In times Punic Wars when the Romans got acquainted with the Greek culture, their way of life, morals, their concepts changed very much, and it could be feared that if a strong barrier to foreign influence was not opposed, then ancient customs and institutions would completely fall, simplicity, moderation, the ability to endure hardships, strict morality will disappear, being replaced by vicious pleasures that attract youth, which learns to them, learning the knowledge of civilized, but pampered foreigners, that Rome, the destroyer of Carthage, the conqueror of the Greek world, will become exhausted, being subjected to the same relaxing effect of pleasures, spoiled by the same vices that produced the moral and political decline of the Greeks. Therefore, it is natural that the conservative party came out against the adherents of Greek education, innovators, trying to preserve the ancient customs that glorified Rome, to block the fashionable, educated with his love for grace and pleasure from access to the promised land. This party, headed at first by the famous Marcus Porcius Cato the Elder, began to fight for the old national exclusivity against the new cosmopolitanism. Love for Greek education, art, literature, for the various pleasures of the graceful Greek way of life manifested itself initially in the circle of the highest aristocracy. Therefore, it is not surprising that the fight against Greek culture was raised by the Democratic Party. In her opposition to this closed circle of noble and powerful people, she began to defend the ancient Roman severity, simplicity, sharp national exclusivity, striving to eliminate all foreign influences, and especially Greek ones.
Head of the Roman patrician of Otricoli, often called the "portrait of Cato the Elder" (Rome, Torlonia Museum)
At the head of the aristocratic party were Scipions and Flaminins, people high education imbued with an enthusiastic love for the Greek civilization. The foremost fighter of the party of commoners was Marcus Porcius Cato (234-149), called, in contrast to his grandson Cato Uticus, Cato the Elder. He was a native of Tuscula, a man of low birth, who had risen to the rank of consul thanks partly to his own energy, partly to the assistance of his neighbor on the estate, an adherent of antiquity, an honest nobleman Lucius Valerius Flaccus and other influential aristocrats. Having accomplished many glorious deeds in Africa, Spain, Macedonia, Cato received a triumph, and finally, in spite of the resistance of the optimates, this "new", ignorant man was elected censor.
Marcus Porcius Cato the Elder was extremely active, had iron health and throughout his long life tirelessly fought against new concepts and, as it seemed to him, moral corruption connected with them. He attacked their adherents mercilessly as his personal enemies. As an 85-year-old man, Cato the Elder was still fighting in the popular assembly against new concepts. He spoke boldly, witty, knew the laws very well, was a brave warrior who knew how to command and obey, distinguished himself in any war, or commanding legions, or fighting with spear and sword in the ranks of ordinary warriors. A strict guardian of ancient Roman discipline, an implacable enemy of all who weakened it to gain the love of the people and soldiers, a just, active ruler of the provinces, a man of a simple lifestyle, Cato the Elder attacked extravagance, extortion, injustice, selfishness, greed optimates who ruled the provinces, and tax farmers.
He enjoyed great respect, strong influence, thanks in particular to the fact that all his life he was an exemplary Roman landowner and householder, excellent agriculture on his estate, kept all household in strict order. Marcus Porcius Cato made buildings cheap and well, successfully engaged in profitable commercial speculations, deftly took advantage of all sorts of opportunities to gain profit, lived sparingly and modestly, loved, according to the old Italian custom, to have fun with his clients, and in his way of life represented a sharp contrast to extravagance, splendor, the grace of the people who were the subject of his attacks.
At the same time, Cato the Elder was able to acquire such a versatile knowledge that he wrote excellent treatises on agriculture, on which the greatness of Rome was based, and on the history of the Italic peoples (Origines). In his wonderful "Guide" for his son, briefly, without unnecessary subtleties, clearly and at the same time thoughtfully, Cato outlined the rules that a "good man" (vir bonus) and the necessary " good man»Oratorical, medical, agricultural, military, legal information. Already an old man, Cato the Elder studied the Greek language in order to take weapons from the books of the Greeks themselves to fight against the fashionable trend and pass on to his compatriots on native language worldly wisdom of Greek thinkers.
Marcus Porcius Cato showed all his energy and moral rigor as a censor. He acted against the new trend so harshly that his censorship remained forever memorable, and the habit was formed to add the name Censorius - "Censor" to his name. His censorial severity was directed against the adherents of new concepts among the optimates, and especially against the Scipios.
Cato the Elder even after continued to show adamant severity regarding new concepts and their representatives. At his request, representatives of Greek philosophy, academician Carnead, Peripatetic Critolai and the Stoic Diogenes, who were sent by the Athenians to Rome to plead with the case of the city of Oropa belonging to Attica (155) and began to lecture on philosophy and oratory. The schools of oratory, founded in Rome by Greek teachers, were also closed. Cato armed himself against Greek medicine and Greek doctors, praised the ancient treatment of diseases with home remedies and sympathetic remedies, said that he and his wife owed their longevity and good health to this manner of treatment. Cato ardently demanded the eradication of foreign mystical cults in Italy with their voluptuous holidays, armed himself against debauchery brought into Italy from the East and from Greece, he wished that Gladiator fights and battles with animals, so that the love for old, folk entertainments, country farces in buffoonery attire and cheerful country dances would be renewed. Cato the Elder fought against the growing luxury, thought to curb it with taxes on its objects and prohibitions, and, when he was a censor, subjected some of the most important optimates to punishment for spoiling manners by their example.
"Cato the Elder" from Otricoli. Profile view
In particular, Marcus Porcius Cato attacked the name of the Scipions. He was the real instigator of the charge against Scipio Africanus the Elder and his brother Lucius for withholding government money. As a censor, Cato expelled Lucius Scipio from the equestrian class, and struck out from the list of senators Lucius Quinctius Flamininus, the brother of the liberator of Greece, accusing him that he, being consul, he personally killed a noble prisoner in the camp near Placencia, wishing to deliver one of his comrades debauchery, late to see a gladiatorial fight, a pleasure to watch a man die from a mortal wound. The winner of Hannibal, Scipio the Elder, was accused by Cato of concealing government funds. He excluded six more people from the number of senators. Manilia, the former praetor, Cato punished for the fact that he hugged his wife with an adult daughter.
The optimates, indignant at the audacity of Cato the Elder, restored the estate rights of the persons punished by him. The Senate declared unprofitable for the state and canceled the contracts concluded by Cato with contractors of state buildings and tax farmers; at the request of the optimists, the tribunes accused him before the people's assembly of abuse of censorship, and the people imposed two fines on him. But Marcus Porcius Cato the Elder remained formidable to the optimists: they were shy when a warrior covered with scars, a favorite of the villagers, raised in the Senate or in the forum a powerful voice against the apostates from antiquity, the perverters of the people: the commoners liked the rustic tone of his speeches.
Cato the Elder was not a shrewd statesman, and his character did not have a moral loftiness. He attacked the results of facts, not understanding their reasons, on trifles, on the actions of people he personally hated, he extolled the old days, boasted of his merits, indiscriminately amazed everything new. Cato did not have high moral aspirations, was often carried away by personal motives of enmity towards people whom he mercilessly persecuted, thinking only about insulting them as caustically as possible, and here he forgot all justice; He saw the only salvation for the state in the omnipotence of the Senate and strict police measures, without which, in his opinion, Rome would be brought to ruin by new customs and increasing disrespect comitium to the will of the Senate. But he delayed the corruption for several decades public life, relentlessly attacking the increasing luxury, extravagance, extortion, disregard for laws, defending old customs and legal order. No doubt, through his influence, the Senate ruled that eastern kings no entry to Rome. Cato found that these pampered rulers and their courtiers exert a harmful influence on the morals of citizens by their debauchery and extravagance.
Marcus Porcius Cato the Elder was a fighter for the interests of an honest and prosperous middle class against the arrogant aristocracy, tried in every possible way to increase the number of free farmers in Italy, fussed about the distribution of land to the villagers in the deserted areas, about the founding of agricultural colonies. He constantly thought about practical benefits and provided his long-term political activities great services to the state and society, so that the Romans of subsequent generations saw in him an exemplary statesman of old times.
Cato the Elder knew how to cheaply build structures necessary for the state, and he built them very well. He oversaw the construction of a colonnaded building in the Roman forum, which became the model for many other such buildings, called basilicas and serving as tribunal halls - the shape of the basilica was introduced into Roman architecture by Cato. He also took care of the construction of dams, bridges, canals, water pipes; he forbade the nobles to spend on the irrigation of their gardens the water brought to Rome for drinking by the population. Cato said: whoever steals from a private person, they put on chains, and whoever steals from the state, they put on purple.
But social and literary activity did not prevent Cato the Elder from carefully managing the household; it was even his main occupation. He believed that being a good householder was more important than being a famous senator. We have reached Cato's treatise "On agriculture", Introducing us to his home life and rural activities; the picture of life, represented by this work of Marcus Porcius Cato, characterizes the way of life of the entire class of Roman landowners of old times. Cato the Elder was a tough householder who kept his wife and children under strict control. He himself taught his son all the necessary, in his opinion, knowledge, not wanting his son to learn from slaves, from whom he could acquire bad habits. Cato taught his son to ride, swim, fight with a sword, taught him to endure the heat, cold, all kinds of hardships and labors; taught him reading, knowledge of laws; he wrote in order to give his son guidance that would give him the opportunity to walk on his father's path.
Cato the Elder speaks ill of women; severely condemns them for vanity, for panache. They are only necessary evil for him, necessary in order to have children. When choosing a wife, one should look, he says, not so much at money as at the fact that she should be from a good family. Marcus Porcius Cato observed the upbringing of children strictly, he was careful not to embarrass the child's innocence with indecency in deeds or words. He never hugged his wife in front of his daughter. Cato the Elder was severe towards his slaves. They did not dare to leave his house without asking them to talk to strangers about household chores; for their misdeeds he punished them himself with a whip. All luxury was banished from the house of Cato: he had neither carpets, nor elegant furniture, or dishes; food was simple and in moderation; the usual drink was water, into which vinegar was sometimes added for taste. But Cato was not averse to treating fellow neighbors; at these dinners he sat for a long time, there was wine on them, there was a cheerful conversation - he liked to joke here. WITH clients Cato the Elder behaved easily, in the old-fashioned way, like an older relative with younger ones. He loved that the villagers would gather in his Sabine estate and entertain themselves with games, cheerful conversation, in the chill in summer, by the fireplace in winter. When Marcus Porcius Cato married in his old age, he took himself a wife; daughter of one of his clients. He was arrogant and merciless in dealing with optimates, who despised him for the ignorance of the family; but he was friendly with the commoners, they always had access to him and went to him trustingly. With the right lifestyle and the ability to work tirelessly from morning to night, Cato the Elder, even with many political pursuits, found time to carefully manage his personal affairs, and he still had leisure time for friendly conversations and literary activities.
The main occupation of Mark Porcius Cato the Elder was agriculture, especially the cultivation of olive plantations, vineyards and sheep breeding. He proved at every opportunity that agriculture is the best thing to do. But he was a calculating man, therefore he did not lose sight of other profitable deeds. Cato was a participant in the companies of the capitalists who carried out sea trade, took over state taxes, took contracts for the army and navy. To reduce the risk, he was always a participant in several campaigns, so that the loss on any one case was not heavy for him, and the total profit from all cases was enormous. The Elder Cato bypassed the laws that prohibited senators from trading and participating in farms, substituting some Latina or a freed man in his documents instead.
He was especially eager to engage in the slave trade. Cato paid a good price for strong slaves fit for the field, and kept them like draft animals until they grew old and weak; then he sold them so as not to feed them. The Romans of ancient customs, like Marcus Porcius Cato, did not consider the captives sold into slavery as their fellow human beings, looked at them like draft animals, and treated them like that. So that the slaves could not come to an agreement and raise a riot, Cato the Elder quarreled them among themselves. He trained them like dogs or horses and allowed them to live in pairs with female slaves, finding that the cheapest way to increase their numbers. The cruelty that Cato often displayed proves that he was a stranger to humane education. For example, in Spain, he cold-bloodedly destroyed 400 villages and ordered the killing of 600 deserters given to him. The slave, who enjoyed the confidence of Cato, made a purchase without his permission, and when it was revealed, he was so horrified by the fate that his master would subject him to that he took his own life.
There is news that Cato the Elder had green (i.e. gray) eyes and red hair. The historian Druman describes his appearance as follows: he was ugly, but his appearance corresponded to his character. Cato the Elder was tall and well built; his figure showed that he worked hard and endured a lot of hardships. His gaze was terrible, his voice so loud that it could be heard far away even in the noise of the battle. Nature gave Marcus Portia Cato an iron health, and he tempered him with work and temperance. Having married a second time by an old man, he, like Masinisse, gave birth to a son.
In the struggle against the spirit of the times, Cato the Elder often fell into contradiction with himself. He drove the usurers out of Sardinia when he was the ruler of this province, and he himself took part in the profitable speculations of the usurers. Cato preached purity of morals, and he himself had a concubine and traded in the children of slaves, bought for dirty debauchery. He preached honesty, while he himself engaged in dishonest speculation. Therefore, the merit of Cato the Elder is that he pointed out the ulcers of society; but he did not heal them. Marcus Porcius Cato was only a torch that illuminated the abyss.
(-234 )2. Salonia
(from first marriage)
2. Marcus Porcius Cato Salonian
(from second marriage)
Returning to Rome, he began to take an active part in meetings of the Senate, in popular assemblies and in court cases. In the Senate, he declared himself particularly opposed to receiving different commanders(Minucius Ferme, Manius Acilius Glabrion, M. Fulvius Nobilior) of triumphs. In 184 BC. e. he received, along with the same Lucius Valerius Flaccus, censorship. In this position, he marked himself with extraordinary severity: he expelled seven senators from the senate and, among them, the former praetor Manilius, only because that day and in the presence of his daughter he kissed his wife; struck out several persons from the list of horsemen on unimportant pretexts (one for completeness, the other for a joke during a censorship); especially, he advocated against luxury, taxing women's jewelry and young slaves with a high tax, and everywhere rebelling against the violation of public interests in favor of private interests (for example, against the seizure of public land during buildings and against the abuse of public water supply systems).
And subsequently he was an active defender of every measure directed against the corruption of morals, fighting with all his might against foreign (especially Greek) influence. When in 155 BC. e. the Athenian embassy arrived in Rome with the philosopher Carneades at its head and its effect on the Roman youth became noticeable, Cato tried in every possible way to get the guests home as soon as possible.
His struggle against Greek education was unsuccessful; but irreconcilable hostility to Carthage, the destruction of which he stubbornly did not cease to demand until the end of his life (his usual saying in the Senate is known: "Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam" ("Carthage must be destroyed")), bore fruit, although Cato himself did not was destined to live to see the fulfillment of his desire. The harshness of his character and strictness towards people made him many enemies: therefore, as Pliny the Elder testifies, he was called to trial 44 times, but was never convicted. Plutarch ascribes to him the statement at the last justification that "It is hard if life is lived with some people, but you have to justify yourself before others." Died 149 BC e.
Cultural heritage
In Roman literature, it is even more important than in public life. He can be called the founder of Roman prose literature, to which he gave examples both in eloquence and in history, and in various other forms, being undoubtedly the largest prose writer during the entire II century of Rome, with the beginning of which Roman literature in general arose.
The speeches and historical writing entitled "Origines" were the most prominent products of Cato's literary activity; but, according to Cicero (De orat., III, 33), there was nothing "which would not have investigated and knew and what Cato would not write about afterwards." He compiled a kind of encyclopedia on various sciences, in the form of instructions intended for his son Mark (Praecepta ad filium). This encyclopedia contained articles on agriculture, medicine, military affairs and on all subjects, the knowledge of which was useful to a good citizen. None of this collection has survived to us, just as the letters of Cato, the collection of sayings of famous people and the poem quoted by Gellius and bearing the title "Carmen de moribus" have not survived.
The popularity and moral authority of Cato continued into the Middle Ages, so that he was credited with the authorship of the very common in Europe and often quoted Couplets.
Speeches
Eloquence was intimately connected with political and civil life in general in Rome and therefore existed in Rome from the earliest times of the state; but only with Cato does it become an art for which the right preparation is required. Despite his dislike of the Greeks, Cato studied the theory of eloquence from their books and composed the first Roman rhetoric. Both with this manual, and especially with his speeches, where the theory of oratory was applied to the case, Cato discovered a tremendous influence on the eloquence of his time, as well as on subsequent orators. After him, many speeches remained, spoken in the Senate, in popular assemblies and in courts. At the time of Cicero, more than 150 of them were addressed in the public, and the famous orator, who studied them carefully, says (Brut., 17) that they contain all the virtues that are required of an orator. If these speeches were no longer read in the classical age of eloquence, it was only because their outdated language interfered with it. Cicero compares Cato as an orator with the Greek orator Lysis, finding between them a special similarity in sharpness, grace and brevity. By the strength and causticity that sometimes manifested itself in the speeches of Cato, Plutarch (Cat., 4) compares this patriarch of Roman eloquence even with Demosthenes. An example of this strength and causticity can be cited a passage preserved by Gellius, where, attacking the commanders who appropriated public money, Cato says: "Thieves who rob private persons spend their lives in prison and chains, and public thieves in gold and purple."
Excerpts from his speech in defense of the Rhodians, to whom the greedy senators wanted to declare war on an empty pretext, while sound political considerations demanded the maintenance of peaceful relations with a rich island friendly to Rome, can be indicated as an example of the skillful construction of Cato's speeches. These excerpts are given in translation in "Lectures on the History of Roman Literature" by V. I. Modestov (pp. 144-145, published in 1888). In general, Cato's speeches have not reached us, and the passages preserved in the form of quotations from ancient writers refer to approximately 93 speeches and are collected by Meyer, in his "Oratorum Romanorum fragmenta" (Zurich, 1872, 2nd ed.).
"Beginnings"
Cato also laid the foundation for Roman historiography. The Roman historians who preceded him wrote in Greek. Published by Cato in seven books, the work "Origines" (Beginnings) is not only the first historical work in Latin, but also extremely important for acquaintance with Roman and ancient Italian history in general. It was written from sources that were then little used by Roman annalists and historians. Here the ancient fasts, local chronicles of various Italian cities were taken into account; it was generally a story as documentary as possible, and Roman writers from Cornelius Nepotus to Servius unanimously speak of the extraordinary thoroughness of its author in the collection of materials. It was written by Cato in his old age. Chronologically, it embraced six centuries (until 603 from the founding of Rome), and its name, "Beginnings", got its name from the fact that two books (the second and the third) in it were devoted to the origin of different cities in Italy. So, by at least, explains this name Cornelius Nepos (Cat., 3). These two books, as well as the first, which dealt with Rome during the Tsarist period, were without doubt the most valuable to Roman historians. From the Beginnings, only excerpts have come down to us, which are best published by Germ. Peter in his Historicorum Romanorum reliquiae (Lpts., 1870).
"About agriculture"
It came down to us - although, as everything makes us think, is far from in its original form - only the essay "On Agriculture" ( De agri cultura). This essay presents the first attempts in Roman historiography's own to systematize the rules governing agricultural work, gardening, horticulture, cattle breeding, winemaking, etc., and it also provides practical instructions, including medical recipes and words for conspiracies. He fully understands the phenomenon of a commodity slave villa.
Cato was the first in Rome to develop regulations for the work of slaves in a commodity villa, which has its own full provision of all agricultural products and grows a monoculture for sale, for the exchange of handicraft goods with the city. In his work "On Agriculture" Cato describes the functioning of a slave-owning commercial olive-growing villa.
De agri cultura, called by some as De re rustica, is usually published in agricultural Roman writers (Scriptores rei rusticae) and is best published by Keil, together with Varro's on the same subject in 1884 (Leipzig). In Russian there is a special work by Zedergolm: "On the life and works of Cato the Elder" (Moscow, 1857).
Editions and translations
- Fragments of speeches Mark Portia Cato... / Per. N.N. Trukhina. // Trukhina N. N. Politics and politics of the "Golden Age" of the Roman Republic (II century BC). Resp. ed. I. L. Mayak. M .: Publishing house of Moscow State University. 1986.184 pp. 172-182.
"Agriculture":
- Mark Porcius Cato... Agriculture. / Per. and comm. M. E. Sergeenko with the participation of S. I. Protasova. (Series "Literary Monuments"). Resp. ed. I. I. Tolstoy. M.-L .: Publishing house of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR,. 220 pages 4000 copies
- reprints: M .: Ladomir, 1998; SPb .: Nauka, 2008.
- The treatise "On Agriculture" was published in the "Loeb Classical Library" series under No. 283.
- In the Collection Budé series: Caton... De l'agriculture. Texte établi, commenté et traduit par R. Goujard. 2e tirage 2002. LVI, 364 p.
"Beginnings":
- Peter H. Historicorum Romanorum reliquiae. Vol. I. Leipzig, 1906. P. 55-97.
- In the Collection Budé series: Caton... Les Origines. Fragments. Texte établi, traduit et commenté par M. Chassignet. 2e tirage 2002. LXVII, 179 p. ISBN 978-2-251-01332-9
Research
- Seedergolm K. On the life and writings of Cato the Elder. M., 1857.103 p.
- Kuzishchin V.I. The Iskhomakh household and the Cato estate. M., 1998.
- Albrecht M. von. History of Roman Literature. / Per. with him. T. 1.M., 2003.S. 435-451.
- O. V. Sidorovich Annalists and Antiquaries. M .: RGGU. 2005.S. 116-120.
- Kvashnin V.A. 2002: State activities of Mark Portia Cato the Elder: Ed. diss ... Ph.D. M.
Literature
Links
| Mark Porcius Cato the Elder in Wikiquote | |
| Mark Porcius Cato the Elder at Wikimedia Commons |
| Censors of the Roman Republic | |
|---|---|
| 5th century BC e. | : Lucius Papirius Mugillan and Lucius Sempronius Atratinus -: Guy Furies Pacilius Foos and Mark Geganius Macerinus -: Lucius Papirius and Publius Pinarius (???) -: Manius Emilius Mamercinus (?) And Lucius Papirius Mugillan -: Mark Fury Camille and Mark Postumius Albin Reguillene |
To his soldiers, who had already made a lot of money during the campaign, he gave in addition a pound of silver, saying that it would be better for many Romans to bring silver home than a few - gold, but he himself, according to him, did not get anything from the booty, not counting only drunk and eaten. "I do not condemn," notes Cato, "those who try to turn war into a means of gain, but prefer to compete with the valiant in virtue than with the rich in riches or with the selfish in greed." However, not only his own hands, but also the hands of people close to him, he kept clean from robbery. On the campaign, there were five slaves with him. One of them, named Pakkiy, bought three captive boys. Cato found out about this, and Pacci, afraid to appear in his eyes, hanged himself, and Cato sold the boys and contributed money to the treasury.
But the people, apparently, were pleased with Cato's censorship, showing amazing unanimity in this. Having erected a statue to him in the temple of the goddess of Health, the Romans did not mention either his campaigns or triumph, but this is what they made an inscription (I quote it in translation): led the already declining Roman state on the right path ”. However, before he himself always scoffed at lovers of images: those, he said, who boast of the creations of coppersmiths and painters, do not notice that the most beautiful images of Cato are carried by citizens everywhere in their souls. When others were amazed that statues were erected to many - unworthy of this honor, but to him - no, he replied: “I prefer the question“ Why are your statues nowhere to be found? ” rather than "Why are they standing?" In general, he believed that the duty of a good citizen is to suppress praise to his address - unless these praises serve the public good. At the same time, there is hardly a man who would praise himself more often: he was also proud of the fact that people who committed some offense, and then convicted of it, say to their accusers: "You shouldn't reproach us in vain - we are not Cato"; and what others, unsuccessfully trying to imitate his actions, are called "unsuccessful Cato"; and the fact that at a terrible hour all eyes in the Senate always turn to him, as if on a ship - to the helmsman, and often, if he was not in the curia, especially important questions were postponed. His own words are confirmed by other people's testimonies: thanks to his impeccable life, old age and eloquence, he enjoyed tremendous influence in Rome.
In the war, both were invincible, but in the field of state affairs, Aristides was defeated and ostracized by the supporters of Themistocles; Cato, with whom almost all the most powerful and noble people of Rome were at odds, fought like an athlete to a ripe old age and was never knocked down. Repeatedly participating in trials, either as an accuser or as an accused, he brought many of his opponents to punishment, he himself was never subjected to him, and the power of speech served as an effective weapon of defense and attack, which, with more right than happy the fate or the guardian genius of this person can be attributed to the fact that in his entire life he has not endured anything contrary to his dignity. This remarkable property was inherent in the philosopher Aristotle, who, according to Antipater, who wrote about him after his death, among other virtues, also possessed the gift of persuasion.
From these words it is clear that people who neglect their home seek a livelihood in injustice. One should not compare justice with oil, which, as an external remedy, is very beneficial, according to doctors, acts on the body, and when used internally causes it irreparable harm, and it is not true that a just person benefits others, but does not care about himself and his own people at all. affairs; it is more accurate to think that the state mind simply changed Aristide here, if, as most writers claim, he left no money either for his own burial or for a dowry for his daughters. That is why the house of Cato, up to the fourth tribe, gave Rome praetors and consuls (his grandchildren and even their sons held the highest public offices), while the descendants of Aristides, who was once the first man in Greece, were forced to take up charlatan tablets or reach out for public assistance and did not allow any of them to even think about anything great and worthy of their ancestor.
However, would this not be objectionable? After all, poverty is by no means shameful in itself, but only as a consequence of carelessness, intemperance, wastefulness, unreasonableness; in a person who is reasonable, hardworking, just, courageous, who has dedicated all his good qualities to his native city, it serves as a sign of the greatness of spirit and greatness of mind. It is impossible to do great things, worrying about little, nor to help many in need, if you yourself need many things. It is not wealth that leads most reliably to state activity, but contentment with what you have: those who do not feel the need for anything superfluous in their private life devote themselves entirely to public affairs. Only God knows no needs, and therefore among human virtues there are no more perfect and divine ones than those that, perhaps, limit our desires. Just as a naturally healthy body does not need extra dress or extra food, so a healthy life and house are managed with the means available. It is only necessary that the state be proportionate to the needs, because if a person collects a lot and uses a little, this is not contentment with what you have: such a person or a fool - if he acquires things that are not capable of giving him joy, or a miserable sufferer - if by pettiness prevents himself from enjoying them. I would willingly ask Cato himself: “If it is not shameful to enjoy wealth, why do you boast that, owning much, you are content with a modest share of your property? If it is wonderful (and this is really wonderful!) To eat the bread that you have to, drink the same wine that our workers and servants drink, and look indifferently at the purple robes and bleached houses - then Aristides and Epaminondas were right in everything. Manius Curius, Guy Fabrice, refusing to own property, which they did not want to use. " Really, a person who considers turnips to be the most delicious dish and cooks it with his own hands, while his wife kneads the dough, would not make such a fuss over one ass and teach how you can most likely get rich. The great advantage of simplicity and contentment with what you have is precisely that they relieve both the passion for everything superfluous and in general from caring for it. It was not for nothing that Aristide, speaking as a witness in the Kallias case, said that poverty should be ashamed of those who are not poor of their own free will, but willing poor people like himself - to impute it to themselves as praise. It would be ridiculous to say that Aristide's poverty is a product of his own carelessness: after all, he had every opportunity to get rich without doing anything shameful - he had only to take off the armor from some killed Persian or take at least one tent. However, enough about that.
Military operations under the command of Cato did not add anything great to the already great conquests; on the contrary, among the military works of Aristides are listed the most glorious, brilliant and important in Greek history - Marathon, Salamis and Plataea. Antiochus deserves as little comparison with Xerxes as the ruined walls of Spanish cities with the many tens of thousands of Persians who fell on land and at sea. In these battles, Aristides overshadowed anyone with exploits, but fame and wreaths, as well as money and any other wealth, invariably left to those who more eagerly sought them, because he himself stood above all this. I do not blame Cato for the fact that he constantly exalts and puts himself first (although in one of his speech he said that it is equally absurd to exalt and reproach himself), but it seems to me that the one who is not he even needs other people's praise, rather than the one who now and then indulges in praise to himself. Modesty of more than many other things contributes to meekness and gentleness in matters of government, ambition, which was not at all familiar to Aristides, but completely subjugated Cato, is an inexhaustible source of ill will and envy. Aristides, supporting Themistocles in his most important endeavors and even protecting him to some extent, like a bodyguard, saved Athens, while Cato, opposing Scipio, almost upset and ruined his campaign against Carthage, and it was in this campaign that he was the invincible Hannibal is overthrown; and until then he did not stop sowing suspicion and slander, until he expelled Scipio from Rome, and his brother did not stigmatize a thief convicted of embezzlement.
And that restraint, which Cato adorned with the highest and most beautiful praises, was kept truly pure and spotless by Aristides, and Cato brought upon her considerable and heavy reproaches by his marriage, which was repugnant to both his dignity and his age. It was by no means to the honor of the old man, who lived to such years, to marry again the daughter of a man who once served with him, receiving a salary from the state, and to give her as a stepmother to his already grown-up son and his young wife; he did this either by giving in to the need for pleasure, or by being angry with his son because of his beloved and wanting to take revenge on him - be that as it may, but the act itself and the reason for it are shameful. The mocking explanation he gave to his son was not sincere. If he really wanted to give birth to good sons, similar to the eldest, it was necessary to think about it from the very beginning and marry a woman of a good kind, and not just sleep with a concubine while it remained a secret, and then, when everything it was revealed that not to take in the father-in-law a person whom it cost nothing to persuade and the property with whom obviously could not bring any honor.
NOTES
Marcus Porcius Cato the Elder (234-149 BC) - Roman politician and writer. In 195 BC. e. was elected consul, in 184 BC. e. - a censor. Cato fulfilled this position so brightly that for all times he became the symbol of the censor; he was a model of the old school Roman and demanded that everyone meet this standard. Cato fought against the unworthy behavior of the Romans and luxury, many senators received censures from him for omissions in agriculture. Cato was a consistent opponent of Carthage, the last years of his life he ended all his speeches in the Senate with the words "In addition, I believe that Carthage must be destroyed."
Cato is credited with creating the Latin literary language. He was the first of the Romans to write down his speeches, he owns several works, the most important of which have not come down to us "Beginnings" - a review of Roman history and the surviving treatise "On Agriculture", where he talks about the basics of farming and gives a lot valuable advice the owner of the villa.
Sometimes it is profitable to seek profit by trade, if it were not so dangerous, as well as a loan at interest, if it was a decent business. Our ancestors believed, as they decreed in the laws, that twice as much is recovered from the thief, and four times from the usurer. From this we can conclude how much worse a citizen they considered a usurer than a thief. And when they praised the "good man", they praised him as a good farmer and a good peasant. Whoever was praised in this way was considered worthy of the highest praise. I consider a merchant a person active and persistent in seeking profit, but, as I said, in his business, subject to danger and risk. On the contrary, the bravest men and the most enterprising warriors emerge from the farmers, and agriculture is the most pious and stable occupation, while the people who indulge in it are least likely to have a bad way of thinking ...
1. (1) When you think about buying an estate, keep in mind this: do not rush to buy, do not spare your labor for inspection, and do not think that it is enough to go around it once. You will like a good property more and more every time you go there. (2.) Pay attention to the appearance of the neighbors: in good surroundings it is imperative for them to have a good appearance. When you get in, look around to know how to get out. Look for a place with good weather, so that without storms, with good land, so that it is strong in its own strength; (3) Buy an estate, if possible, at the foot of a mountain facing south, in a healthy area with many workers, good water, a rich city nearby, a sea or river with ships, or a good busy road. (4) Let it be in a district where the owners do not change often, and those who sold their estates in their district regret having sold them. Let it be well arranged. Look, do not neglect other people's orders in vain. (5) Better to buy from a good landlord and good builder. When you come to the estate, see if there are many presses and dales 105; where there are few of them, know that the harvest is in line. You don't need big equipment, you need a good place. Make sure that there is less equipment and that you do not spend it on the estate. (6) Know that with the land, as with a person: no matter how much he makes, if he lives a lot, then he will have a little. (7) If you ask me which estate is the best, I will say this: a hundred yugers with all sorts of land in the best place: first, a vineyard and if the wine is good and there is a lot of it; secondly, an irrigated garden; thirdly, willow; fourth, the olive garden; fifth, meadow; sixth, the grain field; seventh, the forest where leaves are cut to feed livestock; eighth, a vineyard where vines wind through the trees; ninth, a forest of acorns 106.
2. (1) The owner, having come to the estate and having prayed to the household Lara 107, will go around the estate, if possible, on the same day, and if not on the same day, then the next. When he finds out how the estate has been processed, what work has been done and which has not been done, then the next day he will call Vilik 108 and ask what work has been done, what remains, whether the work has been completed in time, can he complete the rest, how much wine has been received , bread and everything else. (2) When he knows this, one should enter into the calculation of 109 lessons and days. If he does not see work, and Vilik says that he tried with might and main, and the slaves were ill, the weather was bad, the slaves ran away, they performed 110 duties, then when he expressed these reasons and many others, return Vilik to the calculation of works and lessons. (3) If it was rainy weather, then here are the works that can be done in a downpour: wash the dolly and salute them, clean up the estate, carry bread, take manure outside, lay a dung heap, clean grain, mend ropes, weave new ones, slaves should have done mending blankets and raincoats. (4) On holidays, they could clean old ditches, fix a public road, cut out thorny bushes, dig up a vegetable garden, clear a meadow, knit brooms, weed out thorny grass, push out two-grain 111, clean up. If the slaves were sick, they should not have been given so much food.
(5) When this is recognized in complete tranquility, care must be taken to complete the work that remains; to count money, bread; what is prepared for feed, wine, oil; what he sold, what is recovered, what remains, what is for sale. What can be entered into the parish, so be entered. (6) Make it clear what is left: what is not enough for a year, then buy; what is surplus, then sell ... (7) He will examine the cattle; arrange a sale: sell oil, if it is in the price; will sell wine, surplus bread, old oxen, spoiled cattle, spoiled sheep, wool, skins, an old cart, scrap iron, an old slave, a sickly slave, and if there is anything extra, he will sell it. Let the owner be quick to sell, not buy.
3. (1) In his early youth, the owner should zealously plant the estate. You should think about building for a long time; over planting should not think, but should act. When your age reaches 36 years 112, then you should build, if your estate is planted ... profit and honor and glory.
4. ... The master's half is within your means. If you build well on a good estate, build a house well, if you live well in the village, then you will come more willingly and more often: the estate will get better, there will be fewer problems, you will get more income. "The forehead is better than the back of the head" 113. Be a kind neighbor; do not let the slaves disgrace. If your neighbors see you with pleasure, you will sell yours easier, it will be easier to hand over contracts, and it will be easier to hire workers. You will be built, they will help you with work, transportation, material. If, in a good hour, to say, there is a need, they will benevolently protect you.
5. (1) These are the duties of the wilik: to maintain good order; observe the holidays; do not take someone else's hands; guard your own carefully; slaves do not [allow] to quarrel, if someone is guilty of what, punish well, depending on the offense.
(5) If he works, he will know what the slaves have in mind and they will work more calmly. If he does this, he will not want to wander around; he will be healthier and more willing to sleep. He will be the first to get out of bed and the last to go to bed; first, he will see if the manor is locked, whether everyone is sleeping in his place and whether the animals have been given food.
(6) Oxen must be searched with great care 117. Even condescend to the plowmen, so that they are more willing to inspect the oxen. Make sure you have good rails and plowshares ... (7) Sheep and oxen should be carefully littered and looked after their hooves. Beware of the scab on sheep and pack animals: it comes from hunger and rainy weather. Try to ensure that all the work is done on time: farming is such a thing, you will be late with one, you will be late with everything.
6. (1) In what places what to plant and sow, then here it should be noted as follows: where there is a good fat field without trees, then it should be a grain field. This same field, if there are fogs over it, should be mainly planted with turnips and radishes and sown with millet and mogar. Plant table olives on the oily hot ground ... (3) Plant elms and some poplars along the paths and borders, so that you have leaves for sheep and oxen. And drill material, if necessary, will be at the ready.
7. (1) A suburban estate is best suited to have a vineyard where vines wind through the trees: you can sell both firewood and brushwood, and the owner will have something to use.
23. (1) Make sure that everything that is needed is ready for the grape harvest: the presses are washed, the baskets repaired and tarred; the valleys that are needed are tarred. In rainy weather, so that the lashes are prepared and repaired, groats are ground, salted fish purchased, fallen olives are salted. (2) Collect, when the time is right, off-grade grapes for the workers to drink "early" wine.
25. When the grapes are ripe and harvested, save the first one for your household and household; try to be harvested perfectly ripe and dry so that the wine does not lose its name. Sift fresh grape pomace daily through the bed net or prepare a sieve for this business. Fill them with tarred lobes or a tarred wine vat. Order him to cover it up well, so that there is something to give to the oxen in winter. A little from here, if you want, put it in the water. There will be laura for the slaves to drink.
39. (2) ... In the rain, look for what you can do in the estate. To keep people from getting lazy, clean up. Realize that if nothing is done, then the expense will still be no less.
56. Bread for slaves. Who will work, in winter 4 modes 118 wheat, in summer 4 ½; Vilik, housekeeper, warden, shepherd - 3 mods. Wells 119 - in winter bread 4 pounds 120; when they start digging the vineyard - 5 pounds, as long as the grapes appear; then go back to 4 lbs.
61. What is good field maintenance? Plow well. And secondly? Plow. And thirdly? Manage. Whoever mixes the earth very often and deeply in the olive tree will plow the most delicate roots. If he plows badly, then the roots will go from above, become thick and the strength of the olive will go to the roots. When plowing a grain field, plow well and in a timely manner, do not plow in different furrows.
135. (1) Tunics and other things where to buy. In Rome: tunics, togas, raincoats, patchwork quilts, wooden shoes. In Kalakh and Minturki 121: hooded cloaks, iron products, sickles and knives, shovels, picks, axes, type-setting harness, bits, chains; in Venafrs shovels; in Suessa and in Lucania carts; threshing boards in Alba and Rome; dales, vats, tiles from Venafra. (2) For heavy soil, Roman ralas are good, for loose soil, Campanian ones; the best yokes will be Roman; the best share will be removable. Trapetes 122 in Pompeii, Nola, at the wall of Rufri. Keys, locks in Rome. Buckets, oil jugs, water jugs, wine jugs and other bronze utensils in Capua and Nola. Campanian baskets are good. (3) Ropes for lifting [press], every product from Sparta in Capua. Roman baskets at Suess and Kozin; the best will be in Rome.
143. (1) What are the duties of Vilika 123, take care to fulfill them. If the owner gave it to you as a wife, be pleased with it. Make her afraid of you. Let it not be too luxurious. He has as little business as possible with neighbors and other women, neither to the house, nor to him; he does not go anywhere for lunch, does not wander around idle. He does not make sacrifices and does not instruct anyone to make a sacrifice for her without the knowledge of the master or mistress: know that the master makes a sacrifice for all the slaves. (2) Will be neat; the estate is swept and tidy; the hearth will sweep clean daily before going to bed. On calendars, ids, nones and when there is a holiday, he will lay a wreath on the hearth and on the same days will honor the home Lara with whatever he can. Will take care of having cooked food for you and the slaves.
Translated by M.E. Sergeenko
Marcus Porcius Cato. About agriculture. // Learned farmers of ancient Italy: Cato, Varro, Pliny the Elder, Columela. L., 1970. S. 28–32, 34–35, 39, 44–45, 53–54.
Plutarch " Comparative biographies(Cato the Elder) "(4-5)
Some of Cato's advice was rejected by his contemporaries and descendants. The Greek historian and philosopher Plutarch of Chaeronea (46 AD - after 127), author of Comparative Biographies, wrote his biography, where, on the one hand, he recognizes the merits of the great Roman and admires them, and on the other, criticizes his farming methods.
4. ... Cato's authority greatly increased, and many began to call him the Roman Demosthenes, but his life he deserved an even higher name and louder glory ... A man who, following the example of his ancestors, continued to work with his own hands, willingly was content with a simple dinner, a cold breakfast , cheap clothes, a simple dwelling and believed that it was more worthy not to need the excess than to own it, such a person was a rarity, for the Roman state, having grown and strengthened, no longer retained its former purity and, having gained power over a great many countries and people, took many different customs and learned all sorts of life rules ... Cato himself says that he never wore dresses more expensive than a hundred denarii, he drank during his praetor, and during the consulate, the same wine as his workers, supplies for dinner were bought in the market for only thirty Ases, and even then only for the sake of the state, in order to save forces for service in the army. Having once inherited a Babylonian patterned carpet, he immediately sold it, none of his village houses were plastered, he never acquired a slave for more than one thousand five hundred denarii, because, as he says, he did not need pampered handsome, and hardworking and strong people - grooms and boar herders. And those, when they grow old, should, in his opinion, be sold, so as not to feed them for free. In general, he believed that what is superfluous is always expensive and that if at least one ass is asked for a thing that is not needed, then this is too high a price.
5. Who called it cursing, who thought with approval that he wanted to correct and reason with others and only for this purpose so sharply limits himself in everything. But to me the fact that he, having squeezed all the juices out of the slaves, as if from a pack cattle, drove them out and sold them in old age, seems to me a sign of a too tough and cruel disposition, which does not recognize any other connections between people, except for mercenary ones. And yet we see that kindness extends wider than justice. It befits a decent man to provide food to horses weakened from work and not only to feed the puppies, but also to worry about decrepit dogs ... You cannot treat living things the same way as with sandals or pots that are thrown away when they are worn out from a long service and become unusable, and if not for any other reason, then at least in the interests of philanthropy, one should deal with them gently and affectionately. I myself, not only a decrepit person, but I would not even sell an old ox, depriving him of the land on which he was brought up, and his usual way of life and for the sake of an insignificant profit, as if sending him into exile, when he is no longer needed by either the buyer or the seller. ... And Cato, as if boasting, says that even the horse, which he rode, acting as consul and commander, he left in Spain, not wanting to burden the state with the costs of transporting it across the sea. Whether this should be attributed to the greatness of the soul or stinginess - let each judge by his own conviction.
Translation by S.P. Markish
Pluiarch. Comparative biographies in three volumes. T. I. / trans. from ancient Greek. ed. M.E. Grabar-Passek and S.P. Markish. T. I. M., 1961. S. 432–434.
Organization of labor in large estates, latifundia, according to Varro's treatise "Agriculture"
Mark Terentius Varro "Agriculture" (I, 17-18)
Mark Terentius Varro (116 - 27 BC) - Roman encyclopedic scholar. He took part in the political life of his time, was a friend of Pompey, Cicero, Cato the Younger. After the victory of Caesar, he retired from politics and took up exclusively scientific research. He owned a large number of works on history, religion, grammar and linguistics, rhetoric, jurisprudence and philosophy. The work "Agriculture" consists of three books; the first is about agriculture, the second is about cattle breeding, and the third, which, according to Varro's instructions, is an innovation, is about keeping small animals (for example, birds, bees, fish). However, it should be noted that Varro, unlike Cato, was not a practitioner, but a theoretician.
I.17. I talked about four points related to land, and about the other four related to the district, but related to the economy. Now I will tell you about the means by which the land is cultivated. Some believe that these are people and those who help people and without whom it is impossible to cultivate the land. Others make a threefold division: there are speaking, wordless and mute instruments. The speakers are slaves, the dumb are oxen, and the dumb are carts. (2) All fields are cultivated by people: slaves, freemen, or both; free workers either work for themselves, like most of the poor who work together with their offspring, or are hired for wages - big jobs, such as picking grapes and haymaking, are done by hired free workers and those whom we called obaerarii 124, there are now a lot of them in Asia, Egypt and Illyricum. Of all workers, I will say in general this: it is better to cultivate unhealthy places with the hands of mercenaries, not slaves; and in healthy areas people should be hired for large rural work, such as harvesting, photographing grapes or harvesting. (3) About what kind of slaves should be, Cassius writes: it is necessary to acquire people who can work, not younger than 22 years old, capable of learning rural work. This can be concluded from the way they carried out other orders, and from the newly acquired ones also from questions about what they did with the previous owner.
Slaves should be neither timid nor insolent. (4) They should be disposed of by people who are literate, with some education, honest, older than the workers I spoke about: they will rather be obeyed than those who are younger. In addition, people who are knowledgeable in agriculture should definitely be appointed managers: they must not only give orders, but also work themselves, so that they can be imitated in their work and so that everyone can see that this person has a right to dispose of, since he has more knowledge. (5) They should not be allowed to keep people in obedience with a scourge and not with a word, if by word you can achieve the same results. You should not buy many slaves of the same nationality: this is mainly the cause of domestic troubles. The zeal of bosses should be fueled by rewards; make sure that they have some property 125, give them slaves for cohabitation, from whom there will be children. From this they become more faithful and more attached to the estate. The families of Epirus slaves are so renowned and prized precisely because of this blood connection. (6) It is necessary to win over the chiefs by rendering them some honor; with workers who stand out from the rest, one should consult about what work should be done: with such treatment, they begin to think that the owner does not despise them and somehow reckons with them. (7) They become more diligent in their work if the owner provides them with food more generously, does not skimp on clothing, allows them to rest and gives some benefits, for example, allows them to graze their cattle on the estate, etc. Likewise, they reassure those who have been entrusted with some hard work or who have been severely punished, and restore their willingness to work and benevolence towards the owner.
18. (1) Speaking of slaves, Cato is consistent with two circumstances: with a certain size of the estate and with its cultures. He drew up two normative lists for olive groves and vineyards. One of them says that one should start a 240 yuger in an olive grove. He says that with this size, one should have 13 slaves: a Vilika, a Vilika, five laborers, three ploughmen, one donkey driver, one swineherd, one shepherd. He made another list for vineyards of 100 yugers: he says that there should be 15 workers: a wilik, a wilik, ten laborers, a plowman, a donkey driver, a swineherd. (2) Sazerna 126 writes that one person is enough for 8 yugers: he must dig them up in 45 days, although one can be processed in 4 days; He puts 13 days on ill health, bad weather, laziness, negligence. Neither one nor the other left us with sufficiently clear norms. (3) If Cato wanted to do this, then he would have to give such numbers to which, in accordance with the size of the estate, greater or lesser, we could add something or subtract something from them. In addition, he should not have put the wilik and the wilik in the total number of slaves: if you have less than 240 yugers in the olive tree, you still cannot have less than one vilik, and if your estate is twice as large, or even more, then you still do not need to keep two or three viliks: (4) in accordance with the increased size of the estate, you will have to add only laborers and plowmen, and even then only if the land in the estate is all uniform. If it is so diverse that it cannot be plowed, because it is covered with mounds and is dotted with steep hills, then both oxen and plowmen will be required much less. Not to mention the fact that his proposed size of 240 yugers is neither a unit of measurement, nor a measure taken (such is the centuria, i.e. 200 yugers). (5) 40 yugers make up a sixth of this olive grove: if we subtract them from 240 yugers, then I don’t see how, based on his calculation, I would subtract a sixth from 13 slaves; and if I remove the willow and the willow, how will I subtract the sixth part from 11. He also says that for a vineyard of 100 yugers 15 slaves are required: therefore, if the owner has a centurium, half of which will be under the olive tree and half under the vineyard, then he must have two viliks and two viliks - this is ridiculous! Therefore, the number of slaves must be determined in a different way, giving instructions of a general nature. (6) Here Sazerna deserves more praise, who says that 4 days is enough for one worker to process each yuger. If, however, this was enough in the Sazerna estate in Gaul, this does not mean that it will be so in the mountainous estate in Liguria. Therefore, you will best know how many slaves and other tools you need to acquire if you carefully look at three points: (7) what is the nature of the neighboring estates and what size they are; how many people handle each; with what addition of workers, or with what reduction in their number, the economy will go better or worse. Nature guides us in agriculture in two ways: by experience and by imitation. In ancient times, farmers reached a great deal by researching and trying; their children largely imitated them. (8) We must do both: imitate others, and in some ways act differently, but on the basis of experience, in order not to act at random, but on reasonable grounds: what will happen, for example, if we dig the earth deeper or shallower, than others. This was done by those who hoe the ground for the second and third time and who transferred the grafting of fig trees from spring to summer.
Translated by M.E. Sergeenko
Mark Terentius Varro. Agriculture. // Learned farmers of ancient Italy: Cato, Varro, Pliny the Elder, Columela. L., 1970. S. 62–65.
Politician and writer Marcus Porcius Cato the Elder (his descendants were named the Elder, so as not to be confused with his great-grandson) was born in 234 BC. e. He was from the city of Tuscula, located a few tens of kilometers from Rome, and belonged to a plebeian family.
Military service
Cato could have been engaged in agriculture all his life, if it had not begun in 218 BC. e. At that time, Rome competed on equal terms with Carthage, whose commander Hannibal invaded Italy in a daring campaign. Due to the difficult situation of the republic, even the very young Cato the Elder was drafted into the army. He became a military tribune unusually quickly. For several years the young man served in Sicily. The well-known military leader Mark Claudius Marcellus was its immediate leader.
In 209 BC. e. Cato the Elder joined the military leader Quintus Fabius Maximus Kunktator. Then he ended up in the army of Caius Claudius Nero and in its ranks he took part in the Battle of Metaurus in Northern Italy. In this battle, the Romans utterly defeated the army younger brother Hannibal Gadrubal. A long campaign against Carthage allowed the talented Marcus Cato to gain recognition despite his artistic origins. V Ancient rome such nuggets were called "new people."
During the Second Cato period, he made a lot of useful acquaintances for his future career. For example, he became friends with Lucius Valerius Flaccus, who later became the praetor of the republic. Another factor in Mark's rise was the death of a large number of Roman aristocrats during the war. Especially many lives of representatives of the nobility took away in which Cato, fortunately, did not have time to take part.
204 BC e. became a turning point for Mark. On his 30th birthday, he was appointed quaestor of the commander Publius Scipio, who undertook the organization of the Roman invasion of North Africa, where the heart of the Carthaginian state was located, and for this it was called African. The army was to cross the Mediterranean from Sicily. During the preparation of a complex operation, Scipio quarreled with his assistant. According to one version of ancient historians, Cato the Elder accused the chief of a frivolous attitude towards the organization of the landing. Allegedly, the commander idly spent his time in theaters and scattered the money allocated by the treasury. According to another version, the reasons for the quarrels were deeper and consisted of a conflict between Scipio and Cato's patrons Flacks. One way or another, but the entire end of the Second Punic War, the quaestor spent in Sardinia. It is not known exactly whether he still visited Africa and whether he took part in the decisive battle at Zama. The opinions of ancient authors on this matter differ.
The beginning of a political career
In 202 BC. e. ended the Second Punic War. In a long-term conflict, Carthage nevertheless won and became hegemon in the west. Mediterranean Sea... The African rival retained its independence, but significantly weakened. With the coming of peace, Mark Cato the Elder moved to the capital. He soon embarked on a public political career. In 199 BC. e. a native of a plebeian family received the post of aedile, and a year later - praetor.
In a new status for himself, Cato the Elder moved to Sardinia, where, as a governor, he began to set up a new administration. On the island, the praetor became famous for clearing it of usurers. The official surprised ordinary residents by abandoning his entourage and carriage. With his atypical behavior for a magistracy, he demonstrated his own frugality in spending public money (this habit Cato kept until his death).
Consulate
Thanks to his outstanding public appearances and activities in Sardinia, the politician has become a serious figure in the capital itself. In 195 BC. e. Marcus Porcius Cato the Elder was elected consul. In the republic, this position was considered the highest in the entire bureaucratic ladder. Traditionally, two consuls were elected for a term of one year. Cato's partner was his longtime patron Lucius Valerius Flaccus.
After becoming consul, Mark immediately went to Spain, where an uprising of local Iberians, dissatisfied with the rule of the Romans, broke out. The Senate gave Cato an army of 15,000 and a small fleet. With these forces, the consul invaded the Iberian Peninsula. The rebels' protest was soon suppressed. Nevertheless, Cato's actions caused a mixed reaction in Rome. Rumors of his irrepressible cruelty reached the capital, which made the conflict with the Iberians even more aggravated. The main critic of Cato was for whom he once served as a quaestor. In 194 BC. e. this nobleman was elected the next consul. He demanded that the Senate withdraw Cato from Spain, but the senators refused to end the campaign. Moreover, they allowed the returning military leader to hold the traditional triumphal procession in the capital, which symbolized his personal great services to the state.
War against the Seleucids
A new challenge for Cato the Elder was the Syrian War (192-188 BC). Contrary to its name, it went to Greece and Asia Minor, where the army of the Seleucid state, created by the successors of Alexander the Great, invaded. Having defeated Carthage, the Roman Republic was now looking at the eastern Mediterranean and was not going to allow the strengthening of its direct competitor.
Mark Cato the Elder went to that war as a military tribune under the leadership of Manius Glabrion, who was then consul. On the instructions of his superior, he visited several Greek cities. In 191 BC. e. Cato took part in during which he occupied strategically important heights, which made a decisive contribution to the defeat of the Seleucids and their Aetolian allies. Mark personally went to Rome in order to inform the Senate of the long-awaited success of the army.
Critic of social vices
Once again settling in the capital, Cato the Elder began to speak frequently at the forum, in the courts and in the Senate. The main motive for his public speeches was criticism of the influential Roman aristocracy. Usually "new people", the first in their family to rise to significant government positions, tried to merge with representatives of the nobility. Cato behaved exactly the opposite. He regularly came into conflict with the nobility. As his victims, the politician first of all chose the opponents of his friends Flacks. On the other hand, he opposed the aristocracy in general, since, in his opinion, she was mired in excessive luxury.
Under the influence of this rhetoric, the teachings of Cato the Elder gradually took shape, later developed by a public figure in the pages of his writings. He considered the love of greed to be a vile innovation, from which the customs of the ancestors who lived modestly suffered. The orator warned his contemporaries that the love of wealth would be followed by mass shamelessness, vanity, arrogance, rudeness and cruelty, disastrous for the entire Roman society. Cato called aristocrats egoists who defended only own interests, while the glorious ancestors of the past worked primarily for the benefit of the state.
One of the reasons for the spread of vices of politicians called the influence of foreigners. Cato was a consistent anti-Hellenist. He criticized everything Greek, and, consequently, the apologists of this culture that spread in Rome (including the same Scipio Africanus). Cato's conservative ideas soon became known as the theory of moral decline. It cannot be said that it was this politician who invented it, but it was he who developed this teaching and made it fully completed. Among other things, Mark accused the Hellenophiles who were part of the country's military leadership of abusing their powers and insufficient attention to army discipline.
Conservative speaker
As a famous fighter for the purity of morals, Cato went to Greece several times, where he fought against local heretical cults. The most famous community included followers of Bacchus, who encouraged orgies, debauchery, and drunkenness. Cato mercilessly pursued such currents. At the same time, while in Greece, he did not forget about his political career. So the military took part in diplomatic negotiations with the uncompromising Aetolians.
Yet the political and economic views of Cato the Elder were increasingly dimmed by his conservative ideological lobbying. The most convenient way to influence society in this way was in the status of a censor. Cato tried to be elected to a high office in 189 BC. e., but the first pancake came out lumpy. Unlike other master's degrees, censors changed not once a year, but every five years. Therefore, the next chance the politician got only in 184 BC. e. Cato the Elder has long established himself as a radical conservative. Other applicants for the position had softer rhetoric. However, Cato persisted: he insisted that Roman society needed a serious internal shake-up.
The main rival of the former consul was the brother of Scipio Africanus, Lucius. Mark decided to attack his opponent by attacking a more famous relative. On the eve of the elections, he persuaded Quintus Nevi, who served as a tribune, to accuse Scipio of high treason. The essence of the claims was that the commander, allegedly because of a bribe, agreed to conclude a soft peace treaty with Antiochus of Syria, which harmed the international interests of the republic.
Censorship
The public maneuver of Cato the Elder succeeded. Scipio's brother was defeated. Cato became the censor from the plebeians, and his friend Lucius Flaccus took a similar position from the patricians. This position conferred several unique powers. Censors monitored morals, exercised financial control over state revenues, monitored the receipt of taxes and taxes, supervised the maintenance and construction of important structures and roads.
Cato the Elder, whose years of life (234-149 BC) fell on an important era for the formation of Roman law, won the election, having behind his back a program to improve the government from all sorts of vices. The censor began to implement it, barely having time to take office. "Recovering" primarily boiled down to the expulsion of politicians who were in conflict with Cato from the Senate. Mark made another Flakk (Valerius) a princeps. Then he carried out exactly the same revision in the ranks of the horsemen. Many of the censor's ill-wishers were excluded from the privileged class of equites, including the brother of Scipio the African, Lucius. Cato himself clashed with the cavalry since the days of his Spanish campaign, when it was the cavalry that turned out to be the weak link in the army.
The expulsion from the nobility of members of ancient aristocratic families became a flagrant event for high society. Cato the Elder, whose biography was an example of a "new man", encroached on the privileges of many Romans, which aroused their undisguised hatred. As a censor, he monitored the population census and was able to demote fellow citizens in their property class. A significant number of the wealthy inhabitants of the empire lost their social position. By bringing down his decisions on them, Cato looked at how the Roman was doing his household correctly.
The censor significantly increased taxes on luxury and domestic slaves. He tried to raise government revenues and reduce spending on aristocrats. By changing the contracts concluded with tax farmers, Cato bailed out a significant sum of money. These funds were used to repair the city's sewerage system, lining stone fountains and building a new basilica on the forum. Also, the censor was one of the initiators of the new electoral legislation. According to Roman tradition, the winning candidates for the top magistracy positions held festive games and giveaways. Now these handouts to voters have come under strict new regulations. Cato made so many enemies that he was sued 44 times, but he never lost a single case.
Old age
After the end of the term of his censorship, Cato took up the arrangement of his own large estate and literary activity. However, he did not lose interest in public life. Some of his public appearances and ventures periodically reminded contemporaries of the former censor.
In 171 BC. e. Cato became a member of the commission investigating the abuses of the governors in the Spanish provinces. The orator continued to stigmatize vices and moral degradation. Many of his censorship laws, however, were canceled during his retirement. Cato continued to be a fierce anti-Hellenist. He advocated the termination of contacts with the Greeks, urged not to receive their delegation.
In 152 BC. e. Cato went to Carthage. The embassy to which he entered was to consider the border dispute with Numidia. After visiting Africa, the former censor was convinced that Carthage began to lead an independent from Rome foreign policy... Quite a long time has passed since the Second Punic War, and the longtime enemy, despite his epochal defeat, began to raise his head again.
Returning to the capital, Cato began to urge his compatriots to destroy the African power before it recovered from a long crisis. His phrase "Carthage must be destroyed" has become an international phraseological unit, which is used in speech today. The militarist Roman lobby got its way. The Third Punic War began in 149 BC. e., and in the same year died the aged 85-year-old Cato, who never lived to see the long-awaited defeat of Carthage.
"To son Mark"
In his youth, Cato was remembered by his contemporaries as a brilliant military leader. In adulthood, he took up politics. Finally, closer to old age, the speaker began to write books. They reflected the pedagogical ideas of Cato the Elder, who sought to explain to his contemporaries the need to combat the decline in morals not only through public speaking but also with the help of literature.
In 192 BC. e. the politician had a son, Mark. Cato was personally involved in the upbringing of the child. When he grew up, his father decided to write for him "Instruction" (also known as "To the son of Mark"), which outlined his worldly wisdom and the history of Rome. This was the first literary experience of Cato the Elder. Modern scholars consider the "Instruction" to be the earliest Roman encyclopedia, which contained information on rhetoric, medicine and agriculture.
"About agriculture"
The main book that Cato the Elder left behind is "On Agriculture" (also translated as "On Agriculture" or "Agriculture). It was written around 160 BC. e. The work was a compilation of 162 recommendations and tips for managing a rural estate. In Rome they were called latifundia. The vast estates of the nobility were centers of grain growing, winemaking and olive oil production. Slave labor was widely used in them.
What did Marcus Porcius Cato the Elder advise his contemporaries in his work? The treatise "On Agriculture" can be divided into two structural parts. The first is carefully composed, but the second is chaotic. It mixes recommendations of all sorts from traditional medicine to culinary recipes. The first part, by contrast, is more like a systematically compiled textbook.
Since the book was intended specifically for rural residents, there is no very basics in it, but rather specific tips are listed, the author of which was Cato the Elder. The economic thought of his work is to rank the profitability different types farms. The writer considered vineyards to be the most profitable enterprise, followed by irrigated gardens, etc. At the same time, the low profitability of grain was emphasized, which Cato the Elder dwelled on in detail in his work. Quotations from this book were then often used by other ancient authors in a variety of works. Today, the treatise is considered a unique literary monument of antiquity, since it describes better than any other source rural life the antique world of the 2nd century BC e.
"Beginnings"
Beginnings is another important work by Cato the Elder. "About agriculture" is known in to a greater extent due to the fact that this book has been preserved in its complete form. The "beginnings" have come down to us only in the form of scattered fragments. It was a seven-volume book devoted to the history of Rome from the founding of the city to the 2nd century BC. e.
Cato the Elder, whose theory of book organization turned out to be innovative, founded a style that became popular with subsequent researchers of the past. He was the first to decide to abandon the poetic form and move on to prose. Moreover, his predecessors wrote historical writings in Greek, while Cato used exclusively Latin.
The book of this author differed from the works of the past in that it was not a dry chronicle and a listing of facts, but an attempt at research. All these norms, typical for modern scientific literature, were introduced into use by Cato the Elder. Taking photographs of events, he offered the reader their assessment, relying on his favorite theory of the fall in the morals of Roman society.
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