Page "Cato the Younger" Paragraph 32

Starting with Pliny the Elder, later writers sometimes refer to Cato the Younger as " Cato Uticensis " (" the Utican ").

In doing so they apply to him a type of cognomen that was normally awarded to generals who earned a triumph in a foreign war and brought a large territory under Roman influence ( e. g. Scipio Africanus ).

Such names were honorific titles that the Senate only granted for the most spectacular victories.

Reference to Cato as " Uticensis " is presumably meant to glorify him by portraying his suicide at Utica as a great victory over Caesar's tyranny.