on the site of an older temple which had borne the name of Hecatompedon, or a "hundred feet long." The name was retained for the new building.) turned those mules loose to feed freely, which they had observed to have done the hardest labor. One of these came once of itself to offer its service, and ran along with, nay, went before, the teams which drew the wagons up to the Acropolis, as if it would incite and encourage them to draw more stoutly; upon which a vote was passed that the creature should be kept at the public charge till it died. The graves of Cimon's horses, which thrice won the Olympian races, are yet to be seen close by his own monument. Old Xanthippus, too, the father of Pericles, entombed his dogs which swam after his galley to Salamis, when the people fled from Athens, on the top of a cliff, which they call the dogs' tomb to this day.
For his general temperance, however, and self-control, Cato really deserves the highest admiration. For when he commanded the army, he never took for himself, and those that belonged to him, more than three bushels of wheat for a month, and somewhat less than a bushel and a half a day of barley for his baggage-cattle. And when he entered upon the government of Sardinia, where his predecessors had been used to require tents, bedding, and clothes upon the public account, and to charge the state heavily with the cost of provisions and entertainments for a great train of servants and friends, the difference he showed in his economy was something incredible. There was nothing of any sort for which he put the public to expense; he would walk, instead of taking a carriage to visit the cities, with only one of the common town officers, who carried his dress, and a cup to offer libation with. Yet on the other hand, he showed most inflexible severity and strictness, in what related to public justice, and was rigorous, and precise in what concerned the ordinances of the commonwealth; so that the Roman government never seemed more terrible, nor yet more mild, than under his administration.
His very manner of speaking seemed to have such a kind of idea with it; for it was courteous, and yet forcible; pleasant, yet overwhelming; facetious, yet austere; sententious, and yet vehement: like Socrates, in the description of Plato, who seemed outwardly to those about him to be but a simple, talkative, blunt fellow; whilst at the bottom he was full of such gravity and matter, as would even move tears, and touch the very hearts of his auditors. Reproving on one occasion the sumptuous habits of the Romans, he said: "It is hard to preserve a city, where a fish is sold for more than an ox." He had a saying, also, that the Roman people were like sheep; for they, when single, do not obey, but when altogether in a flock, they follow their leaders: "So you," said he, "when you have got together in a body let yourselves be guided by those whom singly you would never think of being advised by." The Romans having sent three ambassadors to Bithnia, of whom one was gouty, another had his skull trepanned, and the other seemed little better than a fool; Cato, laughing, gave out that the Romans had sent an embassy, which had neither feet, head, nor heart.* (*Both the Romans and the Greeks conceived of the region of the heart, the chest, as the seat not of emotion, nor of will and courage merely, but more especially of judgment, deliberation, and practical sense. Thus the Greeks derived their word for moral wisdom from Phren, the diaphragm, and the Romans by 'egregie cordatus homo' meant a wise statesman.)
Cato also said that in his whole life he most repented of three things; one was, that he had trusted a secret to a woman; another that he went by water when he might have gone by land; the third, that he had remained one whole day without doing any business of moment. He was a good father, an excellent husband to his wife, and an extraordinary economist; and as he did not manage his affairs of this kind carelessly, and as things of little moment, I think I ought to record a little further whatever was commendable in him in these points. He married a wife more noble than rich; being of opinion that the rich and the high-born are equally haughty and proud; but that those of noble blood would be more ashamed of base things, and consequently more obedient to their husbands in all that was fit and right. A man who beat his wife or child, laid violent hands, he said, on what was most sacred; and a good husband he reckoned worthy of more praise than a great senator; and he admired the ancient Socrates for nothing so much, as for having lived a temperate and contented life with a wife who was a scold, and children who were half-witted.
When his son began to come to years of discretion, Cato himself would teach him to read, although he had a servant, a very good grammarian, called Chilo, who taught many others; but he thought not fit, as he himself said, to have his son reprimanded by a slave, or pulled, it may be, by the ears when found tardy in his lesson: nor would he have him owe to a servant the obligation of so great a thing as his learning; he himself, therefore, taught him his grammar, his law, and his gymnastic exercises. Nor did he only show him, too, how to throw a dart, to fight in armor, and to ride, but to box also and to endure both heat and cold, and to swim over the most rapid and rough rivers. He says, likewise, that he wrote histories, in large characters, with his own hand, that so his son, without stirring out of the house, might learn to know about his countrymen and forefathers: nor did he less abstain from speaking any thing improper before his son, than if it had been in the presence of the sacred virgins, called vestals. Nor would he ever go into the bath with him; which seems indeed to have been the common custom of the Romans. Thus, like an excellent work, Cato formed and fashioned his son to virtue.
THE SACRED THEBAN BAND FROM THE LIFE OF PELOPIDAS. Gorgidas, according to some, first formed the Sacred Band of three hundred chosen men, to whom, as being a guard for the citadel, the State allowed provision, and all things necessary for exercise: and hence they were called the city band, as citadels of old were usually called cities. Others say that it was composed of young men attached to each other by personal affection, and a pleasant saying of Pammenes is current, that Homer's Nestor was not well skilled in ordering an army, when he advised the Greeks to rank tribe and tribe, and family and family together, that "So tribe might tribe, and kinsmen kinsmen aid," but that he should have joined lovers and their beloved. For men of the same tribe or family little value one another when dangers press; but a band cemented by friendship grounded upon love, is never to be broken, and invincible; since all, ashamed to be base in sight of their beloved, willingly rush into danger for the relief of one another. Nor can that be wondered at; since they have more regard for their absent loving friends than for others present; as in the instance of the man who, when his enemy was going to kill him, earnestly requested him to run him through the breast, that his lover might not blush to see him wounded in the back. It is a tradition likewise, that Iolaus, who assisted Hercules in his labors and fought at his side, was beloved of him; and Aristotle observes, that even in his time, lovers plighted their faith at Iolaus' tomb. It is likely, therefore, that this band was called sacred on this account; as Plato calls a lover a divine friend. It is stated that it was never beaten till the battle at Chaeronea: and when Philip, after the fight, took a view of the slain, and came to the place where the three hundred that fought his phalanx lay dead together, he was filled with wonder, and understanding that it was the band of lovers, he shed tears and said, "Perish any man who suspects that these men either did or suffered any thing that was base."
FROM THE LIFE OF TITUS FLAMININUS, THE CONQUEROR OF PHILIP Among the songs written after the battle of Cynos Cephalas (the Dog-heads), was the following epigram, composed by Alcaeus in mockery of Philip, exaggerating the number of the slain: Naked and tombless see, O passer-by The thirty thousand men of Thessaly, Slain by the Aetolians and the Latin band, That came with Titus from Italia's land: Alas for mighty Macedon! that day, Swift as a roe, king Philip fled away. Titus himself thought more highly of his liberation of Greece than of any other of his actions, as appears by the inscription upon some silver targets, dedicated together with his own shield, to Apollo at Delphi: Ye Spartan Tyndarids, twin sons of Jove, Who in swift horsemanship have placed your love, Titus, of great Aeneas' race, leaves this In honor of the liberty of Greece. And a golden crown, also offered to Apollo, bore this inscription: This golden crown upon thy locks divine, O blest Latona's son, was set to shine By the great captain of the Aenean name O Phoebus, grant the noble Titus fame! When the ambassadors of Antiochus were recounting to those of Achaea, the various multitudes composing their royal master's forces, and ran over a long catalogue of hard names, "I supped once," said Titus, "with a friend, and could not forbear expostulating with him at the number of dishes he had provided, and said I wondered where he had furnished himself with such a variety; 'Sir,' replied he, 'to confess the truth, it is all hog's flesh differently cooked.' And so, men of Achaea, when you are told of Antiochus' lancers, and pikemen, and foot-guards, I advise you not to be surprised; since in fact they are all Syrians differently armed."
The Chalcidians, who owed their lives to Titus, dedicated to him all the best and most magnificent of their sacred buildings, inscriptions upon which, like the following, may be seen to this day: THE PEOPLE DEDICATE THIS GYMNASIUM TO TITUS AND TO HERCULES; so again: THE PEOPLE CONSECRATE THE DELPHINIUM TO TITUS AND TO HERCULES; and what is yet more remarkable, even in our time, a priest of Titus was formally elected and declared; and after sacrifice and libation, they sang a set song, of which these are the closing verses:-- The Roman Faith, whose aid of yore, Our vows were offered to implore, We worship now and evermore. To Rome, to Titus, and to Jove, O maidens, in the dances move. Dances and Io-Paeans too Unto the Roman Faith are due O Savior Titus, and to you.
Text from Project Gutenberg, public domain in the United States.