Cato the Younger
Roman statesman, general and writer (95–46 BC)
Marcus Porcius Cato Uticensis ('of Utica'; 95 BC – April 46 BC), also known as Cato the Younger (Latin: Cato Minor), was an influential conservative Roman senator during the late Republic. His conservative principles were focused on the preservation of what he saw as old Roman values in decline. A noted orator and a follower of Stoicism, his scrupulous honesty and professed respect for tradition gave him a powerful political following which he mobilised against powerful generals of his day, including Julius Caesar and Pompey.
Quotes
edit- Bear in mind, that if through toil you accomplish a good deed, that toil will quickly pass from you, the good deed will not leave you so long as you live; but if through pleasure you do anything dishonourable, the pleasure will quickly pass away, that dishonourable act will remain with you for ever.
- In the speech which he delivered Numantiae apud Equites ('At Numantia to the Knights'); quoted by Aulus Gellius, Attic Nights, XVI, i, 4
- John C. Rolfe, ed. The Attic Nights of Aulus Gellius, Vol. 3, LCL 212 (1928), p. 131
- In the speech which he delivered Numantiae apud Equites ('At Numantia to the Knights'); quoted by Aulus Gellius, Attic Nights, XVI, i, 4
- I will begin to speak when I am not going to say what were better left unsaid.
About
edit- Victrix causa deis placuit, sed vieta Catoni.
- The victorious cause pleased the gods, but the conquered one Cato.
- Lucan, Pharsalia, I, 128
- This line is associated with the Lost Cause of the Confederacy and inscribed on the base of the Confederate Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery.
- Cabell Smith, "Inscriptions on Arlington Confederate Monument", Confederate Veteran, vol. 20 (1920), p. 124
- The victorious cause pleased the gods, but the conquered one Cato.
- Unconquer’d Cato, virtuous in extreme.
- James Thomson, Winter (1726)