Cato the Younger: Life and Death at the End of the Roman Republic

Marcus Porcius Cato ("the Younger") is most famous for being Julius Caesar's nemesis. His sustained antagonism was in large part responsible for pushing the Romans towards civil war. Yet Cato never wanted war even though he used the threat of violence against Caesar. This strategic gamble misfired as Caesar, instead of yielding, marched on Rome, hurling the Republic into a bloody civil war. Refusing to inhabit a world ruled by Caesar, Cato took his own life. Although the Roman historian Sallust identified Cato and Caesar as the two most outstanding men of their age, modern scholars have tended to dismiss Cato as a cantankerous conservative who, while colorful, was not a critical player in the events that overtook the Republic. This book, in providing a much-needed reliable biography of Cato, contradicts that assessment. In addition to being Caesar's adversary, Cato is an important and fascinating historical figure in his own right, and his career-in particular, his idiosyncrasies-shed light on the changing political culture of the late Republic. Cato famously reached into Rome's hallowed past and found mannerisms and habits to adopt that transformed him into the foremost champion of ancestral custom. Thus Cato did things that seemed strange and even bizarre such as wearing an old-fashioned tint of purple on his senatorial toga, refusing to ride a horse when on public business, and going about barefoot and without the usual tunic as an undergarment. His extreme conservatism-which became celebrated in later ages, especially in Enlightenment Europe and revolutionary America--was actually designed to give him a unique advantage in Roman politics. This is not to claim that he was insincere in his combative promotion of the mos maiorum (the way of the ancestors), but his political manipulation of the Romans' reverence for their traditions was masterful. By providing a new, detailed portrait of Cato, the book also presents a unique narrative of the age he helped shape and inadvertently destroy.

About the Author :
Fred K. Drogula is the Charles J. Ping Professor of Humanities and Professor of Classics at Ohio University.

Review :
This is a highly readable book based on immense scholarship, which will appeal to scholars and also to general readers. It not only illuminates Cato's personality and career, but sheds light on the complexity of the late Republic's institutions and why they were unable to endure the onslaught of ambitious politicians and generals. a caustic and decidedly modern rejoinder to Plutarch's martyr. An excellent work of scholarship that will be of much use to scholars and students.... Well written and engaging to read. This is one of the most fascinating but also most complicated stretches of Roman history, and Drogula's highly readable account, with its admirably clear explanations especially of the chaotic events of the 50's, can serve as a helpful introduction to the period even for those not primarily interested in the author's protagonist. Drogula has produced a welcome addition to scholarship on the late Roman republic: the first full scholarly biography of Cato the Younger in English. As Drogula's book shows, Cato warrants a biography alongside those of more famous contemporaries thanks to his influence on events of the last two decades of the republic, despite never reaching the consulship or celebrating a triumph.... Drogula's thorough survey offers much of value for anyone interested in Cato or late republican politics. This is the alarming story of how one infuriating, rude, intractable man-admired by many, thought mad by more-could, nearly singlehandedly, bring down a free republic that for nearly half a millennium had overcome all perils from within and without. An appallingly timely book, and not for the timid reader. Cato comes to us mostly by way of idealizing or caricature. Drogula, in this vividly written and wellinformed biography, aims at recovering the fleshandbone Cato and his complicated personality. Here was a man who, as Drogula shows us, looked to the past in fashioning his deeply influential reputation for traditional virtue and yet was instrumental in the events which led to the collapse of the Republic, whose values he claimed to embody. His story is anything but simple, and Drogula tells it well.