Questions about Cato the Younger
Short answers, pulled from the story.
Who was Cato the Younger and why is he historically significant?
Cato the Younger, born Marcus Porcius Cato Uticensis in 95 BC, was a Roman senator and Stoic who served as quaestor, tribune, and praetor during the late Republic. He is historically significant as the leading conservative opponent of Julius Caesar and Pompey, whose uncompromising obstruction contributed to the formation of the First Triumvirate and, many scholars argue, to the outbreak of the civil war that ended the Roman Republic.
How did Cato the Younger die?
Cato the Younger died in April 46 BC in the city of Utica in North Africa after Caesar's victory at the Battle of Thapsus. He stabbed himself in the abdomen, and when a physician tried to treat the wound, Cato revived and tore the wound open with his hands, dying rather than accept a pardon from Caesar.
What was Cato the Younger's role in starting Caesar's civil war?
Many scholars believe Cato's strategy of sustained obstruction pushed Caesar, Pompey, and Crassus into the alliance known as the First Triumvirate. By branding Caesar a tyrant and refusing all compromise before January 49 BC, Cato and his allies convinced the senate to pass a senatus consultum ultimum against Caesar, which prompted Caesar to cross the Rubicon. Cato himself later admitted his hard-line policy had been an error.
What did Cato the Younger accomplish as urban quaestor?
As urban quaestor beginning on the 5th of December, 65 BC, Cato prosecuted and fired corrupt treasury clerks, collected long-standing state debts, and reformed archive procedures to reject fraudulent documents. He also spent five talents, about four percent of his inheritance, to make personal copies of all treasury records from the Sullan era to his own day. Plutarch credited him with raising the prestige of the quaestorship to the level of the consulship.
What was the grain dole law Cato the Younger passed as tribune?
During his tribunate in 62 BC, Cato passed a law expanding Rome's subsidised grain distribution that more than doubled the number of recipients. The bill placed a considerable burden on the Republic's finances and made Cato one of the most generous distributors of grain in the history of the program, demonstrating that grain legislation was not the exclusive preserve of populist politicians.
How did Cato the Younger's life influence later political thought?
Cato the Younger's resistance to tyranny inspired Cato's Letters, a series of political essays published in the 18th century by John Trenchard and Thomas Gordon. Those essays played a significant role in shaping Enlightenment political thought and the principles underlying the American Revolution. His life was also appropriated by Augustus as a symbol of republican values after the Republic's fall.