The Good Book_ A Secular Bible - A. C. Grayling [297]
23. ‘But it is unpleasant to me to give such, and unusual to hear them.’
24. Such was the way Cato expressed himself, in sayings that are memorable.
Chapter 56
1. Being chosen consul with his friend Valerius Flaccus, Cato was given the government of that part of Spain which the Romans call Hither Spain.
2. As he was engaged in pacifying some of the tribes by force, and negotiating with others, a large army of barbarians attacked him,
3. So that there was danger of being disastrously driven from those territories.
4. He therefore called upon his neighbours, the Celtiberians, for help.
5. They demanded two hundred talents, and everybody thought it intolerable that Romans should pay barbarians for aid;
6. But Cato said there was no discredit in it; for if they won, the barbarians would be paid out of the enemy’s purse;
7. But if they lost, there would be nobody left either to demand or to pay the reward.
8. However, he won a convincing victory, and all his subsequent affairs went well.
9. By his command the walls of all towns east of the River Baetis were demolished in a single day;
10. There were a great many of them, full of brave and warlike men.
11. Cato himself says that he took more cities – four hundred of them – than he stayed days in Spain.
12. And though the soldiers had gathered much booty in the fights, yet he distributed a pound of silver to each of them,
13. Saying it was better that many Romans should return home with silver, than a few with gold.
14. For himself he says he took nothing beyond what he ate and drank.
15. ‘I do not fault those who seek booty,’ he said, ‘but I had rather compete in valour with the best than in wealth with the richest, or with the most covetous in love of money.’
16. He kept not only himself but his servants from taking booty.
17. One of them, called Paccus, bought three boys from among the captives.
18. When Paccus learned that Cato had heard this, he hanged himself rather than face Cato’s wrath.
19. Cato sold the boys, and gave the price to the public exchequer.
Chapter 57
1. Scipio the Great was Cato’s enemy, and wishing to limit his achievements and take Spanish affairs into his own hands,
2. He arranged to be appointed his successor there; and, making all haste, put an end to Cato’s authority.
3. But Cato, taking with him a convoy of five cohorts of foot, and five hundred horse to attend him home,
4. On the way overthrew the Lacetanians, and finding six hundred Roman deserters hiding among them, had all the deserters beheaded;
5. Scipio pretended indignation at this, but Cato, in mock disparagement of himself, said,
6. ‘Rome would become great indeed, if men of higher birth never allowed men of lower birth [meaning himself] to advance the honour of the city.’
7. The senate voted to change nothing established by Cato in Spain,
8. So the Spanish government passed under Scipio to little purpose and in idleness, diminishing Scipio’s credit rather than Cato’s.
9. Nor did Cato, who received a Triumph from the senate, slacken the reins of virtue, as many do,
10. Who strive more for vainglory than honour, so that having attained the highest honours they pass the rest of their life in idleness, quitting public affairs.
11. But he, as if entering public life for the first time and thirsting after achievements,
12. Exerted himself; and would give up neither his civil nor his military service.
13. He assisted Tiberius Sempronius, as his lieutenant, when the latter went to Thrace and the Danube;
14. And, in the role of tribune, went with Manius Acilius into Greece against Antiochus the Great,
15. Who, after Hannibal, more than anyone struck terror into the Romans.
16. For having reduced once more under a single command almost the whole of Asia,
17. And having subdued many warlike barbarian nations, Antiochus longed to conquer Rome,
18. As if it alone was the only thing worth having as an enemy to fight against him.
19. So he came into Greece