Cato the Censor

381 Pages·6.171 MB·English

by  Alan E. Astin

Cato the Censor
ALAN E. ASTIN
OXFORD
AT THE CLARENDON PRESS
1978
Oxford University Press, Walton Street, Oxford OX2 6DP
OXFORD LONDON GLASGOW
NEW YORK TORONTO MELBOURNE WELLINGTON
IBADAN NAIROBI DAR ES SALAAM LUSAKA CAPE TOWN
KUALA LUMPUR SINGAPORE JAKARTA HONG KONO TOKYO
DELHI BOMBAY CALCUTTA MADRAS KARACHI
© Oxford University Press 1978
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Astin, Alan Edgar
·1:11111
Cato the censor.
1. Cato, Marcus Porcius, b. B.C.234 2 .. Rome -
Biography .:1; ,
, I. Title
937'.04'0924 DG253.C3 77-30281
ISBN 0-19-814809-7
Printed in Great Britain
at the University Press, Oxford
by Vivian Ridler
Printer to the University
TO
J.,
A., AND N.

PREFACE
IN this book I have sought to provide a study of Cato as complete and as
coherent as the often fragmentary evidence permits, excluding only the
strictly agricultural content of the De agricultura.T he first six chapters
examine his career in sequence, and then a further six deal with several
broad topics which cut across the chronological pattern. The detailed
arrangement of the material has presented a number of problems, espe
cially because many of the topics are to some extent interrelated and
because a considerable amount of evidence bea~s upon more than one of
them. The result is inevitably something of a compromise, but the
sequence I have adopted, particularly for the topics in Chapters 7 to 12,
is strongly influenced by a desire to avoid a great deal of repetition and
cross-referencing. Another major problem has lain in the frustrating
deficiencies of the information available to us. It is not hard to find
questions-especially concerning Cato' s role and attitudes in the conduct
of foreign affairs-which clamour for answers which the evidence cannot
provide. All too soon the point is reached at which the links between
evidence and conjecture are too tenuous for the latter to be a reasonable
basis for interpretation. Yet I hope to have shown that, without undue
speculation, there is much which can be said; that Cato was, at least in
some respects, less extreme, less idiosyncratic, and more positive than
some scholars have supposed, though not as sophisticated as others have
suggested; and that he was not only a remarkable personality but in a
number of ways a figure of considerable historical significance.
Two lesser problems have concerned citations in the original languages
and the construction of the General Index. Throughout I have had very
much in mind the needs of readers who have no knowledge of Latin and
Greek, but I have not attempted to maintain the use of translation and
paraphrase in Chapter 7, where it would have been inappropriate to the
discussion of stylistic features of Cato' s speeches, or in the more technical
arguments in the Appendices. As for the General Index, it quickly became
apparent that if this was to be manageable a considerable measure of
selection would be necessary. Various names and topics have therefore
been omitted; in particular I have not included the ancient authors who
provide information or comment. The result inevitably contains some
anomalies and inconsistencies, but I hope that the combination of the two
PREFACE
Vlll
indexes and the arrangement of material in the body of the book will
enable any significant topic or item to be found fairly readily.
Although I have been preparing this book for many years, most of it
was written during study leave from the Queen's University in 1974-5,
and the greater part of it during six month~ in 1975 when for the second
time I enjoyed the generous hospitality and facilities of the Institute for
Advanced Study at Princeton. I cannot express too warmly my gratitude
to the Institute for the opportunity it afforded me and for a memorable
experience. The book was largely written by the autum of 1975 and was
completed in the spring of 1976. Mu~h of the material in Chapters 7 and
8 was first presented in papers read to audiences at Cambridge, at Prince
ton, at Carleton University in Ottawa, at the State University of Ohio
in Columbus, and at an informal conference of 'the Hibernian Hellenists'
at Ballymascanlon, Co. Louth. I benefited greatly from the helpful
comments offered on all those occasions.
From the many to whom I owe thanks there are some whom I must
single out for mention. The Queen's University of Belfast, besides grant
J.
ing me study leave in 1974-5, assisted me to visit Spain in 1970. Dr. T.
Cornell kindly allowed me to photocopy large portions of his thesis on the
Origines. The fact that the thesis is unpublished raised the question of how
far it would be useful to cite it; but since it is in my opinion an important
contribution to ~hich I am considerably indebted, and from which I also
dissent on some points, I decided that in Chapter 10 it is preferable and
proper to give a number of quite specific references. On military matters
I have enjoyed valuable discussions with Col. C. E. Thompson and I
particularly appreciated his comments upon a draft of Appendix 4. I am
most grateful to Betty Horton and Sandy Lafferty in Princeton and
Pauline Roberts in Belfast for the outstanding quality of their work on
the typescript. In the reading of proofs my colleagues Mary Smallwood,
Raymond Davis, John Salmon, and Richard Talbert have been most
generous of their time and have offered many helpful observations; and
the last three have been both a tolerant and a stimulating audience
over many a departmental coffee break. Finally I thank the Oxford
University Press for all the help and encouragement I have received.
A. E. A.
The Queen's University,B elfast
December1 977
CONTENTS
ABBREVIATIONS
Xl
I. The New Man from Tusculum
I
CursusH onorum
2.
II
3. The Consul in Spain
4. From Consul to Censor
5. The Censorship
6. The Later Years
104
7. Orator
131
8. Cato and the Greeks
157
9. The De agriculturaa nd Other Writings
182
10. The Origines
2II
II. The De agriculturaa s a Social Document
12. Foreign Affairs
I 3. Conclusion
APPENDICES
I. Sources 295
2. Livy's Sources for Cato's Spanish Campaign 302
3. Some Notes on the Chronology of Cato's Spanish Campaign 308
4. Possible Sites for the Battle of Emporiae 311
5. Cato, Usury, and the Lex Iunia 319
6. Some Interpretations Related to Cato' s Censorship 324
7. Cato's Speeches De ambitua nd Dissuasio1 1ele x Baebiad erogaretur 329
8. The Nature of Cato's Ad .filium 332
9. Additional Note to Chapter 8: Cato and Education 341
10. Notes on Some Passages in the De agricultura( 102; 131-50;
91-2 and 128-9) 343
II. Cato's Priorities in De agriculturaI. 7 346
12. Three Passages Concerning Cato's Treatment of Slaves 349
CONTENTS
X
BIBLIOGRAPHY 351
INDEXES
General
Passages from Cato's Writings
MAPS
I. The Iberian Peninsula 32
2. The Environs of Emporiae 312
ABBREVIATIONS
CAR CambridgeA ncient History.
ESARi T. Frank, An EconomicS urvey of Ancient Rome, 1: Rome and Italy of the
Republic, Baltimore, 1933.
FGrH F.Jacoby, Die Fragmented erg riechischenH istoriker,B erlin and Leyden,
1923- .
HRRi 2 H. W. G. Peter, HistoricorumR omanorumR eliquiae i2, Leipzig, 1914.
ILLRP A. Degrassi, InscriptioneLs atinaeL iberaeR ei Publicae, vols., Florence,
2
1963-5.
ILS H. Dessau, InscriptionesL atinae Selectae,3 vols., Berlin, 1892-1916.
Janzer B. Janzer, HistorischeU ntersttchttngenzu den Redenfragmentend es M.
PorciusC ato, Wiirzburg, 1937.
Jordan H. Jordan, M. Catonisp raeter librum de re rusticaq uae exstant, Leipzig,
1860.
Kienast D. Kienast, Cato der Censor.S eine Personlichkeiut nd seine Zeit, Heidel
berg, 1954.
MRR T. R. S. Broughton, The Magistrateso f the Roman Republic, vols. and
2
suppl., New York, 1951-60.
ORFa H. Malcovati, OratorumR omanorumF ragmenta3T, urin, 1967.
RE Pauly- Wissowa-Kroll, Real-Encyclopiidied er classischenA ltertums
wissenschaft.
TLL ThesaurusL inguae Latinae.
Titles of periodicals are abbreviated in accordance with the system used in
L' An nee ph ilol ogique.