author
Marcus Porcius Cato
-234–-149
A tough-minded Roman statesman and writer, this early voice of Latin prose became famous for strict traditional values and sharp public speeches. He left a lasting mark on Roman politics, agriculture, and the way later generations imagined old Republican virtue.
1 Audiobook
Roman Farm Management: The Treatises of Cato and Varro
by Marcus Porcius Cato, Marcus Terentius Varro
About the author
Born in 234 BCE at Tusculum, Marcus Porcius Cato is better known as Cato the Elder or Cato the Censor. Ancient sources and modern reference works describe him as a soldier, senator, orator, and one of the earliest major prose writers in Latin. He built a reputation for discipline, frugality, and suspicion of Greek cultural influence, qualities that made him one of the most memorable personalities of the Roman Republic.
Cato rose through Roman public life step by step, serving in war and then holding major offices including consul and censor. He became especially known for presenting himself as a defender of older Roman customs and for attacking luxury and moral decline. His name is also closely tied to Rome's growing conflict with Carthage, and later tradition remembers him as a relentless advocate for decisive action against it.
He also mattered as an author. Cato wrote De agri cultura, the oldest complete prose work that survives in Latin, along with historical and rhetorical works that survive only in fragments. That mix of politics, practical writing, and moral severity helped make him a model of stern Roman character for centuries afterward.