Cato the Younger 31
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nd, indeed, his teacher was a very well-bred man, more readyto instruct than to beat his scholars. His name was Sarpedon.When Cato was a child, the allies of the Romans sued to bemade free citizens of Rome. Pompedius Silo, one of theirdeputies, a brave soldier and a man of great repute, who hadcontracted a friendship with Drusus, lodged at his house forseveral days, in which time being grown familiar with thechildren, “ Weill,” said he to them, “will you entreat youruncle to befriend us in our business?” Czepio, smiling, assented,but Cato made no answer, only he looked steadfastly and fiercelyon the strangers. Then said Pompeedius, “ And you, young sir,what say you to us? will not you, as well as your brother,intercede with your uncle in our behalf?” And when Catocontinued to give no answer, by his silence and his countenanceseeming to deny their petition, Pompedius snatched him up tothe window as if he would throw him out, and told him toconsent, or he would fling him down, and, speaking in a harshertone, held his body out of the window, and shook him severaltimes. When Cato had suffered this a good while, unmoved andunalarmed, Pompeedius, setting him down, said in an undervoiceto his friend, “‘ What a blessing for Italy that he is but a child! _If he were a man, I believe we should not gain one voice among the people.” Another time, one of his relations, on his birth-day, invited Cato and some other children to supper, and someof the company diverted themselves in a separate part of thehouse, and were at play, the elder and the younger together, ' their sport being to act the pleadings before the judges, accusing one another, and carrying away the condemned to prison.Among these a very beautiful young child, being bound andcarried by a bigger into prison, cried out to Cato, who seeingwhat was going on, presently ran to the door, and thrustingaway those who stood there as a guard, took out the child, andwent home in anger, followed by some of his companions. Cato at length grew so famous among them, that when Sylladesigned to exhibit the sacred game of young men riding courses on horseback, which they called Troy, having gotten together the youth of good birth, he appointed two for their leaders.One of them they accepted for his mother’s sake, being the sonof Metella, the wife of Sylla; but as for the other, Sextus, thenephew of Pompey, they would not be led by him, nor exerciseunder him. Then Sylla asking whom they would have, they allcried out, Cato; and Sextus willingly yielded the honour to him, as the more worthy, <2 Plutarch’s Lives Sylla, who was a friend of their family, sent at times for Catoand his brother to see them and talk with them; a favour whichhe showed to very few, after gaining his great power andauthority. Sarpedon, full of the advantage it would be, aswell for the honour as the safety of his scholars, would oftenbring Cato to wait upon Sylla at his house, which, for themultitude of those that were being carried off in custody, andtormented there, looked like a place of execution. Cato wasthen in his fourteenth year, and seeing the heads of men saidto be of great distinction brought thither, and observing thesecret sighs of those that were present, he asked his preceptor,““Why does nobody kill this man?” “ Because,” said he,“they fear him, child, more than they hate him.” “ Why,then,” replied Cato, “did you not give me a sword, that Imight stab him, and free my country from this slavery? ”Sarpedon hearing this, and at the same time seeing his counten-ance swelling with anger and determination, took care thence-forward to watch him strictly, lest he should hazard anydesperate attempt. While he was yet very young, to some that asked him whomhe loved best, he answered, his brother. And being asked,whom next, he replied, his brother, again. So likewise thethird time, and still the same, till they left off to ask any further.As he grew in age, this love to his brother grew yet the stronger.When he was about twenty years old, he never supped, neverwent out of town, nor into the forum, without Czpio. Butwhen his brother made use of precious ointments and perfumes,Cato declined them; and he was, in all his habits, very strictand austere, so that when Cepio was admired for his modera-tion and temperance, he would acknowledge that indeed hemight be accounted such, in comparison with some other men,“but,” said he, “when I compare myself with Cato, I findmyself scarcely different from Sippius,” one at that timenotorious for his luxurious and effeminate living. Cato being made priest of Apollo, went to another house, tookhis portion of their paternal inheritance, amounting to a hundredand twenty talents, and began to live yet more strictly thanbefore. Having gained the intimate acquaintance of Antipaterthe Tyrian, the Stoic philosopher, he devoted himself to thestudy, above everything, of moral and political doctrine. Andthough possessed, as it were, by a kind of inspiration for thepursuit of every virtue, yet what most of all virtue and excel-lence fixed his affection was that steady and inflexible justice
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