Cato the Younger
95–46 BC 1 entry
Biography
Marcus Porcius Cato, known as Cato the Younger, was a Roman statesman of the late Republic, famous for his stubborn honesty and his Stoic way of life. He was born in 95 BC, the great-grandson of Cato the Elder, the stern censor of a century before. He lived simply, often went about in public barefoot and without a tunic, refused bribes and was respected even by his enemies as a man who could not be corrupted.
As a senator he defended the old laws of the Republic and became the most determined opponent of Julius Caesar. When Caesar crossed the Rubicon in 49 BC, Cato sided with Pompey, and after the defeat of the republicans at Thapsus in 46 BC he chose to die in Utica, in Africa, rather than accept Caesar’s pardon. For later generations, from Seneca to the American revolutionaries, he became a symbol of freedom and of resistance to tyranny.
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