Page "Cato the Elder" Paragraph 9

When Cato was a very young man, the death of his father put him in possession of a small hereditary property in the Sabine territory, at a distance from his native town.

It was here that he passed the greater part of his childhood, hardening his body by healthful exercise, overseeing and sharing the operations of the farm, learning the way in which business was conducted, and studying the rules of rural economy.

Near his lands was a modest hut which had been inhabited, after three triumphs, by its owner Manius Curius Dentatus, whose military feats and rigidly simple character were fresh in the memory of the old, and were often talked of with admiration in the neighborhood.

The memory of this hero inspired Cato, who decided to imitate the character, and hoped to match the glory of Dentatus.

Soon an opportunity came for a military campaign in 217 BC, during the Second Punic War against Hannibal Barca.

There is some discrepancy among experts as to the events of Cato's early military life.

In 214 BC he served at Capua, and the historian Wilhelm Drumann imagines that already, at the age of 20, he was a military tribune.

Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus had the command in Campania, during the year of his fourth consulship, and admitted the young soldier to the honour of intimate friendship.

While Fabius communicated the valued results of military experience, he opted not to inculcate his own personal and political partialities and dislikes into the ear of his attached follower.

At the siege of Tarentum, 209 BC, Cato was again at the side of Fabius.

Two years later, Cato was one of the select group who went with the consul Claudius Nero on his northern march from Lucania to check the progress of Hasdrubal Barca.

It is recorded that the services of Cato contributed to the decisive victory of Sena on the Metaurus, where Hasdrubal was slain.

He later gave several vehement speeches which may have contributed to the destruction of Carthage in the Third Punic War.

His personal motto became " Carthago delenda est ", or " Carthage Must be Destroyed ".

A longer version is: " Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam " (" Furthermore I think Carthage must be destroyed ").