author
Marcus Porcius Cato
-234–-149
A stern defender of old Roman values, this soldier, statesman, and writer became one of the Republic’s most famous voices for discipline, simplicity, and tradition. He is remembered both for his political influence and for helping shape early Latin prose.
1 Audiobook
Roman Farm Management: The Treatises of Cato and Varro
by Marcus Porcius Cato, Marcus Terentius Varro
About the author
Born in Tusculum in 234 BCE, Cato the Elder rose from a plebeian family to become one of the best-known public figures of the Roman Republic. He served in war, held major offices including consul and censor, and built a reputation for severity, plain living, and fierce respect for traditional Roman customs.
He was famous for resisting what he saw as the softening influence of Greek culture on Rome. Ancient sources and later historians alike remember him as a sharp orator and a relentless moral critic, someone who pushed for frugality and strict public conduct even when it made him unpopular.
Cato was also an important writer. He is credited as the first Roman to write history in Latin, and his surviving work De agri cultura offers a practical look at farming, household management, and Roman life. For many readers, he stands at the meeting point of politics, literature, and the hard-edged ideals of early Rome.