καὶ περί γε τοῦτο φαίνεται γεγονὼς οὐκ ἀνεμέσητος· καὶ γὰρ τὴν γυναῖκα καὶ τὸν υἱὸν ἀπέβαλεν. αὐτὸς δὲ τῷ σώματι πρὸς εὐεξίαν καὶ ῥώμην ἀσφαλῶς πεπηγὼς ἐπὶ πλεῖστον ἀντεῖχεν, ὥστε καὶ γυναικὶ πρεσβύτης ὢν σφόδρα πλησιάζειν καὶ γῆμαι γάμον οὐ καθʼ ἡλικίαν ἐκ τοιαύτης προφάσεως. ἀποβαλὼν τὴν γυναῖκα τῷ μὲν υἱῷ Παύλου θυγατέρα, Σκηπίωνος δὲ ἀδελφήν ἠγάγετο πρὸς γάμον, αὐτὸς δὲ χηρεύων ἐχρῆτο παιδίσκῃ κρύφα φοιτώσῃ πρὸς αὐτόν·
Such presumption on his part seems not to have gone unpunished, for he lost his wife and his son. He himself was well confirmed in bodily health and vigour, and long withstood the assaults of age. Even when an old man he was prone to indulge his sexual appetite, and at last married a wife when he was long past the marrying age. This was the way it came about. After the death of his wife, he married his son to the daughter of Aemilius Paulus, the sister of Scipio, but he himself, in his widowhood, took solace with a slave girl who secretly visited his bed.
ἦν οὖν ἐν οἰκίᾳ μικρᾷ νύμφην ἐχούσῃ τοῦ πράγματος αἴσθησις· καί ποτε τοῦ γυναίου θρασύτερον παρασοβῆσαι παρὰ τὸ δωμάτιον δόξαντος ὁ νεανίας εἶπε μὲν οὐδέν, ἐμβλέψας δέ πως πικρότερον καὶ διατραπεὶς οὐκ ἔλαθε τὸν πρεσβύτην. ὡς οὖν ἔγνω τὸ πρᾶγμα δυσχεραινόμενον ὑπʼ αὐτῶν, οὐδὲν ἐγκαλέσας οὐδὲ μεμψάμενος, ἀλλὰ καταβαίνων, ὥσπερ εἰώθει, μετὰ φίλων εἰς ἀγοράν Σαλώνιόν τινα τῶν ὑπογεγραμματευκότων αὐτῷ παρόντα καὶ συμπροπέμποντα μεγάλῃ φωνῇ προσαγορεύσας ἠρώτησεν, εἰ τὸ θυγάτριον συνήρμοκε νυμφίῳ.
Of course, in a small house with a young married woman in it, the matter was discovered, and once, when the girl seemed to flaunt her way rather too boldly to his chamber, the old man could not help noticing that his son, although he said nothing, looked very sour, and turned away. Perceiving that the thing displeased his children, Cato did not upbraid or blame them at all, but as he was going down in his usual way to the forum with his clients, called out with a loud voice to a certain Salonius, who had been one of his under-secretaries, and was now in his train, asking him if he had found a good husband for his young daughter.
τοῦ δʼ ἀνθρώπου φήσαντος, ὡς οὐδὲ μέλλει μὴ πρότερον ἐκείνῳ κοινωσάμενος· καὶ μὴν ἐγώ σοι, φησίν, εὕρηκα κηδεστὴν ἐπιτήδειον, εἰ μὴ νὴ Δία τὰ τῆς ἡλικίας δυσχεραίνοιτο τἆλλα γὰρ οὐ μεμπτός ἐστι, σφόδρα δὲ πρεσβύτης. ὡς οὖν ὁ Σαλώνιος ἐκέλευε ταῦτα φροντίζειν καὶ διδόναι τὴν κόρην ᾧ προαιρεῖται, πελάτιν οὖσαν αὐτοῦ καὶ δεομένην τῆς ἐκείνου κηδεμονίας, οὐδεμίαν ὁ Κάτων ἀναβολὴν ποιησάμενος αὐτὸς ἔφη τὴν παρθένον αἰτεῖν ἑαυτῷ.
The man said he had not, and would not do so without first consulting his patron. Well then, said Cato, I have found a suitable son-in-law for you, unless indeed his age should be displeasing; in other ways no fault can be found with him, but he is a very old man. Salonius at once bade him take the matter in charge and give the maid to the man of his choice, since she was a dependant of his and in need of his kind services. Then Cato, without any more ado, said that he asked the damsel to wife for himself.
καὶ τὸ μὲν πρῶτον, ὡς εἰκός, ὁ λόγος ἐξέπληξε τὸν ἄνθρωπον, πόρρω μὲν γάμου τὸν Κάτωνα, πόρρω δʼ αὑτὸν οἰκίας ὑπατικῆς καὶ θριαμβικῶν κηδευμάτων τιθέμενον σπουδῇ δὲ χρώμενον ὁρῶν ἄσμενος ἐδέξατο, καὶ καταβάντες εὐθὺς εἰς ἀγοράν ἐποιοῦντο τὴν ἐγγύην. πραττομένου δὲ τοῦ γάμου παραλαβὼν τοὺς ἐπιτηδείους ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ Κάτωνος ἠρώτησε τὸν πατέρα, μή τι μεμφόμενος ἢ λελυπημένος ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ μητρυιὰν ἐπάγεται.
At first, as was natural, the proposal amazed the man, who counted Cato far past marriage, and himself far beneath alliance with a house of consular dignity and triumphal honours; but when he saw that Cato was in earnest, he gladly accepted his proposal, and as soon as they reached the forum the banns were published. While the marriage was in hand, Cato’s son, accompanied by his friends, asked his father if it was because he had any complaint to make against him that he was now foisting a step-mother upon him.
ὁ δὲ Κάτων ἀναβοήσας εὐφήμησον, εἶπεν, ὦ παῖ· πάντα γὰρ ἀγαστά μοι τὰ παρὰ σοῦ καὶ μεμπτὸν οὐδέν ἐπιθυμῶ δὲ πλείονας ἐμαυτῷ τε παῖδας καὶ πολίτας τῇ πατρίδι τοιούτους ἀπολιπεῖν. ταύτην δὲ τὴν γνώμην πρότερον εἰπεῖν φασι Πεισίστρατον τὸν Ἀθηναίων τύραννον ἐπιγήμαντα τοῖς ἐνηλίκοις παισὶ τὴν Ἀργολίδα Τιμώνασσαν, ἐξ ἧς Ἰοφῶντα καὶ Θεσσαλὸν αὐτῷ λέγουσι γενέσθαι.
Heaven forbid I my son, cried Cato, all your conduct towards me has been admirable, and I have no fault to find with you; but I desire to bless myself and my country with more such sons. However, they say that this sentiment was uttered long before by Peisistratus, the tyrant of Athens, who gave his grown up sans a step-mother in the person of Timonassa of Argolis, by whom he is said to have had Iophon and Thessalus.
γήμαντι δὲ τῷ Κάτωνι γίνεται παῖς, ᾧ παρωνύμιον ἀπὸ τῆς μητρὸς ἔθετο Σαλώνιον. ὁ δὲ πρεσβύτερος υἱὸς ἐτελεύτησε στρατηγῶν, καὶ μέμνηται μὲν αὐτοῦ πολλάκις ἐν τοῖς βιβλίοις ὁ Κάτων ὡς ἀνδρὸς ἀγαθοῦ γεγονότος, πρᾴως δὲ καὶ φιλοσόφως λέγεται τὴν συμφορὰν ἐνεγκεῖν καὶ μηδὲν ἀμβλύτερος διʼ αὐτὴν εἰς τὰ πολιτικὰ γενέσθαι.
Of this second marriage a son was born to Cato, who was named Salonius, after his mother’s father. But his elder son died in the praetorship. Cato often speaks of him in his books as a brave and worthy man, and is said to have borne his loss with all the equanimity of a philosopher, remitting not a whit because of it his ardour in the public service.
οὐ γὰρ, ὡς Λεύκιος Λούκουλλος ὕστερον καὶ Μέτελλος ὁ Πίος, ἐξέκαμεν ὑπὸ γήρως πρὸς τὰ δημόσια, λειτουργίαν τὴν πολιτείαν ἡγούμενος, οὐδʼ ὡς πρότερον Σκηπίων ὁ Ἀφρικανὸς διὰ τὸν ἀντικρούσαντα πρὸς τὴν δόξαν αὐτοῦ φθόνον ἀποστραφεὶς τὸν δῆμον ἐκ μεταβολῆς ἐποιήσατο τοῦ λοιποῦ βίου τέλος ἀπραγμοσύνην,
For he was not, like Lucius Lucullus and Metellus Pius in after times, too enfeebled by old age to serve the people, regarding the service of the state as a burdensome duty; nor did he, like Scipio Africanus before him, because of envious attacks upon his reputation, turn his back upon the people and make leisure his end and aim for the rest of his life;
ἀλλʼ, ὥσπερ Διονύσιόν τις ἔπεισε κάλλιστον ἐντάφιον ἡγεῖσθαι τὴν τυραννίδα, κάλλιστον αὐτὸς ἐγγήραμα τὴν πολιτείαν ποιησάμενος ἀναπαύσεσιν ἐχρῆτο καὶ παιδιαῖς, ὁπότε σχολάζοι, τῷ συντάττεσθαι βιβλία καὶ τῷ γεωργεῖν.
but rather, as someone persuaded Dionysius to regard his sovereignty as his fairest winding-sheet, so he held public service to be the fairest privilege of old age. For recreation and amusement, when he had leisure therefor, he resorted to the writing of books and to farming.
συνετάττετο μὲν οὖν λόγους τε παντοδαποὺς καὶ ἱστορίας· γεωργίᾳ δὲ προσεῖχε νέος μὲν ὢν ἔτι καὶ διὰ τὴν χρείαν φησὶ γὰρ δυσὶ κεχρῆσθαι μόνοις πορισμοῖς γεωργίᾳ καὶ φειδοῖ, τότε δὲ διαγωγὴν καὶ θεωρίαν αὐτῷ τὰ γινόμενα κατʼ ἀγρὸν παρεῖχε, καὶ συντέτακταί γε βιβλίον γεωργικόν, ἐν ᾧ καὶ περὶ πλακούντων σκευασίας καὶ τηρήσεως ὀπώρας γέγραφεν, ἐν παντὶ φιλοτιμούμενος περιττὸς εἶναι καὶ ἴδιος.
He composed speeches, then, on all sorts of subjects, and histories, and as for farming, he followed it in earnest when he was young and poor,—indeed, he says he then had only two ways of getting money, farming and frugality,—but in later life he was only a theoretical and fancy farmer. He also composed a book on farming in which he actually gave recipes for making cakes and preserving fruit, so ambitious was he to be superior and peculiar in everything.
ἦν δὲ καὶ τὸ δεῖπνον ἐν ἀγρῷ δαψιλέστερον ἐκάλει γὰρ ἑκάστοτε τῶν ἀγρογειτόνων καὶ περιχώρων τοὺς συνήθεις καὶ συνδιῆγεν ἱλαρῶς, οὐ τοῖς καθʼ ἡλικίαν μόνοις ἡδὺς ὢν συγγενέσθαι καὶ ποθεινός, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῖς νέοις, ἅτε δὴ πολλῶν μὲν ἔμπειρος πραγμάτων γεγονώς, πολλοῖς δὲ γράμμασι καὶ λόγοις ἀξίοις ἀκοῆς ἐντετυχηκώς.
The dinners, too, which he gave in the country, were quite plentiful. He always asked in congenial country neighbours, and made merry with them, and not only did those of his own age find in him an agreeable and much desired companion, but also the young. For he was a man of large experience, who had read and heard much that was well worth repeating.
τὴν δὲ τράπεζαν ἐν τοῖς μάλιστα φιλοποιὸν ἡγεῖτο καὶ πολλὴ μὲν εὐφημία τῶν καλῶν καὶ ἀγαθῶν πολιτῶν ἐπεισήγετο, πολλὴ δʼ ἦν ἀμνηστία τῶν ἀχρήστων καὶ πονηρῶν, μήτε ψόγῳ μήτʼ ἐπαίνῳ πάροδον ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν τοῦ Κάτωνος εἰς τὸ συμπόσιον διδόντος.
He held the table to be the very best promoter of friendship, and at his own, the conversation turned much to the praise of honourable and worthy citizens, greatly to the neglect of those who were worthless and base. About such Cato suffered no tabletalk, either by way of praise or blame.
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