[Linenotes: 1. +Censor+, 184 B.C., with L. Valerius Flaccus, his great friend and patron, by whom he was introduced to political life. 3. +in edictum.+ The Censors, on their entrance upon office, issued a _proclamation_ or _edict_, setting forth the principles upon which they intended to act. Cato set forth in his edict that he intended to use his power for the suppression of luxury. 5. +pullulare+ = _to spread, increase_; lit. _to put forth_, of plants and animals. Cf. _pull-us_ (our _pullet_), _pu-er_, πῶλος (= _a foal_).] +octoginta.+ This is an exaggeration. He was only eighty-five when he died 149 B.C. 6-7. +rei publicae ... non destitit.+ Seneca says: _Scipio cum hostibus nostris bellum, Cato cum moribus gessit._ 7-9. Cato was accused no less than 44 times, but each time acquitted. 11. +iuris consultus+ = _lawyer_. 12. +magnus imperator+, e.g. in the 2nd Punic War, and the decisive victory at Thermopylae (191 B.C.) was mainly due to Cato. +probabilis orator+ = _a tolerable, acceptable orator_. Oscar Browning. 17-21. His two great works were his treatise +De Re Rustica+ (or +De Agri Cultura+), the earliest extant work in Latin prose, and his +Origines+, or accounts of the rise and growth of the Italian nation, the earliest history in Latin prose. ‘It was Cato’s great merit that he asserted the rights of his native language for literary prose composition.’ --Ihne.]
+Cato the Censor.+ ‘He deserves our highest respect for the defiant and manly spirit that animated him in his untiring contest with the vices of the age.’ --Ihne.
Iam pauca aratro iugera regiae Moles relinquent, undique latius Extenta visentur Lucrino Stagna lacu platanusque caelebs 4 Evincet ulmos: tum violaria et Myrtus et omnis copia narium Spargent olivetis odorem Fertilibus domino priori; 8 Tum spissa ramis laurea fervidos Excludet ictus. Non ita Romuli Praescriptum et intonsi Catonis Auspiciis veterumque norma. 12 Privatus illis census erat brevis, Commune magnum: nulla decempedis Metata privatis opacam Porticus excipiebat Arcton. 16 Nec fortuitum spernere caespitem Leges sinebant, oppida publico Sumptu iubentes et deorum Templa novo decorare saxo. 20
+Argument.+ ‘Our palaces and fish-ponds and ornamental gardens are supplanting the cultivation of corn and vines and olives. +This is not the spirit of Romulus or of Cato.+ Their rule was private thrift, public magnificence; private houses of turf, public buildings and temples of hewn stone.’ --W.