Marcus Porcius Cato Uticensis was born in 95 BC to a father named Marcus Porcius Cato and a mother named Livia. He lost both parents before he turned four years old, which led him to live with his maternal uncle.
Cato prosecuted clerks involved in fraud and fired those who failed to meet standards while collecting state debts for prompt payment to creditors. He spent five talents to copy all treasury archives from Sulla's time to his own day and refused to rehire an acquitted clerk despite intervention from a censor.
Cato personally cataloged and solicited bids on all royal possessions upon arriving in Cyprus to recover wealth for the Roman treasury. Although his administration recovered less wealth than expected, Cicero praised Cato for accepting the appointment even though he rejected the annexation itself.
Cato committed suicide by stabbing himself in the abdomen because he believed victory under Scipio would be accompanied by appalling reprisals against the city's inhabitants. He first evacuated Roman citizens who wished to flee and righted the city's financial accounts before taking his own life.
Augustus appropriated Cato's life as a symbol of republican values, which later inspired Cato's Letters written by John Trenchard and Thomas Gordon in the 18th century. These essays played a significant role in shaping Enlightenment political thought and principles underlying the American Revolution.