Cato, Marcus Porcius, the Elder, also known as 'the Censor' 234-149BC
Roman statesman and orator

He was born in Tusculum, of peasant stock. He distinguished himself in the Second Punic War (218-202BC) at the capture of Tarentum (209), and became successively quaestor, aedile, praetor, and consul (195). In Spain he crushed a formidable insurrection, and in 191, as legatus, he was instrumental in the defeat of Antiochus III. He advocated the simple, strict social life of ancient Roman tradition, and condemned Greek refinement and luxury. Elected censor (184), he introduced such rigorous legislative reforms that 'Censor' became his permanent surname. He repaired watercourses, paved reservoirs, cleansed drains, raised the rents paid by the tax-farmers and reduced the contract prices paid by the state. More questionable reforms related to the price of slaves, dress, furniture, equipages, and so on. He opposed good and bad innovations with equal intolerance. In 153 he was sent on a mission to Carthage, which so fuelled his fear of Carthaginian power that he subsequently ended every speech in the Senate with the words 'Carthage must be destroyed' (Carthago delenda est). He lived to see the start of the Third Punic War (149-146BC). He wrote several works, of which only the De Re Rustica and a few fragments of his Origines, a summary of the Roman annals, survive.

Bibliography: A E Astin, Cato the Censor (1978)