Marcus Porcius Cato (the Elder)

Reading notes

• On Duties §1.79 Marcus Cato called for the Third Punic War

  Cato the Elder, who is said to have ended every Senate speech with the demand that Carthage be destroyed (Carthago delenda est). His authority brought on the Third Punic War even after his death.

• On Duties §1.104 the collection made by the elder Cato

  Cato the Elder compiled a book of witty sayings the Greeks called apophthegmata, cited here as a model of refined humor. Cicero distinguishes such gentlemanly wit from coarse buffoonery.

• On Duties §2.89 old Cato

  Marcus Porcius Cato the Elder (the Censor, 234-149 BC), proverbial for shrewd thrift; Cicero quotes his ranking of pasturage over arable and his likening of usury to murder.

• Laelius, On Friendship §4 Cato the Elder

  Cicero's companion dialogue, the Cato Maior de Senectute, in which the aged Cato the Censor (234–149 BC) discourses on old age. Laelius is its pendant: a friend speaking on friendship as Cato spoke on age.

• Tusculan Disputations §3.51 Marcus Cato held one view and Lucius Lentulus another

  Marcus Porcius Cato the Elder (234-149 BC), who famously urged the destruction of Carthage, against the more cautious view of L. Cornelius Lentulus. Cicero notes that their disagreement over the Punic War bred no personal quarrel.

• Tusculan Disputations §3.70 Marcus Cato, whose son died after his designation as praetor

  Marcus Porcius Cato the Elder, whose son Marcus (the jurist) died as praetor-designate; Cato endured it with Stoic firmness. Cicero gathered such exempla in his own (lost) Consolation.