Cato the Younger
Cato the Younger (Marcus Porcius Cato Uticensis) lived between 95-46 BCE. Roman politician and philosopher-stoic, living in harmony with righteousness and honesty.
- “Now, I am master of myself”
- description: before suicide. Senator Cato the Younger, after the siege of Carthage by Caesar, committed suicide, sticking the dagger in the chest and tearing the wound with his own hands. Apparently, Cato did not want to witness the fall of the republic. The words were given in the source, written in Greek.
- source: Plutarch, Cato the Younger, 70
- “If you live properly, don’t worry about what the evil ones say”
- latin: [Cum recte vivis, ne cures verba malorum]
- “I would not be beholden to a tyrant, for his acts of tyranny. For it is but usurpation in him to save, as their rightful lord, the lives of men over whom he has no title to reign”
- descritpion: instructing Lucius Caesar, after the defeat at Tapsus. Words given in Greek.
- source: Plutarch, Cato the Younger, 66
- “I begin to speak only when I’m certain what I’ll say isn’t better left unsaid”
- descritpion: Cato’s response to the accusation that he did not present his speeches to others at a young age. Words given in Greek.
- source: Plutarch, Cato the Elder, 4
