Marcus porcius cato biography of williams

Suerbaum, Werner, ed. Handbuch der lateinischen Literatur der Antike. Handbuch der Altertumswissenschaft 8. Munich: C. It includes an impressive presentation of various aspects of early Latin literature, with accurate bibliography including reception and testimonia. See also reviews for a better understanding of the issues relating to the beginnings of Latin literature: Ingo Gildenhard, Bryn Mawr Classical Review Zorzetti, Nevio.

The carmina convivalia. In Sympotica: A symposium on the symposion. Edited by O. Murray, — Oxford: Clarendon. Together with Zorzetti , this article has had an enormous impact on the resurrection of Cato as a pivotal cultural figure. Poetry and ancient city: The case of Rome. Classical Journal — This article complements Zorzetti , and it is crucial for understanding the current scholarly debate over preliterary and early literary practices in Rome.

Available online for purchase or by subscription. Users without a subscription are not able to see the full content on this page. Please subscribe or login. Oxford Bibliographies Online is available by subscription and perpetual access to institutions. Cato's political strategy pushed Caesar into a position where the only way out of political extinction would be civil war.

When Caesar chose civil war, Cato's demeanour shifted and he quickly started to push for a negotiated settlement. When Caesar offered peace terms on 23 January that he would be willing to lay down his command and stand for a consulship in person in return for amnesty and Pompey's departure to Spain, Cicero relates that Cato strongly supported the plan and forced himself into the war council at which the proposal was discussed.

Pompey assigned Cato to Sicily to raise men and supplies. Pompey may have wanted to keep Cato and his gloomy attitude on the civil war away from the actual fighting. After retreating, Cato fled to join Pompey at Dyrrhachium. Cato was not present at the Battle of Pharsalus. He had opposed the proposals that Pompey should chase Caesar down after his withdrawal from Dyrrhachium.

Cato was given command of the city of Utica after convincing Metellus Scipio to spare the town's inhabitants when they attempted to defect to Caesar. He successfully expanded the city's defences, raised troops, and stockpiled supplies while waiting for Caesar's eventual arrival. During his time in Africa, however, Cato became convinced that victory for his own cause under Metellus Scipio would be accompanied by appalling reprisals.

When Cato pushed for a strategy of attrition against Caesar, Metellus Scipio accused Cato of cowardice for being unwilling to risk battle.

Marcus porcius cato biography of williams

Cato, garrisoning Utica, received news of the defeat three days later, which drove the city into a panic. After righting the city's financial accounts and disbursing the remaining monies to the city's inhabitants, Cato discussed with his friends at dinner the Stoic belief that a truly free man would never become a slave. Dismissing them, he asked for a report on the ships fleeing the city.

Satisfied that all was well, he stabbed himself in the abdomen. Cato drew his sword from its sheath and stabbed himself below the breast. His thrust, however, was somewhat feeble His servants heard the noise and cried out, and his son at once ran in, together with his friends Accordingly, when Cato recovered and became aware of this, he pushed the physician away, tore his bowels with his hands, rent the wound still more, and so died.

Caesar is said to have responded to his death by lamenting that Cato's death meant Caesar could not pardon him. Cato's death triggered a series of eulogies, of which both Cicero and Brutus were authors, starting to identify Cato as a great Stoic philosopher. The traditional political culture of the middle republic was one built around aristocratic compromise, political debate, and reform.

Many scholars believe that Cato's political strategy before 49 BC contributed significantly in starting the civil war that was the proximate cause of the collapse of the Roman republic, even if he did not intend for conflict. During most of his political career, he consistently obstructed powerful military figures to the fullest extent possible.

Up to the last, when Pompey was close to accepting an offer where Caesar would give up all his legions except one and provinces except Illyricum, Cato played on Pompey's paranoia by painting Pompey as a Caesarian mark. Posthumously, Cato's opposition to Caesar was cast in predominantly ideological terms, with Cato serving as a heroic symbol of republican values amid its collapse.

Cato's commitment to liberty and resistance to tyranny inspired Cato's Letters , a series of 18th-century political essays by John Trenchard and Thomas Gordon , which played a significant role in shaping Enlightenment political thought and the principles underlying the American Revolution. Some scholars point to how Cato acted in ways profoundly inconsistent with Stoic tenets: his anger at the breaking of his betrothal to Aemilia Lepida, breakdown over the death of his half-brother Caepio, his visible despair at the sight of casualties from the civil wars, etc.

Cicero lampooned it in Pro Murena , and also mentioned it in letters and contemporaneous philosophical texts. Modern scholars such as Kit Morell note that "the 'Stoic martyr' tradition [ definition needed ] has distorted or distracted from the historical Cato". Contents move to sidebar hide. Article Talk. Read Edit View history. Tools Tools.

Download as PDF Printable version. In other projects. Wikimedia Commons Wikiquote Wikisource Wikidata item. Roman politician, general, writer, and Stoic 95—46 BC. For other individuals, see Marcus Porcius Cato. Inscribed bronze bust from Volubilis. Roman Republic. Utica , Africa , Roman Republic. Atilia Marcia. Marcus Porcius Cato Porcia. Marcus Porcius Cato father Livia mother.

Brutus nephew Servilia half-sister. Early life [ edit ]. Political development [ edit ]. Embodying the mos maiorum [ edit ]. Marriages and alliances [ edit ]. Military service [ edit ]. Entry to politics [ edit ]. Quaestorship 64 BC [ edit ]. Tribunate 62 BC [ edit ]. Catilinarian conspiracy [ edit ]. As tribune [ edit ]. Senatorial leadership [ edit ].

Before the civil war [ edit ]. Caesar's consulship 59 BC [ edit ]. Cyprus 58 BC [ edit ]. Return from Cyprus [ edit ]. Praetorship 54 BC [ edit ]. Chaos [ edit ]. Pompey's sole consulship 52 BC [ edit ]. Caesar's civil war [ edit ]. Further information: Caesar's Civil War. Flight from Italy [ edit ]. Greece and Africa [ edit ]. Final campaign and death [ edit ].

Legacy and reception [ edit ]. Main article: Legacy of Cato the Younger. Political legacy [ edit ]. As a stoic [ edit ]. Family [ edit ]. Cato himself [ edit ]. Descent from Cato the Elder [ edit ]. Marcus Porcius Cato cos. BC Marcus Porcius Cato pl. As part of Brutus' family [ edit ]. This section does not cite any sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources.

Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. April Learn how and when to remove this message. See also [ edit ]. Notes [ edit ]. Nomenclature matters I eschew the traditional 'First Triumvirate' altogether". SPQR: a history of ancient Rome. Gang of Three. References [ edit ]. Citations [ edit ]. Cato the Elder was consul in BC. Broughton , p.

See also n. The specific Caepio was probably the legate killed fighting the Marsi and not the praetor killed in the war's inciting incident. Drogula , p. Re Poppaedius Silo: "Cato's uncle Livius was powerful and friendly to the Italians, so it is unthinkable that his Italian guest would offer any serious threat to his family". Brill's New Pauly.

ISBN Atilia may have been that Atilius' daughter. This may not have been entirely fair: "if he did not act like other Roman elites and telegraph his high status, how were provincials to recognise him as someone deserving of particular attention? See also Drogula , p. Pompey, Cato, and the governance of the Roman Empire. OCLC Plutarch or his source has shaped the story in line with Cato's later opposition to Pompey and the theme of Cato's virtue as a source of shame to others.

Drogula dismisses Plutarch's "fable" that he did not intend to stand for the tribunate after his quaestorship but was convinced otherwise after passing Quintus Caecilius Metellus Nepos on a road outside Rome. See also Sallust [1st century BC]. Loeb Classical Library. Translated by Rolfe, John C. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

Politics in the Roman republic. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Moreover, policies focused on the commoda populi were not the sole preserve of so-called populares. Cato vowed in public that Pompey would enter the city with armed troops only over his dead body". Crisis management during the Roman Republic. Cambridge University Press.

Both the validity of Caesar's ignoring of the omen declarations and Bibulus' further issuance of them in absentia are legally dubious: Bibulus would have argued Caesar's votes were invalid because they were contra auspicia but Caesar would have argued that Bibulus' declarations were themselves invalid for not having been brought in person. ISSN JSTOR However, dismissing the theory that Cato sacrificed Cicero for Cyprus.

Drogula also adds that Cato would likely have wanted the appointment so to have propraetorian rank, including curule insignia, and that Cato might have accepted so to prevent other, less scrupulous, candidates from plundering the province. Brutus: the noble conspirator. New Haven: Yale University Press. LCCN Rather, Pompey was attempting to broaden his network of supporters".

Drogula dismisses the claim in Plut. It was consciously fostered by Curio for his purposes, by the Marcelli and the Catonians for theirs. The aim was not to generate civil war In this respect, Drogula's Cato is a traditional one". See also Morrell , n. S2CID There was never a 'plot' to put Caesar on trial. Morstein-Marx, Robert PhD diss.

Gelzer, M. Die Antike — Goodman, R. New York: Thomas Dunne Books. A biography of Cato that closely follows the account given by Plutarch. It looks at his political career and memory but does not engage with modern scholarship and debates, and it tends to view Cato through a modern lens. Marin, P. Blood in the Forum: The struggle for the Roman Republic.

London and New York: Continuum. A survey of political events in the late Republic that highlights the role played by Cato as described by ancient sources. Osgood, J. An excellent dual biography of Cato and Julius Caesar that highlights their different perspectives of Republican values and how the Republic should operate. Their political differences were infused with their personal enmity, which came to be shared by their respective supporters, effectively splitting the state into separate camps.

While both men held workable views for the Republic, their personal rivalry and hatred prevented either solution from prevailing and brought about the collapse of the Republic. Russo, P. Marcus Porcius Cato: A political reappraisal. It argues that he was not heavily influenced by Stoic philosophy. In Von Romulus zu Augustus. Edited by K.

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