Download Loraine Balallo - 2011

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Loraine Balallo
Bergen/Downer
Eng 10-3/Latin II-6
10 November 2011
Cato the Elder
Marcus Porcius Cato, also known as Cato the Elder was a great censor who
helped start the Third Punic War and the destruction of Carthage. Before Cato became a
censor, he started off as a farmer and he worked his way up. Cato tried to be one of the
senate members after he retired from the army in 191 B.C. When Cato became a censor,
he tried to give everyone, including the lower and upper class the equal rights which
prevented the rich from buying luxuries which he thought were too much. Cato hated
Carthage and he made up a slogan, "Carthago Delenda Est" (Carthage must be
destroyed). He brought up this slogan in every speech or conversation he held in the
senate, no matter what the subject was about. By bringing up his slogan, he wanted to let
people in the senate be informed his disapproval of Carthage and wanted it to be
destroyed. After destroying Carthage, Cato created many works, including the first
complete Latin work in history. Cato was an intelligent man who made numerous
achievements in history.
In 204 B.C., before Cato became a censor, he was in the army and he served
under the leadership of Scipio Africanus in Sicily and Africa. Cato started to hate Scipio
because Cato disliked the idea of Scipio's military and foreign militaristic strategies. He
started to become interested in military by fighting Hannibal at the Second Punic War. At
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the age of seventeen, while Hannibal was defeating Italy, Cato made his first campaign
and got his chest all covered in scars. In 207 B.C., Cato distinguished himself at the
battle of Metaurus and later in his life, he still bores the scars of the wounds he had
during the battle. In 191 B.C., Cato retired from the army and he decided to join in the
debates of the senate. Cato became a quaestor, aedile, praetor, and a consul. In 184 B.C.,
Cato was elected the censor of Rome. Cato was seriously devoted to his job which made
people dislike him and was a very strict man. A few of the laws Cato created were that:
people who used the pipes to illegally collect water from the public water supply, were
severed, private buildings that overlapped public lands were demolished, and the rich
people suffered enormous taxation and severe regulations were present to stop people
from buying luxuries Cato thought were too much. Cato wanted almost everything to be
perfect, but also wanted everyone, both lower and upper class to have equal rights.
"Carthago Delenda Est" (Goodrich 91) which means Carthage must be destroyed
was one of Cato's famous quotations. Cato hated Carthage so much that he brought this
slogan up in every speech or conversation he held in the senate. Cato's reason for hating
the Carthage was an act of jealousy. He hated them because he thought the Carthaginians
were more successful than the Romans. He wanted Carthage destroyed because he
thought that Carthage could rise in power and defeat the Roman Empire. "When he
[Cato] saw the fertility of the Carthaginian territory, ... and the strength, wealth and
population of the city, he became apprehensive that it might yet endanger the supremacy
of Rome" (Goodrich 91). Cato also said, " the liberty of Rome would never be secure
until Carthage was destroyed or taken by storm" (Little 434). There is a tale about how
Cato dropped a Libyan fig on the floor of the senate and one of the senators picked it up
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and glorified its size. Cato did this to warn people that their land was only three days
away and it was a reminder to the senate that the threat to Rome was closer than it
appeared. While Cato talked in the senate, he said, according to Plutarch, '"to drop some
Libyan figs in the senates he shook out the folds in his toga, and, as the senators admired
their size and beauty, said that the country where they grew was only three days’ sail
from Rome'" (Armstrong 68). He also thought that Carthage could rise in power and
defeat the Roman Empire. He knew for sure that he had to do something about Carthage.
In 150 B.C., the Third Punic War started which lasted for three years. Cato
destroyed Carthage and he also helped start the Third Punic War. The destruction of
Carthage led to the Third Punic War. Plutarch says, "The reviving power and wealth of
Carthage, since the defeat of Hannibal, frightened him [Cato]..." (Plutarch 101). After
Cato annoyed the senate for war, the senate eventually voted for the war to start. While
Cato's ship sailed slowly along the fortified sea of Carthage, he stared long and hard at
the wealthy capital of Rome thinking about what could happen to Rome if Carthage rose
in power. The senate sent 80,000 infantry and 40,000 cavalry to Carthage to start
defeating the Carthaginian territory and their people. After the Carthaginians found out
that Rome was going to destroy their city, they tried to escape. The Carthaginians tried to
escape war by raiding the Punic Hinterland, then racing across the border for safety, but
they eventually started to become serious and started defending themselves. After three
years, Rome wins the war and Rome defeats Carthage and takes their land.
Unfortunately, Cato dies before the war starts.
Cato was a man not only known for his act of bigotry, but also known for the way
he lived throughout his whole life. When Cato was consul he was most famous for the
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way he lived. Plutarch says, "When he was consul, he drank the same wine as his
workmen; nor did he ever plaster any of his farmhouses" (Plutarch 97). Cato did not want
to be like the famous people who always wanted to be the center of attention, he wanted
to be the man who was a companion to all. After Cato retired from the politics, he could
not stop working. He created the first Roman Encyclopedia, produced a work on
medicine, wrote a history of Rome, and he also wrote a book on farming which is the
oldest complete Latin work in History. Even though Cato was a wealthy, famous man, he
tried not to stand out of the crowd, but he wanted to be one of the common people.
Cato the Elder, was a memorable man. Without Cato, the Third Punic War and
the destruction of Carthage would have not existed. The common people of Rome created
a statue in his honor, and the inscription on it was not because of his military triumphs,
"simply to the fact that this was Cato the Censor, who, by his discipline and temperance
kept the Roman state from sinking into vice" (Plutarch 100). Cato was an intelligent man
who didn't slack off at his job, but took it very seriously which helped Rome. Cato's
quote, "Carthago Delenda Est" was a famous quote, until now. Cato's hatred and fear for
Carthage was a legend. He was a man who started as a farmer, but he never gave up and
eventually became famous by destroying Carthage. Cato was most famous for the way he
lived because he never tried to act better than anyone, but he acted like the common
people. Before Cato died, he quoted from the Odyssey, “Only he has wits, but the rest are
fluttering shadows” (Armstrong 138). Although Cato was a strict man, Cato was known
as a great politician in the Roman senate, a great speaker, and last but not least, a great
censor.
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Works Cited
Armstrong, Donald. The Reluctant Warriors. New York: Crowell, 1966. Print.
Bonner, Stanley Frederick. Education in Ancient Rome: from the Elder Cato to the
Younger Pliny. Berkeley: University of California, 1977. Print.
Goodrich, Samuel G. A Pictorial History of Ancient Rome: with Sketches of the History
of Modern Italy. Whitefish, MT: Kessinger Pub., 2009. Print.
Litlle, Charles E. "The Classical Journal." The Authencity and Form of Cato's Saying
"Carthago Delenda Est" 29.6 (1934): 429-35. Web.
Miles, Eustace H. A History of Rome up to 500 A.D. With Essays, Maps and Aids to
Memory. New York: E.P. Dutton, 1901. Print.
Plutarch, and Charles Alexander Robinson. Ten Famous Lives. New York: Dutton, 1962.
Print.